The Three Rivers Meneely Bell

A little more history spotted down in a depression below the sidewalk, next to the fire station on Michigan. Meneely, for the ironworks that made the bell in 1868. Meneely was famous for the 1876 "Centennial Bell" casting which is the current Liberty Bell now seen in in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, PA. Other Menleey bells are on display at the Hudson-Mohawk Gateway Museum in Troy, Michigan, where the original foundry was located.

The Meneely Bell was first a fire bell and then a school bell before becoming a memorial bell. Huss Elementary School is now closed, with its schoolyard somewhat eerily reverting to nature; the building is being purchased by a religious group. The original old fire station? I'll have to look for a photo, but it is now a nice big, if somewhat inconveniently placed, parking lot.

The memorial is for a former fire chief. The plaque says -

The Meneely Bell
In Recognition of Dedicated Service
S.N. Crose, Fire Chief
April 19, 1937 - December 31, 1985

The Meneely Bell was purchased in 1868 for a fire station located on what is now the North Main Parking Lot. From 1919 to 1982 the bell was used at the Huss Elementary School. Through the efforts and commitment of S.N. Crose, Fire Chief, with cooperation from the Three Rivers Community Schools, the Meneely Bell was returned to the City of Three Rivers. It is secured at the Three Rivers Fire Station in honor of S. (Sy) N. Crouse, April 19, 1937 - December 31, 1985.

The Round Thingy

At the base of the marker in yesterday's post can be seen another metal marker. Here is a photo of it, a round metal marker placed there by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. I'm not sure what it means, a historical marker marking the historical marker?

A couple cold nights and the trees are starting to turn color. A good windstorm last night and limbs and leaves came down; but the nearly full moon was so beautiful!

The Great Battle

The marker, erected in 1925, says "Site of Legendary Battle between the Shawnee and Federated Indian Tribes in 1802". The "Federated Indian Tribes" refers to Anishinaabe, People of the Three Fires, in this area primarily the Potawatomi, who were pushed out of the general Detroit area by the Iroquois in the 1600s and 1700s. The story of this battle was remembered through oral tradition and only written down much later. It was a running battle, following the river routes from what is now the center of town up the Portage River banks. Generations of settlers found weapons and remnants of battle as they built homes and farms in the area.

The point of the battle is believed to be an expansion attempt by peoples from the Washbash valley in what is now Indiana into the Potawatomi's farmland and hunting land. Although the story of this particular battle was not recorded by any European or US historian of the time, the story continues to be known locally.

The oral history of this battle was collected and written down by Flavius Josephus Littlejohn, who was not an anthropologist but was himself a popular storyteller, in the late 1800s. His book, "Legends of Michigan and the Old Northwest", was described by historian Sue Stillman as "A white man's attempt at an Indian's style of oratory and story telling." It is assumed that he added his own decorative details to the story of the Three Rivers battle.

Moab

The setting sun lights up another historical marker in the city, for an 1830 "plat" called Moab. There is something oddly ominous about the stone.

"Moab" was laid out in July of 1830 by Christopher Shinnaman; the location is now part of the Third Ward of the city of Three Rivers. By 1834, though, there were still only three houses in Three Rivers. Shinnaman purchased the land from Molly Richert, who had built a home there in 1829.

Another community called St. Joseph (the Second Ward of the city of Three Rivers) was also laid out later in 1830 by George Buck and Jacob McInterfer. Late in life George Buck recounted running a tavern and hotel on what is now Fourth Street and the "three camps of Indians" that lived in Three Rivers. Perhaps what makes the Moab stone seem ominous is the 1830 date -- knowing that the real estate speculators were getting busy while the original Potawatomi residents still lived nearby.

A third community was laid out by John H. Bowman "on the north shore of the St. Joseph River" in 1836 and called Three Rivers. Bowman owned several mills and in 1837 was elected to the Michigan State Legislature. (Information is from "St. Joseph in Homespun" by Sue Stillman.)

