Shelby, Michigan
The village of Shelby had its beginnings in 1864 when
Walter H. Churchill built his first home just below what is now known as
“Cemetery Hill”. He soon added a post office and a hotel, and when the
new state road was opened in 1866, it became a stopping place for the
stage between Whitehall and Pentwater.
With the arrival of the railroad in 1872, buildings began to spring up as
if by magic near the new track. Mr. Churchill moved the post office to the
main street, and within a few years the town had grown to a population of
nearly 1,000 with good stores, saw mills, two wagon shops, and a growing
school. The name of Shelby was chosen after General Isaac Shelby who, with
his Kentucky Rangers, helped recapture Detroit from the British in the War
of 1812.
In the spring of 1874 the first great flights of wild passenger pigeons
arrived to nest some three miles southeast of the village. As news of the
great flocks spread, nearly every train from the south brought scores of
pigeon hunters, bringing new money into the community. Almost everyone
became a hunter or dealer. The birds flew so low over the hilltop that
they could be struck by long sticks or caught in nets. The birds were
shipped by the barrel, in coops, and thousands were fed for a later
market. It is estimated that this business brought over $50,000 to the
community in the one season and helped put it on its feet. For a time
Shelby had national notoriety as the greatest pigeon roost in the United
States. Unfortunately, the pigeons never returned in any numbers after
1876, and they are now extinct.
When Shelby had first been settled, it was surrounded by hardwood forests,
and sawmills became numerous. In 1879 the Spring Lake Iron Co. came to
Shelby and installed charcoal kilns at Shelby, Mears and South Shelby.
Soon the “coal” kiln and the sawmills depleted the area of most of the
timber surrounding Shelby.
In a period of depression that followed the disappearance of the pigeons,
it was discovered that the area soil was especially suited for growing
potatoes, and for some years Shelby was a major producer of potatoes.
Later, farmers discovered the climate was ideal for growing fruit. The
orchards and resulting fruit-processing plant made agriculture important
to the development of Shelby, and it was incorporated as a village in
1884.
During World War II, when many local men were in service, fruit growers
and processors found themselves short of manpower for both harvesting and
handling the fruit crop. In June of 1944 a Prisoner of War Camp was set up
at Getty Park to provide factory and farm labor for the fruit harvest, and
by July at least 550 prisoners of war along with supplies and armed guards
were brought to the village. Most of the POW’s were from Germany, and
after the war was over, several of the former prisoners came back to the
area to live and raise their families.
Today Shelby is a village with many churches, a hospital, a
food-processing plant, a thriving down-town area and an Industrial Park
with several specialized manufacturing plants.
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