History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 86

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716

USA > Michigan > Clinton County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 86
USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan > Part 86

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).

518

967

1,071

1,486

1,473

Lebanon

114

192

389

661

645

1,119

1,129

Olive.

159

228

316

627 936

1,171

2,420

2,553

Riley

134

191

400

607

641

t,139

1,163

Victor

229

277

403

662

562

940

968

Watertown

198

315

442

808

910

1,297

1,298

Westphalia ...

401

618

803

1,091

1,095

1,499

1,548

Total

3,060

5,102

7,926 13,923

14,739

22,845

23,661

CHAPTER L.

THE VILLAGE OF ST. JOHNS.

Situation and Natural Advantages-Settlement and Progress of the Village-Village Plat and Additions-Progress in 1856 and 1857- Village Incorporation and List of Officers-Churches-St. Johns Union Sehools-Post-Office-Societies and Orders-Cemetery As- sociation-Banks-Manufacturing Industries-St. Johns Fire De- partment-Memorable Fires-Publie and Private Buildings.

THE incorporated village of St. Johns, the county-seat of Clinton County, is situated within the boundaries of the township of Bingham, the southeast corner of the corporate limits being the territorial centre of that township. The village occupies an elevated and excellent site, and is justly regarded as one of the handsomest villages in Central Mich- igan. The main portion of the town lies upon a ridge which slopes gradually and gracefully upon all sides, and from which the eye may sweep through an extended and picturesque view towards all points of the compass. The altitude of the town is seven hundred and fifty-five feet above sea-level, one hundred and seventy-seven feet above Lake IInron, and thirty-one feet above the village of Ovid,

ten miles to the eastward, while towards the west there is a general gradual decline to the Grand River.

Early in its history St. Johns was regarded as an un- healthy locality, by reason of the swamps which lie around it; but these having been made fruitful garden-spots, it is maintained, and with an excellent show of truth, that there is now no healthier spot in Michigan than St. Johns. The streets are handsomely laid out and well shaded ; and among the numerous handsome and comfortable-looking homes of the village, there are many which are especially noticeable for elegance and refined taste in their architec- ture.

To the advantage of being the county-seat the village owes, of course, much of its business activity and enter- prise ; but, aside from that, it gains much prominence as an important manufacturing and railway shipping-point. It contains (in July, 1880) a population of upwards of two thousand five hundred. Taking the growth of recent years as a basis, the village is likely to continue in the expansion of its business and population in the future as in the past.

SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS OF THE VILLAGE.

Late in the year 1853, while the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway was being slowly extended westward from Detroit, a party of four State officials at Lansing examined the line of the proposed railway with a view to making purchases of eligible lands for village-sites or other profitable enter- prises. These four officials were John Swegles, Auditor- General ; Porter Kibby, Commissioner of the Land-Office ; B. C. Whittemore, State Treasurer ; and H. S. Mead, Dep- uty Attorney-General. They were in a position to know something about choice tracts of land in Michigan, and they delegated to John Swegles the task of securing a tract on the Detroit and Milwaukee line likely to become a railway- station and village-site. Robert Higham, chief engineer of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, who had the fixing of sites for railway-stations, was taken into the party as a measure of policy, and Charles L. Dibble, landlord of the " Biddle House" of Detroit, was admitted as a sixth part- ner, on the ground, probably, that he was a good fellow and kept a good hotel.

Mr. Swegles was to buy the land and transact the general business connected with the land-purchases and proposed subsequent operations, and was appointed attorney-in-fact for each member of the company. Hle got a pretty clear idea from Higham that the railway would fix a station at the point now covered by St. Johns, and he at onee went to that locality to buy land. His first purchase was eighty aeres in the west hall' of the southwest quarter of section 9, of George W. Estes, representing the owners. At that time but one acre on that eighty had been chopped. Ile bought immediately afterwards land enough to make his entire purchase aggregate nine hundred and twenty acres, and to include the south half of section 9 and all of section 16, except the southwest quarter of the southwest quarter.

The land having been purchased and the site of the vil- lage being chosen, Mr. Swegles at once set abont the work of surveying and clearing streets and lots. He bronght out a gang of choppers and other laborers, and engaged George W. Estes to take charge of them, and to superintend the job

$ By David Schwartz.

1,085

1,306

1,410

Duplain

213

419

559

1,567 985

Ovid

102

172

276

605

1,156

1,168

breweries reported in county ....

Value of product in preceding year.