The Moab area also seems to have been called "Canada". The three areas became the city of Three Rivers in 1855.

The marker says "MOAB, Pioneer village platted 1836" and that it was erected in Oct. 1925 by the Abiel Fellows Chapter of the DAR.

Marker for the Carnegie Library

Historical marker for the Carnegie Library building, attached to the local pink granite wall.

Old Three Rivers Library
Built in 1904, this structure served as a public library for seventy-five years. Financed by an Andrew Carnegie grant, it was designed by A.W. Rush & Co. and built by H.V. Snyder & Son. Warren J. Willits donated the site. The exterior pink granite and the interior wood came from the local area. A mosaic skylight and four Grecian columns adorn the entrance room. The building is part of the Downtown Three Rivers Commercial Historic District.

Underneat it says, "Michigan History Division, Department of State Registered Local Site No. 1044
Property of the State of Michigan, 1984

St. Joseph River

Looking south down the St. Joseph River from the park in Three Rivers. The sign on the tree is a watertrail marker. The rivers here are having historic spots along the river marked with sponsorship from local businesses, most of the markers are only visible to the canoes and kayaks and other recreational boaters on the river. This one says -

CONSERVATION PARK
Until about 1836 Native Americans camped on the opposite bank, near the Cassoway and Gibson Trading Post.
SJ
20

Site sponsor is the American Electric Power Company.
The St. Joseph County Watertrail website: http://www.wmich.edu/glcms/watertrails/rctrails_stjoe.htm

Big Old Cannon

My father used to joke that every town square in the midwest had a cannon in it. He didn't know why, but supposed they were military souvenirs. When we moved here I was surprised to find it was true, lots of cannons! Old ones, new ones. A few years ago the military repossessed some of the newer ones, saying they had been obtained illegally. But this one is legal -- and has been hanging around Three Rivers since 1847! A nice big new two sided historical marker, topped with the city logo, has been recently put up by the cannon in Scidmore Park.

When I stopped to take the picture, an elderly man was encouraging his grandson to climb on the cannon. The old man probably had done the same as a boy.

The marker says--

THREE RIVERS TOWN CANNON
Before the Civil War local militias in Michigan were supplied with arms and equipment donated by the Federal Government under the Militia Act of 1808.

During the Mexican War (1845-47) the army's new artillery system was very successful and well reported in the press. In 1847 the State of Michigan chose to draw an accumulated share of military equipment in cannons. The State in turn loaned each cannon to a town which agreed to train men to use and maintain it.

This cannon was made by Ames Mfg. Co. of Chicopee, Mass and serial numbered 323 by inspector Jas. W. Ripley on August 26, 1847. It was part of a shipment of seventeen 6 pounder guns, with carriages and full equipment sent in late 1847 to Michigan, still a "frontier" state.
(Continued on other side)

State records after the Civil War show a bronze 6 pounder gun on loan to Three Rivers. It was probably used in Michigan for training during the Civil War. Local history indicates it was frequently fired for ceremonial events.

By 1888 the cannon was too obsolete for serious military use. The State ordered it back to Lansing for disposal. Instead, the village was allowed to purchase the bronze gun tube for 12 1/2 cents a pound according to the local newspaper of February 10th.

The cannon continued to be used for local ceremonies and celebrations until retired for safety reasons. It remains a local landmark.

At the bottom it says "marker given in memory of Matt J. and Mary L. Switlik.

Trading Post

Constantine Street divides into two streets, Constantine Street and South Constantine Street, with a triangular shaped grass and tree covered area between them, for about two-thirds of the block between South Street and Millard Street. (Google Maps gets this wrong--that's South Constantine to the left in the photo, and Constantine to the right.) It looks like a divided street, but is actually two streets.

The streets run along a bluff above the St. Joseph River, which is directly to the east (left, in the photo.)

