The lakes were originally surveyed in 1829 by the U.S. Government, 8 years before Michigan gained statehood. The lakes were noted for their natural beauty and resources, as well as feeding grounds for both wild fowl and fish. A dam was built in 1834, and a water-powered grist mill was erected on the west end of Finch Lake. In 1917 the dam was secretly blown up by agitated farmers looking to better their low-lying acreage. The majority of land owners then banded together under the name of Lake Owners Protective Assn. to fight this invasion of what they believed to be their property rights.
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The Miami Indians and then the Potowatomies inhabited Southwestern Michigan in earliest history. In 1680 Robert De LaSalle, the famous French explorer and his aides, first entered the interior of Michigan going from the mouth of the St. Joseph River on Lake Michigan east to the Detroit River. According to his day book on the first days out they forced their way through brambly thickets, their clothes were torn, their faces covered with blood. Game was scarce and they grew faint from hunger. But, in two or three days they reached "a happier region" where they shot deer, bear and turkeys and "fared" sumptuously." Local historians are quite unanimous in their belief that at this point LaSalle had reached Marcellus or its environs.
The Cass County History of 1882 says: "The Pioneers who penetrated Southwestern Michigan found a land as fertile and as fair to look upon as the heart could wish. In the spring, the woods were odorous with the spicy exhalations of bursting buds and the prairies were jeweled with strange and brilliant flowers. The stars that in earths ferment do shine while the luxuriant growth of tall waving grass gave evidence of the strength of the virgin soil which it clothes."
In 1836, Josepheus Gard purchased from the government much of the land presently comprising the Village limits. The Village was formed in 1879, but its name was decided for it, June 16, 1843. The Village took its name from the name already given to the township when it was organized at the home of Daniel G. Rouse in 1843. The name "Marcellus" was suggested by Judge Littlejohn of Allegan, our Representative in the legislature. The name "Cambria" was first chosen, but there was another township of that name.
There is an old theater in Rome among the ruins of antiquity named the "Marcellus Theater." Claudius Marcellus was the husband of Octavia, sister of the Roman Emperor Augustus. Marcellus was a consul. Their son Marcus Marcellus might have followed Augustus as Emperor except for his early death. When Octavia died, Augustus built a temple in her honor.
In 1868 there were four farm houses in what is now Marcellus and the Main Street running west wound south around a little lake. In this year George W. Jones purchased 211 acres of land which in now Marcellus for $13,000.00. This was at the time considered an extravagant price. Impressed with the belief that it was an ideal site for a settlement due to its geographic location and the possibility that a railroad would be built through the area, he began to plat a village and this was completed and recorded in April, 1870. The village was incorporated in 1879.
Leander Bridges, George Roach and David Snyder owned land adjacent to that purchased by Jones and they joined him in platting the village. Located in the geographical center of the township, the new town's growth was phenomenal. With the coming of the railroad in 1871, the future of Marcellus seemed assured.