USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 16
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
Hosted by Google
123
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
street to Monroe and, in July, the trustees purchased a tract of six acres from James Ballard for $300, for cemetery purposes. This was the beginning of the Fulton Street cemetery and one-third of it was reserved to the use of the Catholics of the community, and the whole was to be maintained at the expense of the village. But few taxes were paid, or payable, as the machinery for taxation had not long existed, but to relieve its embarrassment, the trustees issued village script to the amount of $300, in one and two-dollar denominations. Specimens of this script are preserved at the Public Library. It was receivable for taxes and corporation dues of all kinds and much of it was in circulation, at a discount, for a number of years.
The first court house was erected in 1838. This was a two-story frame structure, about 30x40 feet in size, located on the site selected by the commissioners, in 1833, at Fulton Street Park. It was beauti- fied by a cupola which was surmounted by a gilded ball. A hallway ran through the center of the building and in it were located not only the county offices, but the county jail and the residence of the sheriff. The cost of this building, completed, was in the neighborhood of $5,000. The contract price, awarded Wm. I. Blakely and S. Granger, the builders, being $3,000. This was by far the finest court house in Western Michigan and was justly the pride of the community, al- though it involved the county in what was for that period a stagger- ing indebtedness. It was one of the centers of the civic life of the community until destroyed by fire, in 1844, leaving the debt as an un- pleasant reminder. The great event of the early spring was the un- precedented flood, which caused serious damage and interruption to business, but served to show the people the great necessity for flood protection, which has since been carried almost to perfection. Several descriptions of this flood have been preserved. Mrs. Withey wrote of it as follows: "In February, 1838, great anxiety was felt on ac- count of the ice in the river. One evening, just in the midst of a spirited debate in the Lyceum, came a cry of alarm. Every one start- ed to the scene of trouble. It was an anxious night, followed by an exciting day. At mid-day, the ice in a vast body began to move and piled up in a solid mass, twenty to thirty feet high, forcing the water suddenly back on the little town, so that many barely escaped with their lives. The Almy and Page families were taken to our house, very much excited after their narrow escape." The whole scene, ac- companied as it was with a heavy rumbling sound and the rushing of the water, is spoken of by witnesses as grand and awe-inspiring be- yond description. Frank Little wrote of crossing the river in a canoe, "although the mountains of ice made it very difficult to gain access to the channel, the Stevens T. Mason, a steamboat that had been run- ning on the river the previous summer, was jammed from its moor- ings by the ice and flood and driven inland up the valley of a small creek to a point well towards Dr. Platt's early residence. corner of Fulton and Division streets. The waters subsiding left the boat stranded high and dry, a long distance from the river. Captain Short and his son-in-law, Jennings, in the spring of 1838 spent a number of weeks getting the boat back again, a work that I viewed with much boyish interest and curiosity." Cooler weather followed and checked the flood, but the roads and streets were practically impassable during all the Spring months.
Hosted by Google
124 HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
Perhaps the most characteristic development of village life was the early establishment of the Lyceum, in the fall of 1837. Many of the pioneers were men of good education, with the American fond- ness for politics and the American love of freedom of speech. With but little reading matter and no entertainment or amusements from the outside, these men were forced upon their own resources, and the Lyceum was the result. Here it was that the young lawyers, doctors, preachers, and business men sharpened their wits in lengthy debates upon the most profound questions of politics and religion. Nearly all of the men later prominent in the community took part in these meetings, and though the institution languished at times, it was for many years one of the most vital factors in Grand Rapids' life and served many an ambitious youth in lieu of a college course. John W. Peirce was the early secretary of the Lyceum, which held its meetings in the schoolhouse on Prospect Hill.
The signs of improvement in civic life were numerous. With the coming of Rev. James Ballard there was an attempt to arouse an interest in temperance work. He was active in urging the villagers to "sign the pledge," but this early seed seems to have been on barren ground. At this time practically all merchants sold liquors by the barrel or by the drink, and it was quite customary for the merchant to have a cask of whiskey "on tap," and his customers could help themselves by the tumblerful; at this time whiskey sold at from twenty-one to twenty-five cents per gallon.
