The Hastings Banner — Thursday, March 21, 2024 — Page 7History of Riverside Cemetery
Banner May 3, 1922
The matter of building a house for a perma-
nent sexton, first considered in January 1876,
was acted on July 6, 1877, when from six bids
received the one submitted by F.A. Skeel was
accepted and Jas. Sweezey, John Hotchkiss
and W.S. Goodyear appointed as the building
committee. The books show $769.25 was paid
to Mr. Skeel for his contract. The house was
erected about where the Heney Valut now
stands. The need for a permanent sexton has
been felt for a long time, and with the house
drawing to completion, sealed bids for the
position were asked for by the board. At the
Nov. 9th meeting, the clerk presented nine
sealed proposals and two verbal ones – J.S.
Woodruff being selected as the first perma-
nent sexton of Riverside Cemetery.
The matter of securing well water at the
sexton’s house gives evidence of having
caused much trouble and expense to the com-
pany. In the spring of 1878, L.W. Vroman had
sunk a well 125 feet in front of the house and
no water. And the directors were called
together to consider having him continue his
work. This was agreed to but apparently did
not work because the sexton complained of
his family having to walk a half a mile for all
well water used.
Geo. Abbey was then empowered by the
board to dig a well and he was fortunate in
striking water at a depth of only 18 feet. That
summer, 214 evergreen trees were purchased
for nine cents apiece – this being the largest
purchase ever made up to that time for land-
scape work on the grounds.
The summer of 1879, the sexton presented
a bill for building 53 rods of fencing at 40
cents a rod in front of the company’s grounds.
The lumber was bought from Bentley Bros.
and Wilkins, a Hastings concern, for $73.74,
and the paint for it from Roberts and Hotch-
kiss for $22.35.
The summer of 1884, a well was dug just
outside the grounds near the north side for the
use of lot owners wishing to water shrubs,
plants and flowers – a trip down the steep
bank to the river or a long walk to the sex-
ton’s house having been necessary hitherto,
and a lawn mower, watering pot and pail
were also purchased, the river bank cleared of
loose brush and rubbish and 25 maple trees
purchased, showing an increased interest in
the care and beautifying of the grounds.
In 1889, the Association found themselves
confronted with only 10 lots left for sale, and
a special meeting was called to authorize the
preparing of ground so that more lots might
be laid out. In the spring of 1890, the work of
clearing the timer and leveling the land
adjoining the free cemetery was begun and a
Mr. Skeel of Grand Rapids engaged to plat
and lay out the ground for cemetery purposes.
In the spring of 1891, the city was asked to
extend the water mains to the cemetery
which they agreed to do if the board would
pay the cost of all expenditures over $1,000.
The use of water for the grounds would make
it possible to give them care heretofore
impossible. To meet the new problems with
which they would be confronted, the board
sent Mr. Bessmer and Mr. Wilkins to Grand
Rapids to investigate the care of the cemeter-
ies there and the method and cost of dealing
with low owners.
They came back very enthusiastic as the
appearance and system used at the Valley City
Cemetery, the new addition of which was
being operated as a “lawn cemetery,” lots and
alleys on the same grade, covered with turf,
and graves leveled; that the Grand Rapids
association furnished the water to lot owners,
looked after the mowing, sprinkling and gen-
eral care for a nominal sum. After hearing thereport, the board was convinced that the lawn
plan should be adopted by the Hastings Asso-
ciation and voted to do it, also to request all
owners to put lots and alleys on a natural
grade and to seed or sod the alley hitherto
encircling all lots, and that all walls, stones,
hedges and coping about lots be removed.
This innovation naturally caused some objec-
tions and protestation on the part of enough to
see the development and realization of mod-
ern cemetery methods, and of the far more
efficient service the association could give in
the care of lots that were all on the same
grade. However, the small storm soon blew
over, especially as the real merit of the plan
was demonstrated as the board got it into use.
When the new courthouse was built in
1893, steps were taken to purchase the iron
fence around the old courthouse to enclose
the cemetery. This was done and the Associa-
tion purchased the fencing for $200. The
same year, a surveyor was engaged to lay out
an additional plat for more free ground.
An interesting incident brought out by the
records was the petitioning on July 2, 1895, of
Susannah Hammond to be allowed to cover
her lot with Portland cement seven inches
thick. The board objected but evidently gave
their consent to a modification of the request,
as the peculiar under-surface vault is said to
hold glass-covered caskets. The landmark is
on the south side and is the only lot in the
cemetery with an iron fence surrounding it.
