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(130) ► Lenawee County(157) ► Steuben County, Indiana(58) ► Fulton County, Ohio(109) ► Williams County, Ohio(92) ►
Touch name on this list to highlight map location. Touch blue arrow, or on map, to go there.
On Cemetery Drive, 0.1 miles south of East Chicago Road (U.S. 12), on the right when traveling south.
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
On Cemetery Drive south of East Chicago Street, on the right when traveling south.
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
On West Chicago Road (U.S. 12) 0.1 miles west of Park Drive, on the left when traveling west.
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
On West Chicago Street (U.S. 12) 0.4 miles east of South Allen Road North, on the right when traveling east.
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
On West Chicago Road (U.S. 12) 0.1 miles west of Park Drive, on the left when traveling west.
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
On Cambria Road, on the right when traveling north.
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
On Lewis Emery Drive south of State Road, on the left when traveling south.
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
On North Howell Street, on the right when traveling north.
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
Near East College Street, on the left when traveling east.
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
Near East College Street, on the right when traveling east.
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
On Howell Street at McCollum Street, on the left when traveling south on Howell Street.
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
On East College Street, on the left when traveling east.
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
On North Howell Street, on the right when traveling north.
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
On North Broad Street, on the left when traveling north.
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
On South Broad Street, on the right when traveling north.
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
On North Howell Street, on the right when traveling north.
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
On East College Street at North Manning Street, on the left when traveling east on East College Street.
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
On East Court Street, on the left when traveling east.
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
On East College Street at North Manning Street, on the left when traveling east on East College Street.
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
On E. Montgomery Street, on the right when traveling west.
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
On South Broad Street (State Highway 99) at Cook Street/East Bacon Avenue, on the left when traveling south on South Broad Street.
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
On Lakeview Drive, on the right when traveling south.
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
On North Broad Street (State Highway 99), on the left when traveling south.
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
On North Broad Street (State Highway 99) at McCollum Street, on the right when traveling south on North Broad Street.
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
On North Howell Street south of North Street, on the left when traveling south.
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
Near West Montgomery Street at North West Street, on the right when traveling west.
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
On E. Bacon Street, on the right when traveling east.
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
On East Bacon Street, on the right when traveling east.
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
On Griswold Street near Lakeview Court, on the right when traveling north.
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
On South Waldron Road, 0.1 miles north of Beecher Road, on the right when traveling north.
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
On U.S. 12, 2 miles east of State Highway 99, on the left when traveling east.
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
On East Chicago Street (U.S. 12) at East Street, on the right when traveling east on East Chicago Street.
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
On Maumee Street at Liberty Street, on the left when traveling south on Maumee Street.
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
On East Chicago Street (U.S. 12) near Water Street, on the right when traveling east.
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
On West Street at South Street, on the right when traveling north on West Street.
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. Jacob’s son, George, became a partner . . . — — Map (db m220293) HM
On East Chicago Street (U.S. 12) near Water Street, on the right when traveling east.
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
On North Chicago at Williams Street, on the right when traveling north on North Chicago.
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
On Homer Road (State Highway 99), on the right when traveling south.
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
On Homer Road (Michigan Route 99) 0.4 miles north of Cronk Road, on the left when traveling north.
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
On East Chicago Road (U.S. 12) at West Street, on the left when traveling east on East Chicago Road.
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
On North Street at Winfield Road, on the right when traveling west on North Street.
(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
On Reading Road East west of South Pittsford Road, on the right when traveling west.
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
On North Main Street, on the right when traveling north.
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 Somerset Road at Chicago Road (U.S. 12), on the right when traveling south on Somerset Road.
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
On Chicago Road (U.S. 12) at South Jackson Road, on the right when traveling west on Chicago Road.
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
