USA > Michigan > Wexford County > History of Wexford County, Michigan, embracing a concise review of its early settlement, industrial development and present conditions > Part 36
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
The first one in the list graduated from the classical and also from the Latin courses ; the next six from the Latin; the next six from the scientific; the next four from the English preparatory and the last twelve from the English.
The first doctor and druggist in the vil- lage was Dr. John Leeson. He made a trip to the new town in November, 1871, but the outlook was so discouraging that he passed but one night in the place. sleeping on the floor at that, in the kitchen of the Clam Lake House. He returned in March,
288
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
1872, bought a lot and put up a building, in which he started the first drug store. Be- fore he had his building ready for occu- pancy he occupied a room in which J. S. McClain kept a small stock of groceries and also the postoffice. This building stood on Mason street.
From the best information we can se- cure it appears that Holbrook & May started the first store on the site of the new village. This was in March, 1871, and was in a little log building near the shore of the lake. They afterwards put up a two-story store build- ing on the corner of Mason and Mitchell streets, in which they did a thriving busi- ness for a number of years.
In the first issue of the Clam Lake News we see no mention of lawyers, but during the year two law firms were established, Fal- lass & Sawyer and Rice & Rice. It appears that the first attorney was S. S. Fallass, who came in the fall of 1872. The next one was D. A. Rice, who came for the purpose of securing the nomination for prosecuting at- torney, but found that the convention had been held a few days before his arrival and Mr. Fallass had secured the nomination.
The members of the bar now living in the city are: J. R. Bishop. E. E. Haskins, Fred S. Lamb, D. E. McIntyre. C. F. Bur- ton. E. F. Sawyer. George S. Stanley, S. J. Wall, Fred Wetmore and Circuit Judge C. C. Chittenden. From the city members of the bar four attorneys have been raised to the circuit court bench of the twenty- eighth judicial circuit, viz : Hon. S. S. Fal- lass, Hon. J. M. Rice, Hon. F. H. Aldrich and the present judge, Hon. C. C. Chitten- den. For more than twenty years in suc- cession the circuit judge of the district to
which Wexford county belongs has been a resident of Cadillac.
It would be impossible to give in detail the vast lumbering operations that have built up and still largely sustain the thriving city by the lakes. For nearly thirty-two years, summer and winter, and many times day and night, has the work gone on. Some idea may be formed of the vast proportions of this business from a present description of the mills and factories. For years the Cummer interests ran two mills, cutting from two hundred thousand to two hundred and fifty thousand feet of lumber per day. Two years ago one of these mills ceased do- ing business, for the reason that the pine timber had become exhausted. The other mill runs on hardwood and hemlock, cut - ting about sixty thousand feet of the for- mer or one hundred and thirty thousand feet of the latter per day. To this firm belongs the distinction of having first replaced their circular saws with band saws. This at first was looked upon as a foolish experiment. it being the universal opinion of mill men that the band saw could not stand the rapid "feed" neces- sary to turn out such a large quantity of lumber per day, but the trial proved a suc- cess, and revolutionized the mill business throughout the country. Not only could lumber be manufactured as rapidly and as evenly with the band saw as with the cir- cular or gang saws, but the saving of tim- ber in consequence of the difference in the thickness of the saws is nearly enough to pay the expense of manufacturing the lum- ber, and it was not long before all the larger mills in the country were using band saws. This firm manufacture a large portion of
289
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
their beech and maple lumber into flooring, having a large planing-mill in connection with their plant. They also have five pairs of retorts for making charcoal out of the refuse from cutting their hardwood lumber and also from the wood they cut out of such timber as is not suitable for lumber. They have a chemical plant in connection with the charcoal business, which turns out wood alcohol, acetate of lime and coal tar, The output of these per day is as follows: Six hundred gallons of wood alcohol and ten thousand pounds of acetate of lime. The coal tar is used for fuel, consequently no account is kept of that. They make about three thousand bushels of charcoal per day.
Cobbs & Mitchell have two saw-mills with a capacity of one hundred eight thous- and feet of hardwood or one hundred eighty thousand feet of hemlock per day. Both mills were run entirely on pine until that timber was all cut out and now only hard- wood and hemlock, with occasionally a little pine mixed in, is cut. After the pine in this county had all been cut, they purchased one hundred and fifty million feet in Grand Traverse county and later sixty million feet in Kalkaska county, which was brought here for manufacture. Since turning their atten -. tion to hardwood they have added a maple- flooring mill and dry kilns to their estab- lishment in this city, where they make from fifty thousand to sixty thousand feet of beech and maple flooring per day.