The year 1896 revealed plans to move the
house and outbuildings so as to give the space
to the new addition. Originally intended to be
placed on the southeast corner of the northside
ground, the location was felt to be too low,
and so the house was put in the place it now
occupies on the Carter Lake road (now called
Country Club Drive). Mr. Skeel of Grand
Rapids was again called into service and
came here to lay out the additional ground
needed, which he prophesied would become
a very beautiful part of the cemetery grounds.
Today, the cemetery contains many mag-
nificent monuments and markers to designate
the location of graves. The largest is a mauso-
leum built for Thomas Heney by the Black
and Sons of Hastings, later of Grand Rapids.
The Blacks also have their own family plot
here. The Knights of Pythias, and the Fitzger-
ald Post, G.A.R., both have general markers
situated in the cemetery.
Several interesting markers, besides the
Hammond one, are the David Cook one made
from a natural granite stone; the Archie
McCoy one reported to have a meteorite
mounted on top; and the Troxel marker
carved with music and flowers to designate
their interest in music.Thornapple Township acquires
land for Paul Henry Trail trailhead
Greg Chandler
Staff Writer
The Thornapple Township last week
approved the purchase of 2.5 acres of
vacant property along the Thornapple River
to serve the Paul Henry Thornapple Trail.
The board unanimously approved a res-
olution to acquire the land at 9450 Garbow
Rd. from Patrick and Hyesuk Guy for
$150,000.
“This would be a potential trailhead (for
the trail),” Township Supervisor Eric
Schaefer said. “Also, it has river access,
and would be a place for emergency ser-
vices to draft from if need be.”
“The property is adjacent to the trail. It
would be a place for people to park if they
want to use the trail along the river,” Town-
ship Trustee Kim Selleck said.
The township has been looking to fill in
gaps to complete the Paul Henry Thornapple
Trail for some time. In January 2023, the
township acquired two parcels of land – one
extending south from Stimson Road, north of
Parmalee Road, to Garbow, the other extend-
ing about a half-mile north from Crane Road,
along the river’s eastern edge at the border of
the village of Middleville. Those purchases
were made possible in large part by $153,
in grant funding through the Michigan
Department of Natural Resources.
Those purchases left about a half-mile
gap between the two acquired properties to
complete the 42-mile Paul Henry Thornap-
ple Trail, between Grand Rapids in Kent
County and Vermontville in Eaton County.
The trail roughly follows the original route
of the Grand River Valley Railroad, which
was built in the late 1860s and operated
through 1983.
County Commissioner Catherine Getty
praised the board for making the purchase
“for the foresight of the trustees and yourwillingness to take advantage of those
opportunities when they come up because
they don’t come up very often. It’s just
something to be celebrated and recog-
nized, because if you would have let that
pass, it may have been generations, or
never, that you would have gotten another
opportunity like that.
“With the trail work, you just get what
you can get when you can get it. In the
last couple of years, it’s been a huge step
forward in connecting the trail. We still
have a bit of a piece to go, but we’ve had
good relationships with property owners,
and I really see that it’s going to connect,”
Getty added.
The purchase of the Guy property is
subject to a 90-day due diligence period,
according to the sale agreement document.
“We have surveys and inspections, that
sort of thing (that must be completed),”
Township Clerk Cindy Ordway said.Thursday, March 21 – Novel Ideas Book
Club discusses “I Found You,” 1 p.m.; Movie
Memories & Milestones watches a 1939 film
starring Irene Dunne, Charles Boyer and
Maria Ouspenskaya, 4:30 p.m.
Friday, March 22 – Friday Story Time,
10:30 a.m.; Science Storytime with PCCI:
Total Eclipse of the Sun, 10:30 a.m. (eclipse
glasses available).
Monday, March 25 – Crafting Passions, 10
a.m.Tuesday, March 26 – Baby Cafe, 10 a.m.;
mahjong, 2 p.m.; chess, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, March 27 – Itsy Bitsy Book
Club, 10:30 a.m.; Walk-in Tech Help: Basic
Device or Computer Help, 2-4 p.m.; acoustic
jam session at the fireplace, 5 p.m.; Lift
Every Voice book discussion night: “Watch-
men” by Louise Erdrich, 6:30 p.m.
