Michigan Historical Markers

08/22/2023

Mɪᴄʜɪɢᴀɴ Hɪsᴛᴏʀɪᴄᴀʟ Sɪᴛᴇ ~ Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Mᴀʀᴋᴇʀ #4

𝑽𝒂𝒏 𝑩𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒚 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 ~ 𝑷𝒂𝒘 𝑷𝒂𝒘, 𝑴𝑰

In the final days of the Michigan Territory, it was decided that the village of Lawrence would be the county seat to what would become Van Buren County. Two years later, in 1837, the first government was called into session. Among other things, it was pronounced that the location of the county seat would be Paw Paw, where official duties were already being carried out at a local schoolhouse. Lawrence citizens were outraged! And a vehement legal battle ensued. Eventually, Paw Paw was vindicated and declared winner. By the turn of the century, the largest city in the county, South Haven, put their bid in for the county seat, but lost their battle in the following election.

In 1842, a simple Greek Revival structure was built on the designated County Square. Clad in clapboard with a gable roof, the County’s first courthouse was finally completed in 1845, after the Board of Supervisors all but resorted to threats to see it accomplished. The front facade of the structure displayed a simple yet elegant portico with six columns positioned and a palladium window surfacing above the heavy wooden doors. Atop the elegant structure stood a cupola - a spire that dominated the fledgling city’s skyline until eventually the city outgrew the courthouse’s functionality.

By 1900, the need arose for a larger courthouse. The old one was moved to 111 East Michigan Avenue, where it still remains today as one of Michigan’s oldest courthouses. First used as a feed store, the old courthouse had it's striking cupola removed in stages, slowly over time. During the Great Depression, it became a youth center, with only the square base to the cupola still visible. Today, 111 East Michigan Avenue is Paw Paw’s City Hall. The cupola is entirely absent.

Over on the County Square, the cornerstone was being laid by Frank O. Gilbert, Grand Master of the Michigan Free and Accepted Masons. Over 100 items were laid in the cornerstone at the time. Among them were newspaper articles of the day and a letter written by then Vice President Teddy Roosevelt.

Jackson architect Claire Allen designed the domineering structure, with George Rickman & Sons building it. Construction took one-and-a-half years, and was completed February 23, 1903. The result, was a three story Classical Revival edifice clothed in brilliant yellow sandstone and a red tiled hip roof. Ornately topped with a beautiful Italian Renaissance tower, it’s cupola and main cornice are both constructed of copper.

The interior boasts of beautiful dark woodwork, as well as electric chandeliers, built to imitate the original gas fixtures. An old jail and sheriff’s residence were made of the same materials. Newer structures have been added to the complex, including: a 1963 jail, and a 1976 courthouse annex for office space. In 1986, the Sheldon & Oradell Rupert Memorial Clock was installed in the tower, with chimes later added.

On September 2, 2001, the cornerstone was unearthed on the day of it’s centennial. A county building near the courthouse was restored to house the contents of the 1901 capsule. A new capsule was placed inside the cornerstone - slated to be unearthed on September 2, 2101.

08/14/2023

D.A.R. Mᴀʀᴋᴇʀ #1

𝑷𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒕’𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 ~ 𝑾𝒂𝒚𝒏𝒆 𝑻𝒐𝒘𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑, 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒚

At an unknown date in the 1840s, a man named Selah Pickett ‘picked up’ his family from their home in Cassadaga, New York and traveled the forgotten wilderness. Daughter Polly went ahead of the Pickett clan, and stayed at the local inn in Dowagiac, Michigan to await the arrival of the others. There, after a courtship of only three days, she married a traveling merchant and shoemaker, before the other Pickett’s had even arrived.

Selah, a carpenter and joiner by trade, “picked up” farming once he settled at the corners of Glenwood and Gage Streets in Wayne Township of Cass County. Building one of the first frame houses in that part of the county, Pickett conducted a tavern and inn out of his home and established the much forgotten community known as “Pickett’s Corners”. By 1850, the Pickett’s were found at this locale on the federal census, and on March 10, 1856, Pickett officially bought the deed to his land at the local land office in Kalamazoo.

The Corners was officially a stop on the stage route between Niles and Kalamazoo. General Bissel Humphrey of Marshall moved his entire stage line operation to Kalamazoo in 1845 and ran the lines for the following decade until his untimely demise in August 11, 1855. As Humphrey & Co. Stage Lines prospered, so did the Corners.

