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The History of Oceana County, Michigan
H. R. Page & Co., Chicago - 1882

         [p. 104]

         THE COUNTY SEAT

           The first meeting of the county supervisors was in June, 1855,
	 at WHEELER'S house, Stony Creek. The first county seat, however,
	 was off in the southwest corner of the county, on Section 8, of
	 Claybanks, on the property of A. S. ANDERSON, and on the classic
	 banks of a little brook called "Whisky Creek," and a little vil-
	 lage sprang up around it called "Roseville," from C. A. ROSEVELT,
	 who took the first census in the county. This was the scene of
	 much that is historic in the early days, but its glory has de-
	 parted, and the only building now in it is the farm house of Mrs.
	 L. D. EATON. The farms of HANSON, BARR, PHILLIPS, FORDHAM, ANDERSON
	 and others, lay along the lake shore in Claybanks, and formed the
	 first point of settlement in the county. They were on the site of
	 ancient Indian clearings, and there was a point on JOHN HANSON'S
	 farm projecting into the lake, where the Indians placed signal
	 fires, visible forty miles north and south.

           The county seat remained at "Whisky Creek" until 1864, when
	 it was removed to Hart. In our resume of supervisors' records,
	 we give the various votes on the question of removing the county
	 seat. Of course, as settlement extended, the position of the
	 county seat became more and more anomalous and inconvenient, until
	 it was removed, by a small vote,to Hart. It was only the mutual
	 jealousy of rival sites that prevented an earlier removal. Pent-
	 water, Hart, and "Oceana Center," a paper village on the corners
	 of Hart, Elbridge, Shelby and Ferry, which put forward its claim
	 as being the geographical center, were the chief claimants. The
	 village of Barnett, or Shelby, was not in existence until years
	 afterward, when the railroad gave it an impetus; otherwise it
	 would have been a strong claimant.

	   Pentwater, seeing it could not secure the prize itself, at last
	 joined its influence to that of Hart, carrying Weare with it, and
	 Hart was chosen. One inducement to bring the county seat to Hart
	 was the liberal offer of MR. CORBIN, who gave $1,000 and the pre-
	 sent courthouse square. For some time there was a reluctance to
	 erect buildings, but they were at last put up, in 1878-'74 (sic)
	 being neat wooden structures, and very expensive. During the pro-
	 cess of construction, HON. CHARLES MEARS made a bold attempt to
	 capture the county seat for his new village of Mears, offering
	 on December 17, 1873, either to put up splendid buildings or pay
	 an equivalent of $10,000 in cash, if the county would erect its
	 own buildings, but the movement had the support of but one super-
	 visor.

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