Grand Haven Senior High School - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Grand Haven, MI)

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1834 W A mania for locating cities and villages prevailed. Wilderriess locations were platted and mapped and sold to Eastern speculators and investors. They were called paper towns and widely advertised as fine places for business and homes. Some were never settled. The great fiasco of Port Sheldon began as a rival of Grand Haven ten miles to the north. It was known as lVIichigan's first wild cat town. It crumbled in two years for it was a city in name only, all of its three hundred citizens being members of the Port Sheldon Company which was its. founder. The company had made an heroic but vain gesture by spending huge sums on an impressive hotel, stores, piers, a railroad, etc. The panic of 1837 caused the false shareholders to leave in a hurry. An 'Indian treaty was drawn up in Washirigtori by which the lands north of Grand River were ceded to the United Statesg subsequent immigration followed. The Indian was paid for this land but in a great many cases he was lured by a crafty trader into throwing away his money on whiskey. The mail carrier was always eagerly awaited by news-hungry inhabitants. Jean Baptiste Parrisien, appointed first mail carrier, traveled on foot carrying his pack to expectant doors between Grand Haven and Grand Rapids. The slowness of the 1nail service, its inadequacy and inefficiency, however, up to the advent of the mail train, occasioned continual complaint. The Detroit 81 lVIilwaukee Railway in 1857 gave daily service. Michigari having been declared a state the following year, John D. Pierce was appointed Supt. of Public Instruction. He laid the foundation of the public school system of lvlichigan which was later followed in many other states. There had always been much dispute as to where the county seat should be. It was actually located in Warrexi, a paper city, in 18-10, but the courts continued to meet in Grand Haven throughout the argument and the voting, and here it still is. Steamboats began to ply on the river in 1837 along with canoes, rowboats, and scows. The first one was built at Grand Rapids and was called the Governor Mason . At the close of 1837 Grand Haven was the center of activity of Ottawa County. Organized community teamwork was much apparent. A tannery had been established south of the corner of Elliot and Second Streets. This was the first industry aside from mercantile and lumbering activities. The Hrst burial was in Washington Street Cemetery, now Central Park. It was not until 1867 that the city council recommended the purchase of the land now in- cluded in Lake Forest Cemetery for burial purposes. The growing need of the city was somewhat alleviated when the state legislature provided for several roads and the United States government bought land at the mouth of the river upon which a crude lighthouse was erected, for navigation was very es- ol2o

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TIE! Although Rix Robinson and his family and another fur agent were there when the party entered the harbor, it did not mean that these were settlers: they were fur traders. At the coming of the settlers they realized the doom of their fur trade, but being intelligent, they claimed and capitalized the land: thus did Rix Robinson be- come intimately connected with the early settlement and development of the village of Grand Haven. He was its original proprietor and had platted it with Grand Haven as its name. Reverend llflr. Ferry had intended to call it, Stuart, in honor of a friendg and this was the first name applied to it, but in less than a year the name was officially changed to its present form. 3 FIRST SCHOOL, ON SECOND STREET. GRAND HAVEN 1836 The first Grand Haven Company was organized with Robinson, Ferry, Stuart and White, as equal partners to buy lands, erect mills, etc. Other companies were formed for similar purposes. The year 1836 saw many things of interest in the infant city. The first schoolhouse was erected on Second Street. lt was a small frame build- ing used as a public meeting place also. The first sawmill was built at the foot of Columbus Street. It was to usher in numerous others and to begin a lumbering busi- ness which was to ZlCt as a means of income to thousands in coming years.

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