USA > Michigan > Kent County > Grand Rapids > Grand Rapids and Kent County, Michigan: History and Account of Their Progress from First. Vol. I > Part 19
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Aaron Sibley built and lived in the house on Prospect Hill which was afterward in the village days used as a school house. Willard Sibley was a navigator upon the river about as soon as there were any boats to command, and was a popular steamboat captain for many years. His homestead was on the west side of the river, near the old Indian village.
There were numerous evidences that the place was becoming known to the outside world to some extent as early as 1834, notwith- standing the fact that the settlement showed but slight growth, and in 1835 the foundation of Grand Rapids as a place of importance was ac- tually laid. In that year began the subdivision of lands into small par- cels, the laying out of streets and the grouping of buildings, which are distinctive features of an urban settlement.
A Fourth of July celebration was held in the little village in 1834, which shows that the inhabitants, though few in number, were filled with patriotism. This was the first celebration of the kind ever held in Grand Rapids, and it is doubtful if there has been one since that was filled with more enjoyment to the participants. Alvin Wansey was captain on parade, and nearly every other man in the settlement was next in rank. They formed a procession on the Indian path where Monroe street was afterward located. Robert M. Barr was at the head with his fiddle. They marched up the trail and down and about, and sang and shouted, and fiddled and hurrahed. Many Indians joined . in the sport. They went across the river and had more marching, and Chief Blackskin laughed then if he ever did at any time in his life. Then they had a ride down the river and back in bateaux.
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TOPOGRAPHY.
The original topography of the city as it appeared in 1846 is thus given in substance by Albert Baxter, in his "History of the City of Grand Rapids," published nearly a half-century after his first visit to the place :
It is not easy by mere verbal description to convey a good idea of the original face of the country at Grand Rapids. The site was one of great natural beauty, charming for its great variety of features in land- scape. The valley here is about one and a half miles wide, threaded by a stream near forty rods wide.
On the west side, from the river back to the bluffs, an average distance of about one mile, and through the length of the city north and south, was a very nearly level plain, a large part of which was thickly strewn with granite bowlders and a profusion of cobble stone or "hard- heads." There was some undulation of surface, but no very marked unevenness. Its elevation was but ten or twelve feet above the water of the river, in the average, and the descent to the south was but slight in the distance of two miles. On the part north of Bridge street there were very few large trees at the front, but further toward the hills was in places a heavy growth of maple and elm, and a swamp a little be- low the general level. South of Bridge street the land was slightly rolling, and a ravine held a small stream, bringing the drainage from the northern swampy or springy grounds. This brook entered the riv- er about midway between where are now the Bridge and Pearl street bridges. Toward the southwest corner of the city was a marsh of con- siderable extent, and a shallow pond. Skirting near the bluffs was an irregular depression or ravine, the bed of a brook that entered the river below the town, and into and through which, in periods of high water, there was sometimes an overflow from the river above the rap- ids. Near the northwest corner was a hill or ridge of coarse gravel, some forty feet high, much of which is still there. The bluffs in the distance west were a handsome range of hills, rising to a height of sixty feet or more, and shutting off the view of the country beyond.
On the east side there was greater irregularity of surface, hill and dale, and many points of picturesque beauty. Next the river was a narrow border of nearly level land, varying in width from two or three rods to one-fourth of a mile. North of Bridge street (now Michi- gan street ) this was a long, narrow, black-sand swamp. Below Mon- roe street was a gently sloping plat, mostly dry ground but patched here and there with boggy places. Below Fulton street was a gravel and clay ridge of irregular outline, near the river, extending south- ward. Near the center of the town an isolated hill of very hard clay, with a steep western face, rose from a point some ten or twelve rods north of Lyon street, east of Kent street (now Bond avenue), and ex- tended south to Monroe street. Its southern face was also a steep declivity. Its southwestern angle was less than two hundred feet from the river bank, and its highest point was near or slightly south of Pearl street, west of Ottawa. Pearl, Lyon and Ottawa streets have been cut through that clayey bank, and the last vestige of it disappeared in the early nineties. It was called Prospect Hill. Toward the east and southeast this hill sloped off gently. Between it and Division street was a depression through which ran northerly a spring brook, and
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near where the postoffice building stands was a swamp, and a pond of an acre or more in extent.
