USA > Michigan > Allegan County > A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan > Part 18
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120
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
A study of population statistics shows many changes wrought in Allegan during the era now under consideration. In 1860 the population of the county was 16,087. By 1870 it had doubled-being 32,105. This remarkable increase had taken place in five years' time, for the state census of 1864 showed only 18,830 inhabitants. And during the four years from 1870 to 1874 population was almost stationary-being, respectively, 32,105 and 32,381. In 1880 population had increased to 37,815, and since then has been practically stationary, being, in 1890, 38.961, and in 1900, 38,812.
From these figures it is evident that Allegan county's most rapid in- crease occurred at the beginning of the railroad era, and in five years' 'time attained a population that has since been subject to only moderate fluctuations. A more detailed study of population is presented in the follow- ing table :
Townships and
Villages.
1900.
1890.
1880.
1870.
1860.
1850.
Allegan
.3,807
3,983
3,698
3.642
922
752
Village
.2,667
2,669
2,305
2.374
Casco
.2,04I
1,819
1,550
1,264
296
..
Cheshire
1,325
1,457
1,404
1,44.3
646
...
Clyde
968
850
610
298
74
...
Fennville.
454
360
...
.
...
Dorr
1,730
1,670
1,723
1.518
705
124
Fillmore
2,019
2,15I
2,345
1,436
663
527
Ganges
1,75I
1,477
1,403
1,255
759
246
Gun Plains
2,263
2,525
2,52I
2,238
1.068
582
Plainwell
1,318
1,414
1,356
1,035
Heath
898
930
815
1,000
382
Hopkins
1,753
1,821
1,869
1,271
587
...
Laketown
989
905
910
660
267
...
Lee
951
900
654
249
43
. .
Leighton
1,187
1,162
1,360
1,206
676
II2
Manlius
1,153
1,140
1,026
541
349
82
Martin
1,140
1,313
1,213
963
793
329
Monterey
1,361
1,514
1,533
1,284
927
238
Otsego
3,246
2,936
2,340
2,396
1,428
818
Village
. 2,073
1,626
1,000
99
Overisel
1,752
1.788
1,61I
1,060
489
Salem
1,595
1,584
1.574
1,143
430
...
Saugatuck
2,123
2,233
2,220
2,538
816
246
Village
707
799
794
1,026
..
...
Douglas
444
404
522
Trowbridge
1,255
1,3II
.437
1.337
897
313
Valley
493
536
643
180
IO3
34
Watson
I,II7
1,193
1,414
1,220
902
313
Wavland
1,895
1,763
1,942
1,963
916
404
Village
619
523
546
585
ยท
. .
.. .
This table of population will bear much study. It shows that certain areas that received a large proportion of settlement in early years has fallen off in the past thirty years, while areas once thought unattractive and little 1
121
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
favored by the permanent settler have increased from decade to decade until they now compare favorably with the first settled districts.
The transformation of the former timber country into a portion of the splendid Michigan fruit belt has effected a marked redistribution of popula- tion. A factor of similar power in rearranging the population was, of course, the railroad. To these two factors may be credited most of the changes indicated in the above table.
Using Casco township as an example, which was once a productive lumber region, but is now equally famous as a fruit center, it is seen that a population of 296 in 1860 increased in ten years to 1,264, and has shown a steady increase with each decade to the present, when Casco is one of the six townships with more than 2,000 inhabitants.
In the case of Allegan, Cheshire, Fillmore, Gun Plains, Heath, Hopkins, Leighton, Martin, Monterey, Saugatuck, Trowbridge, Valley, Watson and Wayland-fourteen townships in all-the figures for the last census show a falling off from the highest figures.
With respect to nativity Allegan county shows some interesting facts. In 1870 out of a total population of over 32,000, 5,586 were of foreign birth and 8,983 were of foreign parentage. The following table shows the prin- cipal sources of the county's foreign population for the years 1870 and 1900:
COUNTRY.
1870.
I900.
COUNTRY.
1870.
1900.
British America
1,214
.
France
35
. .. .
England and Wales. 783
Sweden and Norway
98
I20
Ireland
505
246
Holland
1,522
1,123
Scotland
173
IOI
Poland (German)
I18
Germany
1,056
Poland ( Russian)
8
Much interest attaches to the following table as showing the states from which the native American population of the county came, as indi- cated by the census of 1870. The total number of American born living in the county that year was 26,519. Divided according to the states where born they were :
Michigan. New York.
Ohio.
Penna.
12,43I
6,584
3.375
970
Vermont. 640
Indiana. 670
Distributed by townships, the foreign born for 1870 and 1894 were :
TOWNSHIP.
