The Village of Stockbridge is located in the southeast corner of Ingham County, and was first settled in 1835. Stockbridge, Michigan is a village that is home to just over 1,200 residents. When the first settlers arrived in the area in 1835, Elijah Smith laid out a town site. Smith proposed the name “Pekin” for his new town.
Before the plat was registered as Pekin, Silas Beebe bought out Elijah Smith, at a cost of $25 an acre. Accounting for inflation, that would be equivalent to just over $700 an acre today. He paid just $2,500 in 1835, which would still only be $72,839 today.
Mr. Beebe, along with Ira Wood, added 20 acres to the original 80 acre plat, and registered it with the County Register of Deeds in 1843. The original village extended from Morton Street on the north to Rice Street on the south and from Wood Street on the west to Williams Street on the east.
The village was not formally incorporated until 1889. Beebe bought the town site because he felt the railroad was about to come through.
Smith sold the town site because he knew the railroad wasn’t about to come through. Smith turned out to be correct, as the railroad didn’t arrive in Stockbridge until 1883.
The arrival of the railroad ushered in what were called “boom times.” The business district rapidly expanded as Stockbridge became a commercial center for the area.
Electricity came to Stockbridge in 1910. Electricity was originally available only in the business district and then only in the evening. Gradually, residential customers were added and 24-hour service became available by 1912. Natural gas came to the village in 1951.
The first fire department in the area was a volunteer fire department organized in 1889 shortly after the burning of the hotel. This fire department was equipped with a two-man pump and hose which could throw water at a fairly high pressure.
Telephone service came to Stockbridge in the 1890’s with the installation of a pay phone in the W.E. Brown store on East Main Street. Expansion of telephone service came slowly. The Rural Telephone Company came into being in 1931, but the system didn’t really become satisfactory until the early 1950’s.
This article cites information and media from the Village of Stockbridge and worthpoint.com. For more sports, news and entertainment follow the Midwest Sports Network on Twitter @MWSNsports or like our page on Facebook.
