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History |
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Before there was the new Township Hall, the land belonged to the Herbst family. 45 acres were sold to the township at the request of Township Clerk Polly Skolarus; Robert Murray negotiated the price of $180,000.00.
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The Herbst Family Farm
Photo by
PollySkolarus |
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Mr. Herbst provided the following short history of his farm: |
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The township hall sits on property that originally belonged to the Carl Christian Conrad family.
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It was first purchased from the United State Government in 1830.
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After the civil war there was no one left to farm the land and it was purchased by John Schoenhals.
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John had three daughters and one son. The son was named Oscar. Oscar married Lyle's father's sister Anna.
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In 1950 Anna bought the brick two-story home
on one/half acre just east of the farm on Brighton Road
for $10,000.00, and Lyle bought the 149-acre farm on Dorr and Crooked Lake for
$15,000.00. The home 2-story brick home on Brighton Road still stands
today.
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The land was farmed from 1950 until 1962 when the Michigan State Highway came through and condemned eight different parcels in the township to construct Interstate-96.
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The State Highway Department gave the homesteaders 30 days to get out of their way.
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The Herbst family received $17,500 for their condemned 43.9 acres.
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The Herbst property was then cut in half on a 45-degree angle.
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The dairy business was no longer viable because there wasn't land close enough to the barn to take care of the cows.
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The barn was now on the north side of the expressway and the house was on the south side.
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That was when Mr. Herbst went into the beef business.
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He bought cattle from Mr. Fisher of the General Motors Fisher Body Family.
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In May of 1993 the land was sold to Genoa Township for their new office
for $180,000.00 and that's the whole story.
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Township Profile
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Genoa Township
is located in south central Michigan between the cities of Brighton and
Howell. The Grand River corridor and Interstate 96 provide direct access
to our business district. We are centrally and strategically located
within 45 miles of Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, Flint and Toledo.
Genoa Township is governed by an elected seven member board. The board is made
up of a Supervisor, Clerk, Treasurer and four Trustees. The board generally
meets on the first and third Monday of every month at 7:00 p.m. to consider
petitions on site plans, rezoning and other related township business. Minutes
from those meetings are published in both the Brighton Argus and the Livingston
County Press. Minutes are also made available on this web site.
The current board, elected in 2004 includes Supervisor Gary
McCririe, Clerk
Paulette Skolarus, Treasurer Robin Hunt, and Trustees Steve Wildman, Jim
Mortensen, Jean Ledford and Todd Smith.
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