The commanding eminence upon the east side was a sand bluff with a steep western face, that still retains some of its original fea- tures, its base at an average distance of perhaps fifty rods from the river, and extending from Coldbrook on the north to beyond Fulton street on the south, a distance of more than a mile and a half. On the summit of this hill, for nearly its whole length, was a plateau, aver- aging but a few rods in width near the north end, but spreading out at the southeast far into the country. In some places at the summit this hill top was nearly level, but for the most part was undulating and to- wards the edges cut by ravines leading to the lower lands. Its great- est elevation was and still is about one hundred and sixty feet above the adjacent river bed. From the summit of this hill, and also from the hill range west of town, very fine views of the city and the sur- rounding country are obtained. Just north of Michigan street, half way up the hillside, was a cluster of cedars in the midst of which came out a very large spring of excellent water.
The valley of the Coldbrook, winding northwesterly, beyond the sandhills, marked the division between them and the rolling or undu- lating northeast portion of the city. The face of that part of the town is somewhat changed by grading and other improvements, but its gen- eral outline features remain. Along the streams and ravines and to- ward the river was some heavy timber, chiefly oak, maple and elm. Along the range line ( Division avenue) to the south end of the city was a swampy, muddy region, some portions of it bearing heavy tim- ber, and a short distance west of that was a long, narrow, swampy, tamarack vale, then nearly impassable but now traversed by the rail- roads coming in from the south and southeast; and between this and the river, and along down to Plaster Creek, was a region broken by hills, except the narrow belt of bottom land, and all this latter, or near- ly all, was quite heavily timbered. Considerable tracts of the wooded lands in and all about the city remained for near a quarter of a cen- tury favorite hunting grounds.
Most of the smaller streams and water courses that once mean- dered these city grounds are now gone from sight. Sewer drainage carries them in scores of underground conduits to the river. Above the north line of the city, on the west side, runs the Indian Mill Creek, which enters the river near the railroad bridge. The brook which once ran across Bridge street, and through a ravine into the river south of that street, is now deep in the ground and conducted beneath the ca- nal on that side, through a culvert. Near two miles east of the south- ern part of the city are Reed's and Fisk Lakes. They are the source of the main stream of Coldbrook, which runs northwesterly and comes into the north part of the city, discharging into the river a little north of Coldbrook street. Carrier Creek is a northern branch of Cold- brook, which still runs in or near its original bed; but most of the wa- ter of both streams is diverted by pumping to the hill reservoir and used in the city supply. Turning again to the southward, there was once a pretty brooklet coming from that part of the town called Bost- wick's addition, crossing Division avenue, and near where the Union railroad station now is joining another brook that came in from a
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swamp a short distance south; thence flowing to the river near where is the Fulton street bridge. This is also now conveyed in sewers and culverts. Still further south came a stream from numerous springs on Blakeley's addition and beyond, which crossed Division avenue at the north part of the Grant addition tract, ran down a ravine across the Grandville road and into the river below where the gas works are lo- cated. At the point where this stream passes out from the low hills there, at an early day, a dam and race were constructed and a small building erected for a turning lathe and other light machinery, which were worked for a few years. Another noticeable rivulet had its rise from springs along and south of Fountain, and from that street, a lit- tle west of Division, flowed northerly through a pond bordered by flags and willows, and along where the postoffice building is, passed well out toward Crescent avenue near Ionia street, rounded the north end of Prospect Hill and followed closely its western base back nearly to Lyon street; thence from Kent street (now Bond avenue), turned westerly and half way to Canal street (now an extension of Monroe avenue ), where was another pond ; thence flowed northwesterly across a miry place in Canal street and into the river near Erie street. That brook is also out of sight now, and discharges through the Kent alley sewer.
