GREENVILLE, Mich. — A small city with a lot of history.
Greenville has been through several changes over the years, with many major milestones along the way.
Before it was officially settled by a man named John Green, the area was populated by several Native American tribes, most notably the Odawa and Ojibwe.
Then Green came in 1844, building a sawmill along the Flat River that attracted more settlers.
"In one year, so many people followed him here they had to open up a school for 26 children," said Keith Hudson, the President of the Flat River Historical Society.
What really attracted all these people were the white pine forests nearby.
"Lumbering was the primary motivation for coming here," said Hudson. "We were a rough and tumble lumbering town.”
For context, from 1866 to 1890, Hudson said they floated 1.8 billion feet of lumber logs down the Flat River.
Around that same time period, the city earned a couple nicknames — 'Potato Capital of the World' and 'Refrigerator Capital of the World."
"They called them refrigerators back then even though they were wooden ice boxes," said Hudson.
Greenville is also the birthplace of Meijer.
When Hendrik Meijer immigrated to the U.S. from the Netherlands, he came to Greenville. He started out as a barber before building his superstore empire.
"When the Depression hit, people didn't need to have haircuts," said Hudson. "They needed food. So they decided, 'For us to keep food on our table, we'll get in the grocery business.'”
There was a ton of competition in the industry, but Meijer stores did something others were not doing at the time — accepting credit cards.
The Flat River Historical Society is located about 100 feet away from where Green built his sawmill. They just won two major awards from the Historical Society of Michigan. One of those was Local Society of the Year. The other went to Robin Walter, the museum's school liaison, who was named Outstanding Educator of the Year.
Then on Monday, Walter broke the news to FOX 17 that the museum's garden just won the President's Award from the Keep Michigan Beautiful Foundation.
The historical society is also celebrating its 50th year in existence. It'll be hosting an event at the museum at 213 N Franklin Street in Greenville on October 10th at 6:30 p.m. Anyone is welcome.