1870.
1894.
TOWNSHIP.
1870.
1894
Allegan
552
409
Leighton
228
156
Casco
94
I44
Manlius
86
233
Cheshire
70
63
Martin
94
89
Clyde
15
84
Monterey
123
100
Dorr
3.36
343
Otsego
254
232
Fillmore
713
619
Overisel
547
515
Ganges
169
162
Pine Plains (Valley) . Salem
250
288
Heath
97
I43
Saugatuck
675
380
Hopkins
1.48
198
Trowbridge
163
IIO
Laketown
251
285
Watson
216
185
Lee
30
49 Wayland
139
96
16
41
Gun Plains
320
237
122
IHISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
During the past forty years the colored people have formed a consid- erable element of the population. In 1850 there were only five colored persons in the county. In the course of the following decade a negro colony began forming in Cheshire township, which has remained the cen- ter of this population ever since. In 1860 that township had 30 colored persons. There were 16 in Allegan and one each in Wayland and Dorr.
During and after the war many colored people came to Allegan county, so that the census of 1870 showed their numbers to be as follows in the different townships: Allegan, 42; Casco, 1; Cheshire, 211; Clyde, 24; Gun Plains, 3: Lee, 8; Leighton, 1; Monterey, I : Otsego, 15; Trowbridge, 31 ; Wayland, 8.
This chapter may be concluded with a comparative statement of equal- ized valuations of the townships for different periods during the last forty years :
EQUALIZED VALUATIONS OF REAL AND PERSONAL PROPERTY IN ALLEGAN COUNTY.
1868.
1875.
1888.
1890. $1.700,000
$1.675.000
1900. $2.500,000 790,000*
1906. $2,385,100
Casco
90,000
240,000
563.300
535,000
-32
897,400
Cheshire
110,000
252,000
452,600
455,000
440,000
600,000
637,600
('lyde
45,000
74,000
105,900
125.000
118.000
220,000
339,700
Dorr
115,000
270,666
491,100
490,000
490,000
700,000
739.000
Fillmore
120,000
280,000
645.200
620,000
000,000
985,000
Ganges
125,000
:00,000
539.300
630,000 520,000 1,096,000 555,000 84.500
1.081.000 $2,500 615.000
1.570,000 125,000 930,000
204,500
Heath
68,000
74,000
90,000
Laketown
50,000
02.000
168,500
160,000 $4,500
$5,000
135,000
214.200
Leighton
125,000
270,667
565,000
555,000
565,000
810,000
793,300
Manlius
$0,000
92,000
226,000
275,000
258,000
375,000
462.400
Monterey
213.941
404,800
745.000
730,000
670,000
945,000
872,800
Martin
235.000
404,800
751.100
740,000
715.000
090,000
1,025,700
Otsego
350,000
630,400
280,000
1,000,000 573.000 SG.700
1,075,000 85.000
595.000 82,500 465,000
900,000 650,000 790,000
001,500
Saugatuck
312,000
384,000
573.000
560.000
540,000
830.000
903,100
Trowbridge . .
175,000
332,000
573.000
560,000
565.000
120,000
137,000
Warson
175,000
332.000
582.000
570.000
580.000
835.000
789.400
Wayland
170,000
264.000
390,000
395.000
400,000
620,000
697,000
.
Total
$3.908.096 $7.460,800 $13.049.200 $13,000,000 $13,000,000 $19,000,000 $20,000,000
1,690,000
1,759,800 936.600
Pino
Plains ..
25,000
76,000 248,000
468,000
4-15,000
155.000
230,000
357,000
Lee
37,905
$0.000
86.700
510,000
745,000
837,700
Gunplains
350,000
748,800
Hopkins
132,000
270,667
1,112,000 556,000
570,000
1,600.000
Overisel
118,000
670,900
Salem
106,000
$1.685.200
1895.
Allegan
580.000 $1.160,000
1,489,500
963,700
CHAPTER V.
CENTERS OF POPULATION.
The organization of the townships, elsewhere described was an arti- ficial process, following the geometrical lines of the government survey. But the grouping of population and the formation of village centers are the result usually of natural growth. In the following pages it is our pur- pose to continue the story of settlement and growth with special reference to the grouping of people into communities and villages.
