USA > Michigan > Kent County > Illustrated historical atlas of the county of Kent, Michigan > Part 10
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ITS MANUFACTURES.
'Large and important as is the heavy and increasing trade of the city, its chief distinction, and the real foundation of its prosperity, is in its manufac- tures.
In another place is a tabular statement of the manufacturing establish- ments of the county, two hundred and fifteen in number, as reported in 1874 ; but this is short of the truth to-day, both in number and amount of products. The number in the city alone, to-day, is about one hundred and twenty-five, employing nearly four thousand hands, and turning out manufactured articles valued at more than $6,500,000, or more than was accredited to the whole county in 1874.
The following is a list of the number and kind, and products, of the lead- ing manufacturing establishments : .
No.
KIND.
Value of Pro- ducts.
4
Flouring Mills
$802,000
9 Saw Mills
866,000
9
Foundries and Machine Shops.
220,000
4
Agricultural Implements.
216,000
9
Carriages, Wagons and Sleighs
186,506
1
Fanning Mill and Safes.
34,000
8
Furniture and Chairs.
1,100,000
2
Broom Factory
5,500
I Pump Factory --
15,000
5
Wooden Ware, Clothes Pins, etc
92,000
4
Barrels, Tubs, Pails, etc
184,934
5
Saddles, Harness and Trunks
74,500
3
Copper, Sheet Iron and Tin Ware Breweries
129,000
3
Wholesale Bakeries
190,000
3
Boot and Shoe Factories
59,500
6
Clothing Manufactories Brick and Tile
92,000
2
Burial Cases
56,000
2
¡Soap and Candles.
24,000
2
Coffee, Spice, Baking Powder, etc.
90,000
=2
Blank Books
19,000
I
Spring Beds.
33,000
2 |Lime ..
NEW BUILDINGS.
During the year 1875, it is reported that two hundred and fifty-eight new residences and forty-six additions to dwellings were made, and that forty- eight brick stores, and twenty-three wooden ones were erected in the same time ; and that the shops, barns, and warehouses, would swell the whole number of new buildings to four hundred and forty-two.
Of these buildings, many were fine and substantial. About seventy-five of them were of brick, and the total cost is figured up at $1,018,940. One of these buildings, erected by Col. E. S. Pierce, on the corner of Pearl and Monroe Streets, at an expense of $75.000, would be counted a creditable building in any city of the land.
WATER WORKS.
In the year 1873, the city commenced the construction of an efficient system of water works, which were completed during 1875, at an expense of $341,000. These works were designed not only for the supply of an ample amount of pure water for domestic use, but for protection against fire. The powerful engine and pumps used were constructed in this city, by Butterworth & Lowe. It has been found that this engine, by working six hours out of the twenty-four, and with but twenty-five pounds of steam, is capable of supply- ing the daily wants of the city. A reservoir capable of holding six million gallons of water is located on the highest point within the city. The water in this basin, when full, will be one hundred and seventy-seven feet above the Grand River, and more than one hundred and fifty-four feet above the pumping machinery. The works are so arranged that the advantage of direct pressure from the pumps, or the effect of the head of, water in the basin alone, may be used as desired. The pressure from the basin alone is sufficient to throw water on to the highest buildings 'in the lower part of the city through hose attached direct to hydrants. This system includes about nineteen miles of supply and distributing pipe varying from four inches to . twenty inches in diameter.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The Fire Department of the city, as at present organized, is believed to be in a high state of efficiency. It embraces a force of sixty-five men, forty- five of whom are on part pay, while twenty are constantly employed. The apparatus consists of three Steam Fire Engines (Silsby make), two Champion Extinguishers (or Chemical Engines), six hose carts with seven thousand five hundred feet of hose, one hook and ladder truck, and one supply wagon. The department has also connecting with the engine-houses a fire alarm telegraph with twelve miles of wires leading to seventeen alarm boxes dis- tributed over the city.
