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Eli P. Royce
This cache is in honor of the Founder of the City of Escanaba, Eli P. Royce and the City Park named in his honor. The following is an excerpt from the “Century Book”, and the chapter about Eli P Royce.
http://www.esky150.org/assets/THE_CENTURY_BOOK.pdf
For many years before his death May 26, 1912, at the age of 91, Eli Parsons Royce was recognized as the "founder and pioneer citizen" of Escanaba. That he died childless and that the Royce name is perpetuated here only in Royce Park is not significant. So long as there is an Escanaba he will be remembered as the man who surveyed the town site and platted its wide streets and pleasant avenues.
Historical sources do not agree in what year Royce first saw Sand Point that was to become Escanaba. But there is agreement that he was born in Clinton, Onieda County, N.Y., November 29, 1820; that with his parents he moved to Ohio when he was about 15 years old; and that when he was about 30 years old he was in Chicago "engaged in the buying and selling of lots." In Chicago he married Miss Sarah J. Barras in June of 1849.
Removing to Green Bay Royce was employed by the N. Ludington Co., whose interests included the mill at Flat Rock. Royce had first had experience in survey work as a young man in Ohio. In Green Bay he had the opportunity to study law and entered the practice of that profession in Oconto. According to accounts published at the time of his death, he traveled from Green Bay to Flat Rock for the Ludington Co. in the winter of 1859 to supervise construction of a saw mill. Completing his mission to Flat Rock Royce returned to Green Bay and then in 1862 was sent to Sand Point to "lay out" a town for the Ludington Co.
In later years, when some questions concerning the derivation of the name Escanaba was raised in print, Royce wrote to the editor of the Escanaba Daily Mirror:
"Nelson Ludington gave the name of the City of Escanaba. The surveys of the city; the portion between the light house and Jennie Street was made in the year 1862; along the lake shore on the north side and south side in 1863, under the orders of Harrison Ludington, the ex-Governor of Wisconsin.
"His orders to the surveyor (Royce) were: 'Lay it out as best judgment leads you, and be liberal to the railroad and to the people.'"
"In the year 1864, a party from Chicago visited this place on the way back on the steam boat to Green Bay, Nelson Ludington and the surveyor (Royce) went into the cabin and laid the survey on the table. The plat was examined and approved. He gave the names to the streets, and surveyor wrote them down on the streets."
"He had a list of names for the city and among them was Flat Rock, and looking them over, he said the Indian name for the river had been suggested to him, but neither he nor the surveyor (Royce) knew what it was."
(Editor's Note: The Escanaba River most often called Flat Rock River at that time.)
"The surveyor prepared to go out and get Mr. Ogden (William B. Ogden, one of the first owners of the Sand Point area) and Mr. Jacobs (John Jacobs, half-breed Indian trader and son of Queen Marinette, for whom the city of Marinette is named) to settle it, and also have Mr. Ogden settle a difference about the triangles on Ogden Avenue. One wanted them given to the public and one wanted them sold as lots. When they (Ogden and Jacobs) were called to the cabin it was decided to give the lots to the public, and to give the Indian name to our city."
"Mr. Jacobs gave the Indian name, and pronounced it several times, while Mr. Ogden arranged the spelling, and as so arranged the surveyor wrote the name on the map."
Other sources report that:
"Mr. Royce had the Indian pronounce it many times until he finally succeeded in catching the name and spelling it 'Escanawba', being spelled that way in the Laws of Michigan, 1863, Page 462, when the town of Escanaba was organized."
The town that was named for a river that the Indians called Escanaba, meaning flat rock, grew and prospered. Royce became one of the busiest men in the community.
He was Escanaba's first postmaster, was a judge of probate, served as an alderman, was village president, city engineer, was prosecuting attorney of Delta County and continued in the practice of law until 1894.
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