It is easy to indicate in a general way the beginnings of such a com- munity. A fertile and arable region receives a large proportion of the immigration. Assuming that they are pioneers, it will be almost a neces- sity that most of them till the soil, even though combining that with an- other occupation. Or if a timbered region, those engaged in the lumber industry would also be subject to the centralizing influences. If the set- tlement was on a much traveled thoroughfare, one or perhaps more of the pioneer houses would be opened for the entertainment of the transient public. On the banks of a stream some one constructs a saw or grist mill. At some convenient and central point, a settler with commercial instincts will open a stock of goods such as will supply the other settlers and immi- grants. A postoffice comes next. the postmaster being very likely the mer- chant or tavern-keeper. A physician, looking for a location, is pleased with the conditions and occupies a cabin near the store or inn. A carpenter or other mechanic is more accessible to his patronage if he lives near the postoffice or other common gathering point. If the schoolhouse of the dis- trict has not already been built, it is probable that it will be placed at the increasingly central site. And the first church is a natural addition. Al- ready this nucleus of settlement is a village in embryo, and in the natural course of development a variety of enterprises will center there, the me- chanical, the manufacturing, the commercial and professional departments of human labor will be grouped together for the purpose of efficiency and convenience. By such accretions of population, by diversification of in- dustry, by natural advantages of location and the improvement of means of transportation, this community in time becomes organized as a village, and with continued prosperity, as a city.
Sometimes the development is arrested at a particular stage. The village remains a village, the hamlet ceases to grow, and we have a center of population without special business, industrial or civic development. Then there are instances in this county of retrogression. A locality that
123
.
124
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
could once be dignified with the name of village has disintegrated under the stress of rivalry from other centers or other causes, and is now little more than a place and a name.
Specific illustrations of all these processes are to be found in the his- tory of the centers in Allegan county. But in general it may be stated that during the early years, when communication was primitive and isolation quite complete even between localities separated by a few miles, the ten- dency was toward centralization in numerous small hamlets and villages. But in keeping with the economic development for which the past century was noted, and especially because of the improvement of all fornis of trans- portation, the barriers against casy communication with all parts of the county were thrown down, and the best situated centers grew and flour- ished at the expense of the smaller centers, which gradually dwindled into comparative insignificance. Nothing has done more to accelerate this movement than the establishment of rural free delivery. The postoffice was the central point of community life, and remoteness from its privileges was a severe drawback. Rural delivery has made every home a postoffice, puts each home in daily contact with the world, and while it is destroying provincialism and isolation, it is effecting a wholesome distribution of pop- ulation, rather than crowding into small villages. And the very recent in- troduction into Michigan of the system of public transportation of school children to and from school, will remove another powerful incentive to village life. When weak districts may be consolidated and a large, well graded and modern union school be provided convenient and accessible to every child in the enlarged school arca, families will no longer find it necessary "to move to town in order to educate their children."
These are the principal considerations that should be understood be- fore we enter on the description of the various centers which Allegan county has produced in three-quarters of a century of growth.
SAUGATUCK VILLAGE.
Saugatuck village was an outgrowth of the settlement and the indus- tries about the mouth of the river which have been described in connec- tion with the early history of that vicinity. Its history illustrates very well the process of village formation described at the beginning of this chapter. In the case of every village whose existence has continued on a perma- nent basis there is to be found a reason why people have grouped them- selves at that point. The trading, the lumbering, the shipping, and lastly the fruit interests have been at the basis of Saugatuck's growth and pros- perity, and the village has declined and advanced abreast of these interests.
William C. Butler was evidently a man of considerable sagacity and foresight, and understood some of the important factors that make a vil- lage. Barring rivals in the vicinity, the site and the conditions of trade and industry gave fair prophecy of the building of a considerable mart on the Kalamazoo lake. It is true that the Nichols warehouse and store at the mouth of the river and the enterprising village of Singapore almost de- stroyed Saugatuck's prestige for a number of years, but in time the advan- tages of the location, the enterprise of its inhabitants, or the establishment
125
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
of industries-one or all in combination-gave the village victory over its rivals.
In 1833, before he was joined by any other settlers, Butler had a village plat laid off on the land he had bought. This plat was recorded in the register's office of Kalamazoo county, where was located the county seat for the still unorganized Allegan county, on July 17, 1834 .* In the mean- time, however, Butler had sold an interest in the village to Henry Hoffman, of Niles; Jasper Mason, of St. Joseph, and John Griffith, of New York, after whom three of the principal streets were named. The name given to the village was Kalamazoo, and it was popularly called such for thirty- five years. It was entitled to the name by sole possession until 1836, for up to that time the county seat of Kalamazoo county had been known as Bron- son, in honor of its founder, Titus Bronson; but in 1836 the legislature changed the name to Kalamazoo, and thereafter the little village at the mouth of the river had no official title to that name. In 1835 a postoffice was established upon the application of R. R. Crosby, the tanner, whose commission as first postmaster bore date August 4, 1835. The postoffice was never known as Kalamazoo by the postal department. Mr. Crosby, being familiar with the Indian name "Saugatuck," meaning mouth of the river, suggested that as the name of the postoffice and it was accepted by the department. When the village was incorporated in 1868 this name was given to the village corporation.
