USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Combination atlas map of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 3
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Another road has been projected,-the "Toledo, Ann Arbor and Northern Rail- road,"-which, if finished, and brought into competition with the great arteries of rail now coursing through the State from east to west, would be of incalculable benefit to this County. It has been graded all through Washtenaw County, and some distance below, and the road-bed ready for the iron.
SCHOOLS.
We have not given a full picture of the past of Washtenaw County until we have briefly sketched the history of her educational interests, for which she stands pre-eminent.
The first facilities the County enjoyed in this direction were " select schools," like that which Miss Hope Johnson taught at Woodruff's Grove in 1826-7,-gen- erally the assembling of a few small children in the teacher's own house. A school was opened in Ypsilanti in 1825, and Miss Olive Gorton (now wife of Lyman Graves) was its first teacher. The first school-house proper was the one erected at Ypsilanti in 1829, and known as "The Brick." Five years later a "Young Ladies' Seminary" was opened in the same place, in a room over Van- derbilt's shop.
The pioneer school-houses were mostly constructed of logs, during the decade of 1830-40. The first in Sharon, near " Row's Corners," erected in 1832, was one
of the earliest frame school buildings in the County. The first school in Freedom Township dates from about the same year. In 1834, Augusta's first pedagogue officiated in their primitive log district school-house. That of Lyndon was erected in 1837, in which John Yocum held the first licensed school of that town, although Miss Angelina Green taught in a private house prior to that date. The first school-house in Ann Arbor was built about 1827, and Miss Sallie Clark taught in it.
"Toward the close of the territorial period," says Mr. Charles Woodruff, "a perfect system of education was formed, from which the people expected great things; but the financial revulsion of 1836 came, and these projects fell in the common ruin. The disaster to the University interests were relieved by the State; but not so the common schools; the people were obliged to fall back upon their own voluntary efforts, and at a time when every other interest was prostrate. The interest of the school-fund, divided by scholars, was no inducement to main- tain a school for the period requisite to entitle a district to its share. Few houses were built, and many that were stood vacant. Wages for teachers were merely nominal; and in not a few instances districts allowed their houses to be used by whomsoever would undertake to teach for what they could obtain from their pa- trons. Education relied solely upon the enterprise of citizens and the self-denial of teachers.
The County, however, soon recovered from this depression, and made giant strides toward liberal culture, establishing many fine schools, and erecting some very fine and ofttimes costly edifices. The present status of the common school system in this County may best be gathered from the following facts, furnished us by the County Superintendent, Mr. G. S. Wheeler. There are 166 districts in the County, and over 10,000 children attended the schools held in nine stone, forty-seven brick, one hundred and twelve frame, and five log school-houses. The County now has provisions for seating nearly 13,000 pupils. The value of school property is $368,054. There are also in the County seven graded schools. To carry on these schools ninety-six male and two hundred and eighty-five fe- male teachers are employed. The total expenditures for the school year of 1872 were $131,229.26.
Foremost among the educational institutions of Washtenaw County, and of the Northwest, is
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN,
located at the County-seat. It was properly started in 1817, by a charter from the Territorial Legislature to the "Catholepistemiad," or "University of Michi- gan." This was to include all the schools of the State; and the president and professors were to have legislative power for the settlement of the entire school system. It was to be supported by taxes, subscriptions, and lotteries. Subscrip- tions to the amount of several thousand dollars were raised in Detroit, but the lotteries were never drawn, and the taxes perhaps never paid, though the schools were started, and Rev. John Monteith, of the First Protestant Church, was made president, and the Rev. Gabriel Richard, a Catholic priest, professor. This char- ter was repealed by the enactment of another to take its place in 1821. A judi- cial decision in 1858 settled the question, as one of law, that these were identical with the present University of Michigan, and the property which had not already been transfered to the Board of Regents, the old academy lot and building, passed into the hands of the latter. In 1804 a township of land was appropriated by Congress for a "seminary of learning" in the territory. In 1817 Governor Cass had, in the treaty of Fort Meigs, procured a provision appropriating three sec- tions to the "College of Detroit." The Board of 1821 attempted to make use of these appropriations. This they could do in case of the Fort Meigs' grant, but the stipulations of the other made it impracticable. But they succeeded in ob- taining, in 1826, a grant of two townships in place of the one of 1804. The fund which originated in this other grant is now the main support of the institution. The means of starting the work were first raised by loan of $100,000, endorsed by the State. The fund, after passing through many dangers from injudicious legis- lation, was saved in 1839 by an executive vote, and finally reached about $460,000, after paying the loan, the amount of which was, in 1859, refunded to the Univer- Bity by legislative act, less about fourteen years' interest, making it about $560,000.