364

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICHIGAN.

of making a commencement for a town. This was early in 1854, and the business in hand was taken hold of with an energy that betokened prompt results. Mr. Swegles him- self joined the band of workers, and pushed matters ahead with great rapidity. The village-site was nearly all woods then, and the work of chopping was of course the first to be done. As soon as possible Mr. Swegles built a steam saw-mill, and in the winter of 1854-55 had it in motion. The first frame house put up in the village was built by Cornelius Vrooman before Swegles put up his saw-mill. Vrooman hired John Avery to haul the lumber from the Colony. The house stood just back of where the " Gibbs House" stands, and was put up by guess, as the town had then not been surveyed. Vrooman boarded the surveyors and laborers, and called his place the " Whittemore House."

About the time Mr. Swegles began to clear the land comprising the village-site Samuel Gardner, an early settler in Bingham township and for years the landlord of a tavern in Bingham on the Bengal town-line, came on and bought a lot upon what is now the extreme northern corner of Clinton Avenue on the east side. He quickly put up a board building for a tavern, and called it the " Gardner House," but had kept only a short time when he leased it to George W. Estes, who changed the name to that of the " Clinton House." John Swegles built a store building on Clinton Avenue just north of where the " Gibbs House" stands. He put in a good stock of general merchandise, and hired George F. Mead and George W. Estes as his clerks.

Thus the embryo village was started in the summer of 1854, with a hotel, a store, and a saw-mill as a commence- ment. The railway was pushing westward, and Swegles' village was beginning to attraet attention. It was high time, therefore, that it should be dignified with a name, since it gave gratifying signs of healthy growth, and so in due season it was christened.

There appears to be some conflict of testimony touching the identity of the person to whom the honor of having named the village was due. Both George W. Estes and Elder C. A. Lamb claim that honor, but both unite in say- ing the name was bestowed in honor of John Swegles, the projector and creator of the place. Mr. Estes says that in the summer of 1854, John Swegles, David Sturgis, M. E. Burroughs, C. A. Lamb, and Estes himself (then super- visor of the township) were one day sitting upon a log in Walker Street (Clinton Avenue contained at that time a good many standing trees), when the question of naming the village came up. Swegles, desirous of honoring his business associates, suggested Whittemoreville and Mead- ville, while Sturgis put forth Sweglesville. Estes thought the most eminently appropriate designation would be St. Johns, as a mark of honor to John Swegles. The idea seemed to suit the others, and they with one aceord assented to it. Swegles said he would submit the proposition at the next meeting of the company, and so the conference ended. Mr. Estes goes on to say that before the next meeting of the company John T. Newell came in with goods for the opening of a store, and that his boxes were marked " St. Johns," thus showing that the name had already gone abroad. Estes took the cover from one of Newell's boxes and nailed it against a tree, with the name St. Johns show-

ing in bold relief. It was therefore already practically settled as to the name, although the company did not formally adopt the designation until some time afterwards.

Elder Lamb says that at the conference about a name only he, Swegles, Sturgis, and Mead were present, and that after the names of Richmond, Sweglesville, and Johnsville were proposed, he (Lamb) said, " Call it St. Johns." Mr. Swegles replied, " For some reasons I should be in favor of St. Johns," adding, " Amen, St. Johns let it be."

LITTLE

JOHN SWEGLES.

In this connection it will be appropriate to note the facts that John Swegles was born in Hector, N. Y., April 10, 1819; commeneed the study of medieine at the age of eighteen, and abandoned it to become purser's clerk on the brig " Porpoise" of the Atlantic Coast Survey ; was later a school-teacher, and in 1840 removed to Jonesville, Mich. He was chosen clerk of Hillsdale County, and served sev- eral terms ; became editor and publisher of the Hillsdale Gazette, and in 1850 was elected auditor-general.

Allusion to the "company" suggests the explanation that such was the collective title by which the association of the village proprietors was by common consent known. There was no incorporation, but there was a community of property, and it was further agreed that each owner should bear his proportionate share of expenses and receive like- wise his due share of the gains. At the outset there were six proprietors, and each owned one-sixth of the property purchased. To John Swegles was left the exclusive con- trol and management of affairs, and at stated periods the proprietors met in Detroit to receive reports and review the progress of the business.

Reference has already been made to the coming in of John T. Newell with a stock of goods. Newell was the second trader in the town (Swegles being the first), and opened his store in a frame building that stood on Clinton Avenue just south of "Kipp's Corner." M. E. Burroughs, who

365

VILLAGE OF ST. JOHNS.

previously lived near De Witt, came in about that time, and put up a log house on the lot now occupied by the post- office. He started it as a meat-market, and presently Johu Hicks, of De Witt, sent him a few hundred dollars' worth of goods, with which Burroughs opened a store in a corner of his market. Olney Brown opened a store late in 1854 on Clinton Avenue south of Walker Street, and one J. C. Sewell opened a saloon on " Bagg's Corner" at about the same time.

