Coloma High School - Gold Leaf Yearbook (Coloma, MI)

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avdvdunburkai, -rg ' 'Z ng, sts' af 7 Cfucrua qauwfuud-Q-uavauvii, Q6 seezezvv U and adiaqslaw ,v Q ,, A BRIEIZ 111511012 1: 01112 TSG . If I attended school and didn't get whipped every day I felt I didn't get treated well. That may have been the opinion of the little boy walk- ing home from the old school 111. The sc hool has changed sinc e the n but only because the village has been changing. Let's turn the hands of time back to the beginning of Coloma .... In 1832, Job Davis, a shinglemaker from Cass county, purchased 150 acres of land which was first seen by a white man in 1675, to make shin- gles. Griffith, Hoyt and Hatch, Inc. were attract- ed by Davis' plans and bought his interests. A mill and town site were laid out on the north bank of the river, the chief medium of transpor- tation, and plans were made br a lively settlement. Stephen R. Gilson, enroute to Chicago, learn- ed that a settler, who had remained after the Griffith company failed, was in searchofa part- ner. I-Ie signed a contra ct with him in 1834. The first real local activity had begun and from then on Mr. Gilson was to identify himself with Coloma history. U By 1837, Shingle Diggings was composed of several families. It could even boast a school religious meetings when the minister came to the settlement. But the lumber for making shingles was soon exhausted and in 1838 Shingle been settled However, the first permanent farmer had al ready put in his appearance, in 1836, Mo se s Osgood came from Jefferson county, New York, and purchased landand set out the first orchard in this vicinity In spite of the earlier inaccurate reports that the land was worthless, other settlers cam e The heavily txmbered land teemed with wild life, but towns and neighbors were scarce There was a scarcity of matches and a fire had to be kept burning, for if it went out it became neces sary to travel to the neighbors and get fire- brands or coals to rekindle the fires. Gilson Osgood arrived in 1841 at the urging of his brother Moses. He and Steven Gilson be- came the industrial promoters of a new settle- ment. They established a saw m ill and Mr . Osgood built a small store on the corner of Paw Paw and St. Joseph street. An old S3 Yin! was There was only one dollar in town and everyone was dickering to get hold of it! Thus the settlement was named Dickervi1le. 1850 found Stephen Gilson on his way to Coloma California, where gold had be e n discovered . I-Ie came home from the Land of gold two years later. When he returned he found a church, a first class hostelry121, a general store and a few homes making up the settlement, which was now a stagecoach stop. In 1855, itwas rechris- tened Coloma, a fte r the town in California . 3 And then came the railroad! People came from miles around to see the first steam train pull into Coloma, July 4, 1871. A new business cen- ter sprang up near the railroad and Washington Street Q3,41. The St. Cloud hotel Qp. 1131 was erected and it included not only hotel accomoda- tions and a bar, but a general store, a railroad waiting room and adance hall. The business center reshifted to the present location and the new stores closed their doors. One by one the buildings were moved or torn down. About 1885, the triangular piece of ground 1101, now the village park, came into controversy . Dr. Baker made a deal with Chester Gilson to deed a lot on the west side of the street in ex- change for the triangular piece ofground, which he proposed to deed to the village for a park. A logging team brought trees from the woods and water for the trees was brought from the creek in barrels. A steam railroad to Paw Paw Lake construct- ed by Dr. Wm. A. Baker in 1896 greatly helped the tourist begin in this area. Flowing we 1 ls had been struck south of Coloma and 1908 found a water system inaugurated by Dr. Baker serving the village. The St. Joseph Railroad Company completed an interurban electrical railway from Benton Harbor to Coloma in November 1909 161. The trees in Coloma's business center 15, 7, 14,151 slowly began disappearing and by the early 30's the last of them had bee n removed. T he centennial held in August, 1936, was the biggest celebration ever held in Coloma's history. 1941 found the village of Coloma incorporated as a city. A new city hall lp. 1191 will be completed this year and the ninth annual Gladioli Festival will be held this August. -5,5 pmo I3 Dpinimnn nd Cl up Da opp by ,Wa QUUUQQU QDDDPP 'Senna has gras- 5 A 5' 'iiii 7 r'--'DDDQZ , . ' . U Diggings was aba ndoned as quickly as it had

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