At first, branches or preparatory schools were contemplated in various parts of the State, and eight of these were started from 1837 to 1845; but the income was insufficient, and the appropriation of it in this way deemed illegal. The Univer- sity proper was opened at Ann Arbor in the autumn of 1841, and the first class- twelve in number-graduted in 1845. The classical course alone was established at first; the medical department being opened in 1850, the scientific in 1852, and the law department in 1859. The number of students have gradually increased ever since the first expansion by the opening of the new courses. The number in attendance during the year, which ended with the commencement of 1873, was 1176, and for 1873-4 it was even larger. In 1867 the State made the institution a gift of $15,000 a year, conditional that a homoeopathic professor of medicine be appointed, which was made unconditional in 1869; and again, in 1871, by an ap- propriation of $75,000 for a "central building," which was completed during 1873, and the " University Hall" contained therein-the largest audience hall in the State-dedicated in November of that year. This building, with a front of 127 feet, makes, with the two former buildings, which form its wings, a total frontage of 347 feet. It is surmounted by an imposing dome, to be topped by Rogers's colossal statue of " Michigan." The chapel or audience-room, eighty by one hun- dred and thirty feet, is capable of seating three thousand persons.
The University has a library of twenty-two thousand volumes, museums of art, natural history, and comparative anatomy, a chemical laboratory, and an "astro- nomical observatery," which are widely known, of the latter more particular men- tion being made in the sketch of Ann Arbor Township and City. This university has now been in existence thirty-one years,-eleven years without a president (some member of the faculty acting as such, by arrangement), eleven years under the presidency of Rev. Henry P. Tappan, LL.D., six years under that of Erastus Haven, LL.D., two years Prof. Henry S. Frieze acted as president, and in June, 1871, the present incumbent, James B. Angell, LL.D., entered upon duty. The first professor ever appointed, Rev. George P. Williams, LL.D., is still connected with the university.
THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL
is located at Ypsilanti. It was established by an Act of the Legislature, approved March 28, 1849. To secure its location the citizens of that place gave the ground required and a large subscription in money. The edifice, which was dedicated October 5, 1852, is a fine one, of brick, 57 by 100 feet, three stories high, beside basement. There are other contiguous buildings, and the institution and its graduates are both favorably known throughout the country." There were in attendance on November 1, 1873, three hundred and sixty pupils, and the number enrolled during the pi ling year was four hundred and forty-seven. During 1873 important changer were made in the seatings of the main rooms, and the laboratory was enlarged and provided with better facilities. The outbuildings, which were burned during the vacation, were also rebuilt on a better and more
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convenient plan during 1873. This school has gone forward from year to year, happily disappointing those who had entertained the highest expectations con- cerning it; and the successful past is a promise for a useful future.
THE YPSILANTI UNION SCHOOL
In the beginning of the year 1844, Mr. Chas. Woodruff opened an academical school, where his printing-office now is, and soon after Rev. L. H. Moore pur- chased a brick building and opened a school, which was incorporated in 1845 as the Ypsilanti Seminary. In 1848 the building was purchased by District No. 4, and Rev. M. S. Hawley became principal. The succeeding fall (1849) this school was organized under a special act of legislation, authorizing the directors to adopt any system which would not conflict with the General School Law. " It was a bold, and in many respects an unprecedented, experiment undertaken by one distriet alone, and involving an amount of pecuniary responsibility which nothing but zeal in the cause of education could have induced its projectors to assume." In 1851 a second district joined with the first, and in 1857 two other districts united with them. In 1853 Rev. Joseph Esterbrook became principal, and the same year it caught fire and was burned to the ground; but the enterprise of the people was equal to the emergency. The entire village consolidated into one district, and, "phoenix-like," arose an edifice second to none other in the State for the purpose for which it was erected. The style of the building is Roman, and consists of a main structure and two wings, with a frontage of one hundred and twenty-one feet, being three stories high, besides basement. In most Union schools the course of instruction is limited to that of the common district school, and in most cases the people are obliged to support, as separate schools, both an seademy and a Union school. The Ypsilanti Union School unites both in one, and by a kind of common consent became known as "Union Seminary," which name it has since borne without giving offense to other seminaries, or bringing discredit upon the name. If it is the first institution of the kind which has assumed this well-merited distinction, it is to be hoped that it will not be the last for surely such schools, taking the rank and doing the labor of seminaries in our populous and enterprising villages, are the hope of the State, not only as seats of academical learning, but as preparatory schools for our university.