In that part of the County, Postal service was located at Volinia in 1834. Shutting down in 1851, the post redirected to Pickett’s Corners, where Selah Pickett became Postmaster and ran the office out of his tavern. A Justice of the Peace also, he was known to many as “Pettyfogger Pickett”, a term for a local magistrate with no unpleasant significance, so they say.

Ransom Dopp settled just north of the Corners sometime between 1845-49 as a Stagecoach driver on the Humphrey line at the age of 16. Remaining in Humphrey’s employ for 4-5 years, he then engaged in the livery business in Niles, where he remained another 4 years. For the next three years after, he ran a stage line of his own from Niles to South Bend, Indiana and from Mottville to La Porte, Indiana. After devoting his entire early life to horses, he would then train and breed horses for the Humphrey Stage Line and use the profits to buy land in Pickett’s Corners, choosing farming as his avocation. At his peak, Dopp owned over 3,000 acres of land, becoming the largest landowner in Southwest Michigan. Between 1850-1855, Dopp’s beautiful Italianate style brick home was built upon the property and remains one of the few structures still remaining. Dopp became even more wealthy during the Civil War, selling profitable grain and livestock sales. Horses were bred on his farm of prominent breed, and sold to the highest bidder.

But some during the Civil War weren’t so lucky. In 1862, seven years after General Humphrey’s death, the Humphrey Stage Line shut down all operations with the rise in railroad building, shutting off all life supply to Pickett’s little corners. About this time, the Michigan Central Railroad bypassed both Pickett’s Corners and Volinia in favor of a village to the north known as Tietsort’s Station (later known as “Glenwood”) With no travelers stopping at Gage and Glenwood anymore, the domino effect had begun. The tavern and inn shut down that year, followed directly by the post office - officially closing its doors and redirected it’s operations back to Volinia the following year, closing down for good in 1902.

Pickett passed on October 17, 1872 followed by wife Christiana less than two months later on December 6th. Dopp passed away in 1890 a very wealthy man. Not believing in the institute of a bank, Dopp never kept more than a few hundred in his account, this led to an extensive dig on the Dopp property in the early 2000s to find the fabled “Dopp treasure”. However, no treasure has ever been found.

For whatever reason, Wayne Township built their town hall on the southwest parcel of land at the Corners in the early 1900s. The Town Hall was located here until March 2020, when it too went up for sale as township duties were redirected to Dowagiac. Today, the Old Town Hall is a Native American quilt shop. Surprisingly, with so much devastation of the town that once was, three buildings still remain. The White School, the Town Hall, and the illustrious Dopp House - in all it’s beauty and glamour, may still hold treasure upon it’s grounds. A marker, located at the southeast corner of Pickett’s lost village was erected by the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.). The marker was strategically placed where Pickett was to of said to operate his tavern, post office, and inn out of his home.

07/31/2023

Mɪᴄʜɪɢᴀɴ Hɪsᴛᴏʀɪᴄᴀʟ Sɪᴛᴇ ~ Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Mᴀʀᴋᴇʀ #3

“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑶𝒍𝒅 𝑹𝒖𝒈𝒈𝒆𝒅 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒔𝒔” ~ 𝑷𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏, 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒚

The year is 1912. The “unsinkable” ocean liner Titanic sinks on her maiden voyage. New Mexico became the 47th State. The First Balkan War was breaking out in Eastern Europe. The largest volcanic eruption of the 20th Century exploded in Alaska. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, died in August of that year. And an evangelist of the Methodist Episcopal Church who was traveling the Midwest, was heckled incessantly by the youth at a revival meeting in Michigan.

That last on the list doesn’t appear to have a global impact like the others, but for evangelist George Bennard, it resounded in his ears indefinitely. Increasingly troubled by their disregard for the gospel, Bennard turned to the Scriptures to reflect on the Cross of Christ. The melody came easy and the first verse was completed in Albion, where Bennard lived and worked.

Reverend Leroy Otis Bostwick, pastored the Methodist Episcopal Church in Pokagon, Michigan. A village about halfway between Niles and Dowagiac in Cass County. Reverend Bostwick invited Reverend George Bennard to speak at his church in January of 1913 in a series of revivals. Bennard traveled to Pokagon ahead of the meetings and completed the verses at Bostwick’s parsonage. Playing the song for Leroy and his wife, Ruby, in their living room, the Bostwicks were moved to tears by the reciting of the hymn. They were so impressed with the song that they financed the first printing of the song, a hymn that would later become famous by playing on the radio at Billy Sunday revivals. The song became known as ‘The Old Rugged Cross’.