STREETS, STREET CARS, ETC.
The records of the Board of Public Works shows that there are over one hundred and twenty-nine miles of streets now opened in the city, of which over sixty miles have been graded, and about fifty-two miles of them graded and graveled or paved with wood or stone. . There are also within the city about thirteen miles of sewers, mostly brick or vitrified pipe. The improve- ments within the year 1875, including the contracts previously made but completed in this year amounted to about $90,000, and there are under con- tract for the year 1876 an amount of work that is estimated at $122,000, to be expended on the streets alone.
There were at the close of the year 1875, thirteen miles of street railway in operation, furnishing easy access to almost all parts of the city for a nominal sum.
RAILROADS.
The first railroad to reach Grand Rapids was the Detroit and Milwaukee R.R., in July, 1858. The next was a section of the Grand Rapids and Ind .. R.R., in 1867, and this soon furnished an outlet to the north and south as : the first had done east and west. Trains arrived on the Kalamazoo and: Grand Rapids R.R., in 1869, and on the Grand River Valley R.R., in 1870. Since that date two others, the Chicago and Lake Shore, and the Grand . Rapids and Newaygo Roads have been completed, and another line or two put under contract. Few cities of its size have a grander network of roads radiating from them, and few furnish their roads with more business in pro- portion to population than does this city.
NEWSPAPERS.
A very good index of the character for enterprise of any community is to be found in the number and character of the newspapers it supports. A newspaper of late days has come to be looked upon as a necessary adjunct of every village of any pretensions, or that seriously contemplates being of any consequence.
We find that so early as April, 1837, the Grand River Times was founded among a people, many of whom had not an acre of cleared land or scarcely a roof above them. George W. Pattison was the venturesome proprietor whom it is said brought his press from Grand Haven upon a sled drawn by dogs upon the frozen bosom of Grand River.
After several changes of proprietors and a few changes of name, we lose sight of the Times.
By 1855 it was thought the young city was able to sustain a daily paper, and A. E. Gordon founded the Daily Herald.
In the following year, Taylor & Barnes issued the Daily Enquirer. These two papers were soon merged, and known as the Enquirer and Herald. which was the forerunner of the present Daily Democrat, which appeared in 1862.
The Grand Rapids Eagle was founded in 1844, as a weekly, but became a daily in 1856, under the auspices of A. B. Turner, and is still published by A. B. Turner & Co., and is Republican in politics.
The Grand Rapids Times, daily and weekly, was founded in 1870. It is published by Tarbox & Smith, is Independent in politics, and has attained a large circulation in a short time.
Besides these three, each daily and weekly, and each apparently in a ·flourishing condition, there are several weekly papers, as follows :
De Standaard, established in 1875, by Schram & VanStrien. (Democratic.) Michigan Staats Zeitung (German), founded in 1864.
Saturday Evening Post, David N. Foster, proprietor. Established in 1873. Vrijheids Banier (Holland, Republican). Established in 1868.
De Wachter . (Holland,) Religious, semi-monthly. Organ of the True Dutch Reform Church. . Founded in 1868.
HOTELS.
Grand Rapids surpasses any place of its size in the number and capacity of its hotels ; there being no less than forty-four in the city, and many of them of a capacity to accommodate from one hundred to five hundred guests, and several of them kept in a style not easily surpassed. Among the more conspicuous are " Sweet's Hotel," the " Marton," the " Rathbun," the "Com- mercial," the " Eagle," etc., etc.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
There are in the city more than eight thousand children of school age, of whom about three-fourths attend school.
There are in the city thirteen school buildings, of which nine are of brick, and many of them tasteful as well as commodious and substantial structures, and are reputed to have cost from $10,000 to $80,000 each.
The Central High School is a famous land mark that will attract the eye when several miles away, standing as it does, on one of the highest points in the city. This school is in charge of Professor E. A. Strong, Principal, re- puted to be one of the best teachers and most accomplished scholars in the state. In this school a course is pursued calculated to fit students for enter- ing college.
