Ben Ensley's House early April 1873

Pictured left to right: Son William, Daughter Nittie (Antoinette), Mary (who is pregnant with John A.) Daughter Eliza, Son Benjamin F, Daughter Mariah, Ben, and Daughter Lorain on porch.

You can see the Smoke House on the right of the picture

(Photo courtesy of the Reynolds Township Library)

(Photo Enhancement by Verduin Webs)

The Newaygo County marriage records show that the second wedding to take place in the township occurred “at the house of B. Ensley.” It was the marriage of Martha Sheers, 16, and Edmund Buchanan, 24, “both of the town of Ensley.” The Justice of the Peace was Smith Cook and the witnesses were Andrew Flynn and Benjamin Ensley.

Ensley Township continued to prosper and by 1865 had forty-six resident taxpayers. Of these, only six paid more than $10.00 in real estate tax. Ben Ensley paid $66.92 which was more than three times the tax paid by the second highest taxpayer, William S. Hillman, who paid $22.30.

Ben Ensley's Barn and Stage Stop in 1924

There were three floors and a basement in the Big Barn

(Photo courtesy of Jan Burton)

(Photo Enhancement by Verduin Webs)

It took the state five years, January 1863 through July 1868, to build the road north from Cedar Springs to Big Rapids. By the spring of 1864 it was completed past the Half Way House. A second road started at Newaygo and ran via Croton to Ben Ensley’s Corners, where by this time Ben had built a hotel. On April 16, 1867, the Ensley Post Office was established at Ensley’s Corners with Asa C. McConnell as postmaster. The post office continued until 1903 when the mail was routed through the Howard City and Pierson Post Offices.

 

All that remained of the Ensley Stage Stop and

loading dock in the Big Barn before the barn burned down

(Photo taken by Nicholas Herbert 2007)

 

 

 

The growth of America’s network of railroads, slowed during the Civil War, reached boom proportions in the late 1860’s and word reached Ben that the Grand Rapids and Western Railroad was planning to complete the section between Grand Rapids and Big Rapids by 1870. Although the proposed route for the railroad was six miles east of Ensley’s Corners, he quickly moved to make sure the trains would stop as close to the farm as possible. The Grand Rapids and Western Railroad was considering building a depot at one of three existing communities - Wood Lake, Maple Hill or Reynolds. Ben owned a track of land in Reynolds Township (Montcalm County) and he offered to donate a town site and build a depot at his own expense if the railroad would establish a station at that location.

 

 

(Photo courtesy of the Reynolds Township Library)

(Photo Enhancement by Verduin Webs)

This was agreed on and he built the depot and deeded the property to the railroad “for as long as it shall be used for railroad purposes.” Ben Ensley named the town “Howard City"  after William Alanson Howard, an attorney of the Grand Rapids and Western Railroad. The post office for a time was called "Howard." Later it was renamed "Howard City."

William Alanson Howard

 

(The three photos above are courtesy of the Reynolds Township Library)

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