EARLY EAGLE VILLAGE

From "History of Shiawassee and Clinton counties, Michigan" - 1880

EAGLE VILLAGE
The location and platting of the village of Eagle followed the opening of the Ionia
and Lansing Railroad. It will therefore be proper to preface a sketch of the village
by a brief history of this thoroughfare in its connection with the township. While the subject of a railroad through Eagle was being agitated a meeting was called by George W. McCrumb at Jenison Hall, by request of many prominent citizens desirous of expressing their opinion in favor or against the measure. At a later meeting a resolution was passed, with but one dissenting vote, offering aid to the company, and the township officers were subsequently authorized to issue bonds against the township, bearing ten per cent. interest, for the sum of nine thousand five hundred dollars, payable in four equal installments, the first of which should become due six months after the completion of the road.

The time for the first payment on these bonds having expired, at the date
specified the amount was promptly met. Before the succeeding obligations had
matured the Supreme Court had declared the issuance of township bonds for such purposes unconstitutional. The bonds had meanwhile been disposed of or fallen
into the hands of other parties. Action was brought against the township, as
represented by its supervisor, George W. McCrumb, who engaged counsel, and in the suit which followed was victorious. An appeal was taken, however, and
ultimately the township was compelled to pay principal and interest, amounting in
the aggregate to about twenty thousand dollars.

The site of the depot having been determined, George W. McCrumb in 1872
purchased forty acres of land on section 21, of the estate of John H. McCrumb, a
part of which was formerly owned by Amos Nichols, the remainder being a portion of the Townsend tract. To this Jacob Schott added ten acres, the whole of which was platted as the village of Eagle and recorded May 6, 1873.

Mr. McCrumb may therefore be regarded as the projector of the village. He
removed from Lorain Co., Ohio, in 1845, with his father, William McCrumb, who
located upon eighty acres on section 17. This land was uncleared on their arrival, and a cabin built in the immediate neighborhood afforded them a home while erecting a log house. The father survived his arrival but a year, when George W. purchased the estate and remained with the family at the homestead until 1859, when he removed to his present farm of two hundred and forty acres, to which he later added two hundred and sixty acres adjacent to it. Upon this land he erected in 1877 his present spacious residence.

Mr. McCrumb at once built a depot upon his plat, bearing himself the entire
expense of its construction. In the same year (1873) Loyal W. Hill removed from
the township and built a store, in which he placed a general stock of goods. This was the beginning of business enterprise in the village. He was followed by John Force, who became the pioneer blacksmith, after which Loyal Hill and others erected dwelling-houses and Mr. McCrumb laid the foundation for a spacious building, which was later rented to Messrs. Cole & Marsh, who opened a general store which supplied the wants of the surrounding country. In 1876, Messrs. Cole & Fletcher built a store in which was placed a stock of hardware, and the church edifice was erected in the same year. The first public-house was opened by Eugene Marsh in a building originally designed as a dwelling. A spacious and well-appointed hotel was erected in 1879, of which Washburn Strickland is proprietor and landlord. The present business of the place embraces, in addition, a general
store, owned by Messrs. Pearl & Starch; a grocery and hardware, kept by Eugene Marsh, who is deputy postmaster, the commission being held by George W. McCrumb; two blacksmith-shops, Robert PulIen and Josiah Hogle presiding at the forge; a milliner, who is Mrs. Elizabeth Palmer; and a saw-, planing-, and
mouldingmill, with feed-mill combined, owned by Mr. McCrumb and located one
mile from the village. The teacher of the public school is Miss Diana Pennington.