During the latter thirties Singapore overshadowed Saugatuck as a commercial center. At one time it is said that the place was almost abandoned of all inhabitants except S. A. Morrison and family. A number of Indians dwelt in or about the village throughout its early career. There was little or no centering of the trade interests of the vicinity until the fifties, and the residents on the village plat usually bought their goods at the Nichols' store or at Singapore. Wayne Coats opened a drug store in 1849. S. D. Nichols established a store in 1851, Wells & Johnson, mill pro- prietors, started a general store in 1854, and thenceforward the village was on a permanent trade basis. The merchants in 1865 were John Burns, S. A. Morrison, B. W. Phillips, R. F. Kleeman and H. D. Moore, and there were also two sawmills, a pail-stave factory, a shingle mill, and two hotels.
Though Saugatuck now has nearly as good mail facilities as any vil- lage in the county, the oldest residents can refer to a time when postal com- munication with the outside world was extremely irregular. For some time after the establishment of the postoffice mail came down the river from Allegan according as means could be found to convey it. Begin- ning with 1840, when Samuel Morrison was appointed first carrier, there was established a mail route between Saugatuck and Allegan. When the railroad came through New Richmond. the mail was brought overland from that point. There were two stages a day between these points, and old resi- dents say they were very regular and made mail facilities hardly less than those today. When cars began running over the Holland-Saugatuck in- terurban in 1896. the village was given regular mail service by way of Hol- land.
The Saugatuck and Ganges Telephone Company was organized in
*The plat has since disappeared and its whereabouts not now known.
126
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
1893-4 and put in the first 'phones in the village, the first instrument being still in use in Mr. C. E. Bird's house. This company now has five ex- changes-Douglas, Fennville, Saugatuck, Glenn and Ganges, and connect- ing with the exchange at Holland, to which point a line was extended in 1896.
The postmasters of the village following Mr. Crosby have been: W. G. Butler, S. A. Morrison, Ward, Samuel Johnson, B. W. Phillips, S. A. Morrison, Hiram Ellis, Samuel Johnson, William V. Johnson, George T. Arnold, Cook, Frank A. Winslow, Dan Falconer, Fred Wade, who has held it for past six years.
With the decline of Singapore and the increase of industry and trade at Saugatuck, the latter assumed a corporate activity and became to a large degree distinct from its adjacent territory. The board of supervisors, ac- cording to the law at the time, incorporated Saugatuck village in 1868. At the legislative session of 1869-70 the village was reincorporated. The char- ter was amended in 1893, and in 1895 the village came under the provisions of the blanket charter now governing all villages of Michigan.
The first village election was held in March, 1868, and those chosen to direct the affairs of the village the first year were : H. B. Moore, president ; Hiram R. Ellis, clerk; Diodet Rogers, treasurer ; R. B. Newnham, marshal, and George E. Dunn, James Hibbodine, Solomon Stanton, Warren Cook, S. A. Morrison and Samuel Johnson, trustees. The principal officers down to the present time are given in the official lists. Of the first officers only R. B. Newnliam is still living.
Since incorporation many village improvements have taken place. Sev- eral costly fires have visited the village, and during the seventies the villagers began adding fire protection. A hook and ladder equipment, purchased in 1871, was the nucleus. Two hundred fire buckets were shortly added. In 1873 a Babcock extinguisher was bought and a fire company of thirty mem- bers organized, James M. Pond becoming chief engineer and A. H. Gardner first assistant.
In 1903 the citizens voted to bond the village for $8,000, later voting an additional $3,000, and with $3,000 in the treasury a waterworks system was installed that for pressure, efficiency and economy is not surpassed anywhere in the state, so the citizens claim. The system has cost to the present time, about $14,000.
The waterworks at Saugatuck were put in operation in 1904. A reser- voir 38 feet in diameter and 121/2 feet deep was constructed at a height of 180 feet above the river on Lone Pine Hill. It is fed from tubular wells driven into the sand, and equipment consists of two sets of engines and pumps. The mains are laid to the village twenty-one feet beneath the river surface. The mains are now laid in circuit around the village and branches are being extended gradually to all residence and business sections. The pressure is now about 75 pounds to the inch.
Fire protection since the establishment of the waterworks has become first class, shown by a reduction of 10 cents on the $100 of insurance rates for residence property. Saugatuck Hose Company No. I is now depended upon for protection, though the village still owns an engine and pumps used under the previous system. Homer Adams is now chief engineer.
