The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1907-04-19
Paw Paw and Her Railroads

of the Paw Paw river pure Running
stream, whose waters are as clenr as
crystal. The town possesses the iuest
public buildings To be found IN any rural
county in the state, and only i'm the mat
ter OF size are they excelled by those in
any of the cities. The public school is
acknowledged on all hands 10 be the
equal of any institution OF the kind any
where in Michigan The town Is, with
out doubt. the most beautifully shaded
town in the entire state, its broad streets
being lined on each side with rows of
towering NAPLES, which in summer time
completely arch them over. Fine dwell
ings, cement walks, green lawns, elegant
churches, flourishing business houses
and, above all a sober, intelligent, up
right citizenship make Paw Paw one of
the most desirable places OF residence to
be found anywhere in this broad land.
Not the least of its attractions is the
fact that it is situate in the very midst
of Michigap's famous fruit belt, where
fruit of every kind grown in this latitude
is abundant in season and of the finest
quality 1t is only in the matter of its
always has been handicapped. The
Michigan Central should have been
built through here instead OF running
four miles south at Lawton, then called
Paw Paw station, which was at the time
a wilderness and little better than a
swamp. 1t is said by the oldest inhab-
itants that the reason the road was not
built on the line originally surveyed for
it by way of Paw Paw to St Joseph was
because of difficulty that arose con-
corning the sale of the road by the state
to the Central company. The then
representative in the legislature from
this county opposed the sale, and IN re-
venge for this the road was built on the
present line, leaving his town, Paw Paw,
out in the cold Had the road touched
this place, it would, doubtless, with all
its natural advantages, have proved
formidable rival to its big neighbor on
the east, the city of Kalamazoo 1t was
not until MANY years afterward that the
town secured any railroad connection
The first attempt TO build road was
what was subsequently, called the Calico
branch, which was a proposed line from
Paw Paw to a point between Lawton
and Mattawan. Jealous Of its neighbour
on the south, the people proposed to
have a little road of their own, but they
failed after the expenditure of very
considerable sum In preparing road
bed. The first road actually built to the
town was the Paw Paw railroad from
: this place to Lawton completed about
1868. The next attempt at building a
road was the noted narrow gauge, first
built to the village of Lawrence nine
miles west, and subseq uently continued
; to Hartford and South Haven. The
late John Ihling was the man who, more
than anyone else, was responsible for
the building of this line. 1t was said
that he was the only man in the country
who ever built railroad without funds,
but that is practically what he succeeded
in doing. In order that the line might
be of the same gauge AL the way, the
road between the village of Lawton and
this place was narrowed. There was a
great deal of opposition to this measure,
and to avoid an injunction the entire
work of changing the gauge was done
:
( road bore the high sounding title of the
3 Toledo & South Haven, subseq uently
; changed to the South Haven & Eas tern
in order to give it he privilege of hav-
ing its eastern terminus at any old place
it might choose. 1t never got further
east than Lawtou. A number of years
, ago Paw Paw township bonded itself
for the sum of $4,000 for the purpose of
again changing the road to a standard
gauge. Since that time it has been run
under various different arrangements,
eventually passing into the control of
the Pere Marquette, which company
gave the town the poorest service it has
ever had since it had any railroad at all.
The road has now come into the hands
= of the Kalamazoo, Lake Shore q Chi
y cago company, virtually the same people
y who control the Dunkley-Williams steam
y boat line from South Haven to Chicago.
= That company now has continu ous
line from South Haven to Kalamazoo
: via Paw Paw and Lawton and promises
greatly improved service. BY this
: change of ownership Paw Paw loses the
= new line between here and Lawton
: which has been in operation less than a
: year, and which was promised to be an
: electric line to South Haven, and for the
= construction of which the people of this
: place and vicinity contributed large
y sum of money. But this is no new ex-
y perience for our citizens, for they have
contributed money 10 more fake railroad
projects than any other place in Mich
e igan. They feel confident, however
), that they are about to have an improved
:. service, and will aid the new company
: by all the patronage they can give it
t 1t is SAFE however, to predict that the
y next time they are asked to help build a
railroad they Will be wary of responding