The real beginning of the great lumbering industry was made during the year, when James M. and George C. Nelson and Wm. H. Withey began operations, and it is claimed that James M. Nelson had the honor of sending the first lumber raft down the river in that year. There were many additions to different lines of industry during 1838. John Westcott was a new blacksmith, and Wilder D. Foster began his career in Grand Rapids by working as a tinner for E. J. Squier, with whom he later entered into partnership. Mrs. Cramond opened the first millinery store, and William Rust appeared as the first baker. He was located on Monroe, opposite Market, and the first bake-oven was built by a Mr. Haskin. It was in this year, also, that Abel Page started a more pretentious nursery on Michigan street, occupying two or three acres above Ionia. He was the first to grow tomatoes, which were then called "love apples" and thought by some to be poisonous. Work on the canal progressed slowly, but river navigation was in- creased by the building of the steamer 'Patronage." The hull was built at Grand Rapids and the engine was made at Grandville. Or- son Peck also built a small steamer, called the "John Almy," for up-river navigation, but this boat made but a few trips before it was stranded at the mouth of Flat River. Speaking of the village roads of this period, Baxter's History says: "There were wagon roads winding in various directions, unfenced and unworked save by the wear of travel. The most feasible passage from the head of Monroe street to the Bridge street bridge, when that was built, was by a wagon track passing the National Hotel corner, skirting along the eastern slope of Prospect Hill, a little west of Ionia street, crossing in a muddy gully the little creek which formerly ran around the north end of that hill, and picking the way carefully over dry spots and
Hosted by Google
-
125
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
past bogs near Kent to Bridge street, thence through a miry slough to the bridge. A similar wagon track ran in a zig-zag course near the foot of the hill from Coldbrook to Bridge street. The road to- ward Plainfield sought the dry places, but did not escape all the muddy ones. Nowhere within the village limits was there a good east-and- west wagon road. From Fulton street east of the public square was one that climbed the hill in a northeasterly direction through a ravine which reached the summit a little east of where the Central School building now stands, and thence wound its way among the oak grubs back to the Thornapple road. On the west side were less of ups and downs, but here was plenty of variety in the alternating patches of stony and gravelly and miry grounds, and for nearly twenty years the teamster chose his route (inside of what is now the town) over un- fenced lands, through bushes and past the bad places, by what ap- peared to be the most feasible way. This condition of things has long since passed, and it is only by the eye of the mind that one can see and comprehend the great change that has taken place from the ragged, original roads to the handsomely graded streets."
Canton Smith was the keeper of the Eagle Hotel and C. H. Carrol of the Grand River Exchange, while Myron Hinsdill held forth at Hinsdill Hotel, and the Misses Bayless, sisters of Mrs. George Cog- geshall, kept a boarding house in the fine residence which Louis Campau had been forced to give up. The business centers were on Market street, near the Eagle Hotel, and at the corner of Monroe and Ottawa streets.
Among the arrivals who later became of prominence were Robert I. Shoemaker, a carpenter and joiner and well known as the official bell-ringer and sexton, later becoming superintendent of the Grand Rapids Hydraulic Company. Ebenezer W. Barns, the first county clerk, and county treasurer in 1850, came from Vermont as a young man of nineteen. He became prominent in the carrying trade on the river and was at one time the postmaster at Grand Haven. Geo. W. Griggs, who married Miss Marsac, was active in the community until leaving for St. Louis. He returned to Grand Rapids, in 1862, as a successful farmer, and was prominent in the State Agricultural Society, and was one of the organizers of Michigan Agricultural College. Jos- eph B. Baxter came as a carpenter and millwright, and was one of the pioneer wagonmakers. Later, he was in the livery and grocery business, and became known as a manufacturer of bed springs. He erected a home on Fountain and North Division streets in 1843. Wil- der D. Foster began his Grand Rapids career humbly as a tinner and extended his business to hardware lines. He was elected mayor and served in the Legislature, being one of the early Republicans of Michi- gan, and was member of Congress from this district at the time of his death. John Mathison was a young man and one of the first tailors, later being a prominent clothing merchant. James McCray settled at Grandville, where he was an important figure until 1843, when he moved to Grand Rapids. He was an iron founder and machinist and his sudden death, in 1851, was one of the sensations of that year. Orson Cook also was a builder, constructing the Bronson House on old Canal street and built the first schoolhouse in Gaines township. He was one of the Democratic leaders and was a well-known justice
Hosted by
126
HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
of the peace. Robert W. Morris was here but a short time, being in- terested in the saw-mill with W. I. Blakely and Leonard Covell, grandfather of Gen. Covell, serving in the American army in France. He removed to Muskegon, in 1838, and became a partner of Martin Ryerson, attaining large wealth. In 1865, he returned to Grand Rap- ids to enjoy his possessions, but died within a year.
