A twentieth century history of Cass County, Michigan

Part I

The History of Cass County has been completed after more than a year of unremitting effort on the part of the publishers and the editor and his staff. That the work will bear the critical inspection of the many persons into whose hands it will come, and that it measures up to the highest standards of modern book-making, the Publishers confidently believe. Also, through the diligent co-operation of Mr. Glover, the editor, the history has become a record of enduring value and dignity.

It is not the purpose of the Publishers to delay the readers with a long preface. It is sufficient to acknowledge their indebtedness to many who have contributed of personal knowledge, of time and patience in their cordial endeavors to preserve and extend the fund of historical knowledge concerning Cass County. It would be impossible to mention the names of all who have thus assisted in making this work. Yet we cannot omit mention of the assistance rendered by the county officials, especially County Clerk Rinehart, Judge Des Voignes, Register of Deeds Jones, County Treasurer Card, County Commissioner of Schools Hale. Naturally the newspapers of the county have been drawn upon, and Mr. Allison of the National Democrat, Mr. Berkey of the Vigilant. Mr. Moon of the Herald, have never failed to supply us with exact information or further our quest in some helpful way. These and many others have helped to compile a trustworthy history of Cass County.

 

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I.
Description

CHAPTER II.
Original Inhabitants 14

CHAPTER III.
The County's Southern Boundary 22

CHAPTER IV.
Early Settlement 37

CHAPTER V.
"Pioneer of Cass County" 53

CHAPTER VI.
Organization 91

CHAPTER VII.
Growth and Development 101

CHAPTER VIII.
Centers of Population 119

CHAPTER IX.
Cassopolis 142

CHAPTER X.
City of Dowagiac 153

CHAPTER XI.
Communication and Transportation 163

CHAPTER XII.
Industries and Finance 180

CHAPTER XIII.
Agriculture 198

CHAPTER XIV.
Court House and Other County Institutions 207

CHAPTER XV.
Education in State and County 215

CHAPTER XVI.
City and Village Schools 228

CHAPTER XVII.
Libraries 244

CHAPTER XVIII.
The Cass County Press 249

CHAPTER XIX.
Medicine and Surgery 257

CHAPTER XX.
Cass County Bar 270

CHAPTER XXI.
Cass County the Home of the Races 284

CHAPTER XXII.
Military Records 297

CHAPTER XXIII.
Military Organizations 329

CHAPTER XXIV.
Social Organization 334

CHAPTER XXV.
Cass County Pioneer Society 349

CHAPTER XXVI.
Religion and the Churches 371

CHAPTER XXVII.
Official Lists 389

 

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Part II

 

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Cass county, topographically considered, is much the same now as before the first settlement. The three generations of white men have cleared the forest coverings, have drained the swamps, have changed some (if the water courses; have overwhelmed the wilderness and converted the soil to areas productive of useful fruitage: have net-worked the country with highways and reads of steel; have quarried beneath the surface and clustered structures of brick and stone and wood into hamlets and villages, and from the other results of human activity have quite transformed the superficial aspects of our county. But the greater and more basal configurations of nature endure through all the assaults of human energy. The eternal hills still stand as the symbol of permanence and strength; the lake basins, though their water area is becoming gradually reduced, still dot the expanse of the county to form the same charming contrast of sparkling waters and green forest and prairie which the original settlers looked upon. The slopes of drainage, the varieties of soil, the general geology of Cass county continue with little change.