North Berrien Historical Society

A Brief History of North Berrien

North Berrien County boasts a vibrant heritage amid the rolling hills and sparkling waterfronts of Southwest Michigan. Paw Paw Lake is the largest inland lake in the region, while the sand dunes and bluffs on the Lake Michigan shore are among the world’s rarest landscapes. The influence of Lake Michigan moderates the climate and contributes to ideal fruit growing conditions, resulting in one of the nation’s most productive and diversified agricultural areas. The North Berrien communities of Hagar, Bainbridge, Coloma, and Watervliet each have unique stories to tell, but they are closely connected by historical traditions of farming and related industries, tourism, and the movement of people and goods from the Great Lakes region and beyond. 

Native Americans have inhabited Southwest Michigan for at least 10,000 years, leaving stone tools, ceremonial mounds, and other archaeological evidence of distinct cultural groups over time. Algonquin tribes, particularly the Miami, were encountered by early French explorers but by about 1710 the Potawatomi had pushed others out to become the primary tribe living along the southern shores of Lake Michigan. The Néshnabek, as the Potawatomi called themselves, hunted wild game and gathered berries, nuts, mushrooms, herbs, and maple syrup. They also skillfully cultivated crops including corn, beans, squash, pumpkins and tobacco and crafted lightweight birch bark canoes. The winding Paw Paw River, which cuts inland after its split with the St. Joseph River, was for centuries the easiest way to travel through the forest.

The earliest Europeans to pass through what is now North Berrien were probably the French explorer René-Robert Cavelier de La Salle and his crew in 1680. A year earlier La Salle founded Fort Miami at the mouth of the St. Joseph River and awaited his ship the Griffon, which was loading up with valuable furs on Lake Michigan. When the ship failed to arrive and was presumed sunk, La Salle and his men were forced to journey back to Montreal on foot. Moving eastward they likely followed Indian trails along the Paw Paw River and then continued east toward Lake Erie, becoming the first Europeans to cross the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

European and Indian fur traders likely passed often through North Berrien on the Paw Paw, especially while Fort St. Joseph at present-day Niles was maintained by the French from 1693-1781. The French and Indian War left Michigan in British control and the land was awarded to the United States in the wake of the American Revolution. Berrien County was established in 1831 and Michigan entered the union in 1837. Bainbridge Township was formed in 1837-38, while the remaining areas of North Berrien were named Paw Paw Township in 1834 but split to become Hagar and Watervliet Townships in 1846. Coloma Township was a part of Watervliet Township until 1917.

In the 1830s the majority of native peoples east of the Mississippi River were forcibly removed to western reservations by the Indian Removal Act. In Southwest Michigan, Chief Leopold Pokagon negotiated an amendment to the 1833 Treaty of Chicago that allowed his Potawatomi band to stay because they had converted to Catholicism. Many settled around nearby Hartford and Rush Lake including the noted author Simon Pokagon, son of Leopold. Today the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians remains active in the region.

The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 vastly improved access to the Great Lakes region for early settlers. Americans from upstate New York and New England first migrated to southern Michigan in significant numbers in the 1830s, most seeking cheap and productive farmland. Immigrants from Germany and Prussia settled on farms especially in Bainbridge Township and the village of Millburg starting in the 1840s, while the early pioneers in Hagar and Watervliet Townships tended to be Yankees or immigrants from Canada and Great Britain. Entrepreneurs and frontier laborers were alongside the farmers, seeking the mature pine forests prized by lumbermen. The first American settlement in North Berrien was “Shingle Diggins” where millions of shingles were hand-split and floated down the Paw Paw River to St. Joseph. This lasted from about 1834-38, until much of the timber in the immediate area was depleted. While the Paw Paw River remained an important travel route, Territorial Road and St. Joseph Road (now Red Arrow Highway) were the earliest roads, built in the 1830s along established Indian trails. Each brought increased traffic and settlement into the area, in particular because stagecoaches crossing southern Michigan on these routes had to stop frequently.

Several saw mills on the Paw Paw River helped to cluster early frontier businesses around two areas south of Paw Paw Lake known as Waterford and Dickerville. The former was re-named Watervliet after its first post office was established in 1848, and the latter was re-named in 1855 after residents returned from the Gold Rush site at Coloma, California. North Berrien’s two cities grew from their beginnings as mill towns and developed other industries such as tanneries and grist mills. When the railroad was built linking Grand Rapids to Chicago in 1871, Coloma and Watervliet were ensured continued growth. Two stations were also built in Hagar Township, one of which became the village of Riverside. With this improved transportation out of the area, factories to can and pickle the local produce as well as wooden basket factories became other major industries. The Watervliet Paper Mill originated in 1894 at the site of an old saw mill, and would be the area’s largest employer for the next century.

Starting in the 1890s, farmers near Paw Paw Lake began to rent rooms to travelers in the summer. The area grew in popularity every year, especially among Chicagoans seeking to escape the hot and crowded city. By the early 20th century, as many as 40,000 tourists came to North Berrien each summer. In the 1920s the Hagar Shores area was subdivided for a promotional scheme by the Chicago Evening Post, later becoming the cottage community of Lake Michigan Beach. At the height of the Paw Paw Lake resort era, more than 100 hotels, pavilions, and dance halls lined the shores and many steamboats plied the waters. Crystal Palace was the largest and finest dance hall, and hosted world-famous jazz and big band musicians from 1925-1963. Deer Forest opened in 1949, gaining national fame as one of the first petting-zoo amusement parks in the country.

North Berrien has long had important links to the nearby Lake Michigan ports of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph beginning with the Paw Paw River, early roads, and the railroad. In the 1910s and 20s an electric interurban railway provided transit between Benton Harbor, Millburg, Coloma, and Watervliet, drawing especially upon tourist traffic and agricultural freight business. The Benton Harbor Fruit Market was touted as the “world’s largest” in its heyday at the turn of the 20th century, thanks to the diverse produce of the region and the insatiable demand of Chicago markets. The celebrated West Michigan Pike was the only route early automobiles could take to travel the west coast of Michigan, and passed through the Paw Paw Lake area on what is now Red Arrow Highway and M-140. Around 1960 Interstates 94 and 196 were built, revolutionizing travel and forever changing the patterns of daily life and commerce in North Berrien.

The heritage of this special area is visible in the architecture, farms, cemeteries, street names, and other parts of our landscape handed down from past generations. Twenty-four rural schoolhouses once taught North Berrien children, but most were consolidated with local city districts in the 1950s-70s. Hagar District #6, built in 1869, still serves as a K-8 school. Several of our houses of worship have roots dating back to the 1850s. While the Watervliet Paper Mill closed and was razed in 2002, other local businesses have long histories. Companies that have operated in North Berrien for over 50 years include Twin City Container (now Menasha) in Coloma and Monte Package Company in Riverside. The Watervliet Record newspaper (now the Tri-City Record) has been in business over 125 years. Founded in 1949, Community Hospital in Watervliet also continues to serve the area. Coloma’s Gladiolus-Peach Festival is an annual downtown celebration of the flowers and fruit that grow prolifically around North Berrien. Tourists from Chicago and elsewhere are still drawn here, especially to “agri-tourism” attractions such as wineries and u-pick orchards.

To preserve and promote the colorful history of this area, the North Berrien Historical Society was founded in 1966. Since 2006 it has been one of the few museums in Michigan funded by municipal tax millage. Thanks to this community-wide support, the exhibits and programs of the North Berrien Historical Museum offer year-round, high-quality opportunities for education and enjoyment of the rich local heritage.