The arrival who had the most to do with Grand Rapids' history in the years immediately following, was Rev. James Ballard. He was a man of strong personality and became dearly beloved in spite of his strenuous advocacy of a code of morals somewhat rigid for pio- neer days. He was a native of Massachusetts and a graduate of Wil- liams College. He came here with his wife and occupied a farm in Paris township, but his services were soon in demand as a preacher and teacher, and he made Grand Rapids his home. He probably offi- ciated at more pioneer weddings and funerals than any other man. He was the pastor of the Congregational Church, a teacher, a tem- perance lecturer and a leader of the Liberty party in the days when it was most popular. To no other one man was it given to do so much for the moral uplift of the community.
The most sensational event of the year 1839 was the murder of the Indian chief, Kawiquashcum, or Long Nose. He had signed the treaty of Chicago, in 1821, and never regained his popularity with the tribe on that account. His life had been threatened many times. After the Indian payment, he went with others to Coldbrook for a drunken spree and, consuming all the whiskey they had with them, some of the Indians returned to Grand Rapids for more, leaving Chief Long Nose and two children at Coldbrook. One of these Indian children was a boy, who related the story of the murder to Lucas Robinson as follows: "I sat in the stern of the canoe, tied to the bank of Grand River near the mouth of Coldbrook. I had a knife in my hand paring a turnip. The two old men, Wasogenaw and Kawiquashcum, sat on the bank by the fire. I heard Wasogenaw say, 'You old fool, did you not know better than to sell this whole territory and impoverish your nation? I am going to take your life.' Kawiquashcum, pulling out and flashing his knife, said: 'You can't do that. Do you see this ?' The other man bent down to me and said: 'Do you see that man? He is what has impoverished you. Let me take that knife you have got. I am going to kill him. Then I want you to help me put him in this canoe and we will take him to the middle of the river and throw him in.' I dropped my knife into the river and said, 'I have no knife.' The old man said, 'I thought I saw you peeling a turnip with the knife.' Showing him a sliver of wood, I said, 'No, I had only this.' The old man became very furious and raging about went to the bank of the river and pulled out a maple club about two feet long, with a knot on the end. He brandished it around frantically, capering awhile and saying to me, 'This is the way when you kill something.' Then rushing up to Kawiquashcum and saying with frantic gestures, 'This is the way when you kill something,' struck him on the head. The old man threw up his hands and feet, dropped his knife and begged. The other kept on striking and repeating the same expression. I jumped out of the canoe and ran toward the village. Wasogenaw called to me to stop. I ran faster, he following. Jumping across Coldbrook I got
Hosted by Google
127
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
into the mud and fell down. Looking back, the old man was over me with a club. I evaded him, ran and met the party returning from Grand Rapids with the whiskey. I said to them, 'The old men are killing each other.' The son of Wasogenaw said to me, 'I will go and pacify him' [his father]. He walked up to his father and patting him on the cheek said, 'You fool, can't you be satisfied with committing one murder without taking the life of the boy?' The old man then fell on the ground and cried. All the men then went to the camp and found Kawiquashcum dead. They put him in the canoe and carried him to Plainfield." This chief was buried at Plainfield, not far from the bridge and near the burial place of Wabesis, who was another victim of Indian vengeance.
A few of the first German settlers were added to the community in 1840, being the first foreign element, except the French traders and the Irish canal workers. The first distinctively German settle- ment in West Michigan was at Westphalia, in Clinton County, in 1836, but, by 1840, Anthony Cordes and family, with others, settled in Grand Rapids and others followed in the winter of 1842. The first band was organized in 1840, with John W. Peirce, H. G. Stone, Henry Stone, A. Hosford Smith, H. K. Rose, Abraham Snively and Leonard Covell as members. It was called the Harmonia Band, but whether it lived up to its name is not recorded. It furnished the music for festal occa- sions, but was a short-lived institution.
