USA > Michigan > Kalamazoo County > History of Kalamazoo county, Michigan > Part 35
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ENTRIES.
Whole number of entries, 1879
1371
SUBDIVISION OF ENTRIES.
Horses.
149
Cattle
78
Sheep
56
Swine 33
Poultry 41- 357
Grain, vegetables, fruits, and flowers.
511
Dairy, household, and domestic.
195
Fancy articles, paintings, merchandise, etc .. 204
Iron- work, carriages, implements, etc ..
104
PREMIUMS AWARDED.
Horses, general and special $596.00
Cattle.
169.00
Sheep.
81.00
Swine ... 66.00
33.25-
$945.25
Grain, vegetables, fruit, and flowers.
196.50
Dairy, household, and domestic manufactures. 80.75
Fancy work, paintings, and merchandise .. 123.75
Iron-work, carriages, implements, etc. 80.50- 481.00
Total
$1426.75
.
Poultry.
132
HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
RECEIPTS FOR 1879.
Advertisements in pamphlet (excess) $25.00
Rent of stands on the ground.
148.75
Citizens' subscription ....
159.00
Entrance fees, special classes.
182.00
Memberships.
298.00
Gate tickets
1522.20
Grand stand
129.50-$2464.45
EXPENDITURES.
Premium checks, fair 1879. $1421.25
Rent National Park.
300.00
Labor, watch, gate-keeper, etc. 186.25
Lumber, nails, glass, etc ...
77.15
Hay and straw
179.37
Music and wagon
68.00
Postage, stationery, ribbons, etc.
55.00
All other contingent.
360.60
Total
$2947.62
FINANCES.
Debtor.
Cash on hand, Jan. 11, 1879.
$141.04
Interest on Pearce mortgage for 1879.
108.00
Receipts from all other sources, 1879.
2468.45-$2713.49
Creditor.
Paid checks drawn upon treasury, 1879.
2647.62
Cash on hand, Jan. 10, 1880 ...
65.87-$2713.49
SUB-STATEMENT.
Treasury debtor, Jan. 10, 1880.
Cash on hand
$65.87
Pearce note and mortgage, due April 6, 1880
1350.00
Interest due on above, April 6, 1880.
108.00
Total assets.
$1523.87
The society has, up to the present time (since the aban- donment of the old fair-grounds rented of Dr. Stark- weather), had the use (under lease) of the grounds of the National Horse Association. The need of suitable grounds, belonging to the society or the county, has long been felt, and the question of purchasing and fitting up some proper location has frequently come up for discussion. The build- ings belonging to the Horse Association (which held its last exhibition in 1867) have become almost unfit for use through wear and tear, and on the 11th of January, 1879, at the annual meeting of the society, a committee of three, consisting of Hon. H. G. Wells, chairman, Hon. James M. Neasmith, and Bradley S. Williams, was chosen to pre- pare a bill for the consideration of the Legislature to pro- vide for raising by tax upon the property of the county a sum not exceeding twenty thousand dollars for the pur- chase and fitting up of suitable grounds for the society.
At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors held on the 22d of October, 1879, a communication prepared by Mr. Little, secretary of the society, was presented to the board, asking that the question of raising a sufficient sum by tax for the purposes above stated be submitted to the people at the next annual election. The last two clauses of Mr. Little's communication are as follows :
"We, therefore, having in view solely the public interest and an economical administration of public affairs, would respectfully request your honorable body to take under careful consideration the subject of purchasing grounds at the county-seat, to be the property of the county, that shall be adequate, and to be used for the purpose of holding agricultural fairs, and also for any and such other purposes, not in- compatible with the foregoing, as the public needs of the county may from time to time require, under the direction and control of the Board of Supervisors of Kalamazoo County.
"To the end that the suggestions herein embodied may receive due attention, we would respectfully request a special reference of this subject to a select committee of your honorable body, to report at the regular meeting of your board in January next, so that, if so de- termined, a joint submission of such questions as may be deemed ad- visable and in conformity with statutes may be had at the next annual township elections to be held in this county."
- A special committee of three, consisting of Messrs. Hoyt, Lovell, and Douglass, was appointed to take the matter into consideration.
The project is a very reasonable one and there can be no special objections to it, and the supervisors will probably allow the question to be submitted to the people. What they may conclude will be best known after the annual election.
