The Hillsdale County Historical Society

On June 28, 1965, about 30 enthusiastic Hillsdale County history buffs met in the Lewis Emery Park Lodge to create an organization that would help preserve and/or restore any artifacts, records and buildings that are a part of the his-tory of Hillsdale County. Yearly dues were set at a whopping $1, by-laws established and the Hillsdale County Historical Society was born.

Monthly meetings were major affairs held at members’ houses, the Supervisors’ Room at the county courthouse and the Emery Park Lodge. Potlucks (or at least a dessert) served, a program and a gradual coalescing of how the group would fulfill its mission took two to three hours. Minutes from those early meetings show a heavy interest in identifying historical sites around the county. This interest was formalized in 1981 when the annual renovation awards were initiated. These honored individuals and businesses who have “restored” (using materials that would have been available at their building’s erection), “preserved” (using materials in a way that kept the historical character of their building) and “beautified” their property. Also of interest to the early members was recognizing centennial farms, and one of the board members was keen to place a marker at the juncture of Michigan, Ohio and Indiana on Cope Road. This last goal finally happened on May 25, 1978 … and was then undone when thieves stole the marker on Feb. 14, 1979. Today, a rough stone marker that may or may not be the original sits outside the Hillsdale County Fairgrounds Museum, while a professionally inscribed stone standing (so far) at the intersection of the three states has become, interestingly, a geocaching target. 

People began to donate items soon after the establishment of the Society, including a massive number of bound newspapers. There’s no record of their first home, but they were eventually moved to the barn of the Poorhouse on Wolcott Street after it was deeded to the Society. They were discovered by accident, covered with heavy tarps. Boy Scouts helped move them to the Poorhouse basement, and then Hillsdale city workers moved them to the Mitchell Research Center, where they remain on permanent loan. 

Early donations of artifacts was both a boon and a problem since there was only a small cupboard at the Emery Park Lodge to house them. A haphazard storage arrangement resulted, with some items kept by different board members. On Jan. 28, 1972, Wayne Nichols, Fair secretary, proposed a partial solution. He offered the Society a 99-year lease on the little house on the hill just inside the Broad Street entrance to the Fair. It was necessary to evict the raccoons living on the second floor before moving anything in, but a committee made enthusiastic plans to have the new museum ready for the Fair. It was set up like both a home and a museum, with exhibits displayed in glass cases. And it had storage space. Today the Fairgrounds Museum has four new exhibits each year in addition to the 1920s kitchen and other items from county history. As popular as the Museum is, the Peanut Tent that sits in front of the Museum draws a loyal following and new customers for peanuts and caramel corn.

With the bicentennial of the country in 1976, a local bicentennial history project was spearheaded by the Society. 150 Years in the Hills and Dales was a massive undertaking that included family biographies, county, town and township histories, histories of businesses and much more. An army of writers contributed, with their work sent to typists across the county, many of whom were high school students. Then indexers painstakingly developed a list that detailed on which page each person, place and thing appeared. The two-volume set is a magnificent salute to teamwork on a gigantic scale.

With that undertaking completed, the Board of the Society turned its attention toward acquiring the County Farm and Poorhouse on Wolcott Street that was being used for storage by Bob Evans Farms. On May 25, 1978, Vern Stevens suggested to the management of Bob Evans that they give the building to the Society. When he received no reply, Hattie Marie Spiteri contacted the business again. She was told that of course the Society could have the building … if they removed it within 30 days! That certainly wasn’t going to happen, so the dream of acquiring the Poorhouse was put on hold. In November 1987 Society president Phil Wilson succeeded in getting Bob Evans Farms to deed the cobblestone home, barn, hen house and 1.9 acres to the Society. An intense restoration effort, underpinned by a grant from the Ken Herrick Foundation, thousands of dollars in donations by a supportive citizenry, and hours and hours of physical labor, was rewarded with the opening of the lower floor of the newly named Will Carleton Poorhouse in 1989. With that, the Society had an appropriate setting for Christmas at the Poorhouse and the Will Carleton Farm Festival. 

From the beginning, the Society sought to encourage student interest in county history. A student essay contest was initiated in January 1967. It evolved into the Student History Awards between 1987 and 2014 and then briefly returned to an essay contest from 2015 to 2017. For many years, different schools sent students to the October general meeting to share some of Will Carleton’s poetry with the membership. The Hillsdale Community Schools take advantage of the proximity to both the fairgrounds and the Poorhouse by having second graders tour the Poorhouse at Christmas and sixth graders tour the Fairgrounds Museum during the Fair. Homeschoolers and youth groups (as well as adult groups) visit throughout the year.