More information about these and other
events is available by calling the library, 269-
Parched plants 945-4263.Why do plants need water?
Emma, 9, N.Y.Dear Emma,
When I’m thirsty, I pick up a glass of
water with my paws and drink it–just like
you do. But plants don’t have paws or
mouths, so how (and why) do they drink it?
To find the answer, I talked with my
friend Helmut Kirchhoff. He’s a scientist at
Washington State University. He studies
plants and biochemistry.
He told me plants need water inside their
cells. Water makes plant cells strong and
flexible. It also dissolves stuff. That makes it
possible for chemical reactions to happen
inside plant cells–like the reactions a plant
uses to make energy during photosynthesis.
Plants also need water to move around nutri-
ents and other molecules required for life.“Water is essential for life, but plants
must move nutrients from the soil to the
leaves,” Kirchhoff said. “So, they have this
very nice transport system called xylem.
Xylem is an ancient Greek word that means
wood. It works like a straw to move water
and nutrients from the roots to the leaves.”
We usually think of water flowing down,
so it might seem weird that water is moving
up the plant. The way water moves from the
roots to the stem and up to the leaves is
called the transpiration stream. First, it
moves from the soil into very fine hairs on
the roots. Then it travels from cell to cell up
the plant’s roots.
That’s when the pull of transpiration
really kicks in. Transpiration is how plants
release water into the air through their
leaves. It works because there are super
tiny openings on the underside of a plant’sleaves. They are so small you need a
microscope to see them. They’re called
stomata. They look like itty bitty mouths
with lips. The “lips” are guard cells. They
open and close the stomata to release water
or keep it inside.
When the stomata open, water evapo-
rates into the air. That causes suction–sort
of like sucking on a straw. The suction
pulls water–and the nutrients dissolved in
the water–from the roots up the plant stem
and out to the leaves.
One big way that plants use water is
photosynthesis. Plants use the sun’s light to
change water and carbon dioxide into oxy-
gen and sugar. Then, the plant moves some
of the sugar back down the plant using
another transport system called phloem.
The plant stores the sugar partly in its
roots. When the plant needs energy, it can
break down the sugar and use the energy
stored there.
Water is important for the phloem, too. It
dissolves the sugar and other stuff the plant
needs moved down to the roots. Or up to
the flowers and small growing leaves that
still need sugar from older leaves to thrive.
Plants might not have paws or mouths,
but their bodies still need water. It’s just
another way plants aren’t so different from
us after all.Dr. UniverseDo you have a question? Ask Dr. Uni-
verse. Send an email to Washington State
University’s resident scientist and writer at
[email protected] or visit her website,
askdruniverse.com.HASTINGS PUBLIC
LIBRARY SCHEDULE
Pierce Cedar Creek Institute
events for March 22-
March 1-31 – March Storybook Walk:
“How to Catch a Clover Thief” by Elise
Parsley. Follow this funny tale about prob-
lem-solving and ingenuity to discover
who’s stealing Roy’s favorite meal from
right under his snout. The Storybook Walk
is free and self-guided.
March 1-31 – Who Stole the Rose Hips?
Mystery game on the trails. Be a naturedetective and help solve the mystery of the
missing rose hips.
Friday, March 22 – Science Storytime:
Total Eclipse of the Sun, 10:30 a.m.-
11:15 a.m. Learn about the science of
eclipses.
Those interested can register for these
events and find more information at cedar-
creekinstitute.org/events.HAMILTON
LANDSCAPE & SUPPLY
20612 Capital Ave., N.E & 15200 Beadle Lake Rd.
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Get on the list!
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MULCH
MADNESS
$4 of f per yard
of mulch until the end
of March.Get your landscape bed
done now before the
flowers and plants pop up.Hamilton Landscape
now with 2 locations.
269-207-Thornapple Township Supervisor
Eric Schaefer explains the acquisition
of property on Garbow Road for a pos-
sible trailhead for the Paul Henry
Thornapple Trail last Monday night.
(Photo by Greg Chandler)Susannah Hammond was allowed to cover her lot with Portland cement. It is the
only lot in the cemetery with an iron fence surrounding it.One of the more interesting gravesites
in the cemetery belongs to Archie McCoy.
The marker is reported to have a meteor-
ite mounted on top.
The Grand Army of the Republic,
Fitzgerald Post has a general marker
inside the Riverside Cemetery.