In this connection it is proper to remark that the signal ability of Mr. Little as a manager and writer upon all sub- jects connected with the interests of this society has in no small degree tended to its upbuilding and prosperity. His extensive practical knowledge has been given to the ad- vancement of the cause in which he has been for many years a zealous laborer, and in his hands the system and order which characterize him in a remarkable degree have been brought to the highest degree of perfection, as amply manifested in the reports and records of the society. For several years Mr. Little's services have been secured and utilized by the American Millers' Association in the ca- pacity of secretary, and he is well known as an accom- plished officer and an able writer both in this country and England. Mr. Little is a native of St. Johnsbury, Vt., in which town he was born in 1823.
At the annual meeting of the society, held at the court- house on the 10th of January, 1880, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year : President, W. L. Cur- tis ; Secretary, Frank Little; Treasurer, James B. Cobb ; Executive Committee, C. E. Morrison, B. Vosburg, Orrin Snow, W. Judson.
KALAMAZOO TOWN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY,* For Improving the Breed of Horses.
This association was organized in 1858, under a general law of the State, and was composed of about one hundred gentlemen, mainly citizens of Kalamazoo and the county, though there were several prominent stockholders belong- ing in Detroit, Coldwater, and other places.
Its purposes and designs were to encourage the people of Michigan, and, indirectly, those of-the whole country, in im- proving the breeds of horses ; and, with this object in view, it furnished extraordinary inducements for bringing together and exhibiting every kind and grade of superior stock, stal- lions, brood-mares, matched teams, speed-horses, etc.
The original stock of the association was ten thousand dollars, but an additional four thousand dollars was as- sessed upon the stock, making the working capital fourteen thousand dollars. Under the first regulations no man could hold more than one share,-one hundred dollars ; but sub- sequently it became necessary to change the by-laws, so as to allow an individual to hold ten shares.
The first officers of the society were Hon. Charles E. Stuart, President; George F. Kidder, Secretary ; and Wil- liam G. Pattison, Treasurer. Col. Stuart and Mr. Patti- son held their respective offices during the existence of the organization ; Mr. Kidder was succeeded, after a few years, as secretary by G. H. Gale. The affairs of the society were managed by a board of directors.
* Commonly known as the "National Horse Association."
133 .
COUNTY SOCIETIES.
In 1857, previous to its organization, a number of gen- tlemen, afterwards connected with it, held a fair on the old grounds, and its success led to the subsequent organization of this society. In 1838 a tract of land containing sixty- four acres and a fraction, located on section 22, in the township of Kalamazoo, was purchased, principally of L. S. Evans, at one hundred dollars per acre. A few acres were bought of Alexander Cameron to make up the required amount. It was eligibly located and abundantly supplied with water, its western part lying along Portage Creek.
The land cost a little over six thousand four hundred dol- lars, and the total working capital of fourteen thousand dollars was expended in improvements, including fences, buildings, etc., and the finest one-mile track in the Northwest. In ad- dition, all the surplus earnings were also expended in im- provements.
The society never united with the National Horse Asso- ciation, although many people have the impression that it did. Its premium-lists were very liberal, and no entrance fee was ever exacted of exhibitors ; while, except upon spe- cial occasions, when Flora Temple or some noted horse was present, only twenty-five cents admission fee was charged ; on the occasions spoken of, the amount was raised to fifty cents. With the exception of one or two years during the civil war, fairs were annually held, commencing with 1858 and ending with 1867. During the war the grounds were occupied by the State military authorities for camp- grounds, etc.
During the continuance of these great fairs people vis- ited Kalamazoo from all parts of the country, attracted by the liberal premiums offered and the fine display of stock which invariably was collected here. The most noted trot- ting-horses in the Union were among the attractions, and we may mention Flora Temple, Princess, Ethan Allen, Dexter, and Goldsmith Maid, who were on the grounds at various times. It was here, in October, 1859, that Flora Temple made her greatest time, 2.192, which was then the best on record. On that occasion Princess was pitted against her. In order to get these famous horses to visit Kalamazoo, it became necessary to offer a special premium of two thousand dollars. The stockholders as a body ob- jected to this, and finally the officers made the arrangement that if they could have the proceeds of the fair on the days when the big trots came off, they would take the responsi- bility to offer the premium. To this proposition the stock- holders readily agreed. The result fully justified the ven- ture ; an immense crowd was in attendance, and the enthu- siasm was unbounded. The proceeds balanced all expenses and left a considerable surplus, which was expended in a grand supper at the Kalamazoo House, at which Col. Stuart presided, and where all who participated enjoyed themselves to the utmost. After this experience there was no trouble in getting the stockholders to sanction any reasonable ar- rangement to induce the famous trotters to visit their fairs.