"IN LIMINE."
" At the threshold." It seems to be a peculiar element of human mind to de- sire to know all about the origin of things. With it goes a reverence for pioneers and initial efforts.
Alvin Cross ploughed or broke up the first ten acres of land in the County. His father built the first barn, and nearly all the settlers were at the "raising."* The first celebration of our National Independence was in 1824, Major Wood- ruff taking special pains to have every inhabitant of the County present. The whole number of adults was about thirty ! Judge Robert Fleming presided at the table; opposite him was the Indian chief, Blue Jacket, who had come by partic- ular request. The field-piece of the day was a solid oak-tree, which is said to have answered the purpose well. Their feast consisted in part of provisions brought from Detroit, but principally upon venison from the forest, fish from the Huron; and a jolly time was had on the two gallons of whisky that Clark Sills walked to Detroit to procure and brought back to Ann Arbor on his back. At the celebration of the following "4th" (1825), quite a goodly company assembled, and, to show the forwardness of the season, it is said that the dinner on that day was entirely cooked from vegetables grown that season in the vicinity. Wheat had been harvested and threshed, and bread made from the flour from the same, and used on this occasion.
The first surveying was done by Orange Risdon, who, in 1824, surveyed the roads from Ann Arbor to Dexter, from Detroit to Ypsilanti, and from the latter place to Ann Arbor. In 1825 he surveyed the famed Chicago Road, going through with a baggage wagon, six teams, pack-horses, and twelve men.
The first marriage in the County was that of Robert Stitt to Esther Beverly, at Ypsilanti, by Eaq. Woodruff, in 1824. The first that we can find on record was Rufus Knight to Sally Scott, the license dated February 17, 1827, signed by David E. Lord, the first county clerk, and endorsed as follows: "I certify that the within has been complied with by me, Martin Davis, J. P."
The first death is claimed to be the decease of Walter Oakman, a young Irish- man, who died at Woodruff's Grove, September 10, 1824.
Mrs. Woodruff was the first white woman in the County, and Mrs. Rumsey the first west of Ypsilanti, and her son, born a few months after her arrival at Ann Arbor, named in honor of the then officiating governor, Lewis Cass Rumsey, was the first birth. There are two other claimants for this honor, -Alpha W. Bryan, born February 27, 1824, and Miss Maria, daughter of Captain Robert M. Stitts, of Ypsilanti.
The oldest settlers now living in the County are Daniel Cross, who came in 1823, and his sister, Mrs. Eliza Cotton.
The first officiating judge was Samuel Dexter, in 1827. The first person ad- mitted to practice as an attorney- and counsellor-at-law was Elisha Belcher, Esq., in January, 1827. B. F. Witherell, Esq., practised the same year before the first court held in the County in conformity to its rules. The first licensed vendors of spirituous beverages were Jason Cross, John Allen, and. Nathan Thomas, in 1827. Benjamin Woodruff and John Allen also kept the first licensed taverns in Washtenaw County. The earliest record we find of a duly licensed auctioneer was Stephen K. Jones, for the town of Ann Arbor, January 9, 1839.
The first murder, or attempted murder, in the County, and one of the first in the State, was in 1837, when Isaac B. Stoddard shot David Sloat, an early settler of Sharon, for which crime the offender was sent to State's prison for a term of years.
The first paper published in the County was the Michigan Emigrant, by S. W. Dexter. The first school taught was at the grove, in 1826-7, with Miss Hope Johnson as school-ma'm. The first religious efforts in the County were by the Methodists, among whom Rev. Elias Pattes was the pioneer. The first society formed was a class of five members, in 1825. The first town-meetings were held in Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, and Dexter, in 1827. The first highways open to travel were the Chicago Road and the old Territorial Road.