Among the newcomers were Francis B. Gilbert, who became a successful business man in connection with his brother, Thomas D. Gilbert, but removed to Grand Haven in 1844, returning to Grand Rapids in 1855. Samuel B. Ball came this year, as clerk and book- keeper in the store of Granger & Ball, Daniel Ball being his uncle. He built a business block in 1844, in which was located what was called Irving Hall, and he was one of the founders of the first lodge of Odd Fellows. He died in 1850. Daniel Ball was a newcomer and was a man of some capital and great enterprise. He was a merchant, active in transportation, and was the pioneer of the present banking system. Another man who proved himself a great addition to the town was P. R. L. Peirce. His first residence in Grand Rapids was brief, as he removed to Cincinnati, in 1843, returning to Grand Rapids in 1850. He studied law with George Martin, was prominent in the Lyceum and in temperance work and was in the book business. Later, as county clerk, he was considered the model county officer of the state, and he was afterwards a member of the Legislature, mayor and postmaster at Grand Rapids, and prominent as a lecturer, Repub- lican politician, and an enthusiastic Episcopalian. Truman H. Lyon came to Michigan in 1836, and to Grand Rapids in 1840. He was ac- tive in business and politics, associated with Lucius Lyon in the salt wells and was a member of the Legislature in 1854. H. H. Philbrick was the pioneer music teacher. He built the square wooden cottage on Fulton street, just east of the Park, and during the earlier days no public entertainment was considered complete unless he had charge of the music. It was in this year, also, that Lucretia, the beloved sis- ter of Lucius Lyon, came from Vermont to make a home for her brother. His letters show the strong and intimate affection which existed between him and his sister. She was with him in Washington
Hosted by Google
128
HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
when he was Congressman and was one of the acknowledged belles of the Capitol. After her brother's death, in 1851, she made Grand Rapids her home, being dearly beloved and highly honored until her death, which occurred in 1895. O. W. C. Lawrence was a newcomer, from Pennsylvania. He became prominent as a Free Soiler and was a nominee of that party for Congress in 1848, withdrawing in favor of Rev. William Sprague, the Whig candidate, who in turn had him appointed as clerk of the Senate Committee on Patents, and he after- wards became a prominent attorney in Washington. Lamont A. Chubb saw Kent County for the first time in 1840, but he came as an infant, the son of Jonathan Chubb, and he later became prominent both as an educator and business man. Another infant who became prominent was Joseph C. Genia, son of Henry Genia, a French-Cana- dian trader noted for his great strength and courage and who was said to have come here about the same time as Louis Campau. The story is told of Henry Genia that Mr. Campau offered him a barrel of pork if he would wade Grand River going home with the barrel on his head. He did this, and asked for more, but Campau was satisfied. Again it was said that, being attacked by a bear, he broke the brute's jaw with his hands. He was noted as the best fighter and wrestler in the valley, but was withal good natured and kind. He was killed in the West while working on a contract on the Union Pacific Railroad. It is said that three men who opposed the building of the road ordered him off and in the fight which followed Genia worsted the three, single-handed. The next day they came with guns and Genia was killed. Edward Campau, son of Francis E. and Monique (Moran) Campau, came during this year to join his uncles, Louis and Antoine. With others of the Campau family, he was a direct descendant of Marquis Jacques Campau, who was identified with Cadillac in the founding of Detroit. He was employed by Canton Smith and Wm. H. Withey on the stage line between Battle Creek and Grand Rapids, and later was a prominent farmer. He died in Caledonia township Jan. 24, 1906. James and Thomas Sargeant were the sons of Thomas Sargeant and were known as river men from Grand Rapids to Grand Haven. Their appearance was so alike that few could tell them apart.
