USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume I > Part 35
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Colon as a solid community, destined to grow into a thriving town, it was not until the completion of its railroad, in 1871, that its standing was assured beyond a doubt. It is now one of the most substantial little towns of its population-about a thousand-in Southern Michigan.
The all-important feature in the development of Colon-the securing of railroad facilities-is thus fairly and fully described in words which were written not long after the famous Fourth of July celebration which marked the coming of the railroad to the village: "The railroad passing through the village was a great achievement for the people, and they are mainly indebted to Henry K. Farrand, Dr. A. J. Kinne, C. B. Hoffman and E. R. Hill for the accomplishment of the much-to-be-desired means of communica- tion with the outside world. Mr. Farrand was especially zealous in securing the passage of the road through the town and village, spending several hundred dollars and the better part of two years in so doing. Dr. Kinne was also prominent in the work.
"Aid for the Grand Trunk road of Michigan, from Port Huron to Chicago, was moved for, first in 1863-4. It was the object of the Grand Trunk of Canada to get a communication direct with Chicago. The first meeting of the citizens along its proposed line, from Jackson to Centerville, was held at the former place in 1865. The people saw that this was the time to get a rail- road through the township to Centerville, and during that year the company was organized under the name of the Grand Trunk Railroad of Michigan, and subscriptions were obtained therefor, but no aid was rendered by the Grand Trunk of Canada, as had been promised. Then the stockholders changed the name to the Michigan Air Line Railroad, and a vote was taken in Colon to aid the same by town bonds to the amount of $36,000, but the prop- osition was rejected.
"Then Mr. Farrand and the gentlemen before named exerted themselves and procured subscriptions among the inhabitants of the township, amounting to $42,000, of which $38,000 was paid in; and after the road was graded the town again voted on a propo- sition to aid the road and carried it through, loaning $25,000, for which bonds were issued, and the road completed to Colon July 3,1871.
"The bonds of the township were never paid, the company not fulfilling its contracts with the township on which the issuance of the loan was based. The railroad company commenced suit on
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
the bonds against the township, but was non-suited, and the bonds returned to the town authorities and cancelled.
"The citizens who subscribed for the stock were swindled out of the same, by the consolidation of the company with the Michigan Central. Adam Bower, Peter Wagner and Comfort Tyler were generous subscribers to the stock of the road, from a sense of public duty to the township at large, rather than that of personal benefit, as all lived at a distance from the village, especi- ally Bower and Tyler.
"The entrance of the road was celebrated with great enthus- iasm, July 4th, succeeding the day the track was completed to the village."
COLON IN THE SEVENTIES.
At this time Colon was a village fairly entitled to good rail- road connections. It had a dozen substantial stores, while E. Hill & Sons and Hoffman & Troy were shipping large quantities of produce. The list of manufactories included : Flour mills-Hoff- man & Troy and Philip Everhard; saw-mills-Fredericks Brothers and Hoffman & Troy ; furnaces-Dane Miles & Company and D. C. Richards; wagons and carriages-Anderson Brothers and Adams & Mellen; plows-Daniel C. Richards; cooper shops-David R. Oliver, E. P. Wellesley and J. Moore; fruit dryer-Charles I. Miller Jr .; tannery-Hill & Doran; cider mill-Simons & Com- pany; machine shop-W. F. Bowman. There were also two newspapers in the village-the Colon Enterprise, published by H. Egabrod, and the Colon Standard, by L. E. Jacobs.
"COLON EXPRESS."
Local journalism is now represented by the Colon Express, an eight-page quarto weekly newspaper, of independent type, which has been owned and published by W. S. Doty since April, 1903. It has quite an extensive circulation not only in the townships of Colon and Leonidas, this county, but also in Sherwood and Mette- son townships, Branch county.
The Express was established in the fall of 1886 by McDowell Brothers, and among its proprietors, since that year, have been Moffit & Firestone, Samuel Greer and J. C. Lochner.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
COLON SCHOOLS.
The fine Union school of Colon, which was erected in 1907, at a cost of $25,000, provides all the modern facilities of educating pupils according to well-established methods which conserve both their intellectual advancement and their physical health. The average attendance is 170, of which number 55 are pupils of the high school. The principal, R. P. Vansaw, has seven teachers under him, of whom Miss Ethelyn Gibson is assistant.
The village of Colon is included in school district No. 4, the first school house built therein being erected about 1837. It was
THE COLON UNION SCHOOL.
a log house, twenty-four feet square, and stood on a corner of W. H. Castle's farm. District No. 4 was laid off in August, 1837, and comprised sections 23 to 26, inclusive, and 35 and 36. The frame school house, which was built in the village in 1847, is now the box factory of Lamb's Knit Goods Works.
