| Beaverton, Michigan | |
|---|---|
| — City — | |
| Location of Beaverton, Michigan | |
| Coordinates: | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| County | Gladwin |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1.3 sq mi (3.4 km2) |
| • Land | 1.1 sq mi (2.8 km2) |
| • Water | 0.2 sq mi (0.6 km2) |
| Elevation | 719 ft (219 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| • Total | 1,106 |
| • Density | 1,017.6/sq mi (392.9/km2) |
| Time zone | Eastern (EST) (UTC-5) |
| • Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| ZIP code | 48612 |
| Area code(s) | 989 |
| FIPS code | 26-06660[1] |
| GNIS feature ID | 0620961[2] |
Beaverton is a city in Gladwin County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,106 at the 2000 census.
The city is adjacent to Beaverton Township and incorporates some land formerly in the township.
According to Romig's Michigan Place Names, the community was first settled by lumbermen in about 1863 and was first known as Grand Forks, after the confluence of the Tobacco and Cedar rivers. It has been continuously settled since 1875. The town was founded in 1890 by the Donald Gunn Ross & Sons lumber company, from Beaverton, Ontario. Donald Ross became the first postmaster on February 17, 1891. Romig cites the city clerk of Beaverton that it incorporated as a village in 1901. However, Powers gives the date as 1896. It incorporated as a city in 1903, with William Ross as the first mayor. Powers gives the first settler's name as Marvil Secord, originally from Brantford, Ontario, and who is also recognized as the first permanent settler in Gladwin County.
It was a station on the Toledo-Ludington line of the Pere Marquette Railroad.
Contents |
| Date | Brief summary of the History of Beaverton, Michigan |
|---|---|
| Circa 1889 | Donald Ross & George Dietz, both 17 years old, are sent by Donald Gunn Ross from Hatton Township, Clare County to scout a location for a "Sapless Paving Block" mill. The pair finds the perfect location at the confluence of the three branches of the Tobacco River and the Cedar River. The place eventually was to become Beaverton. |
| Spring 1890 | Donald Gunn Ross and his sons establish a mill on the flats where the Cedar River joins the Tobacco Rivers—they called the place Cedarville. The Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad builds a line from Coleman to the Ross Mill at Cedarville. Their incentive was a contract with Ross Bros. to ship at least 8 carloads of finished lumber product per day. The F&PM Railroad refuses to call the place Cedarville because that name is already taken by several other stations. The new name of Grand Forks was assigned by the new station manager for the place beginning in September 1890. |
| Feb. 1891 | After several attempts to find a name acceptable to the Post Office Department, the name Beaverton was finally assigned to the place. |
| 1894 | The Village of Beaverton is organized and chartered by the County Board. |
| July 26, 1895 | The Beaverton Clarion begins publishing under the pen of W. Walter Dann and Son. The first issue reports that three flourishing churches in the city were Methodist, Presbyterian and Latter Day Saints. The last two were in the process of building houses of worship. |
| Aug 4, 1899 | Beaverton's first electrical plant supplied street lights and illumination for the businesses and many residences in Beaverton. |
| Spring 1900 | The Ross Bros. opened a new Bandsaw Mill just east and south of the Pearson Street Bridge. |
| June 5, 1901 | Will Arnell Jr., on a violent, drunken spree, engages in a gun battle on Brown Street with Sam Dopp. Upon subduing Mr. Arnell, with two shots to the stomach, Sam Dopp and others entered the Commercial House Hotel managed by Arnell, and found Reah Arnell, Will's 5 year old daughter, dead of gunshot wounds, May Arnell, Will's wife, shot - she died the next day. Also injured were Will's invalid mother, shot in the arm by Arnell, Frank Arnell, brother of Will, shot in the arm, and Velma Ross, injured by shattered glass from a stray bullet that entered her bedroom. Mabel Arnell, Will's sister, was shot at twice, but not injured. Will Arnell Jr. was sentenced to 15 years in Jackson Prison for manslaughter. |
| 1902 | Water works installed to provide water for fighting fires and flushing toilets, not for human consumption. The electrical generating plant was also moved to the Ross dam. |
| 1903 | Ross Bros. open the Beaverton Elevator, a modern, high-capacity grain handling facility on Pearson Street with the railroad on the north. The Niggeman family's Bank of Beaverton built a new facility - known today as the Trumpeter Building and used the summer of 2003 as the Beaverton Centennial Museum. |
| Mar 13, 1903 | The Village of Beaverton becomes the City of Beaverton, chartered by act of the State Legislature. |
| Nov 1908 | With tremendous pride, Beaverton opens a new three-story school building at the corner of Tonkin and Ross - the spot across from the Dairy Bar where the gymnasium and cafeteria of the primary building now stands. |
| Sep 23, 1909 | Beaverton’s entire main commercial district is damaged, and much of it destroyed, by a fire and explosion. The next night the destruction of the Passenger Depot and the Ross Mercantile company buildings was completed when fire rekindled - they had already been damaged beyond repair. Three weeks later the Commercial House Hotel, badly damaged by the explosion, burned to the ground. |