The firm of Murphy & Diggins have a saw-mill with a capacity of about thirty-five thousand feet of lumber per day, nearly all of which is hemlock and maple. Wilcox Brothers have a saw-mill capable of cutting some twenty-five thousand feet per day. They also manufacture a patent basket and
11se quite a large quantity of timber each year for that purpose. Last year the firm of Williams Brothers built a large last- block factory, with a saw-mill attachment. The last-block business consumes about two hundred thousand feet of maple timber per year, while their saw-mill will cut forty thousand feet of lumber per day. They do not expect to do continuous business with the lumber mill, but use it to cut such timber as will not make last-blocks. Mitchell Brothers have a handle factory which re- quires about two million feet of beech and maple timber per annum. They only oper- ate a part of the year, but when running turn out about forty thousand handles per day. The Oviat Veneer Works require two million feet of timber per annum to supply their plant. They use beech, birch, maple, basswood, ash, oak, cherry and elin timber. The Cadillac Tie & Shingle Company have a plant with saw-mill attachment, capable of turning out twenty thousand feet of lumber and forty thousand shingles per day.
A little computation will show what a large amount of timber it requires each day to keep the mills and factories of Cadillac in operation, and the army of men given employment in the mills and camps by the lumber interests centered in this city.
Haynes Brothers have a large custom planing mill and in connection keep all kinds of lumber, mouldings, door and window frames, also shingles. lath, doors and win- (lows. The Cummer Manufacturing Com- pany do a large business in making ladders, potato crates and numerous small articles for household and office use.
The Michigan Iron works is an insti- tution that the city may well be proud of. It does everything in the shape of iron and
290
IFEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
steel working, from the building of a loco- motive down. It has a foundry where cast- ings weighing several tons can be made. William Haynes has a boiler shop in the same block as the iron works and turns out boilers and smoke stacks for all kinds and sizes of plants, as well as locomotive boil- ers.
Another manufacturing business of which the city may well be proud is the City Flouring Mills. The property is owned by J. Cornwell & Sons, successors to Labor & Cornwell. The business is the outgrowth of the small beginning made in 1872, men- tion of which, under the name of Cornwell & Labor, is heretofore given in the extract from the first copy of the Clam Lake News. It has grown to such proportions that the firm keep a man on the road constantly, sell- ing its products at wholesale to the dealers along the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad and Ann Arbor Railroad. They buy wheat along the whole northern lines of these rail- roads, have an elevator of their own at Shep- ard for wheat, and besides these sources of supply they receive many car loads of wheat and all of their corn from Chicago and other western points. This firm also does a whole- sale and retail grocery business, having two stores in the city.
The first system of water works was inaugurated by H. N. Green in 1878. The mains laid at that time were of wood bound with iron, the largest having only six inch bore for water. In 1893 a franchise was granted to W. W. Cummer to furnish a water supply for thirty years. The old wooden mains were replaced with iron pipes. the principal ones having a water capacity of twelve inches diameter. A stand pipe was built upon one of the highest elevations
in the city and this is kept filled with water at all times, to guard against any mishap to the pumps or engines. There are now over ten miles of water mains in the city and the average daily consumption of water is about a million and a quarter gallons.
AAbout the time that Mr. Cummer secured the water franchise he started in the electric lighting business, using the same building that contained the pumping outfit for his dynamos. This branch of the business grew rapidly and it was not long before every business place and many of the residences had been supplied with electric lights. . 1 little later street lights were put in place which gave the newly fledged city quite a dignified appearance.
A year ago a gas company was organ- ized and gas mains were laid in the princi- pal streets and a large number of people have substituted gas for electricity, while some use both. Gas is furnished for heat- ing as well as lighting purposes, and the hardware stores now have a good trade in gas stoves and ranges.
