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THE DIVISION OF NEWARK TOWNSHIP The Newark Township, Allegan County created in 1836 was an area that now comprises eight townships. The name "NEWARK" was decided on in 1833 by William G. Butler, John Griffith, S. E. Mason and Henry B. Hoffman, although they had considered the name "Newport." * The grand plan in county development was to set up govern- ment as soon as possible and then, as the population increased, to divide these into townships which were thirty-six sections square. In many cases townships were fractional which meant that they did not have the full compliment of thirty-six sections. Newark's western edge was a case in point because of the shoreline of Lake Michigan which cut into those townships. The first piece carved out of Newark was Manlius Township which was a full thirty-six sections. It was organized on March 6, 1838 by John Allen, but as a panic (depression) was already under way for a year, those enterprises (sawmills, store, tavern and tannery) did not get past the first ten, or so, buildings and were abandoned altogether. See John Allen: Michigan's Pioneer Promoter by Kit Lane, pp. 115-41, published by Pavilion Press (1988). As time elapsed, some townships became guardians of other townships during this developmental period. Such was the situation in Manlius on March 15, 1841 when the districts that are now Fillmore, Clyde and Lee Townships were attached to it on that date (as guardian). This, of course, included voting and collecting taxes. In Newark, this development took twenty-three years for it to mother the seven remaining townships. On the Manlius side the township above became Fillmore and was organized in 1849. The two below were Clyde and Lee, both organized in 1859. The fractional townships along Lake Michigan were Laketown, Ganges and Casco, along with the original Newark. Laketown was organized in 1859 and is the smallest of the eight townships. Ganges was taken from Newark and organized in 1847. Lee, below that, was organized in 1854. Within a few years after all were organized into townships even the name Newark was changed and became Saugatuck in the 1860's, perhaps reflecting its position which means "mouth of the river," This was the old name given to the post office when it was established in 1835. Allegan County is one of the larger counties in the state and from its original four townships, twenty-four were created, or twenty more than when it started. Although Singapore rivaled Saugatuck for a long time, Saugatuck was the political center of the township because William G. Butler had gotten his foot in the door a few years before Singapore's rise to fame. It was not until the 1860's that Singapore reached its prominence under the proprietorship of 0. R. Johnson & Company, the Co.. being F. B. Stockbridge. Even when Saugatuck got its first mill in 1846, it was only four years before M. B. Spencer sold to Wells & Johnson. Before Stockbridge had become partners with 0. R. Johnson, Johnson had as his partner Andrew S. Wells, in a number of enterprises including tannery, sawmill and store. In fact, Johnson married his partners daughter, Emily Wells. Andrew S. Wells, too, had partners before 0. R. Johnson. When Wells first arrived he began a tannery near Benjamin Plummer's first sawmill across from the N. E. corner of what is today Clearbrook Country Club. Edward H. Johonnett was his first partner there, then C. H. Bartlett, then Thomas Rawson and finally, 0. R. Johnson. Wells was even partners with Benjamin Plummer in the maintenance of the dam that collected water from Goshorn Creek to run sawmill & Tannery. * Papers of Lucius Lyon, William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan. Thomas Fitzgerald to Lucius Lyon from St. Joseph, Mich. dated 12/18/1833. NEWARK NOTES AND QUOTES FROM 150 YEARS AGO by Charles J. Lorenz, Copyright 1991.