Pioneer history of Ingham County, compiled and arranged by Mrs. Franc L. Adams, secretary of the Ingham County pioneer and historical society.

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PIONEER HISTORY OF INGHAM COUNTY

ONONDAGA EIGHTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.
By MRS, M. C. BALDWIN.
The State Land Office was then at Ionia, while Jacksonburg,
as it was then called, was the nearest shopping center, post office,
and railroad station. Ann Arbor had the nearest flouring mill.
The roads were the red man's path. Grand river was the drinking fountain. It was fed by tiny rills running down the hills from
bubbling springs above.
There were no school houses, no churches, no barber shop, no
saloons, no town hall or movies, no woman's club, nor any bridge
over the river.
There are now four river bridges in the township and one on the
line between Ingham and Eaton counties, kept up by both.
These are all iron bridges, the change from wood to iron bridges
being made by Frank A. Hoes, while he was highway commissioner.
The first lands plowed were small tracts where the Indians had
camped and burned the timber. Later this land was set to orchards.
The first flowing well was drilled by Grove Baldwin in 1869.
There are now five in the village.
The first white child born in the township was a daughter of
Thomas P. and Ursula Baldwin, Ann Jeanette, born 1839, died
1847.
The first railroad trains were running through this village in
1864. The road was then called the "Grand River Valley Division" of the Michigan Central Railroad.
In 1913 the State bought a large tract of land in school district
No. 1 for a farm to be used in connection with the State Penitentiary at Jackson. The large clay beds made it valuable for making
brick and tile. It is called the Clay-pit farm. There can be any
number of children living there and attending the village schools,
yet the State pays no taxes. Also the prison autos and trucks
run daily on our highways. The State pays no road tax.
In 1914 M. M. Moore bought the old cider mill property and
put in a cheese factory. In 1921 the people organized a stock