Cadillac, like all other cities, is blessed with an abundance of secret societies. The two which have the longest existance arc Clam Lake Lodge No. 231. Free and Ac- cepted Masons, and Viola Lodge No. 259, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, which were both organized in the spring of 1875. The list that follows is a long one, but we will give the names so that the reader can see what a town can do in the matter of secret orders when it sets itself about it. There is Cadillac Chapter No. 103. Royal Arch Masons; Cadillac Chapter No. 177, Order of the Eastern Star: Cadillac En- campment No. 93. Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Twin Lake Lodge No. 198,
291
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Rebekahs: Cadillac Lodge No. 181, Anci- ent Order of United Workmen; Cadillac Branch No. 131, Catholic Knights and La- dies of America; The Ancient Catholic For- resters Association ; Court Lodge No. 300. Independent Order of Foresters; Com- panion Court Dewey No. 181, Inde- pendent Order of Foresters; Ruby Council, F. A. A .; Washington Post No. 444, Grand Army of the Republic ; Cadillac Council, Royal and Select Masters; Twin Lake Camp No. 1596, Modern Woodmen of America : Cadillac Lodge No. 46, Knights of Pythias ; Eureka Division No. 67, Loyal Guards; Cadillac Tent No. 232, Knights of the Modern Maccabees: Cadillac Hive No. 698, Ladies of the Modern Maccabees ; Estella D. Hive No. 368, Ladies of the Modern Maccabees; Cadillac Lodge No. 172, O. M. P .; Cadillac Royal Circle: Gotha Lodge No. 5, Swedish United Sons of America; Wexford Lodge No. 674, Brotherhood of Railroad Train- men, and possibly others whose names we have been unable to learn, besides 1111- ions of carpenters, clerks, barbers, cigar- makers, masons, etc.
Two years after the village of Clam Lake was platted the question of having the village incorporated was submitted to the electors living in the territory to be included in the village, on the 15th of April, 1874. and was carried almost unanimously, there being but one negative vote to seventy-two in favor of the proposition. This action was taken under the provision of the general village incorporation law, and in accordance with that law the circuit judge, upon being notified of the result of the election, made an order declaring the village of Clam Lake duly incorporated. The first village election
was held on the rith day of May, 1874. The first village president was J. Shack- leton and the first clerk. David A. Rice. The first board of trustees were L. O. Harris. F. W. Hector, Daniel McCoy, George Hol- brook, A. N. McCarthy and J. W. Cobbs.
It was only a couple of months after this election that the supreme court declared the general village incorporation law to be 1111- constitutional, and the new village officers were thrown out of a job. The following winter, however, an act was passed by the legislature reincorporating the village. The same president as before was elected. and some of the same trustees, but E. F. Sawyer was elected clerk.
In the winter of 1877 efforts were made to get a city charter under the name of "City of Cadillac" and an act was intro- duced in the state legislature for that pur- pose. So skillfully was this work done that Wexford county had a city within its boun- daries before half a dozen of the citizens, outside of those living in the village of Clam Lake, knew it. The first- city election was held on the first Monday of April. 1877, at which the following officers were elected : Mayor. George .\. Mitchell ; marshal, Hor- ton Crandell; clerk, Lorenzo Ballou; treas- urer, D. F. Comstock; collector, Horton Crandell ; street commissioner, Charles Cole : school inspectors, Levi O. Harris, three years, Jacob Cummer, two years, Charles M. Ayer, one year; justices of the peace, H. N. Green, four years, E. F. Sawyer, three years, J. B. Rosevelt, two years, Rob- ert Christensen, one year ; alderman at large, M. J. Bond, two years. D. W. Peck, one year.
The following is a list of those who have held the office of mayor since Mr. Mitchell's
292
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
second term in 1878, viz: Jacob Cummer, one year: D. McCoy, four years; B. Bal- lou. one year; E. L. Metheany, two years ; F. Il. Iluntley, one year ; James Haynes, one year ; J. H. Hixon, one year ; James Mc- -Adam, one year; W. W. Cummer, one year ; L. J. Law, one year ; Fred .A. Diggins, six years; S. J. Wall, two years ; George S. Stanly, one year, and C. C. Donham, who is now serving his second year.
The city has a neat little park, covering about a block, located between the Ann Ar- bor and Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad tracks, which commands a fine view of the lake. Last year a tract of land near the western end of Lake Cadillac was purchased for park purposes. This will, when prop- erly fixed up, be a fine place for picnics and pleasure drives, and from it a good view of the entire city will be afforded.