Professor A. J. Daniels is the very popular superintendent of all the city schools, with his office in the Central School Building.
In the Central School Building is kept the museum of the Kent Scientific Institute, in which will be found a most instructive and extensive collection of specimens from almost all departments of nature.
Under the care of the Board of Education is an extensive Public Library of about eight thousand volumes, free to all citizens, and accessible every day, Sundays excepted.
CHURCHES.
There are in Grand Rapids no less than twenty-five churches, many of which are imposing edifices, costing in several instances from $50,000 to $90,000 each; and the total value of church property as given in the City Directory is set down at $651,000, which does not include all, as there are a few for which no report has been rendered. The total membership is repre- sented at 14,000, of which the Roman Catholics are the most numerous, the membership in three churches being set down at no less than 9,000, which of course includes the children of all Catholic parents, a rule that does not apply with other sects.
The following tabular statement will be of interest.
DENOMINATIONS.
NO. OF CON-
GREGATIONS.
MEMBERS.
SALARY OF
PASTORS.
TOTAL
CURRENT
EXPENSES.
VALUE OF
PROPERTY.
VALUE PER
MEMBER.
EXPENSES PER
MEMBER.
Baptist
I
350
$2000
$3500
$65000
$185 60
$10 00
Roman Catholic
3
9000
2100
4400
200000
22 50
52
Christian Reform
I 200
500
I200
7000
90000
IOI 78
13. 82
Episcopal
2
600
4700
7200
· 92000
174 54
18 QI
Hebrew.
I
25
3
765
4800
7900
126000
170 4I
13.01
2
275
3500
4500
44000
196 78
17 99
Lutheran
I
250
800
2000
16000
64 00
128 33
15 16
Spiritualists
I
80
Swedenborgians.
1
40
Universalists
- I
21000
HISTORY OF GRAND RAPIDS TOWNSHIP.
The Township of Kent, the original or territorial town, embraced all of the county south of the river, and appears to have been organized at the house of Joel Guild, April 4, 1834 ..
This appears to have been the legitimate forerunner of Grand Rapids Township, which retained' the records, but merely changed the name. Grand Rapids Township is south and west of the geographical center of the. county, and lies north und east of the city limits, to which some three and a half square miles of the town has been surrendered ; the remainder of the cor- poration domain, about seven square miles, being originally a portion of Walker Township.
SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION, ETC.
The first settler within in what is now the Town of Grand Rapids, was Ezekiel Davis, who settled near Reed Lake, in 1834, followed almost immedi- 'ately by Lewis, Ezra, and Porter Reed, David S. Leavitt and Robert Mc- Barr, George Young, Simeon Stewart and James McCrath, appear to have arrived in 1836 ; 1. W. Fisk, Matthew Taylor and Robert Thompson, settled in the town in 1837. Mr. Fisk erected a hotel near Reed Lake, known as the " Lake House." There were doubtless several other families, whose names we have not obtained.
The first and second town meetings of Kent Township were held at the house of Joel Guild, which was within what is now the City of Grand Rapids, on the site of the city national bank, and was within what was after- wards, Walker Township. The records of this primary and momentous town meeting are in the hands of the present town clerk of Grand Rapids, Mr. Henry H. Haven. The first entry reads as follows :
--
6 00
Congregational
2
635
3900
1500
2200
-- --
88 00
Methodist Episcopal_ Presbyterian.
Reformed Churches
3
2150
4200
6498
97000
I2000
300 00
8 00
4
2 Edge Tools
32,000
29,000
335,000
2
Another item of importance to the incipient city, and which did much to give it the start of all other points in the west part of the state, was that it- was made the point for payment to the Indians of their annuities.
14,000
No. OF
80
HISTORY OF KENT COUNTY-CONTINUED.
"ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN OF KENT."