There was but a small community living at St. Johns on the 4th of July, 1854, but it was nevertheless resolved to have an "Independence" celebration. The exercises, which included music, " bowery dances," speeches, and a dinner, took place in a grove then ocenpying a place upon which the Gibbs House barn stands. Hilliker, of Green- bush, a elarionet-player, Wilcox, a fifer, his son, a drum- mer, and a man with a violin furnished the soul-stirring music on the occasion, while James W. Ransom, a lawyer, delivered the oration. The dinner was, however, a failure, although the remainder of the day's celebration proved a satisfactory success. Just as the company sat down to the table there came up a terrific rain-storin, and away went the assembled company: pell-mell, for shelter, leaving their dinner, and ending abruptly the performances of the waning Fourth. The celebration in 1855 included a dinner at Gibbs' Railroad Exchange and a general happy time at the grove, where the oration was delivered by H. C. Hodge.

The Gardner House has already been mentioned, as has the fact of its change of name and proprietorship. Estes kept it until 1856, and then turned it over to a Mr. Mc- Omber. It was not much of a tavern, according to reports, but it doubtless served its purpose. John Hicks says he took dinner there in 1856, and remembers that rain was falling inside as well as outside, and that the guests at din- ner had to move from place to place to avoid the rain-drops as they came freely and copiously into the dining-room.

Early in 1855, Spencer W. Gibbs came to St. Johns for the purpose of building a hotel, and, buying four lots, put up the " Railroad Exchange," which he opened July 1, 1855. A year after that he sold out to David Sturgis and William L. Hicks, who changed the name of the house to the "St. Johns Hlouse," and that name it still bears. When Gibbs came to town with his family, early in 1855, he occupied with Jacob Passage a part of the house of Dr. D). C. Stewart, who was then living on Walker Street, in a building now used as his barn. Clinton Avenue was then chopped out, but it was full of stumps and fallen trees, while standing trees even were plentiful.

At this time the west side of Clinton Avenue contained the store of Olney Brown, the corner whisky-shop of J. C. Sewell, a slab shanty in which A. F. Cowell was living, upon the lot now occupied by his store, and Marshall Wil- cox's tin-shop. A. F. Cowell opened a store in 1856 upon the same site, and, with the exception of three years, has been in trade there ever sinee. On the east side of the street was Swegles' store, and in that store was a shoemaker by the name of Kinch, who had his shop and lived in a por- tion of the store building. Next south of Swegles' Corne- lius Vrooman was keeping a boarding-house known a's the

Whittemore Ilouse, now the Gibbs House. Newell, the store-keeper, Blakeslee, the painter, and Deming, the shoe- maker, were on that side, as was the Clinton House, while east, on Walker Street, was Burroughs, the butcher. Of those then residents upon the site now occupied by the village of St. Johns, the only ones now living in the town are George W. Estes and wife, A. F. Cowell and wife, S. W. Gibbs and wife, Dr. D. C. Stewart and wife, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Fitch, the widow of Lorenzo Hall, the widow of John Swegles, and George W. Emmons. Mr. Emmons was the first white inhabitant of the present village traet, and lives now where he located in 1845, although he did not make a permanent settlement thereon until 1852.

The first child born in the village was Charles Cobb's daughter. Iler birth occurred in the summer of 1855, but the exact date cannot now be given. She died the fol- lowing year. The first male child born was George A., son of George W. Estes, born Oet. 23, 1855. The first death of a resident was that of Mrs. Kinch, wife of the village shoemaker, in May, 1855. She was buried in the village cemetery, which had been donated by the village proprietors, and hers was the first interment within it. Before May, 1855, there was a death in the village, that of Thomas Long, a railway employee, who in an altercation with a fellow-laborer, about four miles west of St. Johns, was mortally hurt. Ile was brought to the village, where he died, but his body was conveyed eastward for burial. The first man buried in the cemetery was Joseph MeKinney, a railroad hand, and over him was erected the first head- stone put up in the burying-ground. It bears date July 17, 1857.

