CACHE: Park and grab.
HISTORY: Back in 1935 the Farmer's Mutual Fire Insurance Association went bankrupt and hundreds of dismayed Lapeer County farmers found that, according to the find print in their contracts, that they were personally liable for the company's $90,000 debts. One of those property owners included James Vernor Jr. who sued but eventually paid his share for his land in Arcadia Twp. Led by former private detective and ex-Ku Klux Klanner Clayton Gilliland, 500 of them banded together to fight payment. The case went up to the state supreme court 17 times and through 100 lesser court actions. The farmers have spent $60,000 in fees alone. Most of them gave in and paid their share of the debt. But not the prosperous Ziegenhardts, who owed $274.10, or Elizabeth Stevens, a poor 60 year old widow who owed $172. Insurance company receivers got a judgment on their property by Grace White, a rich widow of Lapeer, who paid $500 for the Widow Stevens' 80 acres, and $13,000 for the Ziegenhardts' land. In 1951, the Michigan state police pushed the Ziegenhardts off their farm, put the Widow White's tenants in. But Gilliland's farmers put the tenants right out. When Sheriff Gregory and his deputy, Ron Reedy, were repulsed at the Stevens farm, he started making arrests, vowed he'd be back. If he did, shouted Gilliland, "The fields will run with blood."
The Ziegenhardts fought hard for their land purchased by their parents around the turn of the century. There were the three brothers and a sister, all unmarried, that occupied the properties which totaled near 500 acres. The main farm was on M-53 and later became Active Homes, today is a landscaping company. Widow Elizabeth Stevens had a total of 140 acres near Clifford and was a mother of 9 children. Grace Stevens claimed she gave the landowners a chance to buy back their properties, but they refused citing their land was stolen. Paul and Chris when so far as to fortify their home on M-53 and put up a sign that read "1913 to forever. Fort Ziegenhardt. Sorry, Grace." They held no ill-will towards White, who they understood was just a business woman trying to make a living and found an opportunity. They laid blame on the employees of the insurance company, who had poor bookkeeping, accusing them of embezzlement and fraud.
It was the morning of March 13, 1951 when it really came to blows at the fort. The three brothers were tending farm as they usually did, business as usual despite the troubles they faced. Just shy of 8am, the Lapeer County sheriff Clark Gregory, five of his deputies and assisted by 20 Michigan state troopers, heavily armed and sporting bullet-proof vests showed up on a mission to evict the Ziegenhardts. Waiting down the road were about two dozen more state troopers and Grace White with her new tenants, to move in on the Ziegenhardt farm immediately. The sister noticed the police cars and got on the telephone calling the supporting farmers, and many were at the fort in a matter of minutes on trucks and tractors. The chained gate was cut by a deputy, who was assaulted by a Harold Jarvis of Elba, a farmer who came to stand up for the Ziegenhardts. He was quickly arrested and sent to jail. Other farmers were yelling at the police to leave while the police were emptying the house. Chris Ziegenhardt had emerged from a barn with his ice pick in his hands, which later a deputy was able to disarm him. White by this time had made her way up to the farm and started to destroy the sign and fence with an axe. She told the men they were welcome to stay in the barn, where police were storing their belongings per White's request. After the police left, that night the farmers came back and scared the tenants with their threats and the tenants fled the property. The next day the brothers were back in their house.
Some time after the spectacle at the fort, the sheriff turned to the Stevens farm. He told one of her neighbors who lived about a mile away of his plans the next day. He found two women and deputized them in case Mrs. Stevens refused to leave. And that she did. As the crowds of press and onlookers watched, deputies were carrying her out of her home kicking, screaming and crying, while farmers were coming to her aid attacking the deputies. Several people were sent to jail for the assaults.
Gilliland was sent to prison for obstruction of justice and died less than a year after he was released. Everyone else went on with their lives. It is unknown what became of the Ziegenhardts or Widow Stevens and her 9 children. All of the key players have passed away. Most of the people alive who experienced this were children when the riots at both farms happened, but they have vivid memories to tell.