" At the first annual township meeting in the Township of Kent, held at the house of Joel Guild, agreeable to an act of the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, Rix Robinson was chosen moderator, and Jonathan F. Chubb, clerk pro tem., after which the following persons were elected to office, viz. :
Rix Robinson, Supervisor.
Eliphalet Turner, Town Clerk. Joel Guild, Barney Burton, J. H. Gordon, Assessors.
Ira Jones, Collector.
Luther Lincoln, Poor Master.
Louis Campau, Barney Burton, Luther Lincoln, Commissioners of High- ways.
Myron Roice, Ira Jones, Constables.
I. F. Chubb, Overseer of Highways.
Voted, that a fence five feet high (the distance between the rails for three feet high, six inches), shall be a lawful fence.
Voted, that Luther Lincoln, Jonathan F. Chubb, G. H. Gordon, and Barney Burton shall serve as fence viewers.
Voted, that this meeting be adjourned until the first Monday of April next, at the house now occupied by Joel Guild.
Town of Kent, April, 1834.
RIX ROBINSON, Moderator. JONATHAN F. CHUBB, Clerk, pro tem."
Of these first officers elect, Rix Robinson resided within the present limits of Ada. Gideon H. Gordon, Jonathan F. Chubb, Luther Lincoln, and Myron Roice (Roys), lived within the present limits of Wyoming. Barney Burton lived in Paris, and Louis Campau, Ira Jones, and Eliphalet Turner, within the limits of what is now the City of Grand Rapids.
Except the settlement at the mouth of Flat River, every settlement in the county was represented in that list of officers, and Grandville seems to have secured the lion's share.
Rev. L. Slater had been appointed a Justice of the Peace, and before him the officers elect took their oath of office, Mr. Turner being first, on the 7th of April, 1834.
A little further along we find that at a meeting, September 30, 1834, the board met and allowed accounts to the amount of $19.25 to various officers -Jonathan F. Chubb, a Justice ; E. H. Turner, Town Clerk.
Again, we find a meeting of the board, held March 31, 1835, reported the Total amount received by Supervisor_ $66.50
Paid on orders. Balance on hand
45.12 21.38
At the town meeting held April, 1835, it appears that there was an election for county as well as town officers, and the following votes were cast : Coroner-Lawrence Vanderwaker. 18 Recorder of Deeds-Stephen Vicary 13
Treasurer-Theodore C. Shelden 26
Register of Deeds-J. W. Willard 17
The following very interesting record also appears the first thing after the record of the oaths :
KENT, March 12, 1835.
This day Asa Fuller personally came before me at my office and applied for license to be granted him to be joined in wedlock with Susan Dwennel, both of this place, and being duly sworn as to his lawful right to be joined in wedlock to the above named Susan Dwennel, and finding no legal objections thereto, I therefore granted license for any proper person to join Asa Fuller and Susan Dwennel in wedlock.
Given under my hand the day and year above mentioned.
ELIPHALET H. TURNER, Town Clerk. At a meeting held in 1835, to elect delegates to form a state constitution, the full vote seems to have been forty-one,
It is reported that the whole number of votes cast at the first town meet- ing was but nine, but as there were thirteen positions to fill, besides fence viewers, which made seventeen, every man present was accommodated with an office ; three of them two offices apiece, while Barney Burton and Luther Lincoln were decorated with three each. .
By the next year the population of the county had greatly increased, forty- one votes, as will be noticed, being cast ; and 1835-6 saw a vast change in the condition and immediate prospects in the infant community known as the Town of Kent. In 1836 a new town was set up, called Byron, with head- quarters at Granville.
The name of this town was changed to Grand Rapids, in 1842. The prin- cipal officers for the current year are :
Supervisor-Henry McCormac. Clerk-Henry H. Havens. Treasurer-Mr. Barr. Justices-Erastus W. Knapp, James H. Martin, James Ewing.
CHARACTERISTICS, SOIL, ETC.