A driving park association was organ- ized last year and immediately secured forty acres of land adjoining the city plat, and had quite a large proportion of it stumped before winter set in. This spring the work was renewed and the stumping is nearly all done and the grading well under way. A contract has been let for the erection of a grand stand and other buildings, and it is expected that the grounds and track will be in readiness for speed contests before the summer is over.
As early as 1876 a bank was started by D. F. Comstock and since that time the city has had very good bank facilities, with the exception of a brief period following the failure of Rice & Mesmore, which occurred in 1883. In December, 1883, a new bank
was started, known as the D. A. Blodgett & Company Bank, with D. F. Diggins as manager. Mr. Diggins retired in 1892, and Henry Knowlton was selected as his suc- cessor. In 1895 Mr. Blodgett decided to withdraw from business in Cadillac, and it was then that the Cadillac State Bank was organized. The officers were F. J. Cobbs. president ; S. W. Kramer, vice-president, and Henry Knowlton. cashier. The same officers have been re-elected from year to year until the present time. In 1901 the stockholders decided to erect a new bank building, more in keeping with the times and affording better facilities for the transaction of its constantly increasing business. The work of putting up the new brick building was begun early in the summer and in De- cember it was ready for occupancy. The outside walls are faced with yellow brick, giving the building a very attractive ap- pearance. The inside finishings and fur- nishings are of elegant design and modern in every particular, and the stockholders are justly proud of their new banking house. Mr. Knowlton has several times had the pleasure of showing its meritorious appoint- ments to parties from other towns who were contemplating building, and in every case the visitors were much pleased with the con- venient arrangements for business adopted in its construction. The new building oc- cupies the same site as the old, on the corner of South Mitchell and West Cass streets. Some idea of the extent of its business may be had from its last financial statement, is- sued February 6, 1903, which was as fol- lows :
293
WEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
RESOURCES.
Loans and Discounts, $ 483,759.12
Bonds, Mortgages and Securities,
106,328.31
Premium paid on Bonds, 775.00
Overdrafts, 406.70
Banking House, 21,239.31
Furniture and Fixtures, 1,770.46
U. S. Bonds, - $ 20,000.00
Due from Banks, 104,171.86
U. S. and Nat. Bank Currency, 11,244.00
Gold Coin,
14,100.00
Silver Coin, 4,255.35
Nickels and Cents
859.24
៛ 154,630.45
Checks and Cash Items, -
3,916.07
TOTAL,
$ 772,825.42
LIABILITIES.
Capital Stock paid in,
$ 50,000.00
Surplus Fund,
25,000.00
Undivided Profits,
24,507.03
Commercial Deposits,
$ 211,960.78
Certificates of Deposit, -
- 325,480.14
Savings Deposits,
135,877.47
$ 673,318.39
TOTAL,
$ 772,825.42
In July, 1902, the People's Savings Bank was organized, with Charles E. Rus- sell, president ; C. HI. Drury, vice-president, and George Chapman, cashier. The capital stock was fifty thousand dollars, all paid in. Its statement issued May 15, 1903, shows deposits of $123,192.70; loans, $137.384 .- 18, and total resources, $177.381.18. This shows a wonderful growth of business for the ten months the bank has been running.
The population of the city in now about seven thousand, having been 4,461 in 1890 and 5.997 in 1900. The last three years have witnessed a more rapid growth than any like period in the history of the town.
At the last city election it was voted to bond the city for thirty-five thousand dol- lars for public improvements, it being well
understood that this money was to be used in securing more factories.
A Board of Trade was organized early in the spring of 1903, the main object of which was to have charge of the matter of properly expending the money raised for public improvements. Heretofore this work liad been looked after by the Commercial Club, but at a largely attended meeting of the business men of the city it was thought best to organize a Board of Trade, and the preliminary steps were then taken to accom- plish this object. The work has since been completed and the organization duly incor- porated under the state law.
With the impetus which will be given to the growth of the city by the expenditure of the money raised on the bonds voted, the city will more than likely reach the ten thousand mark at the next United States census. Residences by the score were built during the year 1902 and a large number will be erected during the present year.
VILLAGE OF MANTON.
