Middleville’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold just one old photo of Middleville. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗The first white settler to own land in the village was Calvin G. Hill, a native of New York, who bought 400 acres (1.6 km2) in 1834 on both sides of the Thornapple River. The village was likely surveyed and subdivided before 1850, but the plat was not officially recorded until 1859. Prior to 1843, the settlement was often called "Thornapple". The name Middleville was at first given to a post office on the stage coach line between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. The post office was located at the house of Benjamin S. Dibble in section 2 in northeast Yankee Springs Township. Dibble had agreed to accept the post office at the request of U.S. Representative Lucius Lyon, of Kent County. Lyon suggested the name "Dibbleville", but Dibble disliked that name. "Middleville" was suggested because of the proximity of an Indian village known as "Middle Village" on Scales Prairie near the boundary line b…
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Middleville’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Middleville’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewMiddleville Depot postcard croppe…, 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Middleville
See all 2 →
Middleville, decade by decade
1990s
Nothing in Middleville is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Middleville has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Michigan Central Railroad Middleville Depot in Thornapple, 0.4 miles away.
Middleville and the nearest listed places
Closest to Middleville
John Carveth HouseThornapple · Building0.5miChief Noonday Group Camp Historic DistrictYankee Springs · District5.6miLong Lake Group Camp Historic DistrictYankee Springs · District7.1mi
Wayland Downtown Historic DistrictWayland · District9.3miHow a place gets listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Middleville Depot postcard cropped c 1908 (1908) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (5) and the National Register (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.