So far as was possible, the business of the association was conducted strictly upon honorable principles. No jockey- ing, pool-selling, or gambling was allowed on the grounds or in connection with the fairs, and no time-races were ever permitted. Every race or trot was graded by age, sex, and amount.
At these great fairs a large amount of stock changed hands, for people came long distances to purchase choice stock, and the gatherings were not only interesting to the lookers-on, but also profitable to stock-breeders and dealers. The total premiums usually varied in amounts from eight thousand to ten thousand dollars annually. The exhibi- tions were uniformly successful, both financially and other- wise .*
With the guaranty of a continued success before them, the question very naturally arises, Why did the association not continue their annual exhibitions ? The plain answer is this : It was found to be impossible to control, for any considerable length of time, the tendency to make the busi- ness one of jockeying and gambling. Mr. Pattison states that among all the managers of noted horses who at va- rious times visited the grounds, he never knew but one who was willing to conduct a test of speed, or race, in an honest and straightforward way ; and it would appear that the entire business of trotting and racing was a gambling scheme on a grand scale. If ten thousand people assem- bled to see a trial of speed between Dexter and Ethan Allen, the strong probabilities were that one or both the horses would be " off" when brought to the score, and everybody would go home disgusted at the jockeying and fraud, which, for ulterior purposes, the " horse-men" seemed determined to practice. Knowing the inevitable outcome of the matter, the society, in the midst of a most successful career, sold out the entire property to Mr. T. C. Reed, for thirty thousand dollars, in 1870. The business had been so successfully managed that the entire net pro- ceeds of each share of one hundred dollars, upon the closing up of the society's affairs, exceeded four hundred dollars.
Among the stockholders were the following gentlemen : G. H. Gale, W. G. Pattison, James A. Walter, S. G. Patti- son, Thomas L. Acker, S. S. Cobb, John Gray, L. L. Kid- der, J. K. Ward, L. Hull, S. Hubbard, W. B. Clark, John Parsons, J. P. Woodbury, D. Cabeau, John Parker, I. D. Bixby, W. A. Blanchard, B. M. Austin, E. O. Humphrey, George W. Fish, W. A. Wood, J. C. Bassett, C. R. Bates, W. A. House, A. Noble, Charles E. Stuart, Benjamin Drake, W. H. De Yeo, A. Cameron, J. H. Downing, John F. Gilkey, John Dudgeon, H. Mower, P. C. Davis, Israel Kellogg, H. Arnold, J. B. Crippen, F. W. Curtenius, James Henry, C. S. Crittenden, A. Ferguson, L. S. Evans, L. W. Whitcomb, John Milham, W. B. Letts, George W. Winslow, E. H. Davis, T. F. Pickering, N. A. Balch, C. L. Cobb, Henry Gilbert, M. Shoemaker, George A. Good- ridge, Joseph Sill, Nelson Eldred, George F. Kidder, A. C. Balch, James Taylor, F. V. Smith, Stephen Eldred, E. T. Lovell, A. R. Balch, W. Beckwith, George W. Lovell, C. H. Brown, D. S. Walbridge, William Bair, H. F. Cock, F. E. Walbridge, S. R. Balch, E. L. Goodridge, F. E. Eldred, A. C. Fisk, E. N. Wilcox, J. Frakes, Hiram Ward, John A. Kendall, S. Earl, B. F. Axtell, William M. Burt, A. Healey, N. Root, F. Ransom, F. Henry.
After the sale to Reed, that gentleman continued the an- nual exhibitions for two or three years. He paid enormous premiums, sometimes aggregating thirty thousand dollars
# The fairs were held in the early days of October, and usually con- tinued through three or four days.
1
134
HISTORY OF KALAMAZOO COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
in one year, and charged heavy entrance fees and one dol- lar for admittance to the grounds. He also joined the Na- tional Horse Association, and endeavored by every possible means to make the business successful, but after a few years discontinued his exhibitions. He still owns the grounds and appurtenances.
PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.
The organization known as Patrons of Husbandry first took root in Kalamazoo County by the organization of Osh- temo Grange, No. 3, of Michigan, Nov. 26, 1872, in the township of Oshtemo, with Thomas Buckhout, Master, and C. L. King, Secretary. The organizing Deputy, J. C. Abbott, of Iowa, who held a commission from the National Grange, continuing his work, No. 4 was organized Novem- ber 27th, in Wakeshma, D. I. Fritz, Master, and H. Copley, Secretary ; No. 5 in Comstock, November 29th, C. B. Mitchell, Master, and Henry King, Secretary; and No. 8 in Schoolcraft, December 26th, S. F. Brown, Master, and V. C. Smith, Secretary.