Sometimes Society events extended beyond the history of Hillsdale County. For four years in the 1990s, an encampment of Civil War re-enactors at the Poorhouse laid the path for a more elaborate Civil War encampment, battle re-enactment and Ghost Tour in Oak Grove Cemetery from 2001 to 2010. A family camping experience that recalled the way “camp followers” sometimes moved with the army, re-enactors turned the Poorhouse grounds into an impressive tent city. A gentle haze of smoke rose from the many cooking fires, while period furniture, kitchen items and clothing made a home away from home for the weekend. No Civil War battles were fought in Michigan, but over 200 Hillsdale County residents, both men and women, who were involved in that sad conflict are buried in Oak Grove Cemetery. On the Friday night of the encampment, county residents gathered at the cemetery to join an organized tour to about 10 gravesites. There, the “ghost,” a re-enactor, would tell his or her story.

Local events sometimes find themselves at the end of their popularity. Disastrous weather during the Ghost Tours in 2009 and 2010 and dwindling participation of re-enactors at the encampment signaled the end of that event. During the 2009 Ghost Tour, a fierce thunderstorm hit just afterwards, sparing most of the cemetery ghosts and visitors. In 2010, however, a powerful derecho, a straight-line storm, sent everyone running during the tour. The storm, which caused serious damage in the area of Hillsdale Hospital, also attacked the Poorhouse grounds with a fury. Tents from families and the unmarried men were ripped from the ground and thrown about, and the poor sutler, the owner of the “general store” tent, suffered a major loss of stock. A more dramatic end to the Civil War encampment at the Poorhouse couldn’t be imagined. 

The Society faced a quandary. The sesquicentennial of the commencement of the Civil War was in 2011. Since the years that the County Farm and Poorhouse was located on Wolcott Street encompassed the Civil War, it was important to honor that difficult time in our country’s history. The answer was for the Society to publish a booklet that highlighted several Hillsdale County residents who had been involved in the Civil War. It was warmly received and further themes were explored. Each year until 2015, a total of five “Ghost Walk” booklets, funded in different ways, presented county history through brief articles. These are still available for a donation at Society events and the Mitchell Research Center. A sixth booklet was published in 2019 to honor the sesquicentennial of the City of Hillsdale.

Two other print projects brought Hillsdale County history to others. Calendars rich with old pictures and text explaining them were first created in 2006 and made available yearly at a nominal cost. A website begun in 2010, which today contains over 350 carefully researched articles, has attracted viewers from all over the country and has been cited as a reference for several articles and books.

The hen house had been in the original deed to the Poorhouse grounds. In 2015 it was transformed into a General Store and gradually filled with items that would have been for sale in that early department store. Today it’s an important stop for many event visitors who buy member-donated baked goods that go toward paying Society bills.

As well as being a resting place for county residents who purchased plots, Oak Grove Cemetery in Hillsdale offered a section to be used as a “Potter’s Field” for the indigent, which was unusual in a private cemetery. Over 50 people, from babies to at least one Civil War veteran, are buried there, most without the usual rites. In 2015, a grant from the Hillsdale County Community Foundation helped erect an arched entrance and a monument listing all the people known to be buried in the Oak Grove Potter’s Field. A funeral service led by two local ministers honored their lives on earth and finally commended their souls to eternity. 

The next year the Society partnered with the Friends of Mitchell Research Center to rescue broken sections of the original Oak Grove Cemetery entrance arch that had been discarded in the weed-choked woods behind Potter’s Field. The arch had been erected by the Ladies of Oak Grove Cemetery, who toiled selflessly to make the cemetery a place of beauty and peace. Supported by donations made in the name of Jim Taylor, the memorial reminds visitors of their dedication and unflagging work.

From the beginning, the Society focused on identifying important historical sites around the county. In 2017 members took the steps necessary to officially designate a site as a State of Michigan Historical Site. Emery Park, just east of Hillsdale, is now honored for two important events: being the place of encampment for the 18th Michigan Infantry as Union Army volunteers learned to be soldiers, and being one of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) projects during the Great Depression, when an army of formerly unemployed men dug the ponds that would provide a fishing and recreation spot.

In May 2018 the Society, through the generosity of many donors, brought home the 1931 Seagrave fire engine that had been a mainstay for the Hillsdale Fire Department for many years before being sold to a collector. The original hand-painted design on its exterior had dimmed due to it not being in a temperature-controlled storage setting. The Society felt a responsibility to care for it so that future generations can appreciate the era of firefighting when appearance, along with functionality, was important. In one of those “you’d never believe it unless it happened” events, a single family donated the funds to begin construction of a temperature- and humidity-controlled barn to house the Seagrave. 

The desire to complete this barn led to the decision to organize a concerted effort to raise funds. Included in future plans are improving the original barn and the non-mechanized vehicles in it, as well as for attending to other restorations and projects. The Society remains true to its ongoing effort to preserve, advance and disseminate knowledge of the history of Hillsdale County.  

JoAnne P, Miller 2020