| 1911 | Sewer line installed on Brown & Ross Streets. It flowed into the river at the east end of Brown Street. |
| 1912 | Unprecedented building boom sees the construction of most of the older masonry buildings still standing on the first block of West Brown Street. The Pierce Hotel was also constructed that year, but it burned in 1975, leaving a parking lot on the corner of Brown and M-18. A major flood damaged the lower-lying parts of the city - mostly the lumber mills located on land now covered by Ross Lake. |
| 1917 | Another building boom brings the People's Bank (now Beaverton City Hall) a new post office (now the building west of City Hall) and a new bakery (now the 2nd building west of City Hall) - these three buildings are commonly referred to as the "Patterson Block". Also built that year was the Wickham and Nash building - the blue cement block building facing West on Pearson Street, now commonly known as the Shepherd Building (it was the birthplace of Brown Machine). |
| 1919 | Ronald Ross begins construction of the new concrete dam to replace the previous wooden one. That dam went into full production in 1921. |
| 1925 | M-18 paved 14 miles (23 km) north from N. Bradley, through Beaverton, toward Gladwin. |
| June 14, 1925 | American Legion Memorial dedicated with great fanfare, including a speech by the governor. The monument by Helmut Von Zengen was cast of pigmented concrete and stood near Brown Machine's main entrance until it was moved to its current location in Ross Lake Park. |
| 1926 | State Bank of Beaverton and People's State Bank merge. The newly enlarged State Bank of Beaverton, under the management of Frank Niggeman, moved to the newer People's Bank building, now used as the Beaverton City Hall. |
| Sep 1929 | Miss Beaverton, Loraine Budge, named Miss Michigan at the Miss America Pageant at Baltimore, Maryland. A huge homecoming greeting was followed by an extravaganza at the "Liberty Theater" - the community building that stood just south of where the Gem Theater is today. |
| 1929–1964 | Consolidation of the Beaverton City schools and those of the surrounding townships, including the "Brush College" school in Arthur Township, Clare County, made Beaverton one of the largest school districts in the state (area covered). It was a model of successful consolidation studied by many other districts. The Beaverton Rural Agricultural School became one of the most effective and efficient schools in the nation. |
| Oct 1930 | After over 20 years of exploration, the first oil well was brought in near Beaverton. Two years later the Buckeye field was developed, and Gladwin County became the largest oil-producing area in Michigan for a brief time. Beaverton businesses servicing the needs of the oil industry survived the depression; oil payrolls and royalties assured the survival of many Beaverton retail businesses. |
| 1935 | The Beaverton Elevator burned to the ground. The only surviving section was as new concrete addition on the west end of the structure. A new elevator was built west of that addition on the property that once held the Ross Bros. Mercantile and passenger depot. |
| 1936 | New High School opened behind the original 1908 building on Tonkin Street. |
| 1938 | Sanitary Water system installed, including the water tower at Leo Ross Park near East Brown and Third Streets. Most of the potable water pumps around the city were then no longer maintained by the city. |
| 1939 | One of Beaverton's first landmarks, the original Opera House, by 1939 the main sales room of the W. H. Hall & Son Lumber Company, was destroyed by fire. Also that year the current M-18 Bridge was built and opened to traffic in October 1939. |
| 1940 | The Gem Theater opened with Jimmy Stewart and Rosalind Russell in "No Time for Comedy" |
| 1943 | Rail service to Beaverton discontinued and the tracks removed for use in the war effort. |
| Spring 1945 | The 1908 school building that had been the source of so much early pride in the city destroyed by an early morning fire. |
| Fall 1945 | The new bus garage opened instead as a classroom building to house students displaced by the fire the previous spring. |
| 1950s | The plastics industry, especially thermoforming, developed in Beaverton and the surrounding area, fueled by the proximity of Dow Chemical Company, the familiarity of local entrepreneurs with the new products being developed there, and the ingenuity and enterprise of many local people. |
| 1952 | Brown Machine incorporated. |
| 1954 | New elementary building opened west of Tonkin Street. |
| 1963 | Construction began on a new sanitary sewer system and sewage treatment plant for the entire city. |
| 1965 | New High School opened on South M-18 on the south edge of the City |
| 1975 | Beaverton's landmark, the former Pierce Hotel, known for most of its existence as Muscle Shoals Hotel, destroyed by fire. The Beaverton Library, located in the building, was also lost. |
| 1985 | New middle school opened; an addition to the north side of the high school. |
| 1985 | Beaverton Dam refurbished and placed back in service by the City of Beaverton. |
| 1998 | Beaverton's newest high school opened in 1998 on Crockett Road south of the city. A major facilities improvement project also added classrooms to the 1936 building and the 1954 building. |