COLON SEMINARY.
In 1858 several of the citizens of the township, desirous of a higher grade of education than that provided by the public schools, organized the Colon Seminary Company. The leading stockhold- ers and trustees of the enterprise were H. K. and Phineas Farrand,
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
A. J. Kinne, Charles L. Miller, W. F. Bowman and Adam Bower, and it was mainly through the energy and liberality of these gentlemen that the Colon Seminary, within the succeeding decade, reached high grade as an institution of superior education, its only rival in the county being the White Pigeon Seminary. It is said that more teachers went from this school during its existence than from any other of the same size in the state. Specific mention of its graduates include the names of Seth Moffatt, afterward a leading lawyer and public man of Michigan, and John Downey, who made his reputation as a distinguished educator in Pennsyl- vania. In explanation of the marked success attained by the Colon Seminary, too much credit cannot be given to H. K. Farrand and Dr. Kinne, who, as trustees, were constant visitors at the school, and kept in close touch with every detail of its management.
The first building occupied by the Seminary Company was a frame structure, already standing, which was fitted up for the seventy pupils who were at first enrolled. This number soon in- creased to one hundred, and by 1862 the accommodations were so inadequate that a three-story brick building was erected at a cost of $9,000 (including cost of site). It was dedicated with appro- priate ceremonies, August 20, 1863, Judge J. Eastman Johnson de- livering the address on the occasion before a large audience. Or- lando Moffatt was the first teacher in the first building and Elias Cooley, Jr., in the second. The new brick structure was thirty- four by seventy-five feet on the ground, its third story being a public hall used for religious and other purposes. Two hundred sittings were provided for scholars.
The Colon Seminary was conducted until 1867, when the en- terprise was abandoned and the township school board rented it of its owner, William R. Eck, who was a stockholder in the original company. On September 4, 1871, the people voted to incorporate the district as a Union school district, and the seminary building was occupied for purposes of public education until 1889, when it was turned over to the Lamb Knit Goods Company for its main building. The first principal of the Union school was D. W. Her- man, who served in 1871-2.
THE LIBRARY.
Colon has a library of 1,500 volumes, founded in April, 1897. The first librarian was S. H. Nicholson. Mrs. F. H. Morton, the present incumbent, has been in charge for nine years.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
CHURCHES AND SOCIETIES.
Colon supports, as its strongest churches, Methodist and Bap- tist organizations and the Reformed and Evangelical Lutheran churches have also a fair membership. The Reformed church was founded in 1898 and its settled pastor is Rev. C. G. Beaver, while the Lutheran society is administered to by Rev. Paul Noffze, of Burr Oak.
The Masons and Odd Fellows, with their auxiliaries, have flourishing lodges, and the Maccabees and G. A. R. are also repre- sented.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
The history of the First Baptist church of Colon really com- mences with the society organized in Leonidas, in 1837, by Elders Brown, of Centerville, Taylor, of Prairie Ronde, and G. B. Day, of Sturgis. The preliminary meeting was held June 25th of that year; on August 13th, the council organized the church and or- dained Elmore G. Terry as elder. The first members of the organ- ization were Elder Terry, David Franklin; Orrin W. Legg and Sarah, his wife; Mercy Vaughn, Experience Watkins, Enoch S. Gersline, Benjamin Blossom, Joseph Gilmore, Constance Vaughn, Armilla Terry, Justus W. Denton, Eli Denton, Lurelia Denton, Clarissa S. Denton, Mary Reynolds, Sally Reynolds, Clarissa Blos- som and Anna Gilbert.
On January 20, 1845, the society was incorporated in Colon, and its first church edifice erected, with Orrin W. Legg, Lorensie Schellhous and Seth Goodwin as trustees. Elder Terry preached to the society until his death, being succeeded by Elder Fuller; he, by Philo Forbes, and the latter by Elder Southworth. Previous to the building of the church, the society held its meetings in the store formerly occupied by Romine & Stoddard.
One of the first noted revivals held by the church was in 1845, under the preaching of Elder Forbes, and a Sunday school was also organized under his ministry, in 1849.
The present building occupied by the Baptists for church pur- poses was erected in 1903. The society has a membership of more than a hundred and is under the pastoral charge of Rev. A. L Branch.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
THE METHODIST CHURCH.