We find it stated from what seems to be reliable authority that the village of Man- ton was started in 1872, but the first plat to be recorded was the Railroad Plat of 1874. Previous to this there seems to have been another plat, which was called Cedar Creek, but it was not recorded until after the Railroad Plat had been recorded. In September, 1881, Seaman & Maqueston platted an addition and in October, 1883. another addition was platted, known as the Dodds addition. Two more additions were platted in 1884, one by Mr. Wiles and one by Mr. Huff. 1885 witnessed the platting of two more additions, one by H. B. Sturte-
294
IVEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
vant and one by Frank Weaver. Billings' addition was added in 1886, Sturtevant & Harger's addition in 1897 and the Manton Development Association plat was made in 1902. It will thus be seen that the village has had a very uniform and substantial growth since its first organization. It is surrounded by a splendid farming country. which affords a sure and steady business for its merchants. Besides the farming indus- try it has always had a healthy and remun- erative manufacturing business.
Ezra Harger and George Manton were the first persons to see the advantage of hav- ing a village at this point, having reached that point on a prospecting trip in the sum- mer of 1872. Mr. Harger purchased twenty acres of land and put up the first building in the place, which he filled with merchandise in the fall. William Meares also became in- terested in the place during the same fall and both he and Mr. Manton put up store buildings before the winter set in. Mr. Manton was a shoemaker by trade, and his stock of goods was mostly in that line, and he also had a shop in the rear end of the store for making and repairing footwear. The next year a saw-mill was erected and 2 hotel.
The first religious service held in the new village was held in the railroad depot by the station agent, H. Brandenburg. in the winter of 1872-3. Mr. Brandenburg was a Methodist, and during the summer of 1873 organized a class of eighteen men :- bers. Ile was appointed local preacher in August of that year.
The first school building in the village was erected in 1873. . A term of school had previously been taught in a private dwelling house by Mrs. O. J. Golden.
The village made a rapid growth for the next two or three years, one very im- portant reason being that as soon as regular trains had commenced running over the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad and a passable road could be made through to Sherman, the mail route was changed, and instead of running from Cadillac to Sher- man and on to Traverse City, the route was from Manton to Traverse City, via Sher- man, until the railroad reached Traverse City, and then it was simply from Sherman to Manton. Not only was this daily mail route a great help to Manton, but that vil- lage was the only shipping point for the whole country for six miles on either side of a line directly west of Manton clear through the county and for eight or tel: miles into Manistee county. These condi- tions helped the merchants and the hotel; of Manton to a wonderful degree and con- tinued until the building of the Toledo, Ann Arbor & Northern Michigan Railroad through the county in 1889. And thus it happened that we see the village spoken of in 1877 as having three good hotels and five general stores. A second saw-mill had been built previous to that time, also a plan- ing mill. So rapidly had the village grown that the legislature of 1877 passed an act incorporating the village, but it was not un- til February 11. 1878, that the first village election was held.
The same year Manton Lodge No. 347. Free and Accepted Masons, was organized with twelve charter members. \ Wom- an's Christian Temperance Union was or- ganized the same year. In May, 1881, Ris- ing Star Lodge No. 99. Ancient Order of United Workmen, was organized, but after a few years of activity went to pieces. O
295
IVEXFORD COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
P. Morton Post, Grand Army of the Ro- public, was mustered in April 26, 1882, and has had a good membership ever since that time, though for the past few years its ranks have been perceptibly thinned by death. An Odd Fellows lodge was organized as ear- ly as March, 1882, but with only six ehar- ter members. The village now has a tent of Knights of the Modern Maccabees, a hive of Ladies of the Modern Maccabees, a lodge of Modern Woodmen of America and a Knights of Pythias lodge.
A pretty good idea may be had of the village from the number of teachers employ- ed in its public schools and the number of pupils in attendance. There are eight teach- ers employed and the pupils number two hundred and ninety. The village has a fine school building and its sehools rank second in the county in size and number of teach- ers employed. The present officers of the village are Charles H. Bostick, president; Arthur Bulkley, clerk; George M. Brooks, treasurer; N. A. Reynolds, assessor; An- drew J. Bennett, street commissioner, and Richard Newland, marshal. In 1895 the village inaugurated a water-works system, and in 1901 it instituted an electric light plant. Both of these, we believe, are owned and operated by the village.
In the line of manufacturing industries we find the stave and heading factory of Andrew MeAfee, employing from thirty to forty men; the last-block factory of the Williams Brothers Company, turning out four thousand five hundred to five thousand last blocks per day and employing about forty men. M. Northrup has a saw and planing-mill and lumber yard. He employs from ten to thirty mien, and turns out about twenty-five thousand feet of lumber per day
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.