Crystal Township History

Some of the following are excerpts from a local Booklet entitled "A History of Crystal Township"

Our County had existed for ages as part of the Native American's domain. 

Crystal Township was organized in 1855.  That same year, the Federal Government and 54 Indian Chiefs signed a treaty by which the Indians gave up their lands near Grand Rapids and Ionia for new lands and $540,000 in money and goods.  The Indians agreed to select a Reservation.  They chose a region 24 miles north to south and 6 miles wide.  This is now the Townships of Crystal and Elbridge in Oceana County, and, just to the north of us, Eden and Custer in Mason County.  In 1857 and 1858, 1,300 Indians were transported here.  The Chiefs had chosen well, they could paddle their canoes to Pentwater and trade their maple sugar and furs with the traders.  The Reservation was beautiful forest land with a growth of immense trees, Pine, Beech and Maple.  It was free from underbrush and had a profusion of flowers and foliage.   To this day, descendants of the Battice, Pete and Shagonabe Indian families remain residents of Crystal Township.

Modern civilization brought the sawmill, blacksmith shop, and a grocery store; only remnants remain. The large yellow building on Hammett was the Brown's grocery store, which also housed the bank, and the post office. The post office closed in the late 1940's.  The first log cabin built in 1861 also remains on 128th Ave.