Allegan County Heritage
Trail Tour
The Allegan County Tourist Council has
developed a self-guided tour so that people can discover and have
adventures into the history, sights and sounds of Allegan
County. This tour will
allow people to see historic villages and towns as well as
bountiful farmlands and orchards which were and still are the
backbone of this rural county. More information on the Heritage
Trail Tour can be found at www.allegancounty.org/heritagetrail/. This
tour has numerous stops, but it is not necessary to do them
in order, they can be completed in any order.
We plan to place caches at each historic
stop along this tour.
Our goal with this series is to have fun, but also to enjoy the
beautiful sites of Allegan County. We also hope that we can bring
some history of the area to people who are
interested. Now
let’s get on with our journey.
Allegan – Lake of the
Algonquins
The Chippewa Indians called this
area Allegan, which means “the lake of the
Algonquins. In
1938, the village officially was named Allegan and it became
a city in 1907.
Allegan has over 70 historic buildings
and homes. The most
known structure in Allegan is the Second Street
Bridge. This
bridge was built in 1866 and is ornamented in wrought
iron. This
bridge was designed by the King Iron Bridge &
Manufacturing Company of Cleveland, Ohio and cost $7,532.25
to build. The
Second Street Bridge was one of the largest extent bridges
designed by the firm. It is eighteen feet wide
and spans 225 feet of the Kalamazoo River. In 1980, the bridge was
listed in the National Register of Historic Places and
restored in 1983 at a cost of $552,000.
Explore Allegan while you are here. The best way is on foot and the
Allegan Public Library offers a self-guided tour.
This cache is a small container located at one of the
historical places in Allegan. There is not any parking at the
location, but plenty near-by. There is no need to go onto the
road and the muggle factor is very high. Have Fun!!
The FTF
prize is gold dollar