The work of organizing was renewed in 1873 by T. A. Thompson, Lecturer of the National Grange. Alamo Grange, No. 15, was organized by him March 26th, with J. S. Veley, Master, and Hiram Veley, Secretary ; and Portage Grange, No. 16, March 27th, with D. Cahill, Mas- ter, and C. F. Sheldon, Secretary. He then turned his at- tention to other places for a few days, returning in April. On the 14th he organized Galesburg Grange, No. 18, in the township of Comstock, with D. B. Hull, Master, and J. H. Hopkins, Secretary.
Lecturer Thompson had authorized C. L. King, of Osh- temo Grange, to establish granges in the county, and on the 9th of April Summit Grange, No. 20, was organized by him, with R. T. Balch, Master, and A. C. Clapp, Sec- retary. Mr. Thompson was authorized, when the requisite number (fifteen) of subordinate granges had been estab- lished, to effect a State organization. As there were at that time more subordinate granges in Kalamazoo County than elsewhere in the State, the National Lecturer had issued a call for a convention of delegates from the subordinate granges of the State to be held in Kalamazoo on the 15th of April. In answer to the call, twenty representatives, from fourteen of the twenty granges then organized in the State, met at the court-house on the day designated, and commenced the work of organizing the State Grange of Michigan.
This work was perfected on the second day, and the State Grange officered as follows : S. F. Brown, of Schoolcraft, Grange No. 8, Master ; Joseph Gillman, Paw Paw, Grange No. 10, Overseer; H. H. Bruerton, Stockbridge, Grange No. 7, Lecturer ; B. W. Sweet, Eureka, Grange No. 2, Steward; R. Barnum, Unadilla, Grange No. 6, Assistant Steward; C. L. King, Oshtemo, Grange No. 3, Chaplain ; J. T. Cobb, Schoolcraft, Grange No. 8, Secretary ; D. B. Hull, Galesburg, Grange No. 18, Treasurer ; C. B. Mitch- ell, Maple, Grange No. 5, Gate-Keeper ; Mrs. C. L. King, Oshtemo, Grange No. 3, Ceres ; Mrs. Samuel Langdon, Paris, Grange No. 19, Pomona ; Mrs. D. Duncan, School- craft, Grange No. 8, Flora; Mrs. R. Barnum, Unadilla, Grange No. 6, L. A. S. Steward.
The State Grange was incorporated in 1875, and by the act of incorporation the office of the secretary was made its place of business.
As J. T. Cobb, its first secretary, elected in 1873, has continued to hold the office from that time, the State Grange of Michigan has been, de facto, an institution not merely of Kalamazoo County, but of the township of Schoolcraft, and hence we have assumed that a brief history of the order in Michigan might very properly have a place in this work.
It will be observed that seven of the first officers of the State Grange belonged to Kalamazoo County ; and we may properly add to this number D. Duncan, Chairman of the Executive Committee, who was then and is now a resident of the township of Prairie Ronde. Four of the eight were also members of Schoolcraft Grange, No. 8.
From this small beginning the order grew with such rapidity that at its first annual meeting at Kalamazoo, in January, 1874, nine months after it had taken on its State character, two hundred and eighteen granges had been es- tablished in the State, and one hundred and ninety-one were there represented by voting delegates, with large ad- ditions of visiting members of the order from different parts of the State.
The next annual session was held at Grand Rapids in January, 1875, at which time the number of granges had increased to five hundred and sixty-seven, with a paying membership of twenty-eight thousand two hundred and fifty-four.
This unexampled growth of the order, not only in Mich- igan but throughout the Union, was so unexpected by its founders that no constitutional provision had been made for lessening the representation from subordinate granges to the State Grange ; and as nearly all the granges in the State were represented by their Masters, and very largely by the wives of the Masters, who, in common with their husbands, are representatives, and clothed with equal legislative rights, this third session comprised a voting membership of nearly a thousand people, a body much too large for effective work.
Before the fourth annual session the National Grange made provision for reducing representation to the State Grange, so that at this session, held in December, 1875, the body consisted of one hundred and eighty-five elected delegates, in addition to the State officers and executive committee.
This third session of the State Grange was held in the hall of the House of Representatives, in the city of Lansing, and was presided over by Hon. J. J. Woodman, who had succeeded the Hon. S. F. Brown in the Master's office in the election of State officers at the previous session.
