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, near the site of the intended depot at Alton. Do NOT record the milespost (mp) in your log.
Photo courtesy of The Western Michigan Genealogical Society.
Alton Grist Mill
Alton
The village of Alton, also at times known as Vergennes, was first settled beside Wood’s Creek in the 1832 at what is now Three Mile Road and Lincoln Lake Road. A blacksmith shop was built on the current cemetery grounds. The first of schoolhouse in the township was erected in 1839, also on the cemetery grounds. It was occasionally used for funerals. After a fire in 1845, it was replaced by the second school which still stands east and across the road. A post office was established in 1851. In 1865, the flour mill pictured above was constructed on a dam just south of the village center. A second dam and sawmill were constructed west of town. A rake factory and wagon shop followed soon followed. The Church of Alton was constructed in 1868, and is now a museum. By the end of the 19th century, the town had a population of 100 and had added a fine general store, meat market, machine shop, a cheese shop and several fruit evaporators. The future looked bright as the Grand Rapids, Belding and Saginaw Railroad was built north from Lowell to Belding in 1899, passing just north of the village. What was the boon for most villages in the railroads path turned out to be the bane for Alton. The trains first stopped where the line crossed Lincoln Lake Road, ½ mile north of the village. Plans to build a depot there, however, fell through as the grade was just too steep to stop and restart heavy freight trains. Instead, the railroad established a station at what would become Mosley, a mile north and half mile east. Businesses began springing up there and when the grocery store was moved to Moseley, other business followed. The post office was transferred to Vergennes in the southwest corner of the township on June 11th, 1900.
Standard Atlas of Ionia County, Michigan, G.A. Ogle & Co., 1906, courtesy of UofM Digital Library
Alton (Vergennes) and Moseley Plat, Vergennes Twp., Plat 1907, GA Ogle & Co.
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:
Vergennes Township Living History
The Western Michigan Genealogical Society
University of Michigan Historical Library, Histories and Atlases
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.
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