USA > Michigan > Van Buren County > A History of Van Buren County, Michigan: A Narrative Account of Its Historical Progress, Its. > Part 62
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PROPERTY AND POPULATION
The assessed valuation of the township in 1856. the first assess- ment taken after it was organized as at present, was $100,558, and the taxes spread on the roll for that year were $1,941.14. The assessed valuation for 1911, including the same territory (both city and township), was $2,429,359; that is, the wealth of the people has been multiplied twenty-four and one-half times in fifty- five years.
The total of taxes spread on the roll in 1856 was the sum of $1,941.14. In 1911 the tax, including town and city, was $44,-
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956.19. In point of wealth, the township of South Haven, ex- clusive of the city, ranks as fourteenth among the townships of the county ; including the city, it stands at the head of the list by more than $800,000.
The population of the township, outside the city, as given in the census of 1910, was 1,218, the thirteenth township of the county in point of numbers.
JAY R. MONROE, FIRST WHITE SETTLER
For many of the facts given in the following sketch of the pioneer history of the township the writer desires to acknowledge his obli- gation to Hon. A. S. Dyckman, who embodied them in a paper read before the Van Buren County Pioneer Association in 1894.
Father Marquette and other adventurous missionaries had coasted the eastern shore of Lake Michigan; United States sur- veyors had meandered every navigable stream, cut. the land into squares and driven sectional stakes, witnessed by letters and fig- ures inscribed upon living tree bodies. Otherwise there was an unbroken forest, occupied by the red man and by wild beasts and fowls.
Into this vast wilderness came a young man, a "land looker" from the White mountains of New Hampshire, following an In- dian trail, through gulches, across fords, over the hills and through the valleys, alone, perhaps repeating to himself the words of the poet
"Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness, Some boundless contiguity of space;"
and, having reached his destination, looking for one inspiring mo- ment out upon the waters of the grand old lake, and then going down to the beach-the sandy, gravelly beach-to pick up speci- mens of coral, agate and shell; and then, mayhap, while the last rays of the setting sun, which was sinking to rest in the blue waves beyond, were glimmering and glancing through the leaves of the forest that bordered the beach, standing, perhaps, on the river bluff, watching the waters that eddied and foamed and swirled about the boughs of the giant hemlocks that drooped into the rippling waters beneath :- Possibly his attention was arrested by the shrill cry of the whip-poor-will, the lonesome "too-whoo" of the owl, or the dismal howl of the prowling wolf, coming to his listening ears from out of the shadowy, darkening forests through which his course had led him. Possibly he exclaimed "Here, right here, is the fair site of a future city. I will enter into this, the promised . land, and on this bluff overlooking the great waters, now kissed by the glory of the good-night sun, will I build my cabin."
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And so it was fulfilled, for this young explorer was the pioneer white settler of South Haven, afterward prominent in the history of the county and known to the people as Judge Jay R. Monroe, whose name is closely linked with the development of this part of the state and whose honored descendants yet occupy prominent positions among their fellow citizens of this great county-a county which, in many respects, is second to none in the Peninsular state.
It was in 1831, six years before the state of Michigan was born, that young Monroe arrived at the present site of the flourishing city of South Haven, now the metropolis of Van Buren county. Four years later, the "Monroe" road was located by him, in conjunction with Charles U. Cross and Rodney Hinckley. This road ran direct from South Haven to Big Prairie Ronde, the shortest thoroughfare from the fertile grain fields of the interior to the prospective South Haven harbor.
CLARK AND DANIEL PIERCE
But the advent of the Michigan Central Railroad, sweeping around the southern extremity of Lake Michigan opened up a new and more speedy line of traffic and destroyed the prospective benefit and importance of the Monroe road, a great portion of which has been taken up and relaid on the section lines.