General Edward Clark, of Ann Arbor, was the importer of the first piano into the County, although violins and rustic dances were common at the time.
Ann Arbor was the first village platted in the County, May 25, 1824. Cyrus Beckwith was the first recorder of deeds. The first telegraph came into Washte- naw County in 1847, reaching the County-seat in December.
RELIGIOUS.
As would be expected, there were not many people here before they were searched out by the "itinerating system" of the M. E. Church. As a messenger of religion the circuit minister would be likely to be the first to visit the destitute with anything like systematic effort. "In a true picture of pioneer life," says Edward Eggleston, "neither the Indian nor the hunter is the centre-piece, but
* Moses Clark, some claim, built the first barn in the County, about 1827, on Section 35, Ann Arbor Township.
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the circuit-rider. More than any one else the early circuit preachers brought order out of the chaos. In no other class was the heroic element so finely dis- played. How do I remember the forms and weather-beaten visages of the old preachers, whose constitutions had conquered starvation and exposure,-who had survived swamps, ague, Indians, and bilious fevers !" The first circuit preachers who figured in this County were Rev. Elias Pattee and John A. Banghman. The first-named formed a class at Woodruff's, in 1825; the latter, whose thundering voice so echoed through the forests of Washtenaw that he was termed "John the Methodist crying in the wilderness," formed a class in the autumn of 1826, of which Asa Rice t and some others were members. Eleazer Smith was its first leader. Mr. Baughman generally preached at the house of Isaac Powers, Ypsi- lanti's first postmaster, who, though not a Christian, was a man of public spirit and some generous impulses. After Baughman came Cooper, Gurley, Sayer, Elliot, Pilcher, Colelazer, etc. All these figured as itinerants, and prior to 1837, in which year Ypsilanti became a station, and from which time onward it had a stated supply in succession by Wesley J. Wells, J. H. Pitsell, Oscar North, Elijah Crane, Mr. Champion, Elliot Crippen, George Taylor, W. F. Cowles, T. H. Jacokes, Seth' Reed, W. G. Stowix, F. A Blades, and J. S. Smart.
Rev. Wm. Jones (now of Neenah, Wisconsin), who was the first missionary sent here from New York, gives us a very fair picture of the moral status at that time. He says : " I arrived at Ypsilanti on the 3d of October, 1829, and found the people without a church, and in a deplorable condition. Almost the whole village, with few exceptions, were given over to unrestrained indulgence in intoxicating drinks. The holy Sabbath was openly desecrated by revelry, drunkenness, and the pitching of quoits on the banks of the river. The first Sabbath after my arrival,-as they were without even a school-house or a public room for meeting, -I met the people in a private dwelling; but the fetid breath of intoxication sensibly impregnated and polluted the atmosphere of the room. I entered the field under heart-sickening circumstances.
I felt that nothing could be done until the people were restored to sobriety. So I invited different neighborhoods together, and read to them Dr. Beecher's sermons on "The Use of Intoxicating Drinks." Attention was arrested; a temperance society was formed at Ypsilanti, and from thence the reformation spread through the country.
About the time this missionary came, the people generally had come to think there was too much drinking for the prosperity of the Town; so it was resolved that the drinking should end off with a grand time on a certain day, and then all should sign the pledge. Just as the grand time was at its height, and some temperate men had been forced to taste a little, the missionary came along on foot to do the work of his mission. One cries out, "There's another man !" another says, "Hold on, boys, I guess he is a minister !" "Never mind;" says a third, " grab him." A general rush was made, but as heads were reeling and feet not very nimble, some missed him, while others fell headlong. His reverence was soon seen in the distance giving unmistakable evidence of speed, while the rabble were crying out, "Catch him ! catch him !" This was rather a novel way of receiving a missionary; but something like this has often occurred in the history of the evangelization of the West.
