Historical Markers and War Memorials in Hillsdale County, Michigan
Hillsdale is the county seat for Hillsdale County
Adjacent to Hillsdale County, Michigan
Branch County(79) ► Calhoun County(138) ► Jackson County(128) ► Lenawee County(156) ► Steuben County, Indiana(56) ► Fulton County, Ohio(109) ► Williams County, Ohio(92) ►
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Forty two years after the surrender at Appomattox, this monument is dedicated to the memory of heroic men who imperilled their lives for the preservation of the Union
Erected by a comrade who, by the fortunes of war, was permitted to . . . — — Map (db m66786) WM
1917 - World War - 1918 Honor Roll Avery, Ora -
Baggerly, E.A. -
Baggerly, Max -
Barber, Wm. J. -
Beers, Robert -
Byard, Leonard -
Carpenter, Leo -
Clickner, Solon -
Clobridge, Dence -
Combs, Samuel -
Craddock, Ray -
Crapo, Walter . . . — — Map (db m165551) WM
Civil War
Captain
William G. Whitney
1840 - 1915
Born: Allen, Michigan
Company B Eleventh
Michigan Infantry
Medal of Honor Award:
September 20, 1863
Chickamauga, Georgia
Vietnam War
Staff Sergeant
James Leroy Bondsteel . . . — — Map (db m66785) HM WM
Assistant Chief Wilson
End of watch: December 21, 1954
2130 Hours
Age: 35
Years of service: 4
Village police officers
Ivan Wilson and Gerald Chase
stopped Elmer Anderson for having
a light out. Unbeknownst to the
officers, . . . — — Map (db m165550) HM
Moses Allen fought in the War of 1812, later serving as a captain in the Michigan militia. He became the first "white settler" in present-day Hillsdale County, settling here in April 1827, two years after working on the Chicago Road (present-day . . . — — Map (db m66775) HM
The people honored here are members of an American pioneering family.
This brief history is their story.
In 1628, young John Leavitt, newly arrived in America, became a settler at Hingham, Massachusetts. Two wives, Mary Lovett and Sarah . . . — — Map (db m204002) HM
Camp Woodbury
On July 2, 1862, President
Abraham Lincoln issued a
call for troops for the Union
Army. Men from Monroe,
Hillsdale and Lenawee
counties met in Hillsdale to
form the Eighteenth
Michigan Infantry Regiment.
Local mill . . . — — Map (db m165558) HM
This church was incorporated as the First Free Will Baptist Church on November 24, 1855. The congregation met at the Hillsdale College Chapel until the present church was constructed in 1867-68. This Romanesque building was designed by a Chicago . . . — — Map (db m32250) HM
D.A.V. 68
V.F.W. 7301
1914-1918 WWI
1939-1945 WWII
1950-1953 Korea
1963-1973 Vietnam
We honor the dead by helping the living Hillsdale County — — Map (db m199750) WM
This amphitheater is dedicated to the memory of
Dorothy and Joseph Moller, whose service to our country
in peace and war is exemplary, and whose kindness
and generosity to this College are unsurpassed.
Dorothy was a member of the Board of . . . — — Map (db m199767) HM WM
Dedicated May 12, 2017 in proud recognition of the speech given at Hillsdale College by Frederick Douglass on January 21, 1863
Neither law, learning, nor religion, is addressed to any man's color or race. Science, education, the word of God, . . . — — Map (db m199758) HM
The plat for the village of Hillsdale was filed in July, 1839, though the first settlement probably occurred a few years previously. Before that time this area had been inhabited mainly by a band of Potawatomi Indians led by their chief, Baw Beese. . . . — — Map (db m33598) HM
In 1844 a group of Freewill Baptists organized Michigan Central College at Spring Arbor. This college was the first in Michigan to grant degrees to women. Moved to Hillsdale in 1853 and chartered by the legislature in 1855, the school was renamed . . . — — Map (db m34216) HM
Hillsdale College is an independent,
nonsectarian institution of higher
learning founded in 1844 by men and
women "grateful to God for the
inestimable blessings resulting from
civil and religious liberty and
"believing that the diffusion of . . . — — Map (db m199766) HM
In Appreciation
to the Hillsdle County
men and women who
served in the
U.S.A. and overseas during
Operation Desert Storm.