Improvements, public and private, have very much changed the face of the city, and the end is not yet. Its present features need not be dwelt upon here. Nearly all the lower sink holes and bogs have been filled to new grades, and made dry land. Other parts that were once miry from springs have been reclaimed by sewering. Much fill- ing has been done in Market street and vicinity, and from that east to Division street, which has also been so much changed each way from the Island street crossing, that where once were sharp, short and very muddy clay hills, is now an easy grade and a dry and well sur- faced thoroughfare. A large tract at and about the Union Station grounds, formerly, at times, submerged by river freshets, has been made solid ground for the heavy business done in that locality. Streets below the hills on the east side have been raised generally, and a vast work has been done in excavating and grading at the hill summits. The esthetic beauty of the place as it was in nature is gone; its beauty now pertains to business uses, and the embellishments of modern civil- ized life and taste.
EARLY SETTLERS.
We will now return and take up events that were important in their way in laying the foundation of the splendid city at the rapids of the Grand River. The survey of the plat of the embryo village was made in 1833. The United States survey of public lands in Kent Coun- ty had been made in 1831. John Mullett surveyed town seven north, range eleven west, and Lucius Lyon surveyed town seven, range twelve. From these the city of Grand Rapids is chiefly taken. It should be stated in this connection that in the treaties made with the Ottawa Chippewa and Pottawatomie Indians by Governor Cass and Solomon Sibley, as commissioners of the general government, at Chicago, in 1821, the Indians ceded all the lands south of the main stream of the Grand River, with certain small reservations for individual Indians
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and half-breeds, and a few small tracts for the use of the tribes. And in the treaty of 1836, made at Washington, the Indians ceded to the United States the lands north of Grand River, which they had long claimed as their own. The survey made by Lyon was designed to include, of course, only lands already ceded by the Indians, but in or- der to fill out the two townships the survey was extended west and north of the river into lands which had been reserved to the red men by treaty stipulations until 1836. All the lands in that portion of the city east of the river were "located," as the settlers termed it, and pur- chased of the general government prior to 1836. But the earliest pat- ent on the west side was dated Aug. 13, 1839. However, most of the lands there were pre-empted or occupied by "squatters" very soon after the treaty was made, and some of them much earlier, as already stated, and these claims to the tracts of which pos- session had been taken were generally respected, in accordance with the unwritten law relative to the occupation of the public lands. Plans and purposes for the future were matters of interest to incoming set- tlers, and the intention of Campau to lay out a town-site had its influ- ence upon those who came here to "spy out the land" and seek homes for themselves and families. As soon as the town was laid out sales of lots commenced, many applications having been made before the surveyor's notes were transferred to paper. In fact, Campau made his first sale of a lot to Joel Guild early in June, 1833. Many people bought lots who did not immediately build on them. This is always the case with new towns. In some cases householders may have bought the lots adjoining them, for garden and pasturage, not an un- usual thing to do. On April 4, 1834, the first election was held in Grand Rapids and the whole number of votes cast was nine. The law authorizing the election was passed by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, but in addition to this was the law of necessity, which required that some provision should be made for the govern- ment of the settlement, and a supervisor, a township clerk, two as- sessors, an overseer of highways, two constables, a collector, a poor- master, and three fence viewers were elected. No school inspectors were elected, because, no doubt, it was reasonably certain that there were no schools to inspect. And there was not much necessity for the election of fence-viewers, as at that time there were probably no fences in Grand Rapids, or in Kent County for that matter, to "view." But these early settlers were from the Eastern States where the "town" system of government prevailed, and they evidently were determined to have the full complement of local officials.