Clark Pierce, one of the first to permanently settle in this part of Van Buren county, located on this road some seven miles out from the lake. He came in 1838, his brother Daniel, accompany- ing him. He built his cabin on section number fourteen of this township and began to clear up a farm. Daniel was a mighty hunter and coined money by shooting wolves and disposing of their scalps for the bounty of thirteen dollars each. But the wolves also hunted Daniel and would, no doubt have eaten him, but for the batten door of "shakes" securely barred. As evidence of this, it is reported that one night they devoured his boots which he had inadvertently left outside the cabin door. After this experi- ence Daniel left Michigan, tested his luck on the golden shores of the Pacific, on the rich grain lands of Kalamazoo county and on the no less fertile prairies of Wisconsin, but eventually returned to the old South Haven homestead where he spent his declining years until the final summons came for him to "go up higher." He died February 24, 1882, aged seventy-four years.
In the fall of 1838, a vessel, the "La Porte" commanded by Cap- tain Webster, was wrecked at the South Haven harbor. Clark Pierce transported their baggage to Paw Paw, while the sailors themselves, made the journey on foot.
On the 18th day of November, 1840, the two masted schooner,
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"Florida," hailing from Buffalo and bound for Milwaukee, went on the beach just north of the mouth of the river. A terrible snow storm was raging and the crew nearly perished in finding their way to Bangor. The vessel was laden with apples and hardware. W. H. Hurlbut, who lived at Bangor at that time, afterward planted an orchard of seedlings from the apples procured from this vessel. One of the trees proved to be very valuable, producing a large, yellow, fall apple, with a slight blush on the sunny side and having a pleasant, sub-acid flavor. Mr. Hurlbut named the apple the "Florida," in commemoration of the wrecked vessel.
About 1841 an attempt was made to establish a postoffice at South Haven. Mr. Harrison of Gourdneck Prairie was to bring the mail weekly and Daniel Pierce was appointed as postmaster, but refused to act in that capacity. In those early days it would seem the office sought the man instead of the man the office as is the method pursued in these modern times.
In 1845 Louis A. Booth and Clark Pierce, with his wife and two sons, A. J. and Irving, became possessed of the Monroe cabin and proceeded to erect the first frame house ever built in the town- ship. They brought the necessary lumber from Uncle Jimmie Hale's, fifteen miles down the lake and from Breedsville, and on the 18th day of July in that year, the new residence was occu- pied by Mr. Pierce and his family.
In the winter of 1845, Dr. Abbott, of the city of New York, visited the place and made preparation for building a mill near the mouth of the river, but for some unexplained reason the enterprise was a failure and the material was shipped away.
A. S. DYCKMAN'S STORY
Several different parties occupied this house for brief periods, subsequent to its occupation by Mr. Pierce. In 1847 a Hollander by the name of Shawfinch lived in it, but left at the end of the season. Mr. Dyckman says that he first visited South Haven in the month of March, 1848, in company with Frank Bowen and Evart B. D. Hicks, and found shelter in this same house, which was then vacant, for two stormy days. A yawl was driven ashore containing two passengers, so that they had a party of five weather- bound adventurers. "We found," says Mr. Dyckman, "evidence of recent occupation in the hole of potatoes in the garden, the store of unshelled beans in the chamber, the culinary utensils, in- cluding a very useful dish kettle and numerous wooden shoes scat- tered about. On the first morning, which I think quite remarkable, two prairie chickens seemed to fly out of the stormy lake and light on a large whitewood tree standing near. Evart Hicks' rifle shot,
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as he stood by the door of the house, which brought down one of the birds, was equally remarkable. Our marine companions had salt pork, which, with the prairie chicken, the potatoes and the beans which Providence seemed to bestow (our manna in the wilderness) furnished an elegant stew, and a bunch of shaved shingles, for which we could see no other use, was drawn upon for plates and spoons.
"My cousin, since known as Capt. B. H. Dyckman, had written me from Cascade, Iowa, requesting an investigation of the probable profits if two young men should come here to engage in the wood trade between this port and Chicago. When you know that after the storm was over we could walk across the channel dry-shod, I need not tell you what my report recommended. As seemed likely, from the personal property remaining, the Holland families (I think there were two of them) returned here for another season's residence. During the summer of 1848 they had severe sickness and lost two of their children, who rest in unknown graves near the lake and river bluffs. This gave occasion for the exercise of the highest Christian charity. Mrs. Charles Hamlin, who had no horse, would walk four miles to McDowell's; thence she would ride MeDowell's horse, while he walked the remaining six miles, and they returned home in the same manner. This they did every day for two weeks, to wait upon the two sick families. They were certainly neighbors to the sick in the highest and most practical Christian sense."
