WELCOME TO HANLEY!
Cemetery rules apply.
There is no parking on the cemetery grounds. Please park on 4th Avenue.
Hanley Cemetery is a small, peaceful cemetery with a mix of old and new headstones.
THE MICHIGAN'S LOST TOWNS CACHE SERIES has been in existence since 2004! This cache series was created to promote geocaching in towns that have little to nothing left. It has spread from the middle of the mitten to the Upper Peninsula and continues to expand. Visit this link to view the complete list of caches in the MLT series.
Hanley, Michigan. There is much history here. In the 1840s, this area was known as the "Great South Woods". It was a heavily wooded wilderness without any roads. The first settlers cleared the land and constructed roads.
The village of Hanley was named after a young Civil War soldier, Charles Jacob Hanley, who later died from typhoid fever in 1865. His widow Elizabeth and two sons moved to this area after Charles' death. Elizabeth's brother, a practicing lawyer in Grand Rapids, helped her apply for a widow's pension and obtain land from the government as a bonus for veterans.
A little red schoolhouse was located on the northwest corner of Jackson and 4th Avenue. It was first known as Olmstead School and later called Hanley School. The 115-square-foot parcel was purchased from William Olmstead on September 13, 1865 at the cost of $5 and the building would be used for church services as well as school. In 1925, the school board purchased 2 acres of land on the other side of 4th Avenue and the old schoolhouse was moved and updated. One teacher, Miss Ryan, rode her horse to school and the children rode him during recess. The school continued here until 1961, when it merged with the Grandville school district.
During this time, Methodist Episcopal Church was sending out circuit-riding preachers to visit small villages to conduct worship services. In 1888, land was purchased on the south side of Jackson and 4th Avenue to build a new building. It was the Methodist Episcopal Church of Hanley and later became Hanley Chapel. In 1903, the Sunday School numbered 80+ students.
John and Jane Waite operated a general store across from the school and cemetery into the 1870s. Their four children attended Hanley School. They later sold the store to John Minderhout, whose family ran the store for many years.
Hanley's first post office established on September 21, 1869. It probably began in the home of Elizabeth Hanley and her second husband, Daniel Yarrington. He was Hanley's first postmaster. Once the general store was built, the post office moved there. It would have eight postmasters during its time of operation. Around the turn of the century, Rural Free Delivery began serving the area and the post office discontinued on January 21, 1904, with the mail being handled by Hudsonville Post Office.
The Olmstead Cemetery, now called Hanley Cemetery, established on November 5, 1868. It was purchased from a parcel of land located directly north of the schoolhouse on Jackson Street. William Olmstead sold the land for the sum of $25. Some members of President James Garfield's family are buried here.
Many years ago, people were originally interred on their farms. Later, their remains were moved to an established cemetery. Surprisingly, while walking through and looking at the occasional stone, I came across the marker of a War of 1812 veteran who died in 1843. Can you find one older?