In 1844 the Methodists of Colon township formed a class of sixteen members under the leadership of Ryan Williams and Aaron Bradley, local preachers who had moved to the locality in the pre- vious year. At that time Colon was a portion of the White Pigeon circuit. Among the members of this class, besides the gentlemen named, were Mrs. Ryan Williams, Samuel Sheik, Mrs. Barber Mills, Mrs. James Palmer and a Mr. Washburn. A society was regularly organized and a board of trustees elected August 18, 1856; members of the latter, Phineas Farrand, William H. Harper, William F. Bowman, Solomon R. Salisbury, Ellis Hughes, Gilbert Liddle and Moses Blanchard. No member of the society was more enthusiastic or helpful, both in the earlier and later years, than Mr. Bowman.
Since and including 1856, the following have been in charge of the Colon church : Revs. Mosher, Hoag, Downing, Patterson (went into the Union army as chaplain of the Eleventh Michigan), Elias Cooley, Kellogg, A. C. Beach, Congdon, Franklin Gage, Joseph Jones, L. M. Edmunds (died in Wisconsin in the winter of 1909- 10), T. T. George, J. E. White, A. E. Ketchum (died in 1909), R. H. Brady, Tolman, J. Clubine, Smith, Charles Jones, A. Marzolf, Young, William Barth, William Spence, Cronk, Joshua White, H. W. Thompson, A. E. Eldred, C. L. Beebe and Joseph C. Cook.
The house of worship now occupied was erected in 1879, and parsonages were built in 1873 and 1896. The society is flourishing in every way; church membership, 215.
THE MASONS.
Colon Lodge No. 73, A. F. & A. M., was instituted by charter in 1855, its original members being fifteen in number and its first offi- cers as follows : W. M., Martin Gloyd; S. W., A. J. Kinne; J. W, L. A. Leland. Mr. Gloyd continued as head of the lodge in 1855 and 1860, and Dr. A. J. Kinne served as worthy master in 1856-8, 1861-2 and 1865-6. The membership of the lodge is now 125 and the following are serving it as officers: Jesse L. Bosworth, W. M .; Aura Arney, S. W .; Pearl Van Slyke, J. W .; Frank D. Lamberson, treasurer; Loren W. Clipfell, secretary; Glen E. Godfrey, S. D .; S. Y. Bower, J. D .; S. K. M. McMillen, tiler.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Colon Chapter No. 81, R. A. M., was instituted under dispensa- tion July 7, 1871, and chartered the following January-A. J. Kinne, H. P .; J. B. Peters, K .; M. Yentler, S.
THE ODD FELLOWS.
Dennis Lodge No. 96, I. O. O. F., which was named in honor of Grand Master Dennis, of Michigan, was organized by dispensation, April 10, 1866, and instituted by charter in the following January. The charter members, with the offices to which they were elected, were as follows : I. Sides, N. G .; E. C. Wellesley, V. G .; Edgar Bath- rick, R. S .; E. C. Bathrick, P. S .; W. Whitmore, treasurer; E. B. Struck and J. F. Bower. The first named, Dr. Sides, is dead; the last, Mr. Whitmore, is living at the age of eighty-six. The present membership of the lodge is 120 and the officers as follows: Stephen C. Johnson, N. G .; A. A. Bonner, V. G .; O. C. Shane, R. S .; R. Edd. Fisk, F. S .; H. T. Mowry, treasurer.
Elsie Rebekah Lodge No. 3 was organized February 22, 1879, and has now a membership of about ninety. Its officers are: Mrs. Dora Gleason, N. G .; Mrs. Minnie Tunison, V. G .; Mrs. Lula Thim- ple, R. S .; Mrs. Julia Clement; and Amanda Russell.
THE G. A. R. POST.
Henry M. Liddle Post, G. A. R., was organized April 16, 1883, and, like other organizations of the kind, has dwindled pitifully in membership.
Woman's Relief Corps No. 160 was organized October 2, 1888.
MENDON.
Mendon is a busy, pretty village of about 900 people, situated on the northern shores of the St. Joseph river and on the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad, which comes from the south and passes out of the county in a northwesterly direction. It is also at the crossing of the air-line division of the Michigan Central, and, with respect to the county seat, is about eight miles northeast of Cen- terville. There is a good natural water-power at Mendon, and several unsuccessful attempts have been made to fully develop it and make of the village a manufacturing center. The place, is, however, the center of a rich country, well settled with prosperous Vol. 1-26
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
farmers, and its mercantile establishments carry large and unusu- ally complete stocks of goods.
Mendon is quite a large shipping point for grain, live stock, general produce and essential oils, and has one of the best cream- eries in the county. That its people are amusement-loving and intelligent, at the same time religious, is evidenced in the opera house, public library and churches, which are so well supported. The latter comprise societies representative of the Catholics, Meth- odists, Baptists and Adventists, the first named (known as St. Ed- ward's parish) being not only large, but perhaps the most inter- esting from the standpoint of local history.