The year 1849 was notable for the first Fourth of July celebration ever held in the township. Clark Pierce and his family, Mr. Wood and his wife and Mr. and Mrs. C. U. Cross, on an ox sled drawn by a team of horses came to this same vacant house, and there on the shady bluff overlooking the blue waters of Lake Michigan they dedicated the land to American Independence.
PIONEER STEAM SAWMILLS
In August, 1850, Joseph Sturgis, foreman for Marvin Hannahs, of Albion, Michigan, in company with Ai Blood, Joseph Dow and Horace Thomas, came down Black river from Jericho (a locality so called, in the present township of Geneva) cutting out the numer- ous obstructions in the stream until they emerged into the open meadow at the forks. Thence they floated along leisurely between the flower-crowned, forest-lined banks, describing Hogarth's "line of beauty" until they reached their destination on the river banks near the center of the present city of South Haven. Here they erected the first steam sawmill in the township, which afterward passed into the hands of Dyckman, Sturgis & Company, and which
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was eventually town down to give place to the (Quaker) Halleck mill, which never materialized. The story of how Mr. Halleck built a firm foundation for the proposed structure, how he shipped his machinery and merchandise from New York, all the way by water, through the St. Lawrence river and around the lakes, only to have it go to wreck and ruin on the beach south of St. Joseph, is a sad reminiscence in the history of South Haven. The name of Halleck should be remembered for what he attempted to do for the place. His failure was his misfortune and not his fault.
In 1852 Messrs, Alpha and Nelson Tubbs built another steam sawmill which was located on the north side of the river. The next winter, in February, 1853, A. S. Dyckman, Joseph S. Wagner and Warren Pratt arrived in South Haven laden with supplies for building another and larger mill on the south bank of the river on the point of land near where the river bridge now rests, and which was formerly used by the Indians as a landing place, convenient for reaching the sugar bushes and pure spring water to the south- east. The first partnership name was Dyckman, Sturgis & Com- pany, afterward changed to Dyckman, Hale & Company and finally to Hale, Conger & Company.
The author has a vivid recollection of the time when he was em- ployed in this mill in the spring of 1857, beginning his labor at midnight, ending the day at noon (the mill was kept running night and day), and receiving for his work one dollar per day and pay- ing three dollars per week for his board at the old "Pacific House;" there were no eight-hour days at that time; even the ten-hour day had scarcely been heard of, and yet there was no thought of hard- ship in-so-far as the hours were concerned. No "walking dele- gates" ever came around to tell the laboring man how badly he was treated and to order a strike if conditions were not changed. and no such order would have been obeyed by the sturdy young Americans who operated the mills of those primitive days. At the time of which the writer is speaking, "Pete" Davis and "Bill" Plummer were the expert "head sawyers," and they thoroughly understood their business, they had no superiors.
FIRST INSTITUTIONS AND PIONEERS
The first boat trading regularly with the port of South Haven was the "Lapwing," in 1853, the capacity of which was a dozen or so cords of wood or of hemlock bark for the Chicago market, or its equivalent in lumber. Captain Mitchell, a rugged and kindly old Norwegian, was her master and himself and one small boy comprised the entire crew.
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The first merchant was S. B. Morehouse; the first physician was Dr. William B. Hathaway; the first lawyer was A. H. Chandler ; the first settled minister was Rev. Nathaniel Grover, who was or- dained here and whose signature graces the marriage certificate of the compiler of this work, given to him fifty years ago.
The first schoolhouse was on the donated Monroe plat and the first teacher was Ella Barnes.
Outside the city, the school population, according to the school census of 1911, is 354; volumes in district libraries, 868; school- houses, six ; value of school property, $9,700; number of teachers employed, eight ; aggregate number of months school taught, sixty- two; sum paid for teachers' wages, $3,042; apportioned from the primary school fund of the state, $2,812.50.
SOUTH HAVEN'S BUSY FRUIT MERCHANT
The first peaches brought to the South Haven market were small seedlings from Clark Pierce's place in Geneva. Since that date many thousands of bushels of as luscious peaches as were even grown have been shipped from this place, both by steamer and by rail.