During the fall of 1854 the new village received its first physician, Dr. D. C. Stewart, who has since that time re- sided continuously in St. Johns. A Dr. Darrall, who was living about two miles south of the village when Dr. Stewart located, came to the town in about six weeks thereafter, and next to him, as the third physician of the village, came Dr. Louis W. Fasquelle, still one of the village practition- ers. Timothy Baker and James W. Ransom, lawyers, came in and opened offices, and in that same year John Crawley and Hiram Herrington began in business as blacksmithis. In January, 1855, James Stiles came over from Greenbush and made his house upon the corner of Walker and Spring Streets, where Alonzo Plumstead now lives, and commenced the manufacture of splint-bottomed chairs. In September, 1855, George W. Stephenson opened a tailor's shop on Clinton Avenue, just south of what is now known as Kipp's Corner, and there built Clinton Hall, where schools, Sunday- schools, and public assemblies were held at an early day.

In 1855 there was a change in the list of village pro- prietors. Mead sold out to Swegles and N. P. Stewart, and the latter becoming , possessed also of' Kibby's and Swegles' interests, resold a portion to Orville and Asahel Clark. These changes vested the proprietorship of the village in N. P. Stewart, B. C. Whittemore, Charles L. Dibble, Robert Higham, Orville Clark, and Asahel Clark. John Swegles continued, however, as heretofore, to be the

366

HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, MICIIIGAN.

attorney-in-fact for the proprietors, and to conduct their bn siness interests in the premises.

In 1855, David Sturgis, of De Witt, entered the trade at St. Johns, and two drug-stores were started, by Dr. Stone and Dr. J. E. Leach, respectively.

Of the business men in St. Johns at that period, 1855, the only one now in trade is G. W. Stephenson. He has carried on business uninterruptedly here since he started, in September, 1855, aud is accordingly its oldest merchant.

VILLAGE PLAT AND ADDITIONS.

The village was platted March 25, 1856. The document, on file at the county register's office, reads as follows :

" Know all men by these presents that we, Nelson P. Stewart, Mary Ann Stewart, B. C. Whittemore, Caroline Whittemore, Charles L. Dibble, Sarah I. Dibble, Robert Higham, Elvira Higham, Orville Clark, Delia M. Clark, and Asahel Clark, do by these presents set apart and estab- lish the following-described premises for a village, to be known and designated as the village of St. Jolins, to wit: that part of the south half of section 9, and that part of the north half of section 16, in town 7 north, range 2 west, in the county of Clinton and State of Michigan, com- mencing on the section-line two hundred and seventy-seven feet east from the section corners of sections 8, 9, 16, and 17 in said township, at which point State Street intersects the west line of Ottawa Street ; running thenee south along the west line of Ottawa Street twelve hundred and twenty- seven feet to a point where said west line of Ottawa Street intersects the south line of Baldwin Street; thenee east, and parallel with the section-line between sections 9 and 16, for a distance of two thousand eight hundred and twenty- two feet and six inches to the point where the south line of Baldwin Street intersects the east line of East Street ; thence north along the east line of East Street to a point where the east line of East Street intersects the north line of Railroad Street, one hundred feet south from the centre line of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railway ; thence west parallel with the centre line of said railway, and one hun- dred feet therefrom, to the point where the north line of Railroad Street intersects the west line of Ottawa Street ; thence south along the west line of Ottawa Street to the place of beginning. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seals this 25th day of March, 1856, by John Swegles, our attorney-in-fact.

(Signed)

" NELSON P. STEWART.

" MARY ANN STEWART.

" B. C. W HITTEMORE.

" CAROLINE WHITTEMORE.

" CHARLES L. DIBBLE. " SARAH 1. DIBBLE.

" ROBERT HIGIIAM.

" ELVIRA HIGHAM.

" ORVILLE CLARK.

" DELIA M. CLARK.

" ASAHEL CLARK.

" By JOHN SWEGLES, their attorney-in-fact. " In the presence of

" TIMOTHY BAKER.

" GEORGE F. MEAD."

Additions to the village plat have been made from time to time, as follows :

May 5, 1857, George W. Emmons' addition, known as Emmonsville, and commeneing at the corners of sections 8, 9, 16, and 17, running thence west to the quarter-section stake between sections 8 and 17; thence south along the quarter-section line of section 17 for a distance of ninety- seven rods; thenee east, and parallel with the section-line between seetions 8 and 17, to the section-line between see- tions 16 and 17; thence north along said seetion-line be- tween sections 16 and 17 to the place of beginning. June 16, 1857, Clark and Bolton's subdivision of out-lots Nos. 10, 11, 12, and 13; June 2, 1858, Francis Lyud's addi- tion ; June 15, 1866, G. J. Gibbs' addition ; May 14, 1866, De Witt C. Hurd and William Sickles' subdivision of out-lots G and H; March 28, 1865, A. II. Walker's subdivision of out-lot B; April 1, 1870, Walker & Steel's subdivision of lands north of the Detroit and M-il- waukee Railroad, in the village of St. Johns, by A. II. Walker, R. M. Steel, S. W. Gibbs, and II. W. Carrington ; Nov. 26, 1870, P. L. Vancousant's addition ; Feb. 10, 1871, Henry M. Perrin's addition.