Mothers Of The Military
and their supporters — — Map (db m199749) WM
This bronze and concrete sculpture expresses
Hillsdale County's heritage. The branch at
the top of the open circle symbolizes the
original deep forestland; the curve of the hills
at the bottom the glacially contoured terrain.
The figures moving . . . — — Map (db m199753) HM
1962 Walter Ferris
1963 Frank Gaskill
1964 George Vanzandt
1965 Virgil Cummins
1966 Lloyd Kelly
1967 Marion Simmons
1968 Miles Ansbaugh
1969 Robert Scott
1970 Charles Lane
1971 Floyd Bordner
1972 Harold . . . — — Map (db m199675) WM
In honor of the men and women who served our country during World War II and the Korean Conflict
God is our refuge and strength PS 4.61 — — Map (db m199751) WM
Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be arguing, much writing, many opinions;
for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making. John Milton
In 1975, The Kresge Foundation recognized Hillsdale College for . . . — — Map (db m199757) HM
This Tulip Poplar is a direct bud-grafted descendent of the 600
year-old historic Liberty Tree under which the Sons of Liberty
of Maryland read the Declaration of Independence in
1776. When the magnificent historic tree fell in 1999 . . . — — Map (db m199765) HM
To recognize the Civil War Honor of more than 500 Hillsdale College soldiers who dutifully answered the call of their county.
Alpha Kappa Phi Volunteers in the War of the Rebellion
Oliver C. Adkinson, 140th Imd. Inf.
S. L. Armstrong, . . . — — Map (db m199759) WM
Oak Grove Cemetery was privately owned when a section was set
aside for its Potter's Field. This was a place for the indigent to be
laid to rest. About fifty people are buried here, with some in the
woods and most without a grave marker.
The . . . — — Map (db m165571) HM
In 1839 Episcopalians held the first church service in Hillsdale. Saint Peter's Church was organized in 1844. The original Gothic Revival church dates from 1859 and forms the sanctuary of the present church. Saint Peter's housed the first pipe organ . . . — — Map (db m33602) HM
Sandy Beach
People began using Sandy Beach as a
popular, but informal, swimming spot
in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1955
nine Hillsdale County residents formed
the Baw Beese Memorial Park
Association to acquire and convert . . . — — Map (db m160830) HM
The origins of Catholicism in Hillsdale County date to the 1840s when Irishmen who worked for the Southern Railroad settled here. In 1853 the Reverend Joseph Kindekens of Adrian and eighty-five people organized St. Anthony's parish. The former . . . — — Map (db m33601) HM
Dedicated to the memory of the 280 Michigan Civil War soldiers who lost their lives in America's worst maritime disaster, the sinking of the steamship "Sultana."
These men were among more than 2,200 Union soldiers returning home from Confederate . . . — — Map (db m33960) HM
This plaque is issued by the Historical Society of Michigan in recognition of
Taylor-Moore & Co.
founded in 1894
for more than 100 years of continuous operation in service to the people of Michigan and for contributing to the economic . . . — — Map (db m199756) HM
The Oak Grove Cemetery Association held it first meeting November 21, 1859, with by-laws and constitution adopted six months later. During the Civil War, the Cemetery fell into disrepair and became "a disgrace to our town."
In 1867, "The Ladies . . . — — Map (db m165570) HM
Mrs. Nancy Stock Sessions
Mrs. Stock was born Wilhelmina Augusta
Seidel in the Pommern province of Prussia
in 1840. She came to this country in 1855
and married Fredrick W. Stock in 1858.
Together they had eight children, five sons
and three . . . — — Map (db m199748) HM
The Heritage Association 2017
Winona Daughter of The Chief
Daughter of Chief Baw Beese, leader of the Native American Potawatomi Clan, Winona lived in the region of Hillsdale County around the 1830's. Winona's mother was a French . . . — — Map (db m199676) HM
In 1849 the Reverend Wilhelm Hattstaedt founded a Lutheran congregation in Hillsdale. It was organized in 1854 under the Reverend Phillip Trautmann as the German Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church. Construction on this building began in 1854, . . . — — Map (db m220422) HM
In Tribute and Honor of Veterans of Families in the Pittsford Township Area Who Fought in
The Civil War
1861-1865
Alpaugh, Aron B. Fitch, James H.