127
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
The village hall, near the south end of Butler street, which has stood since the seventies, contains the council rooms and quarters for fire apparatus. Of the business men of the village, Mr. A. B. Taylor, the banker; Mr. C. E. Bird, who went into the drug business thirty years ago; Jacob Metzger, C. Walz and Fritz Walz, meat market; H. Schnoble, hardware ; J. A. Aliber, grocer ; John Schaberg, grocer; Sam Reed, Blacksmith, are to be mentioned as the oldest of those still in business. A. H. Stilson, Fred Palmer, H. W. Smith, John Loomis, Joseph Randall, now the ferryman, John Wheeler, who are now living in and about Saugatuck, were all residents when J. K. Dole came here in 1856.
A tavern at the mouth of the river, kept by Moses Nichols, and the hos- pitable home of S. A. Morrison in Saugatuck village, were the only places of public entertainment in the year 1840. It is indeed a far cry from that con- dition to the present when Saugatuck and vicinity has become one of the pop- ular summer retreats on the Lake Michigan east shore. The pioneers of the Saugatuck region could not have foretold this phase of Saugatuck's future. The summer resort is a development of the modern age, as characteristic of it as the log house was of the pioneer epoch. It marks the reaction from the extreme concentration of society which has produced the cities ; it is made possible by better facilities of transportation. Thus the same influence which in earlier years tended to concentrate population, now, in its higher develop- ment, diffuses society and enables people to enjoy the benefits of organization without the close crowding made necessary in cities.
Saugatuck's popularity as a summer resort dates from the completion of the interurban line from Holland in 1896. The possibilities of the situation had been recognized before that date, and the electric line was the result of the movement to develop the resort feature and to afford a commercial outlet for the village. Some cottages had been built along the lake shore about Douglas and Saugatuck in the early nineties. These villages were then reached by daily stage from New Richmond, but as long as direct rail com- munication could not be had the beauties of the Saugatuck region were within the avail of few.
In the past ten years Saugatuck has become known far beyond the limits of the county. Eligible locations that a few years ago could have been bought at little advance over general land values are now held at "resort" prices and most of the land is now held in small lots either by individual owners or by associations. Each year finds a larger number of visitors in this vicinity, and the impetus given to the village can be seen in many ways. The merchants regulate their business to accommodate the summer increase. The interurban doubles its service in the summer, and many summer hotels and boarding houses are conducted during the season. With the opening of the new harbor and its improvement by dredging and adding docking facilities, both passenger and freight transportation will increase and, it is believed, re- store much of the old-time prestige of this vicinity. During the summer of 1906 the passenger steamer "City of Kalamazoo" began plying between this port and Chicago, though the river has not been sufficiently dredged to allow safe and ready passage of large boats.
Largely through the efforts of Congressman Hamilton of this district an appropriation was obtained to open a new channel from the north bend of the river to the lake and the work of cutting the channel and constructing new
128
HISTORY OF ALLEGAN COUNTY
piers proceeded rapidly during 1905 and was completed in the following spring. The hydraulic dredge finished the cutting on May 18, 1906, the Commercial Record, of Saugatuck, spcaks of the occasion as follows :
"The yacht Green Devil was first to go through the new cut, the party on board consisting of Capt. Henry Perkins, L. E. Veits, Dr. G. H. Perrin, Charles Parrish, J. F. Davis, C. O. Hauke, Clarence Wadc, Chas. Converse, George Hames, Carl Bird, H. M. Bird, D. F. Ludwig. The appropriation of $250,000 for the harbor work will have been exhausted (cxcept $9,000) when the present contract is completed, after which it will be necessary to get an extra appropriation from congress if any revetments are built or if the river from the Twin Cities to the mouth is dredged out.
"The new cut is 1,200 fcct long, 200 feet wide and about 14 fcet decp, while the picrs arc 1,200 fect long.'
"Harbor Day" was enthusiastically celebrated June 30, about 8,000 people being present.
One of Chicago's important charitable movements has large real estate interests about Saugatuck and hitherto this has been the headquarters of its summer settlement work. The organization which is known as the "For- ward Movement Settlement," now owns clear of debt the Forward Move- ment Park of 130 acres along the lake shore at Saugatuck, with a hotel known as "Swift Cottage," an auditorium, the Vesta Putnam Summer Schools of five buildings for crippled children, other cottages and tents, a water and light system, and boulevarded roadways, all being valucd at $30,- 000. In Chicago it has a substantial settlement house and kindergarten cot- tage and playground on a lot 95 by 187 feet at 305 West Van Buren street.
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