The first Sabbath school was commenced in July, 1828, and held in a log build- ing at Ypsilanti. No one was living in the village then who would open the school with prayer. In 1830 this school was reorganized, and met in the Old Red Building; all denominations sent their children there. Later in the season Rev. I. M. Wead organized another school, in connection with the Presbyterian Church, and auxiliary to the American Sunday School Union. That school has continued till the present time. The Methodists, with their scholars, about this time com- menced to meet in the school-house on the east side of the Huron, where Chas. Woodruff now resides, a building that was a common temple for education and religion. Since then other schools have sprung up all over the County, but these two schools are entitled to rank as pioneers.
In 1831 the foundations were laid of the first church building in Washtenaw County, by the Methodists, at Ypsilanti. At this date all the appointments in Michigan were in the Detroit district of the Ohio Conference. In 1835 it was di- vided into the Detroit and Ann Arbor districts, with sixteen circuits and missions; and at the general conference of the following year the Michigan Conference was organized, with four districts in Ohio and two in Michigan. It was not till 1840 that the Michigan Conference had jurisdiction over all the Michigan work.
In 1830 Rev. Silas Freeman came into the County as a missionary of the Epis- copal Church, and organized "St. James," at Ypsilanti, with ten members. As early as 1828, Rev. Mr. Corey, of Detroit, and, after him, Rev. Richard Berry, preached occasionally in the County.
In searching out the history of the Presbyterian Church, we find that Rev. Noah M. Wells, of Detroit, came out and preached a few times in 1827-8 ; that the few and scattered persons of that denomination sometimes met for prayer and the reading of sermons, E. M. Skinner being the reader. But the first church was not organized until July, 1829, by Rev. William Page, of Ann Arbor. In the fall of that year Rev. William Jones preached not only at Ypsilanti, but statedly at Dixboro', Mallett's Creek and Stony Creek, traveling on foot. In the spring of 1830 he held a " protracted meeting" at Mallett's Creek, in the log- house of Deacon Ezra Carpenter,-a man eminent for "faith and good works." At that time there were but four Presbyterian ministers in Michigan. He was followed, the same year, by Rev. Ira M. Wead, and in 1831 occurred the " first re- vival in the red school-house,"-a building often " persecuted for righteousness' sake" by stones and brickbats! People came from Wayne, Monroe, and Lenawep Counties to attend these meetings. In the autumn of 1834 Mr. Wead (died in Ypsilanti, November 30, 1871,) was formally installed the first pastor of the Pres- byterian Church. Rev. A. S. Wells, then of Tecumseh, gave the charge to the pastor; Rev. Charles G. Clark, then of Webster, but who died in 1871, gave the charge to the people. As early as October 4, 1830, "The First Congregational Society of Ypsilanti" had been organized according to Territorial Statute.
Rev. Charles G. Clark supplied the pulpit of the Presbyterian Church at Ann Arbor for a few weeks, in the absence of their pastor, during the fall of 1829, after which he located in Webster, where a church was soon after formed. He continued to labor there until his death. But his efforts were not confined to Webster, but extended to all the adjacent towns, and many of their churches were organized by him.
Those were days of " small things," but from them have grown all the prosper- ous churches and religious organizations of the County. '
The Baptist denomination did not commence its existence in Washtenaw as early as the churches we have above-mentioned. The first church was organized
at in the year , under jurisdiction of the "River Raisin Asso- ciation." In October, 1836, Elder J. S. Twiss, then of Ann Arbor,-a man well remembered for his eccentric faithfulness,-organized a society at Ypsilanti. Previous to this there had been Baptist preaching occasionally at various points in the County, by such pioneers as Boothe, Powell, and Loomis.
. The first Catholic church was that of Northfield, erected in 1832; that of Dexter was erected in 1838; subsequently destroyed by fire.
t Died Jane 29, 1867, aged 68. . .
+"The Past of Ypsilanti," by Rev. G. L. Foster (1857), to which work we are indebted for many facts and reminiscences.
AGRICULTURAL.
Washtenaw County is one of the richest in the State in agricultural products. The number of seres of land in the County (as per the assessment of 1871) is 440,591, and the aggregate of real and personal estate is $31,500,000. It is one of the finest wheat-raising districts in the State. Its leading products are wheat, wool, potatoes, apples, and hay. It is noted for its stock-raising, but its dairy interests yet lie dormant. The following table, taken from the last census table, more fully shows the agricultural ability of the County :
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