WILLIAMS

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A black and white panoramic view of Williams at an intersection of two dirt roads shows fewer than a dozen houses and other buildings, including the original train depot. Image Credit: Sue Hodapp

Chester Williams began farming here in 1854. In 1870, he sold land to the Kalamazoo & South Haven Railroad for a station. The town that bore his name grew with the railroad, which transported people and goods to and from Williams. Nearby forests provided lumber for constructing buildings and barrels. Local clay supported three brickyards.

A Small Town

In 1895, one hundred people lived in Williams. Many worked in the Williams Hoop and Heading Company or the Shields Brickyard. Their children attended the local school.

Williams Hoop and Heading Company employees pose outdoors. Boys sit on the grass, four rows of men stand behind them. A handful of employees are astride or holding the reins of horses. Three men sit in the factory's open dock. Image Credit: Alamo Township Museum

A black and white photo has a handwritten note: '1907-08 Teacher Grace Butler, Williams School.' The note has an arrow pointing to the teacher, and identifies most of the 16 students: 'Front row: Floyd HOADLEY, Laura NEESON, ?...... Cecile GRICE, Ruth HARRISON, Paul WILLIAMS, nex 2 - ?, Roy Neeson. Top row: Jim Neeson, Lloyd Upham, Helen Williams, Katherine SHIELDS, Alice Parmeley, Frank Davis, Harry Upham.' Image Credit: Alamo Township Museum

Shields Brickyard

Patrick Shields used his bricks to build this 4,400-square-foot house for himself, his wife and 10 children. Williams bricks were also used for buildings in Dowagiac, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo, including the Kalamazoo State Hospital.

Black-and-white postcard titled 'Shields Brickyard.' The employees in the center of the posed photo appear to be white men. To the left, a boy who appears to be white stands on a table; to the right is a man who appears to be African American. Image Credit: Alamo Township Museum

A 2005 color photo of the house built in 1900 for the Shields family. The two-story, red brick Queen Anne home has steps leading up to a nearly wraparound covered porch. The house has large bay windows that look out to a farm field in back and daylilies in front. Image Credit: Tom Maas

The First Farmers

Bodéwadmik (Potawatomi) planted, cultivated and harvested crops here centuries before Chester Williams began farming. Chester's great-grandson, Dick Grice, recalled how indigenous people grew food here well into the 20th century:

"Some Native families used to come in May from a winter home, pitch their tents near the creek and make gardens of vegetables. . . . They treated me well and two boys my age would come and play in the yard after their chores were done. They stayed until the gardens finished producing — leaving in September for warmer weather."

In a 1915 black and white photo taken outdoors in front of a house, a male toddler wearing a white dress stands in front of a seated elderly woman in black. A woman sits to her left and to her right, and two women stand behind her. Dick Grice is the little boy in white in this 1915 photograph taken at the Williams farm. He is standing in front of his great-grandmother, Harriet Williams, Chester's second wife. Image Credit: Tom Maas

A 1920 black and white photo of the second depot, a white, one-story building with a stovepipe at the top. A sign to the right of the door reads 'American Railway Express.' A wheeled cart sits out front. The Otsego Union newspaper reported the fire that destroyed the Williams depot on February 10, 1911, was "believed to have started from an over-heated stove in the office." In 1920, the railroad took this photo of the second depot. Image Credit: Sue Hodapp

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