Later that month, the Dowagiac Daily News predicted a large attendance was due for the Pokagon meetings. Sure enough, crowds swarmed the Church and witnessed the first public singing of the hymn, accompanied by guitar and choir. The hymn grew in popularity, and is one of the most revered hymns of all time. Bennard went on to write more than 350 gospel hymns within his lifetime, but none had quite the impact that “The Old Rugged Cross” had. Retiring just north of Reed City, Michigan, Bennard died at the age of 85. Both Bostwick and Bennard are buried in California.

07/31/2023

Mɪᴄʜɪɢᴀɴ Hɪsᴛᴏʀɪᴄᴀʟ Sɪᴛᴇ ~ Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Mᴀʀᴋᴇʀ #2

𝑷𝒐𝒌𝒂𝒈𝒐𝒏 𝑴𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝑬𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒑𝒂𝒍 𝑪𝒉𝒖𝒓𝒄𝒉, 𝑪𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝑪𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒕𝒚

In the 1830s and 40s, the Underground Railroad was steadily gaining strength in Cass County. Kentuckians came to the County to retrieve their slaves and were met with a hard resistance from local Quakers. Statesmen Henry Clay called Vandalia, that “hotbed of abolitionism”. Northern Methodists outcried the advocacy of abolitionism! Circuit-riding Methodist ministers swarmed Pokagon Township, holding their services with fire in their eyes and the Word of God on their tongue.

American Methodism circuits were referred to by some as a "charge." A pastor would then be appointed to the charge by his bishop. During the course of a year, he was expected to visit each church on the charge at least once. A charge containing only one church was called a station. These traveling preachers were responsible for caring for these stations, and became known as circuit- riders, or sometimes saddlebag preachers. They traveled light, carrying all their belongings in their saddlebags. Ranging far and wide through villages and wilderness, they preached daily, and more often than not, they preached at any site available to them - be it a log cabin, the local court house, a meeting house, or an outdoor forest. Unlike the pastors of settled denominations, these itinerating preachers were constantly on the move. Their assignment was often so large it might take them 5 or 6 weeks to cover the territory.

In 1876, the Methodist Episcopal Church of Sumnerville, purchased a building that was built in 1862 in Pokagon. The building was used as a hops barn. The congregation renovated the building and planted a new church at the site. The building was enlarged, the belfry was constructed, pews were installed, stained glass windows were hung inside pointed frames. In 1913, traveling evangelist George Bennard first publicly sang ‘The Old Rugged Cross’ in a series of revivals. The congregation was doing so well, they purchased the nearby Baptist Church for their congregation. The Old Rugged Cross church was sold to John Phillips, who repurposed the building back into a storage barn.

In 1978, years had taken their toll on the former church. Shrubs and trees, overtook the building forcing it into a major dilapidated state. But it wasn’t until 1998, that the building was repurchased by the local Methodist Church for renovation. 100 years after Bennard’s debut appearance of The Old Rugged Cross, renovations having been 85 percent completed, and over $800,000 spent for refurbishing the old Church, the church received the Governor’s Award for Historic Preservation. Renovations were completed in 2021, and the historic site is now completely renovated back to its former glory with beautiful gardens surrounding the landscape.

07/24/2023

Saugatuck locals claim that when James Fenimore Cooper penned “Oak Openings”, he was writing the story in an obscure hotel in Singapore, that vibrant lost city now hidden underneath the sand dunes. Plainwell folks claim that Cooper was writing as he was briefly residing in what would later become the Red Brick Inn. Cooper residents say, that he was in their area when writing it, and after he left they banded together to name their town Cooper Center after him. Still others say he was writing “Oak Openings”, while visiting son-in-law Horace H. Comstock in the Kalamazoo area. It seems that every community in Allegan and Kalamazoo counties want their history tied to the famous American author, and his story about Bee-Hunter Ben Bogan and his relationship with southwestern Native Americans. But one rumor has more credibility than all these. They say the main character in the story, Bee-Hunter Ben Bogan, was modeled after Judge Bazel Harrison.