Benson, Ephraim W. Foster, Byron D.
Brant, William E. Golden, Worden
Chilson, . . . — — Map (db m159917) WM
Priest
Educator-Statesman
Secured funds in 1825 through the United States Congress for the survey of the Great Sauk Trail
now U.S. Highway 112 thus opening this artery of civilization into the west — — Map (db m32219) HM
William N. Lyster, Irish-born missionary, preached in Jonesville in 1836, and Darius Barker organized the parish in 1838. A church featuring Classical and Gothic styling was begun in 1844 and consecrated by Bishop Samuel McCoskry in 1848. Panelling . . . — — Map (db m32190) HM
Completed in 1874, this structure of High Victorian Italianate design is one of the most magnificent residences in Michigan. The interior, an excellent example of a living museum of the 1870s, contains thirty-two rooms with twelve-foot ceilings. . . . — — Map (db m33656) HM
This plaque is issued by the
Historical Society of Michigan
in recognition of
Hillsdale County National Bank
Grosvenor Office
Founded in 1854
for more than 100 years of
continuous operation in service
to the people of Michigan . . . — — Map (db m220340) HM
J.J. Deal And Son Carriage Factory:
Around 1865 blacksmith Jacob J. Deal began to build and repair carriages, wagons, sleighs and carts in Jonesville. He had a manufacturing complex on this site by 1884. Jacobs son, George, became a partner . . . — — Map (db m220293) HM
This plaque is issued by the Historical Society of Michigan in recognition of
Powers Clothing
Founded in 1890
for more than 100 years of continuous operation in service to the people of Michigan and for contributing to the economic . . . — — Map (db m220285) HM
Twenty charter members, led by the Reverend Elisha Buck, established this church on July 14, 1839. Founded as a Presbyterian mission, it was reorganized under the congregational polity by the Reverend J.J. Bliss in 1844. At first, worship services . . . — — Map (db m63316) HM
In memory of
those men and
women from
Litchfield and
vicinity who
gave their all
in World War II
Harold L. Bingley
U. S. Navy Java Sea Feb. 28, 1942
Edwin E. Colon
U. S. Army Philippines July 1, 1943
Donald L. Weese
U. S. . . . — — Map (db m165564) WM
In 1945-46 the Litchfield
Garden Club created this
park on land donated by the
Litchfield Dairy Association.
The club's Memorial
Committee, composed of
Jessie Bowersox, Martha
Beauchampet and Pauline
Kropschot, used landscaping
and green . . . — — Map (db m165562) HM
A grand celebration and a baseball game greeted the Michigan and Ohio Railroad when its track reached Moscow on September 4, 1883. This Stick Style station, completed the following month, was "quite an ornament to the place," according to the . . . — — Map (db m66791) HM
(Obverse Side)
Mosherville Church
The Mosherville Church was built in 1861-62 on land donated by Joseph and Mary Riggs. Originally part of the Litchfield circuit of the Methodist Episcopal Church, it became the home church of a . . . — — Map (db m66790) HM
Erected to the memory of the heroes of this community who offered and gave their lives for their country and humanity in the late World War
Lieut. Jay D. Nichols
Died Dec. 11, 1918 Camp Travis Texas
- Killed in Action, France -
Pvt. . . . — — Map (db m165557) WM
To commemorate the service of all men and women of the community and of those who gave their lives for their country in all wars — — Map (db m165553) WM
In memory of those from
our community who gave
their lives for our
country
World War I
Floyd M. Holcomb
Steven D. McKinley
World War II
Lewis D. Cook
Leroy W Marsh
Ralph G. McClellan
Harvey C. Price
Richard . . . — — Map (db m204008) WM
On the Old Sauk Trail, later known as the
Detroit-Chicago Turnpike, George A. Smith
erected this building for use as a general
store to serve local residents and
travelers.
Frank R. Smith was proprietor when his
brother in law, Andrew . . . — — Map (db m165572) HM
W. H. L. McCourtie
Somerset Center native W. H. L. McCourtie (1872-1933) was introduced to the cement industry by W. F. Cowham of Jackson in 1897. McCourtie soon went to Dallas, Texas, where he made a fortune speculating in oil and established . . . — — Map (db m33416) HM