| 2001 | M-18 Repaved and streetscape installed |
| 2002 | Downtown Streets replaced and streetscape installed |
| 2002 | New stainless steel, variable pitch turbines installed by the City of Beaverton at the dam, allowing the production of significantly more electricity, even during times of reduced water flow. The revenues allow the city to maintain the dam and Ross Lake as permanent features of the city. |
| 2003 | Beaverton celebrates the centennial of its founding with a temporary museum, parade, fireworks and the publication of "Beaverton: A Century in the Making" - a 340 page history of the area. |
| 2007 | Gladwin County Economic Development Corporation and Beaverton Industrial Development Authority are reactivated to continue the commercial vitality that has characterized Beaverton over the years. Also, the varsity baseball team brought the small town statewide recognition by making a postseason tournament run all the way to the MHSAA state finals, where they lost to Hillsdale 8-6 in 8 innings. The varsity team had not won even a district championship prior to 2007. |
| 2008 | Major water system improvements installed and the city water tower refurbished. The line previously installed to provide water to East Jordan Plastics was extended to Loose Plastics, both in Beaverton Township. This was to protect local jobs and provide for the development of additional local employment opportunities. Varsity baseball again makes a run in the postseason tournament, losing to Grass Lake 4-1 in the state semi-finals. |
| 2009 | Reconstruction of the Beaverton Hydro-Electric dam is undertaken to replace crumbling concrete, failing gates, and general structural repairs. It is funded by a combination of local revenues, a $750,000 grant from stimulus money, and a $1.1 million USDA loan. This combination allowed ALL of the weaknesses to be repaired at one time instead of spreading the repairs over a 10- or 15-year period. |
Beaverton's mascot is quite obviously the beaver, and teams compete in the Jack Pine Conference. The varsity football team has made the state playoffs once in 2000, qualifying with a 6-3 record. Beaverton's varsity basketball program, coached since the early 1970s by Roy Johnston, have won 11 district titles, 4 regional titles, and 17 Jack Pine conference championships, most recently in 2007. Beaverton Varsity Baseball won consecutive district and regional titles in 2007 and 2008, after having not won any in years prior. Neither postseason runs culminated with a state title, with the Beavers losing to Hillsdale in the state final 8-6 in 2007, and losing in the state semifinals in 2008 to Grass Lake 4-1.
One of the proudest moments in Beaverton sports history took place at Chrysler Arena on the University of Michigan campus in March 1984. Beaverton played a great game in the semi-finals of the Class C State Basketball final four, but lost to Kalamazoo Christian. Instead of shuffling off as losers to the locker room, the team hoisted Coach Johnston to their shoulders and carried him to center court where he fulfilled his promise to his team. With great fanfare, a wildly cheering contingent of Beaverton fans, and the incredulous radio announcers asking "does Beaverton think they WON the game?" Coach Johnston knelt down and kissed the floor. He had always told his team that if they could get to Chrisler Arena he would kiss the floor. The Michigan Public Radio announcer calling the game commented that he had never seen such a display of sportsmanship. The boys may have lost that game, but they were winners. They had played in the final four, and they were proud of that achievement. Their community was proud of them too.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 1.3 square miles (3.4 km2), of which, 1.1 square miles (2.8 km2) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km2) of it (16.79%) is water.
As of the census[1] of 2000, there were 1,106 people, 496 households, and 291 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,017.6 per square mile (391.8/km²). There were 546 housing units at an average density of 502.3 per square mile (193.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.02% White, 0.99% African American, 0.63% Native American, 0.09% Asian, 0.09% from other races, and 1.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.54% of the population.
There were 496 households out of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.3% were non-families. 39.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 19.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.23 and the average family size was 2.96.
In the city the population was spread out with 27.1% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 25.1% from 25 to 44, 20.3% from 45 to 64, and 18.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 87.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.5 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $20,625, and the median income for a family was $27,813. Males had a median income of $29,722 versus $18,558 for females. The per capita income for the city was $12,125. About 18.1% of families and 21.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 26.9% of those under age 18 and 15.2% of those age 65 or over.
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