Most of the township is rolling, and a considerable portion very hilly, and generally oak openings or heavy timber. A half a dozen or more small lakes dot its surface. The only one, however, of much consequence, is known as Reed's Lake, which is much the largest, being about three-fourths of a mile wide by about two miles in length. It is finely stocked with fish, and has been long a summer resort -for- pleasure seekers .; a hotel and grounds, with boating facilities in season, are among the attractions, and a small steamier glides over its placid bosom. The lake is in a southeast direction, about three miles from the center of the city, and a splendid drive may be enjoyed to its shores. A street railway is in operation from the city to this miniature inland sea, and during the summer season the cars make regular trips. Grand River runs within half a mile or less of half of the east side of the town in its great bend to the northward, and after flowing across the town of Plainfield, barely cuts the northwest corner of the town, and then keeps within half a mile or less of the west line of the town for five miles.
There are no streams of any considerable size in the township.
The soil of this township is not so good as some others, though some of it is first class. A portion of it is heavy clay, but much of it a sandy loam, very valuable for either cereals or fruit raising.
GROWTH AND PRESENT CONDITION.
The Township of Grand Rapids being contiguous to the city, must of course enjoy some advantages, such as convenience to market, etc., not enjoyed by all parts of the county. It has also lost several good square miles of its domain.
In 1845, the tax-roll, the township being then intact, was only but $127,520. This has since increased, and is reported for taxation at $890,599, and the population, which was but four hundred and sixty-one in 1850, was 1,650 in 1870.
In the matter, of live stock, it had : horses, 384 ; oxen, 30 ; milch cows, 575 ; other cattle, 258 ; hogs, 437 ; sheep, 1,519.
Its produce for the year 1873 was : wheat, 14,916 bushels ; corn, 15, 144 bushels; other grain, 16,259 bushels ; potatoes, 15,868 bushels; hay, 2,422 tons ; wool, 5,038 pounds ; butter, 33,720 pounds ; fruits and garden produce, $4,549 worth.
HISTORY OF GRATTAN TOWNSHIP.
Grattan Township is one of the eastern tier of towns, and its center is about twenty miles northeast of Grand Rapids, and nearly the same distance northwest of Ionia, and is on the state road from Grand Rapids to Ionia. The town has Oakfield Township on the north, Ionia Township to the east, Vergennes Township on the south, and Cannon on the west.
SETTLEMENT AND ORGANIZATION.
This town was largely settled with natives of Ireland, and when set off from Vergennes in 1846, it was the intention to have named it Churchtown, but by a mistake of the Legislature, this name was given at first to Cannon, and Grattan was bestowed upon this, in honor of the distinguished orator, whose countrymen were so largely interested in the development of this spot „in the wilderness.
Dennis and John McCarthy are said to have been the first white men to take up their abode in the town, during the year 1843, Richard Giles also came in the same year. The immigrants for 1844 were, Luther B. Cook, Converse Close, Wm. Smith, Henry Green, Jared Watkins, Anthony and Alanson King, Volney W. Caukin, Wm. Mccarthy, and Michael Kennedy. In 1845, came John P. Weeks, Orson Nicholson, Wm. Byrnes and Anson Green. In 1846, came Russel Slayton and Dudley Newton, Among others who arrived prior to the organization of the town, were Milton C. Watkins, Erastus W. Beason, Thomas J. Morgan, Joshua Fisk, Wm. C. Stanton, S. H. Steel, Wm. Beaurman, Jedediah H. Wood, and Barlow Barto.
The first town meeting was held in April, 1846, at the residence of Con- verse Close, when twenty-three votes were cast, and the following, among other officers, were chosen for the first year.
Supervisor-Milton C. Watkin.
Clerk-Volney W. Caukin.
Treasurer-Erastus W. Beason.
Justices-Samuel H. Steel, John P. Weeks, Wm. Byrne, Luther B. Cook. As early as 1848, the Catholics had built them a small church near the southwest corner of the town, which gave place to a larger one in 1858, was replaced by another, and this being destroyed by fire in 1868, was at once rebuilt, and is now one of the finest country churches in the state.