FOUNDED AS A VILLAGE.
The coming of Francois Moutan and Patrick Marantette to the south banks of the St. Joseph river, in the early thirties, to take charge of the Godfroi trading post, has been noted in the early history of the county and of Mendon township; also how that other Frenchman, Leander Metha, located on the north bank of the river and settled on the site of the present village, in 1834. Here its pioneer settler built first a rough log cabin and afterward one of hewn logs, the former being used for a school. The local- ity did not take on a very promising appearance until 1844, when Bronson & Doan dammed the Little Portage river, which flows to the north, and brought its waters through the marshes to the banks of the St. Joseph, where they built a sawmill. This was the first of the manufacturing interests of Mendon, which really seemed to flourish for more than thirty years.
The prospects of a substantial town springing up were so bright that on the 22nd of November, 1845, Mr. Metha platted Mendon on the east half of section 27, and Mr. Marantette after- wards made several additions to it, as did others.
DEVELOPMENT OF EARLY MANUFACTORIES.
Up to the early seventies the manufactories which developed promised to give Mendon a standing beside Constantine. Bron- son & Doan added machinery for corn-grinding and carding to their sawmill outfit, and when they sold their plant to Melvin and Eldredge Brown, of Centerville, in 1848, the new proprietors put in a turning lathe and other devises for manufacturing chairs and
-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
cabinet work. Still later, the Browns added a planing mill and a sash, door and blind factory, operating the entire plant until 1855, when the cabinet making was discontinued. The firm was changed to Brown, Fisk & Mason, who continued in the old build- ing until 1870, when Brown & Bourn built a larger factory op- posite the present Wakeman house.
In 1860 N. S. Harvey & Company built a planing mill and sash, door and blind factory on the banks of the river near the lower bridge. Subsequently, S. M. Williams introduced stave ma- chinery, and Wakeman & Lewis long conducted a flourishing plant which turned out large quantities of both staves and barrel heads.
Gilbert E. Dart made edge tools as early as 1845, his power then being horse. In 1860 he erected a foundry, and both he and Mr. Richards operated it by steam for a number of years. G. P. Doan manufactured wagons from 1854 to 1861, and at a later date Auten & Engle, White & Company and F. Grafke were in the same line. In 1872 Andrew Kellicut built a flour mill opposite the Wakeman House, which was afterward owned and operated by Adams Wakeman, the builder of the hostlery mentioned.
OLD HOTELS.
The first hotel in Mendon was opened by Lewis B. Lyman in the eastern part of the village, near the bridge. The first build- ing erected expressly for hotel purposes was also erected by Mr. Lyman, near the other combined house and tavern and was called the "Eastern." George Van Buren built one afterward on the site of the Wakeman House, and called it the "Western." Both of these hotels were burned, and in 1873 Adams Wakeman made sufficient brick to build a large hotel, which took his name and which, with various changes and additions, is still known as the Wakeman House. Mr. Van Buren leased the new house and con- ducted it until June, 1876, when Mr. Wakeman took over his own property, with William M. Marantette, son of Patrick, the pioneer, as manager. The former has been proprietor of the Wakeman House for many years, and takes a just pride in operating both a good and historic hotel.
FOUNDER OF THE WAKEMAN HOUSE.
Adams Wakeman, founder of the hotel which still bears his name, was born in Bedford, Westchester county, New York, Decem-
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
ber 1, 1804. In the fall of 1833 he located on 240 acres of land in section 4, Nottawa township, and on July 1, 1836, married Mrs. Eliza Hartley, who had moved from Philadelphia to Centerville in October, 1832, as a member of the first family which settled in that village, that of T. W. Langley.
In 1855 Adams sold his landed interests to his brothers, re- moved to the village of Mendon, and entered into a co-partnership with E. L. Yaple in the dry goods and grocery line, the firm build- ing the store afterward occupied by Lewis, Van Ness & Company. The partnership continued three years, when Mr. Wakeman bought Mr. Yaple's interest and associated himself with Charles H. Lewis, the firm being Wakeman & Lewis. This continued for three years, when William Harrington came into the firm and thus continued for four years. Messrs. Wakeman and Harrington then withdrew from the firm and Mr. Wakeman gave his attention to manufactur- ing, owning and operating the saw-mill for some seven years. He also built the Western Hotel, which was burned in 1873. Mr. Wake- man at once proceeded to rebuild the structure still known as the Wakeman House. He also assisted in the building of the Mendon flour mill and was largely interested in the stave and heading fac- tory, which did such a thriving business in the village. In June, 1876, the lease of the hotel expiring, Mr. Wakeman took charge of it, and turned over its management to W. M. Marantette, who later became (as now) its proprietor.
