Daylight Only. This cache is on the former right of way of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, now the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Trail, currently under development. Please approach from the trail, not from Whites Bridge Road (across private property). Do NOT record the milepost (MP) number in your log.
Smyrna
The first white settler in what is now Smyrna was a Calvin Smith, in 1843. NG Chase opened a store in the Smyrna in 1844, effectively establishing a settlement. A physician in the area, Dr. Wilber Fisher, established a post office which he suggested be named Smyrna, after a city in Greece, however the village itself was platted as Mount Vernon, sometimes called Mount Vernon Mills. During the Civil War, it contained both Wesleyan and Baptist Churches and two general stores, along with a blacksmith, saw mill, carriage maker, a hotel, a woolen manufacture, a physician and multiple lawyers. By 1877, the thriving community had grown to have a population 300, with good farm land producing wheat for the flour mill, and included an iron foundry. By 1897, the population had shrunk to 200. In 1899, the railroad was constructed through the Flat River valley on the edge of town. Electricity was generated here by 1907, but the population had shrunk to 170. The village survives today with a few business including a local tavern known for their hot dogs.
Standard Atlas of Ionia County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle & Co., 1906, courtesy of UofM Digital Library
Smyrna, 1906 Plat.
Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad
On September 26th, 1898, the Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad was incorporated with the purpose of owning 44 miles of railroad line connecting Hastings, through Freeport, Lowell and Belding, to Greenville. . On May 1st, 1899, the GRB&S bought the existing Lowell and Hastings Railroad, which ran between Freeport and Lowell. The GRB&S extended the line north, through Smyrna to Belding, connecting with the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad. This line opened on January 1, 1900, controlled by the Pere Marquette. The PM, purchased the line outright in 1903. This line eventually became the main line between Saginaw and Grand Rapids. In 1947, the PM became part of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Railroad. The C&O was merged into CSX Transportation in 1987. The line was removed between Greenville, through Edmore to Elwell in 1988. The remainder, Elmdale to Greenville was sold to the Mid-Michigan whose headquarters were in the Greenville C&O Depot. In 2007, all but the segment from Lowell to Malta (across the Grand River from Lowell) was abandoned. The portion from Greenville to Lowell was purchased by the Fred Meijer Flat River Valley Trail and is in the beginning stages of being improved.
Sources
University of Michigan Historical Library, Histories and Atlases
Otisco Township, Michigan
Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad
Pere Marquette Railroad
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad
CSX Transportation
Mid-Michigan Railroad
Michigan Railroad Lines. Meints, Graydon M. Michigan State University Press, © 2005.
[agh]
