During the Civil War more than three thousand men served in Michigan´s First Regiment of Artillery. The twelve batteries saw action in both major theaters. Unlike in infantry regiments, the six-gun artillery batteries served as detached units. Light artillery was mobile. Six-horse limbers pulled an ammunition caissons and guns that delivered devastating fire using solid shot, explosive shell, case or canister. On May 28, 1861, the Coldwater Light Artillery, Michigan´s first unit, mustered in; its last battery formed up in 1864. In late August 1862 the six-gun battery F and a two-gun section of battery G, under Lieutenants Lanphere, Hale, Paddock and Brown, fought against superior Confederate numbers in their first battle, here at Richmond.Batteries F and G of Michigan´s First Light Artillery went into action here on August 29, 1862. They were the only Union artillery on the field of battle. Despite inadequate training and ammunition, they provided accurate fire that helped drive back the Confederates "with admirable effect." Early on August 30 the batteries defended the initial Union battle line. During successive Union withdrawals, the guns served as rallying points or as the rear guard. Seven of eight guns were brought off the field in the last Federal withdrawal. In the final chaotic retreat, lacking infantry support and ammunition, all seven fell into enemy hands. Reported losses were 7 killed, 12 wounded and 65 captured. The two batteries later fought during the Vicksburg and Atlanta campaigns and at the battle of Nashville.

Plaque via Michigan History Center

During the 1920s, investors Wilber Lemon, A.E. Wright, Marion and Ella Auther, and others purchased land at Brookings, a former logging community. Here they platted Woodland Park as a summer resort for African Americans. These investors were also involved in developing the nearby resort Idlewild. Woodland Park, known for its quiet, residential atmosphere, had a clubhouse for property owners and lodging establishments, including the Royal Breeze Hotel. The Authers built the hotel around the original Brookings Lumber Company mill. Federal Civil Rights legislation passed during the 1960s gave African Americans equal access to public accommodations. This access allowed people to vacation where they pleased and lessened the need for resorts like Woodland Park.

Plaque via Michigan History Center

This range, named for the Menominee River which runs through part of it, is one of three great iron ore districts in the Upper Peninsula. In 1846 William A. Burt, the discoverer of the Marquette Iron Range, noted signs of iron ore in the Crystal Falls area. In 1849 federal geologist J. W. Foster found ore near Lake Antoine, and two years later he and J. D. Whitney confirmed Burt’s report on the Crystal Falls district. The first mining activity began in 1872 at the Breen Mine, where ore had been discovered in the 1860s by the Breen brothers, timber cruisers from Menominee. Development of the range was delayed until a railroad could be built from Escanaba. The Breen and Vulcan Mines shipped 10,405 tons of ore in 1877 when the railroad was built as far as Quinnesec. By 1880 it reached Iron Mountain and Florence, and in 1882 tracks were laid to Crystal Falls and Iron River. Twenty-two mines had made shipments of ore that year. A few crumbling ruins are all that remain of most of them, but in subsequent decades many more mines were developed which have produced vast amounts of ore for America’s iron and steel mills.

Plaque via Michigan History Center

During the mid-1850s the firm of R. B. Hubbard and Company, which included Connecticut-born entrepreneurs Langdon Hubbard, his brother Watson, and cousin Rollin B., built a steam-powered sawmill on Willow Creek. The company town they developed was named Huron City in 1861. A horse-drawn tram carried the mill’s products to a nearby dock in Lake Huron for transport to the firm’s lumber yard in Sandusky, Ohio. Huge forest fires in 1871 and 1881 entirely destroyed Huron City, but each time the town was rebuilt. Huron City’s surviving buildings--including Langdon Hubbard’s house, now called Seven Gables, the general store, the hotel, and the church--all date from the early 1880s. Langdon Hubbard died in 1892. In 1995 Huron City was listed as a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places.William Lyon Phelps married Langdon Hubbard’s daughter Annabel in 1892. Until 1938 the Phelpses spent most summers at Seven Gables. Phelps, the Lampson Professor of English Literature at Yale University until his retirement in 1933, had a national following for four decades as an author, a critic, and a lecturer. He did much of his writing at Seven Gables and was the summer minister at the Huron City Church. In 1939 Phelps turned the town over to his niece Carolyn Hubbard Parcells. She and her husband, Charles A. Parcells Sr., established the William Lyon Phelps Foundation in 1946 to preserve Huron City. The foundation built the brick museum in 1952, and restored the store, the hotel, and the church during the 1950s. The Point aux Barques Life-Saving Station building was moved to Huron City in 1964 to preserve it.

Plaque via Michigan History Center

Listed in the National Register of Historic Places, the church was begun when the 1828 Mississippi Legislature granted a charter of Incorporation to the "Presbyterian Church of Petit Gulf". Later in 1828, the Town of Rodney was incorporated, the community and church becoming known as Rodney, rather than Petit Gulf. Presbyterian activity in Rodney was apparent prior to erection of the present church structure in 1830-31. When Rev. John Hutchinson came in 1830 as supply minister for one year, there were at least two members and services were held in a barroom. The present brick church was dedicated to the worship of God on the first day of 1832. The dedication sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Chamberlain, founder and president of Oakland College. According to tradition, one thousand silver dollars were cast into the mold of the church bell. The cemetery is located on the wooded bluff east of the church, and contains remains of Civil War trenches and graves of river travelers

During the Civil War, on September 13, 1863, a skirmish ocurred at the church. On that Sunday morning the Union gunboat "Rattler" had docked at Rodney. Rev. Baker, a northern sympathizer who was to preach that day, invited Captain Fentrese of the "Rattler" to attended Sunday morning services. The captain and eighteen of his crew attended Sunday morning services, but were captured by a small party of Confederate cavalry. When word of the prisoners reached the "Rattler”, the gunboat bombarded the town and church. Lt. Allen, Commander of the Confederates sent word that if the shelling did not stop, all prisoners would be hanged. Thus, town and church were spared. The church building still bears scars from this shelling. During the post war years, the population of Rodney declined, adversely affecting church membership. In 1923, the last fulltime pastor resigned leaving behind a congregation of sixteen. However, church services probably continued for several years. In 1966 the church property was conveyed to the United Daughters Confederacy for restoration for which the 1968 Mississippi, Legislature appropriated funds.

Ca. 1851. Neoclassic Revival. The origin of this structure is uncertain. It is generally assumed to be one of two buildings completed in 1851 for use by a campus literary society. Its architecture is more properly called Neoclassic Revival. It does not have the same atmosphere as the Greek Revival chapel and dormitory buildings.

The yellow tever epldemics of 1843 and 1898 were fatal to many residents of Rodney. Even though the Union gunboat "Rattler" fired upon the town, Rodney and her churches were spared destruction during the Civil War. Here was the disembarking point for a select detachment of 40 Union Cavalry (Fifth Illinois), which launched a raid to the east behind Confederate lines in June 1863. The Confederates won this engagement, capturing the Union troops which sought to raid the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. In September 1864, Union troops were sent from Vicksburg to destroy a reported Confederate troop concentration at Rodney. Landing here, the Union infantry regiment plundered almost every house in town. Citizens of Rodney area formed Company D, 22nd Mississippi Infantry, which fought for the Confederacy. At war''s end a sand bar formed in the Mississippi River causing the River to alter its course, moving two miles west of Rodney. Tragedy struck in 1869 when a fire almost completely destroyed the town. The population further declined after the 1880''s when a railroad was constructed to the east through Fayette. By executive proclamation Governor Bilbo in 1930 abolished this century-old town of Rodney.