The first bank was organized May 1, 1867, by S. R. Boardman and C. J. Monroe. In July, 1871, this bank was reorganized as a National Bank; Silas R. Boardman being its president ; George Hannahs, vice president, and Charles J. Monroe, cashier. Since that date the bank has again been reorganized as a state bank, under the general banking law of the state of Michagan, and is one of the solid financial institutions, not only of the county, but of the state as well.
The first literary society was organized in the winter of 1856-7.
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at the house of Joseph S. Wagner, (afterward, and until it was destroyed by fire, the residence of D. B. Williams), organized, not by the glare of gas light or the glow of an electrolier, but by the dim rays of a single tallow candle, the "light of other days." This society was christened the South Haven Literary Club and was the rallying point for the literati of the place for many years there- after.
John Williams owned the first livery equipment and used to make himself solid with the lads and lasses by driving them to spell- ing schools and lyceums on his "bobs" drawn by a yoke of fast trotting Devonshire cattle.
Rodney Hinckley, one of the first white settlers in the county, here-in-before mentioned in connection with the laying out of the Monroe road, had been stricken with the gold fever that was so prevalent in 1849, and a few subsequent years had been to the Golden State in search of his fortune, returned here in 1853 and located on land just south of the then village of South Haven. Everybody spoke of him familiarly as "Uncle Rodney" and of his wife as "Aunt Rodney." Mrs. Hinckley was a great lover of flowers and had wonderful knowledge of the native flora. She knew the Indians, too, almost as well as she did her "posies" and could speak the Pottawattamie dialect as though she were a born aborigine. Uncle Rodney meandered the first lake shore road south, over and around the hills as far as to what was afterward called St. Paul, subsequently known as Paulville, in which vicinity At- torney John R. Baker of Paw Paw, once owned a considerable tract of hemlock land, afterward sold to R. P. Toms & Company and which was converted into lumber by a steam sawmill erected by the firm at that place. These Baker lands were formerly in the township of South Haven, but when the organization of the county was complete, in 1855, they became a part of the township of Deerfield (now Covert).
Uncle Rodney's son, Isaac, who came within six weeks of be- ing the first white child born in the county north of Decatur, was a fur trader and a mighty "Nimrod" and used to supply the "For- est House" and other boarding houses, with game. The "boys" finally got tired of venison at two cents a pound, and so when Isaac came in with his trophies of the chase, they clubbed together and bought him out and dumped his meat into the river. This worked very well until the landlady found out the cause of the interrupted supplies. Venison at two cents per pound, just think of it!
And now, after all the labor clearing, grubbing, firing, snagging, planting, pruning and tilling, we, at the present day, are reaping the reward. The city of South Haven facing the grand old lake on the west, and surrounded on the north, west and south by
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magnificent orchards of peaches, plums, apples, cherries and pears, by vineyards and small fruits of all kinds that are indigenous to this latitude, situated in the very heart of the celebrated Michigan Fruit Belt, known from one end of the land to the other-South Haven is indeed "beautiful for a situation," a veritable reminder of that wonderful garden planted by the Lord Himself and where "He made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food."
VILLAGE (NOW CITY) OF SOUTH HAVEN
The village of South Haven was first platted on the 15th day of November, 1851, by Thomas C. Sheldon and his wife Eleanor, of Detroit, Michigan, and William A. Booth and his wife, Louisa, of the city of New York. As originally laid out, the village was lo- cated entirely on the northwest fractional quarter of section ten. There have since been placed on record twenty-three additions and subdivisions and the city now covers the major part of section ten and also a part of section three. It is a mile and three quarters in length, from north to south, and about a mile in width.
The village was incorporated by an act passed in January, 1869, and an organization was effected, but it was found so imperfect that it was reincorporated in 1871, under the name of the "village of South Haven," with a president, treasurer, three trustees and an assessor. Later the clerk was also made an elective officer.
The first officers were : President, George Hannahs; clerk, Alonzo M. Haynes; treasurer, William H. Andrews; trustees, Daniel How- ard, Albert Thompson, Levi R. Brown, George L. Seaver, William P. Bryan and Barney H. Dyekman.