PROGRESS IN 1856 AND 1857.

The year 1856 saw considerable accessions to the village, and matters began to look up with a show of something like vigorous life. In the spring of that year J. H. Cor- bit, now the hardware merchant of longest standing and virtually the pioneer in that trade in the county, purchased Marshall Wilcox's tin-shop business and became one of the village merehants. In September, 1856, Mr. Corbit took in William H. Moote as a partner. During the year Charles Kipp opened a hardware-store, and since that date has followed that business in St. Johns continuously. He commenced business at the Rochester Colony in 1852, with J. W. Paine. A. F. Cowell opened a small store. Lueas & Wilson located at the corner of Walker Street and Clin- ton Avenue, and Bliss & Walton established a blacksmith- and wagon-shop, their wagon-maker being Arthur Catter- mold. In 1856 the first village school was taught.

At that time Clinton Avenue was still thickly studded with stumps, and mosquitoes were so exceedingly plentiful that stump-fires on the avenue to drive away the pests were nightly spectacles iu summer. Store-keepers of 1856, other than those mentioned, were Joshua Garte, W. W. Flagler, J. F. Newton, M. E. Palmer, and Mrs. David Sturgis.

Although St. Johns had been making quite rapid strides forward during 1855 and 1856, it was not until 1857 that the movement reached a height that erowded into the space of a twelvemonth the most important events in the history of the village, and brought a great increase in population as well as business.

One of the leading events was the completion in Janu- ary of the laying of the track of the Detroit and Mil- waukee Railway to St. Johns and the arrival, upon the 16th of that month, of the first passenger-train. R. M. Steel, now an eminent railway contractor living in St. Johns, took in 1856 a contraet to lay the track and bridges over the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad between Owosso and Grand Haven, and in 1860 became a resident of St.

367

VILLAGE OF ST. JOHNS.

Johns. In this year the county-seat of Clinton was re- moved from De Witt to St. Johns, and that ineident gave, of course, a great impetus to the progress of the village, and, with the opening of railway communication, gave assurance of future prosperity to St. Johns.

In 1857 a village school-house was built upon the lot now occupied by the Episcopal church. This lot, as well as lots for two churches, ground for a cemetery, and ample space for railway-depots, etc., had already been set aside for such purposes by the village proprietors when the plat was made. Early in 1857, Alvah H. Walker, who became shortly afterwards a resident of St. Johns and one of its prominent merchants, was the actual owner of five-twelfths of the village and possessed the titles to seven-twelfthis, while the residue was owned by Elvira Higham, C. L. Dibble, Orville Clark, and Asahel Clark. In 1857, John Swegles built a grist-mill with two run of stones at the corner of Higham and Spring Streets. In 1858 it was burned and directly afterwards replaced with the mill now carried on at the same place by Wood & Son. In 1857, John Swegles rebuilt the Prospect House, called it the American, and kept it until his death in 1861. The Prospect House was built in 1856 by Lorenzo Hall, and occupied the east side of Oakland Street just north of Walker Street. The building was destroyed by fire in 1863. In 1857, John Hicks, of De Witt, engaged in business with David Sturgis, and O. W. Munger began to trade on the lot now occupied by Dunn & Lec. Mr. Hicks is yet in business. Mr. Munger is a retired merchant, but still lives in the village. In 1857, Wilbur Ash had a carpenter-shop in the building now occupied by the Ameri- can Express Company, and in the same building in the same year James W. Ilungerford opened the pioneer cabi- net-shop. Alonzo Plumstead built in 1857, at the corner of Walker Street and Clinton Avenue, what was then the best store in St. Johns; John Ransom started a news- paper called the North-Side Democrat ; Archelaus Silsbee started a foundry, H. C. llodge a bank, W. W. Brainard a carpenter's- and builder's-shop in Swegles' saw-mill, and, lastly, the village was incorporated by the county super- visors, Sept. 2, 1857.

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History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan, Part 86

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co. Number of Pages: 716

Author: Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia, D.W. Ensign & co.
Number of Pages: 716