Each annual session after the third was held in the hall of the House, in the old capitol building, until the session of December, 1878, when the new capitol building, then nearly completed, was tendered to the executive committee by the Board of State Auditors of Michigan for the sixth session of the State Grange.
Faithfully adhering to one of the prime articles of its fun- damental laws, it has kept aloof from politics, and was there- fore welcomed to the hall of the House of Representatives, in the new capitol, in December, 1878, by the Governor, Charles M. Croswell, and the several heads of the various
135
COUNTY SOCIETIES.
departments of the State Government, as an organization of the farmers of the State who were accomplishing a good work in the elevation of the agricultural class to a higher plane in society.
These favorable surroundings and this cordial recognition from the State officials, following so closely a similar recog- nition of the order by the President of the United States, who, in the preceding month of November, had by special messenger invited the members of the National Grange, then in session in Richmond, to call on him at the White House, was highly appreciated by the order, and served to give it a better standing and more prominence throughout the State.
It has been customary for considerable numbers of the order who were not representatives to attend these annual sessions, and, made up as they have been of several hundred of the intelligent representative farmers of the State, with their wives, these annual gatherings have exerted an im- portant and salutary influence throughout the State.
The order embraces within its membership men who have held and still hold prominent official positions in the State ; pioneers in its settlement, men and women of ripe experience, whose opportunities for knowing not only the wants and needs of our agricultural population but of all our people are ample, and who are second to no other class.
In support of this assertion, we present a few names well known to those familiar with Michigan history.
The Hon. Alonzo Sessions, an extensive farmer of Ionia County, and the present Lieutenant-Governor of the State, joined the order at an early day, was for two years on its executive board, and has given it a consistent, earnest sup- port. Hon. J. J. Woodman, Master of the State Grange, and holding the second office in the National Grange, was for four years Speaker of the House of Representatives of Michigan. Hon. S. F. Brown, the first Master of the State Grange, is one of the oldest settlers of Schoolcraft township; has remained an officer of the State Grange since the close of his official term as Master, holding the responsible office of treasurer. He, too, has rendered the State service in both branches of its Legislature. Hon. J. M. Neasmith, another Schoolcraft farmer, now serving his first term as State Land Commissioner. Hon. C. G. Luce, a wealthy farmer of Branch County, which he has repeatedly repre- sented in the State Legislature; now State inspector of illuminating oils. Hon. J. Webster Childs, of Washtenaw County, for many years and still a member of the State Board of Agriculture. Hon. Thomas F. Moore, of Adrian, and Hon. Westbrook Divine, of Montcalm County, State Prison Inspectors. The two brothers, Henry and William Chamberlain, of Three Oaks, both men of experience in the State Legislature. Hon. Charles E. Mickley, of Adrain ; Hon. C. K. Carpenter, of Orion ; Hon. O. H. Fellows, the present Master of Schoolcraft Grange; and last, but not least, Hon. F. M. Holloway, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the State Grange.
Many other names might be added to this list, but the local character of this work would perhaps not justify more particulars in this connection.
It seems, however, in place to briefly refer to the work accomplished by the order in Michigan. As a State organ-
ization it has sustained its official relationship to the National Grange, and promptly discharged every obligation to every person, association, or interest with which it has had busi- ness relations.
It has, by persistent and well-directed effort, broken a combination of manufacturers of land plaster (which boasted in 1874 of having a million dollars of capital so invested, and an organization so complete, that all farmers must buy through their agents, and pay at the rate of four dollars per ton at the mill), and reduced the price, not only to patrons, but to all farmers of the State, from four dollars to less than two dollars per ton, thus saving to the agricultural interests of the State during the last three years not less than sixty thousand dollars annually.
It has, through a " Mutual Defense Association," organ- ized by members of the order, defeated in the United States court the claims for royalty on the slide gate, made by a band of sharpers organized to levy tribute from every farmer in the State.
Before measures were taken to resist by combined means this raid upon the pockets of the farmers, these impudent plunderers had filched several thousand dollars from the' farmers of the eastern part of the State.
This co-operative effort at self-protection has not only saved in this one thing thousands of dollars to the farmers of Michigan, and relieved them from the annoyance and irritation to which every man is subjected that is assailed by this class of plunderers, but has proved of great advan- tage by deterring that class from renewing at once an attack upon the grangers of Michigan for the use of some article covered or alleged to be covered by patents.
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