Early Settlers

The earliest settlers in Lowell came from eastern states, with forty four relatives of local fur trader Rix Robinson arriving in the Grand River Valley in the spring of 1835 and some settling along the Flat River. More settlers came after 1836, when the area was opened to settlement, while the Odawa retained the right to live, hunt, and fish on unsold property until 1857. Early residents cleared land, built homes, and established community institutions, including the first school built by the Robinsons in 1838, attended by both settlers' children and native Odawa. Cyprian Hooker built the first frame house in 1846 on Main Street where the Flat River Grill now stands, and he also built the first dam, the first grist mill, and the first bridge over the Flat River; in 1851 he built the red schoolhouse on the site of today's Methodist Church for use as both a school and a church. Baptist, Congregational, and Methodist congregations were organized as early as 1854, and church buildings followed in later years. A smallpox epidemic from 1835 to 1837 wiped out one third of both the Odawa and settler populations, and the Depression slowed settlement in 1838. Rodney and Mary Robinson were among the first settlers, and the Robinson families quickly built a warehouse for Rix Robinson's trading post, while their children played and went to school with local Odawa children. Timothy and Roxinda White arrived from Vermont in 1837, settled five miles southeast of Lowell, cleared two acres, planted wheat and an orchard, built a one room house, housed travelers, and later operated White's Tavern on Main Street, where the first Township Meeting was held in 1848. At that meeting, Roxinda White proposed the name Lowell because the area's water power potential reminded her of Lowell, Massachusetts, and the township adopted the name. The community first appeared on maps as the Flat River settlement; Daniel Marsace owned eighty acres on the east side as Dansville; the Township and Post Office were named Lowell in 1848; the west side of town was platted as Lowell in 1854; and in 1855 Dansville's name was also changed to Lowell.

Lowell, Michigan · United States