At the northern pointy tip of the center area, there is a historical marker. It says:

Herabouts stood the old French trading post kept by Cassoway and Gibson, when the first white settlers came to Three Rivers in 1829. This post was probably established before the revolutionary War. The French traded with the Indians of the St. Joseph River as early as 1690.

At the bottom of the plaque it says "This tablet was erected by the Abiel Fellows Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, September 30, 1911."

Sue Stillman identifies the old trading post as being "at the confluence of the rivers".

Sunday Drive

Buried in the roadside shrubbery is another mysterious historical marker, a brass plaque inset into a boulder.

ESCHOL
Pioneer Village
Platted 1833
Elrected by Abiel Fellows Chapter, D.A.R., 1925

On Constantine Road, by the bridge over the St. Joseph River. There is no sign of any "village" in the vicinity, just a couple of modern houses. Historian Sue Stillman, in the local history "St. Joseph in Homespun", wrote in 1931 of the "the deserted village of Eschol." Local lore says that Sauganash was buried in Eschol, as it was built on an old trade route; a nearby golf course was named after him in the 1920s. Stillman thought it more likely that the grave was for another Potawatomi with a similar name.

Best-preserved Victorian Streetscape

Passthrough showing the fountain and the north mural (the other one is on the south side) looking toward the intersection of Portage and North Main.

HISTORIC DISTRICT
The Downtown Three Rivers Commercial Historic District has one of the best preserved Victorian streetscapes in southwestern Michigan. Three Rivers, settled in the 1830s, grew with the development of local water poser and a railroad in the 1850s. St. Joseph Street (North Main) and Penn Street (Portage) formed its business center. The district's oldest structures, built on North Main in the early 1850s, are the Kelsey building (39-43) and the Crossett-Spencer-Millard building (40-42). The district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

At the bottom it says

Bureau of History, Michigan Department of State
Registered Local Site No. 1315
Property of the State of Michigan, 1986

Riverside marker

A strange little historical marker, on River Street just past the point where the Portage River comes into the St. Joseph, near downtown. Text on the plaque:

MAY 9, 1934
Four Walnut Seedlings From Gettysburg, Mt. Vernon, and the Grave of PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON were planted here under the auspices of Three Rivers--A.T. Van Alstyne, mayor, BSA & DAR
*****
Address by Rev. W. J. Malcolm
*****
Stone erected May 9, 1963 by members of Presbyterian Boy Scout Troup 112 of 1934

Then there are four plaques set in the base, "BSA Honors" then names, Fenner Ball, Adam Armstrong, Douglas Stowe, Charles Gross.

There is a walnut tree. Behind the marker is visible the former high school which was sold to a church for $1; it is now the local megachurch. Before we moved here I remember reading in the local paper that there was discussion about giving the park in which it sits away so the city would not have to pay for mowing. The monument is across the street from the St. Joseph River.

A Capsule History of Three Rivers

Historical marker downtown gives a quick historical rundown:

"THREE RIVERS Here the Rocky and Portage rivers join the winding St. Joseph River. Many centuries before the coming of the white man the junction of these water routes made this a favorite camping site for Indians. La Salle came through the region in 1680 on his way east, and in his wake came other Frenchmen who traded with the Indians. Three Rivers, founded in the 1830s, was as far as large boats could come up the St. Joseph. Flatboats and rafts were used to carry goods to and from Lake Michigan."
"Michigan Historical Commission registered site No. 150"

In 1654 a Frenchman, Medard Chouart Des Groseilliers, traveled the whole length of the St. Joseph River. It is known that Miami peoples lived along the St. Joseph River in the 1600s, but were pushed out by Iroquois fur traders. Potawatomi moved into the area in the late 1600s. The confluence of the three major area rivers made it an ideal trading place in the days when travel was done mainly by canoe. More on the Friends of the St. Joseph River Association website.

The flatboat era ran from around 1830 to 1844; the large barges, called arks, carried freight one way. They were dismantled when they reached Lake Michigan. Flatboats were superseded by steamboats, and the railroad came to Three Rivers about 1865.