The vote cast at this election would indicate that there had not been a large addition in population to the new settlement during the year 1833 and the first three months of 1834; and this fact is further evidenced by the burden of official honors heaped upon two or three of the pioneer citizens. It is plainly impossible to give the names of all those who became settlers of Grand Rapids during the pioneer pe- riod of its history, but as the year 1834 was when it secured its start a peculiar interest is attached to those who sought a domicile here in that and the preceding year. In addition to those already mentioned, the following is believed to be an approximately correct list of those who became actual settlers in the years 1833, 1834 and 1835: William
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R. Godwin, Gideon H. Gordon, James Gordon, Warner Dexter, Luther Lincoln, Ira Jones, Nathaniel P. Roberts, Sylvester Sibley, Myron Roys, Joseph B. Copeland, Henry West, Andrew D. W. Stout, James Archibald, Jonathan F. Chubb, Jared Wansey, James Watson, Lewis Reed, Porter Reed, Ezra Reed, Joel Sliter, James Sliter, Horace Gray, Hiram Hinsdill, Lyman Gray, William R. Barnard, Abram S. Wads- worth, Edward Guild, Martin Ryerson, Darius Winsor, Cyrus Jones, James Clark, Lucius Lyon, Jefferson Morrison, John Almy, William Hinsdill, Dwight Lyman, James Lyman, William H. Godfroy, Joseph Marion, N. O. Sargeant, Dr. Stephen A. Wilson, Dr. Charles Shepard, David S. Leavitt, Demetrius Turner, Rev. Andreas Viszoczky, Justus C. Rogers, Edward Feakins, Abraham Laraway, Amos Hosford Smith, Leonard G. Baxter, Alanson Cramton, and Charles G. Mason. A number of these gentlemen grew to prominence in the county and State, and have already been given extended personal mention on other pages of this work.
William R. Godwin settled in Wyoming Township, as did also the Gordons and Myron Roys. Luther Lincoln came to the valley in 1832, was a moving and somewhat eccentric character ; first in Grand- ville, then in Grand Rapids building a mill, then up Flat River, where he was called "Trapper Lincoln." His longest residence was at or near Greenville, toward the close of his life. He is accredited with doing the first plowing on Grand River, and raising corn in 1833, where the village of Grandville now stands. Ira Jones settled eventually on the west side of the river, near the Indian village, and there resided some forty years. Nathaniel P. Roberts, who came in with Josiah Burton, Ira Jones, and E. H. Turner, in 1833, settled on the west side and resided there until his death, in 1871, at the age of 74 years. He was a farmer, and a highly respected citizen. Jonathan F. Chubb, soon after his arrival, took a farm in Wyoming Township, where he lived nearly twenty years ; then moved into town and built him a stone residence on Front, near Leonard street, where he spent the remainder of his life. He took an interest in manufacturing farming imple- ments. He was a public-spirited citizen of the early mould, almost puritanic in convictions, and thoroughly respected.
Porter Reed came from Ilion, Herkimer County, New York, where he was born July II, 1812. He came with the pioneers of 1833, and his was the first family to locate a home on the shore of Reed's Lake, which thus got its name. His brothers-Lewis and Ezra-lo- cated on Government land nearby, taking a quarter of a section each. Porter cleared up a fine farm, but did not survive long to enjoy it, dy- ing in 1857. His brother, Ezra Reed, was a most excellent pioneer citizen. He afterward lived many years in Grand Rapids, and was the first sheriff of Kent County, elected in 1836. He died at Muskegon, in June, 1888, at the venerable age of 88 years.
James Sliter and his brother, Joel Sliter, came to Grand River Valley in 1832, and located in what came to be known as Wyoming Township, Kent County, but later came to Grand Rapids. James lo- cated, in 1834, on South Division street, 160 acres, also some land in the then village. In 1845 he retired to his farm near Grandville and there made his home until his death, at the age of 48 years.
Hiram Hinsdill lived in the summer of 1835 in a log house on Pearl street, near where the Arcade is, meantime engaged in building
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the hotel afterward known as the National, on the site of the present Morton House. He lived a quiet life and was remembered with much affection by early residents.
Darius Winsor and family, who came with the pioneer colony to Ionia in 1833, and down to the Rapids in the following year, were among those who gave impulse and vigor to the young settlement. Da- rius was the second postmaster here, and served as a town officer for some years. Before coming he had been a victim of the hard eastern law of imprisonment for debt, hence had little capital to start with in these woods other than the stout hearts and sturdy energy of himself and his boys-Zenas G. and Jacob W. Winsor. They built them a log house at Ionia, and were the first to transport household goods for the colonists by pole boats up Grand River from its mouth. A portion of their lumber for building at Ionia was carried in small boats from the Indian mission mill at Grand Rapids.
