Gobles

GOBLES

Next Site West: Bloomingdale
(4.5 Miles)

A black-and-white photo shows passengers waiting at the Gobles depot. Seen from an angle, the two-story building has a raised walkway and faces two train tracks. An oncoming train waits at the station, billowing black smoke.

Image Credit: Sue Hodapp

Settlers on the southern shore of Mill Lake built a post office, school, sawmill and icehouse. In 1867, three years after John Goble built the Central Hotel here, the post office followed the businesses and people southeast and changed its name from Lake Mills to Gobleville. Conveniently placed halfway along the Paw Paw-Allegan state road (now M-40), Gobleville was an ideal resting spot for weary travelers.

When the railroad arrived in 1870, the village of Gobleville was officially platted. Soon, it became the largest community on the tracks between South Haven and Kalamazoo, with 537 residents listed in the 1910 U.S. census, 36 more than Bloomingdale. Today, the town is known by its train station name of Gobles.

A map shows Mill Lake in the northwest; a sawmill operates at the southeastern tip of the lake. Further southeast of the lake, Gobleville spreads across both Bloomingdale and Pine Grove townships. There is a school, businesses and the railroad.

Image Credit: 1873 Van Buren County Atlas

Early 1900s photo titled 'State Street, Looking North, Gobleville, Mich.' a bird's-eye view shows a two-story wooden home with a covered porch on a large grassy lot. A block north, two-story brick and sandstone business buildings are on the same side of the street.

Image Credit: Sue Hodapp

Early 20th-century black-and-white postcard titled 'Looking North State St. Gobleville Mich. Photo by B.F. Power.' Dozens of spectators line the sidewalk in front of businesses decorated with American flags. They watch a marching band in matching uniforms move north along the street.

Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Early 1900s black-and-white postcard shows a wooden two-story building, the Gobleville Creamery. A dirt drive lined with flowers curves under the building's large covered entrance. A driver waits with his team of horses; their flatbed wagon carries a load of milk cans.

The Gobleville Creamery made ice cream and up to 1,700 pounds of butter each day for the Kalamazoo market. Image Credit: Dick Godfrey

Isom Ampey

On May 12, 1863, Isom P. Ampey enlisted in the first African-American military unit organized in the North during the Civil War – the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In 1864 he served in the raid on Olustee, Florida. Discharged on August 20, 1865, Ampey married Mary Combo the following year. They settled on a farm near Gobles and had six children. Isom and Mary are seated in this undated family portrait.

Black-and-white studio photograph. Isom and Mary Ampey are seated on either side of their sixth child, a boy who sits on a wooden stool. The couple’s other children stand behind them - two men in dark suits and Three women in decorative bodices and bustled skirts.

Image Credit: Dr. Ben Johnson

Gobleville 1901 Fire

A December 10, 1901 Kalamazoo Gazette newspaper article has bold headlines that read: 'GOBLEVILLE WIPED OUT. Business Portion of Town Destroyed by Fire. EARLY SUNDAY MORNING. With a Loss Estimated at From $75,000 to $100,000. Fire Started in Bush & Baxter's Meat Market and May Have Been Incendiary.' A paragraph describes the incident further: 'Gobleville, Mich., Dec. 9. Special. The business portion of this town was almost entirely wiped out by fire at an early hour Sunday morning. The burned district covers one entire block and a portion of another. The fire which started in the rear of the meat market of Bush & Baxter, burned fiercely nearly all day and attracted great crowds of spectators from many miles around.'

Image Credit: Kalamazoo Gazette , December 10, 1901

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