MENDON BANKS.
The Exchange Bank was the first establishment of the kind in Mendon, and was founded as a private institution in 1866, with J. J. McAllister as president and A. N. McAllister, cashier.
The existing bank (First State Bank of Mendon) was founded in 1894, under the laws of Michigan. Its directors are Frank Wolf (Centerville), William Beard and Freeman H. Estes. The following items show its financial condition : Capital stock, $30,- 000; surplus and undivided profits, $7,430, and deposits, $211,000.
MENDON CORPORATION.
Mendon village was first incorporated, in 1858, with the fol- lowing officers: President, William Miner; clerk, G. P. Doan; mar- shal, O. S. Norton. Mr. Doan continued as president of the board of
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
trustees until the corporation lapsed and was re-incorporated in 1870. Records of the meeting held on December 14th of that year show that the following were serving as trustees: George B. Reed, S. Barnabee, George Van Buren, R. E. Fletcher, Levi Cole and Frederick Glafke; B. S. Howe, clerk. O. J. Fast was president in 1871 and 1875, and Dr. H. C. Clapp in 1872. By special act of the state legislature, Mendon was re-incorporated for a second time in 1875.
The village officers for 1910 were as follows: George E. Shank, president ; T. Z. Eveland, clerk; William R. Gifford, treasurer; W.
UNION SCHOOL, MENDON.
P. McCoy, assessor ; Loren Butler, marshal; Dell Hoes, street com- missioner.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Reports regarding the public school of Mendon for 1910 indi- cate an enrollment of 229 scholars, of whom 85 are credited to the high school, and 144 to the elementary and grammar grades. The convenient building occupied as a Union school was erected in 1906.
J. D. Gold Smith is superintendent of the village system, and also teaches science and mathematics in the high school. Miss Lucile Gregory is principal of the high school, and has two assist- ants; while four teachers are employed in the grammar and pri- mary departments.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
The Board of Education is as follows: John F. Evert, presi- dent; W. J. Hickmott, secretary; Dr. W. A. Royer, treasurer; C. E. Harvey and Frank Austin.
TOWNSHIP FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY.
The Mendon Township Free Public Library was organized April 25, 1889, through the efforts of Mrs. E. Flanders and the Ladies' Literary Society ; the nucleus of its present fine collection of 5,600 volumes was the little library of 197 books presented to the township for that purpose by the society named. Until May, 1906, rented rooms were occupied, but since that time accommodations have been provided by the beautiful $10,000 building, with its well kept grounds, which is an ornament to the place.
The presidents of the library board of directors have been as follows : David R. Beckley, elected April 25, 1889; Dr. H. C. Clapp, April 4, 1894; George Hall, April 3, 1895; I. Schoonmaker, June 3, 1896; Mrs. Fannie Dukette, elected April 7, 1897, and still holding the office. The other members of the governing board are: William P. McCoy, vice president; Mrs. Kittie Calkins, secretary; L. E. Marantette, James Memby and Mrs. Mattie Simpson, trustees. Mrs. Grace Osgood is librarian.
FIREMEN'S HALL AND COLE'S OPERA HOUSE.
The headquarters of Mendon's department, organized to pro- tect its citizens from fire, is Firemen's Hall, a substantial building erected in 1896.
Cole's Opera House, under the management of Cecil Butler, was originally erected in 1881 by Levi Cole, the old merchant; but the house of amusement has been much improved since the earlier days.
THE MENDON PRESS.
In 1857 Messrs. N. D. Glidden and A. C. Miles loosed the Men- don Eagle, as the pioneer newspaper of the community, but the people were not able, or willing, to support it, and it disappeared after about a year of high-flying. Its successor, the Mendon Inde- pendent, under Burlingame & Rockwell, endured for some two years. The office was then sold and passed through various hands, being at one time in possession of Patrick Marantette, one of the
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
substantial citizens able to pay its bills-and willing "for the good of the town."
Charles P. Sweet published the Mendonian from 1871 to 1874, supporting Horace Greeley for the presidency in 1872. Soon after Mr. Sweet abandoned the local field and went to Kalamazoo county, the first newspaper of any real permanence appeared, under the proprietorship and editorship of Alfred Ringe. The first issue of his Mendon Weekly Times was published October 2, 1874, and Mr. Ringe continued to publish it as an independent paper for quite a number of years.
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