Among the present town officers are :
Supervisor-John Nixon.
Clerk-Nathaniel Smith.
Treasurer-Silas Ward.
Justices-Sewall Abby, John W. B. Smith, Dennis McCarthy, Jas. Bush.
CHARACTERISTICS, SOIL, ETC.
Grattan in the number and size of its small lakes is not sarpassed by any town in the county, unless it is Oakfield. There are at least twenty-five of these, varying in size from thirty acres to three hundred acres each, Some eight or ten of these find a natural outlet through Seley's Creek, the only stream of. note in the town, and which empties into Flat River in Ionia County.
The town presents considerable inequality of surface, and great variety of soil. It has some pine lands, more oak openings ; while a considerable portion is heavily timbered. Tamarack marshes are numerous, but agri- culturally it ranks high among the townships of the county.
GROWTH AND PRESENT STATUS.
In 1850 Grattan had about 600 inhabitants, and in 1855 it was valued at about $187,000. In 1870 we find it with a population numbering 1,297, and appraised for the purposes of taxation at $533, 148 in 1875.
Grattan Center is the principal business center of the town. It is a place of about twenty-five families, one church, one hotel, a grist mill, saw mill and machine shop, one drug, and two dry goods, and a grocery store, two wagon- makers and two smith shops.
The mill and machine shop is situated on Seley's Creek, the outlet of numerous lakes, and has an unfailing and constant supply of water, these lakes acting as reservoirs for storing power for dry times.
... In 1845 the tax roll of Vergennes (then including Grattan,) was but $168,775.
The first marriage in the town occurred in 1844, an Ionia County Justice standing just over the line and officiating, while the happy couple were just within the bounds of Kent County. The first white child was Marshal King, son of Alanson King, born December, 1844, and the first death was that of a little son of Isaac Springer, in the Autumn of 1846.
Agriculturally Grattan makes a fair showing. Its wheat crop in 1873 was 39,705 bushels, corn not stated, other grain 33,015 bushels, potatoes 17,527 bushels, hay 2,368 tons, wool 26,569 pounds, cheese 1, 725 pounds, and butter 59.735 pounds.
In live stock it showed in 1874, 537 horses, 32 oxen, 531 milch cows, 541 other cattle, 714 hogs, and 5,383 head of sheep. These are larger figures in proportion to population, than in most towns of Kent County.
HISTORY OF LOWELL TOWNSHIP.
Lowell Township is one of the eastern tier of towns, and second from the south end of the county. Its principal business point is nearly twenty miles a little south of east from the City of Grand Rapids. North of Lowell lies Vergennes Township, on the east it is bounded by Ionia County, south by Bowne, and west by Cascade Township, Kent County.
SETTLEMENT, ORGANIZATION, ETC.
Lowell may be regarded as the third point in the county where the white man made a lodgment-Daniel Marsac of Detroit, having come among the Indians near the present site of the Village of Lowell, in 1829, although it is reported that he did not build a house, or get a regular trading post estab- lished till two years later. At this time Rix Robinson was at the mouth of the Thorn Apple, nearly ten miles lower down, and Lewis Campau and a few others at the Rapids,
" In those days "Indian trails" were the only roads, and "dug-outs" or rafts, the only means of transportation.
. The next person we learn of as settling in Lowell was Lewis Robinson, in 1836, followed in the same year by Rodney Robinson, a brother, who had been living at Blendon, Ottawa County, for a year. About the same time came Philander Tracey and Luthur Lincoln, who had previously located at Grand Rapids.
In 1837, Wm. VanDusen, Samuel P. Rolf, Mathew Patrick, Ira A. Danes, and Charles Newton settled on the north side of the river.
It is reported that a school was organized here as early as 1838 taught by Miss Caroline Beard.
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