The true northerner., 1900-07-20

In the early days OF the settlement OF the
township the mail was carried by teams
and sometimes on horseback until the
roads were improved and the country
cleared up.
The Paw Paw river was in the days of
the early settlement OF Lawrence an inn
portant highway for transportation of
freight from the Paw Paw valley to St.
Joseph, and many people were engaged
in the business of boating -four on fiat
boats. Above Lawrence navigation was
very uncertain, therefore this was quite
an important point as a place OF ship
ment. This traffic continued with more
or less regularity until the completion of
the Nj. 9. Il. X. i'm 1S4S.
The first tavern built in the village of
Lawrence was that of Dexter Gibbs, on
the bank of Brush creek, just south of
our present school house. The second
and the only one the town has ever had
was built in 1S49 by H. n. Phelps, who
kept the house until 1853 and then sold
it to III. S. Dolph who, in 1856, sold it to
S. G.. Mather, who still owned it when it
burned, in 1885, since which time we
have had no regular hotel. There were
two log taverns within the township on
the Territorial road until the abandon
ment OF the stage route in 1913. George
Reynolds opened the first, in 1886, at Rey-
nolds lake and kept it for ten years.
South of him, on the banks of Prospect
lake, III. \. Phelps opened stage house
In 1897, and as the stages changed horses
there for number of years it was place
OF some Importance. Phelps sold the
place to Robert Christie, who was its
last landlord
In June, 1885, John Allen of Ann Ar
Dor entered 80 acres in the southwest
quarter of section 10, laid out village
and called it Mason, in honor of the then
governor of Michigan, which afterwards
passed into the hands of John Il. Baker,
who changed the name to Law
renee The village Of Lawrence was in
corporated under an act of the legisla-
ture, approved March u, 1869.
On the night of December 81, 1859, the
village was visited by destructive fire
which swept the west side of Paw Paw
street of all its stores and laid nearly the
entire business portion of the town in
ashes, and in September. 1881, the whole
of the eastern side of Paw Paw street
was burned, and in 1855 the hotel was
burned.
The first saw mill was built in 1896 by
John Allen and John r. Haynes on
| Brush creek. About 1874 h. y. and A.
/ III. Phelps bought the mill and replaced
| ii with new one. Previous to 1914 a.
II. and Col. Theodore Phelps put up a
mill two miles south of the village, and
sold it in 1913 to b. +. Chadwick, since
which time it has been known as Chad
wick's mill. In 1915 a stock company
put up a large saw mill on the Paw Paw
river, near the village. In 1850 Marvin
Hannahs of Albion erected a grist mill
near the saw mill and put i'm two run of
stone. Haynes had a small run of stone
in his saw mill in 1888, but its grinding
capacity was very small. In 1862 the
grist mill and saw mill were destroyed
| 10y fire. In that year VIM. Anderson
built on Brush creek the grist mill now
owned by G.. w. Fisher, which he has
changed from the old fashioned burr
stones to a full roller process. The saw
mill adjoining has been removed.
The first merchandise was brought in
by John Allen and put in the Gibbs
tavern in 1886, also a small stock by
John r. Haynes; the next by III. n.
Phelps. In 1857 DeWolf came as agent
for j. +. Bishop, succeeded by f. +. d
j. l.. Chadwick, also Rowe IL Lockwood,
and one Mitchell, VIM. Hodges, j. NJ,
G.. w. & J. p Fisk, H. NJ Marshall, Rid
Ion, Phelps d Co. We now have three
general stores, three groceries and two
hardware stores.
The first church organization of which
we have record is the First Presbyterian
church of Lawrence, August 10, 1887,
which in August, 1874 was changed to
Congregational The Baptist church
was organized April 81, 1898 the NJ. E.
about 1910. The Free Methodist
church was organized August ~, 1871,
the Disciple church March -, 1874.
Previous to the building of the grist
mill in 1850, going TO mill meant going
to Kalamazoo, Prairie Ronde, Flower
field, or to Whitmanville. The tree
stump corn mill at home served many a
good turn and was a valued and useful
coadjutor in producing corn cake.
The RevJ. l.. Marvin, one of the pastors
of the Congregational church, also prac-
ticed medicine from 1914 10 lS5l, when
he moved to Paw Paw Previous TO DR..
Marvin's coming, Lawrence people had
to go TO Paw Paw when a doctor was
needed. During DIR. Marvin's residence
in Lawrence, DIR. c. p. Prindle was also a
village practitioner. During 1853 Drs.
Nelson Rowe, Sylvanus Rowe and Joel
Camp located in the village. Drs. Rowe
d Rowe are both dead, and DIR. Camp is
now a resident of Bangor DR.. A. S.
Haskin came in 1857, DR.. l.. l.. Terwil-
leger in 1851 and left in 1853. DIR. .. b.
Virgins came in 1862 and still resides
here We have now Drs. Haskin, Wig
gins, Six, Bope, Crowell and Chamberlain.
We enow have sawmill cutting 10000 to
1900 feet of lumber per day: a creamery
running its third year, using 1900 to b.
600 pounds Of milk per day and shipping
i -. a