The voting may be done, but no winner has yet been announced by the Clarke Historical Library in their annual digitize old Michigan newspaper contest. As you may have read, the archives of the Marion Press, and its predecessors, were entered for a chance to have the archive, and our history, digitized and made available for easy on-line reading, available to all. There were several contenders in this on-line Twitter competition and no winner has yet (Wednesday) been announced. So, our fingers are still crossed.
Every so often I am asked about Grandon, a humming little community located in Clare County’s Winterfield Township and at its height around 1900. Should Marion win the Clarke Historical newspaper contest, those with an interest in Grandon, or any number of neighborhoods within the Marion readership, could read the news. Grandon was a weekly neighborhood news column in the Press for many years.
To refresh myself, I went to my handy-dandy home library for references, and pulled out Forrest Meek’s ambitious histories of this part of the state, Michigan’s Timber Battleground and Michigan’s Heartland 1900-1918. I also consulted Roy Dodge’s Michigan Ghost Towns, Vol. 1, and Marion’s own centennial book, Marion, Moving Ahead, and Jim Lithen’s The Road to Mariontown. These are all wonderfully informational books concentrating on our part of Michigan. Ghost Towns, and of course, Mariontown are available. The others are out of print, although available for research at local libraries.
According to both Meek and Dodge, Grandon was once far more than a school. At one time it was a thriving community, located in the southern part of Winterfield, along Forest Road from Partridge west to Garfield. Grandon in its prime had a population of 90 and a Post Office and that’s what it took to get a place on the map. It still does.
According to Roy Dodge, Grandon had a regular business district; a lumber and lath factory, several stores, a hotel and even a photographer. Meek mentions the Grandon Cheese Factory, founded in 1903. It was producing cheese comparable to that of any creamery in Clare County. Being located several miles from the railroad, Grandon was served, and the mail delivered, by a daily stage. Due to a population drop, Grandon lost its Post Office in 1905 and is not noted as an official place on the 1906 plat.
Among the families living in and near Grandon at that time were John Fleming and his wife, Elizabeth. Fleming was the first settler in Winterfield and the seventh in all of Clare County, having traveled on foot to stake his claim in 1871. He homesteaded the property on the northeast corner of Forest and Garfield. The remnants of his two story square log home remained until just a few years ago.
E.W. Chapin came to the township in 1881 and is buried in the Winterfield Cemetery. His brother Egbert and his wife Alice settled in Marion. It was this Mrs. Chapin who gave her home and estate to Marion for a library. Today’s facility still bears her name.
The Howard family, Grant Sr. and Jr., were first Winterfield residents. Their large home was at the corner of Partridge and Forest, across from the school. It was an imposing wooden structure, identical to one constructed of concrete blocks, for Dr. Carrow in Marion. The Winterfield home burned, and was replaced with a ranch home in the early 1970’s. As for the Marion version, we’ve likely all visited the Carrow house. Today we know it as the Fosnaught-Holdship Funeral Home.
Another tidbit relating to Grandon is that it was Grant Howard, Jr., who built Howard’s Restaurant and Gas Station in 1926. This spot has been popular for nearly 100 years. Today we call it The Flashback.
A C. Howard and Mrs. M. Howard each served as Marion Postmasters.
The Winterfield District #2, or Grandon School, was built in 1894 on land given by John Fleming. The wooden structure burned in 1912 and was replaced with the present cobblestone building, built by Henry K. House of Marion. A second room, constructed of concrete blocks was added for K-4 students, and a kitchen/lunchroom finished in the basement in the early 1950’s. Grandon became the last remaining in-use school in the township when the District #1 or Winterfield School burned on January 1.
By 1970 the district had consolidated with Marion and the building was unused. After a court decision, the property was returned to private ownership. Today, the school building is a family residence. The home built by the Howard family was lost to fire in the early 1970’s and aside from apple trees and rocks there are few other remnants of old Grandon to be found.
There you have a brief history of Grandon. I still could find no one for whom Grandon was named, if indeed Grandon was a person. Perhaps no one has looked in the right places or thought about it in the right way. The search continues.
The photo this week is of the old Howard home which once stood proud near the Grandon School. At the time this was taken in 1962 the house had been the long-time home to the Walt and Ceacil Wyman family. It burned just a few years later.