His uncle Benjamin Harrison was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His cousin William Henry Harrison became President of the United States. His father William Harrison, Jr. served alongside George Washington in Braddock’s Expedition in the French & Indian War. Among such giants as these, Bazel was born for greatness.

From the thirteen colonies, Bazel slowly moved westward, married his childhood sweetheart in secret, and raised 17 children! After the War of 1812, word got to Harrison in Ohio about the Michigan frontier from his son Elias. His vivid account told of splendid timber, magnificent prairies, park-like openings, mighty rivers, and vast lakes. All eyes in the Harrison family turned toward Michigan, and a party of 21 persons started out on a trek to pioneer the wilderness. A month later they arrived at the southeastern tip of Prairie Ronde township in Kalamazoo County, what is now the village of Schoolcraft.

They arrived on November 5, 1828 at dusk. Some in the party said, “Perhaps the eye of man has rarely rested on a more beautiful natural landscape than presented [to us] by Prairie Ronde.” The next day, Potawatomi Chief Sagamaw and ten of his companions welcomed the Harrison party. When asked for information of local water sources, the Chief led them to the east side of Harrison Lake. Impressed, Bazel Harrison selected that very spot to be their new home and set up a crude log cabin for the company to winter in, becoming the first settlers in Kalamazoo County. Eventually a frame house was built, and within a year more than 60 persons were living in Harrison’s new community.

By the time government was established in Kalamazoo County, Bazel Harrison was selected as Justice of the Peace and appointed by Governor Cass as an Associate Judge of the County Court. Judge Harrison was instrumental in the creation of the Kalamazoo government and devoted the rest of his life to politics. Longtime wife Martha Stillwater passed June 7, 1857. Judge Bazel Harrison surpassed her in years and lived to the ripe old age of 103! He passed on August 30, 1874 at the residence of son John S. Harrison. At the time of his death, a direct line of 220 descendants were still living! Always living a life of peaceableness with neighbors and hospitality to strangers, his funeral reflected what a great man he was with 1,000 people paying their respects. Today, Bazel and Martha are buried in Harrison Cemetery in Prairie Ronde Township. Their old, tattered, crumbling headstones have been repaired to the best ability and encased with a stainless steel cap.

07/23/2023

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1ddAxJOVEFbjLKNRCMcMQSLgJcHHf_hc&usp=sharing

Hello! We have been working hard on an interactive map of every Michigan State, County, and City Marker. As we post more Michigan Historical Markers, we will add their locations on the map. By clicking this link, you'll be able to see where they're located and get directions to them to make your life just a little bit easier. Thank you everyone and enjoy!

Historical Markers within the State of Michigan that convey the importance of the area's rich history. Markers may be State, County, or City issued. Happy History Hunting!!

07/20/2023

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1svl_c_8zKwFYU4PkoZeTLZah3mvgZT4&usp=sharing

Hello! We have been working hard on an interactive map of every Michigan State, County, and City Marker. As we post more Michigan Historical Markers, we will add their locations to this map. By clicking this link, you'll be able to see where they're located and get directions to them to make your life just a little bit easier. Thanks everyone and enjoy!

Historical Markers within the State of Michigan that convey the importance of the area's rich history. Markers may be State, County, or City issued. Happy History Hunting!!

07/17/2023

Mɪᴄʜɪɢᴀɴ Hɪsᴛᴏʀɪᴄᴀʟ Sɪᴛᴇ ~ Sᴛᴀᴛᴇ Mᴀʀᴋᴇʀ #1

𝙄𝙣𝙜𝙝𝙖𝙢 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝘾𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙩𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙨𝙚

In 1840, Mason became the county seat of Ingham County, being the only city in the United States that serves as County Seat with a State Capital residing within it’s borders. At the time, Detroit served as the capital of Michigan, from 1805-1847. Three years later in 1843, the first courthouse was built for Ingham County in Mason. A two-story Greek Revival structure, it stood at 140 East Ash Street. In 1858, rapid growth required a larger building and a second courthouse was built on the public square.

The current courthouse was built in 1905. A beaux arts building, it is located at 315 South Jefferson Street and dominates Mason’s skyline. Noted Lansing architect Edwin A. Boyd designed the structure, with it being built by George W. Rickman & Sons Company of Kalamazoo. Oak doors and trim, ornate plasters and woodwork make up the interior. In it’s day, the courthouse cost about $100,000 to construct. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.