With Lucius Lyon in Congress and W. A. Richmond in the State Senate, Grand Rapids felt that it had come into its own, in 1844. There were petitions to the Legislature without end for the improve- ment of Grand River, for the establishment of roads and for the building of bridges. One of the first of these petitions was presented by the supervisors of Kent County, relative to the county loan. An- other was for the improvement of the road to Battle Creek, which was thought very important, as the land office was at Marshall. In the Senate, a select committee was appointed, with Richmond at its head, to consider Grand River improvements, and by joint resolution a government land grant was asked for the building of a military road through the Grand River valley. The Grand River Bridge Com- pany, which had been incorporated, asked the Legislature for an ex- tension of time and the supervisors asked that the time for collection of taxes be extended to the first Monday in March. The Legislature passed a bill appropriating 6,000 acres for the building of a bridge at Grand Rapids and also a law providing for the construction of a
Hosted by Google
1
129
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
road from Grand Rapids to Battle Creek. The State salt well had proven a failure, and a law was passed empowering the Governor to appoint an agent to take charge of the machinery, etc., at the well, and George A. Robinson was appointed. The law providing for a free bridge appropriated 6,000 acres of land and authorized the su- pervisors to have charge of the construction and to build the bridge within two years. This precipitated a warm contest at Grand Rapids as to the location of the new bridge. Downtown people favored build- ing the bridge at the foot of Monroe street, while the uptown people wished the bridge at Bridge street. This was the chief issue at the April election, when the county supervisors were chosen. The vote at Grand Rapids was forty more than at the preceding State election. The Monroe street voters were in the majority, and they celebrated the result with a grand jubilee. It was on this issue that John Almy was beaten by forty-three majority for supervisor, and but one Demo- cratic candidate for constable was elected. The Board of Supervisors was four Democrats and five Whigs and it was thought that this set- tled the site in favor of the downtown location. Following the elec- tion, James A. Davis, as chairman of the Board of Supervisors, ad- vertised for proposals for the bridge, with the condition that it be located at the foot of Huron street. The contract was finally let to E. H. Turner and James Scribner, and the Bridge street location was adopted. This bridge was not built until 1845, and, in the meantime, the first bridge across Grand River in Kent County was completed at Ada in 1844. The state paid the expense of this bridge, which was $1,347.44. A bill to incorporate a Grand Rapids plank road company was also passed, as were also bills providing for appropriations for agricultural societies and for the completion of the Central Railroad at Kalamazoo. The Pontiac & Grand River road was established by law, Z. G. Winsor being one of the commissioners to locate it. It was laid out from Lyons, through Millport bridge, to Plainfield and Grand Rapids. The road to Battle Creek was through Hastings, to intersect the road from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo. It ran through Gull Prai- rie to Van Vlect's Tavern, near Four Mile Creek, to meet the Grand Rapids road, near Bowne's Tavern, at Prairieville. John Fallass and Nathaniel Davenport were authorized to build a dam on the Flat River and the charter of the Grand Rapids Bridge Company was ex- tended to Jan. 31, 1846, with the provision that it was not to prevent the building of the free bridge.
During the year 1846 several men, later of much importance, made their homes in the community. Among these was Prof. Frank- lin Everett, who was born in Massachusetts, in 1812, graduated from Waterville College, Maine, in 1837, teaching a school in New York and coming, together with his wife, to take charge of the newly in- corporated Grand Rapids Academy. In a few years this became the "Everett Academy," under which name it was conducted until 1852. He was foremost in all good works and grew to be one of the most dearly beloved of Grand Rapids men. He was prominent in the for- mation of the Old Residents' Association and the Kent Scientific In- stitute and made Grand Rapids his home until his death in 1894. Mrs. George C. Fitch, of this city, is his only surviving daughter.
Another man of great prominence and who came to stand in high I-9
Hosted by Google
1
130 HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY, MICHIGAN
regard with his fellow-citizens and who has left a wonderful and permanent monument in his elaborate and accurate history of the city of Grand Rapids was Albert Baxter. He came of old Colonial stock, with forbears in the army of the Revolution and the War of 1812. He was born in Vermont in 1823, receiving as excellent an education as his community afforded, taught school in Vermont and later in Wis- consin, and came to Grand Rapids as a poor, but ambitious youth. He worked in a carriage shop and studied law in the evenings, working in this way for seven years. In 1849, he was married to Alvira E., daughter of Joel Guild. He was one of the leaders in the formation of the Republican party and was a delegate to the Free Democratic state convention in 1854. The following year he became editor of the Grand Rapids "Eagle," and was connected with this publication for many years. Speaking of himself in his history, Mr. Baxter said : "As to how well or how poorly he succeeded, the files of that journal contain the only continuous testimony ; and, as only two copies of it now exist, the proof is substantially buried in oblivion. Politically, Mr. Baxter is a Republican; religiously or morally he makes no pro- fession, other than to strive to be honest and kind. Financially he has been unsuccessful; with misfortune he is familiar, and likewise has personal knowledge of the distresses of many other people. Com- ing crippled into life, he has never enjoyed robust health. The result of his latest work-the most exacting, onerous and vexing labor of his life (unremunerative withal)-is comprised within the lids of this book. These few waymarks along the path of his experience are sketched by himself, to make sure of their correctness, and-he waits." But recently a movement has been started by a number of the old-time editors of Grand Rapids to have a tablet or monument erected to this man who contributed so much to the upbuilding of the city, to the uplifting of its morals and to the permanence of its his- tory.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.