John Almy and wife came with the Kent company, in 1835. He was a native of Rhode Island, a finely educated man, a civil engineer and practical surveyor of eminence. He platted for Lucius Lyon and N. O. Sargeant the "Village of Kent," in which Charles H. Carroll afterward purchased a half interest. Mrs. Almy, in a journal kept by her, in 1835, gives some account of their journey here. The following is an extract :
"Night brought us to the Thornapple, and it being late, and very dark, we dared not go on for fear we should fall into the river. We saw, near by, some camp-fires of Indians, but going to them, they fled, and we could not get near them ; so we camped out as well as we could, and spent the night with nothing to eat. As soon as daylight appeared, we commenced our march, and crossing the Thornapple, met Rix Rob- inson and the chiefs, who were coming to see us, and what kind of peo- ple we were. Mr. Robinson explained to them that we were friends, and going to build a big town down at Grand Rapids. Here we were furnished breakfast-pork and potatoes, bread and tea, with wild honey (considered an extra dish), with short-cake; and did we not do justice to that meal? After settling our bills, we proceeded on our journey, and having Plaster Creek and several other streams to bridge, we were the whole day until late at night in getting to Grand Rapids. Richard Godfroy and Louis Campau gave us quarters in their respec- tive homes. The next day the woods rang out with the echo of the woodman's axe, slaying down trees to build shanties with, and all was bustle and business. It did not take long to get settled, and then com- menced the work of laying out the canal. Mr. Almy soon found it nec- essary to return to Detroit, which was no easy matter, and I concluded to go, too. Richard Godfroy sent his Frenchman with a lumber wag- on to take us. We were ten days going. While in Detroit Mr. Almy bought a steamboat, and friends named her the "John Almy." She was loaded with pork, flour, mill-stones, and many other useful arti- cles, to be landed at Grand Rapids. The boat left about April I, and had very rough weather, and as she neared Thunder Bay she was wrecked-a total loss."
About two years later Mr. Almy was in charge of the improve- ment of Grand and Kalamazoo Rivers. During his life he held many important positions of official trust, was a lawyer by profession,
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and a trusty counselor, but did not practice law after coming to Michi- gan. He was of fine physical form, a representative gentleman of the early days, genial, courteous, hospitable, and beloved by all with whom he came in contact. He was very methodical and exact in his busi- ness, and a scientific man of much general information. He died Sept. 29, 1863, leaving a memory fondly cherished by all the early residents of the valley. In religious sentiment he was an Episcopalian.
James Lyman and Dwight Lyman, brothers, opened a small store on Waterloo (now Market) street, opposite the Eagle Hotel, in 1835. They came from Connecticut. In the following year they sold the store to George C. Nelson. The Lymans built or were interested in a mill which for nearly forty years stood on Coldbrook, just below where now is Creston Park. In 1844, James married and resumed trade, soon sold out, spent some years at Kenosha, Wis., and then returned to business here. He died in 1869, enjoying the love and esteem of the community as a thoroughly upright, conservative citizen, neighbor and business man. In 1838 James Lyman, with John Almy and another, had charge of a survey of Grand River, in which they ran levels from Lyons, or above, on the ice, to Grand Haven, ascertaining the amount of fall at various points.
William H. Godfroy was the first hotel keeper; afterward a mer- chant, and both he and his brother John had considerable trade with the Indians as long as the natives remained near this place. Joseph Marion was a carpenter and joiner and patternmaker, and an excellent workman at his craft. He lived here many years and finally went west.
Nathaniel O. Sargeant was the contractor for digging the mill- race, and had an interest therein-the beginning of the east side canal. He came here from Massachusetts, in 1835, with a company of men for that work. They marched in with their picks and shovels on their shoulders. At their head was Alanson Cramton, playing a bugle. Cramton was a teamster, stage driver and mail carrier, and assisted many pioneers over the rough roads. He afterward settled in Ada and became a thriving farmer in that township. Hearing the noise and the music, when the canal men came, Chief Noonday thought the com- pany were enemies, meaning mischief to Louis Campau, and sent a message to the latter, offering aid to drive the invaders away. Among the men in this company was also Leonard G. Baxter, from Montpeli- er, Vt., who settled here, married Emily Guild, and spent his life in the city and in the country near by. He died in 1866. The coming of these men for that work marked an important era in the improvement and development of the place. Mr. Sargeant died a year or two after he came.
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