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

WILLIAMSTON TOWNSHIP AND ITS HISTORY

835

WILLIAMSTON TOWNSHIP.
By DR. F. N. TURNER, 1919.
My first acquaintance, or first visit to this village, was in April,
1866. The earlier history of this settlement and its pioneer days
before 1866 has been written by members and friends of the
Williams family, the founders of the village. My father was repairing his farm house, and for shingles he had to cut shingle
bolts, draw them to Williamston to be cut into shingles. My
first visit was with my father to get a load of shingles at Wm.
Steele's shingle mill.
The mill was situated in the west part of the village on the
ground now occupied by Frank Glasier's residence. Mr. Steele
had a small foundry in connection with his shingle mill, where he
cast plows and their accessories for the surrounding farming
country. We approached the village by a turn in the plank road
half a mile west, crossing a small creek east of the J. B. Haynes
farm. On both sides of the road were woods, with the exception
of one or two small clearings on the north side, until we got to
Deer Creek bridge. The road angled, as it does today, toward
the east; we crossed the bridge and continued for a distance on a
plank causeway until we reached the higher ground near the mill
and foundry. This long causeway was built on piles across the
flats of the Cedar river and Deer Creek. In after years this low
ground was filled with earth, the road today being on that embankment. The older inhabitants said they could tell by the
sound of the vehicles crossing this causeway whether it was the
stage, a loaded wagon or a fellow out for a lark.
East of the mill was the old Western Hotel. This building was
a long two-storied building, its side to the street and its gables
pointing east and west. Across the street was the hotel barn
built so its gables pointed north and south. In the eastern part
of the village was another hotel, the Lombard House, with a long
two-storied porch extending across the entire front. In the rear
was the barn on the banks of the river. Beyond this hotel the
plank road angled southward and you left the village and entered
the country to the east. The length of the village in those days