South Haven was incorporated as a city of the fourth class, under the general laws of the state, in 1902. The first mayor was Evert S. Dyckman, elder son of A. S. Dyckman, who was so actively associated in the development of the fruit industry and the general upbuilding of the community in every way for betterment.
South Haven is the western terminal of two railroads; one, the South Haven division of the Michigan Central Railroad, runs from Kalamazoo through the northern part of Van Buren county; the other, the Kalamazoo, Lake Shore and Chicago, runs from Kala- mazoo through the central part of the county. At the time of writing, the latter system is operated as a steam road under lease by the Michigan United Railways, owning and operating electric lines, throughout central Michigan, and the expectation is that it will soon be converted into an electric railway. By the census of 1910, the city is given a population of 3,767, which is materially augmented during the resort season.
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LIBRARY, SOUTH HAVEN
MICHIGAN AVENUE, SOUTH HAVEN
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Chicago, only seventy-six miles to the southwest, is reached by a fleet of steamers throughout the season of navigation. This readi- ness of access from the great metropolis of the middle west, together with the delightful climate of South Haven and vicinity in summer, resulted in the remarkable development of the summer resort busi- ness in this territory, that business ranking second only to the fruit industry in importance.
THE SUMMER RESORT BUSINESS
Mrs. H. M. Avery was the pioneer of the summer resort busi- ness, and the little group of guests that enjoyed her hospitality a generation ago has expanded into a crowd numbering into the hun-
AT THE SOUTH HAVEN DOCKS IN SUMMER
dreds of thousands that annually sweeps into the city and over- flows into the surrounding country for a radius of twenty or thirty miles.
Black River, with its branches, furnishes miles of attractive scenery and cozy resorts easily reached either by row boats or launches. and during the resort season, large numbers of people spend their summer vacations in boating, fishing, bathing and other recreation along this stream and on the beach of the lake at the mouth of the river. These visitors come from the middle west, south and southwest, for sojourns from a single day to many months. Many of them have purchased homes in the city or sur- rounding country, and have become valued residents for a sub- stantial part of each year.
The earlier growth of the summer resort business was through
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boarding houses and hotels, the first of the latter having been the "Avery Beach," built by Mr. and Mrs. H. M. Avery. This was gradually enlarged so that it retained the position of the largest and best-known of the summer hotels of South Haven until its de- struction by fire shortly after the close of the summer season a few years ago.
The next stage in the development was by means of cottages, the pioneer in which branch was Lyman S. Monroe who built nearly thirty cottages in "Monroe Park," which is still the most important center of cottages used for summer residences.
SCHOOLS, CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES
The first school was taught by Miss Ella Barnes, an adopted daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. B. Morehouse, in a frame schoolhouse, about 18 by 24 feet, built near the lake in the summer of 1852. There were seven pupils,-Joseph Sturgis, Jr., Julia and Harriet Morehouse, three children of Nelson Tubbs, and "Tip" Ormsby.
The schools were graded in 1879, under Professor Burkett, and the first graduates, Miss Maud Loveday and Edward E. Cain, re- ceived their diplomas in 1881. The schools now comprise twelve grades, in which are taught all the usual studies, besides manual training, domestic science and agriculture. Graduates are admitted without examination to the colleges and universities of eighteen states.
The school buildings now comprise a Central building, in which are quarters for the high school and lower grades, and three ward buildings, accommodating grades up to the eighth. Work is soon to commence on a modern high school building to cost about $45,- 000 and to accommodate three hundred students. Bonds to pay for this building were authorized by the taxpayers of the district by overwhelming majority at a special election held in. November. 1911. The schools of the city were apportioned the sum of $6,930 from the primary school fund of the state for the school year of 1910-11, on a basis of 924 persons of school age.
Religious services were first held in April, 1852, by a Baptist minister at the home of Joseph Sturgis, and a few weeks later the Rev. Mr. Doughty, a Methodist clergyman, preached at the More- house home. Notices had been given of these services which were well attended.
Now the following religious organizations hold regular services in their own houses of worship: Baptist, Congregational, Metho- dist Episcopal, Free Methodist, Episcopalian, Roman Catholic, Dutch Reformed, German Lutheran and German-English Luth- eran. The Christian Scientists hold regular services in rented
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