Attractions

Niles Haunted House Scream Park

Local History

The Indian mission which Claude Aveneau, a French Jesuit, founded on this site in 1690 was given a land concession by Governor Jacques Denonville of New France, at Quebec, in 1694, and the protection of a detachment of soldiers in 1695.  But it was not until 1697 that a military post was established here, from which date it became known in history as Fort St. Joseph.  

The fort fell to the British in 1761, to the Indians (Pontiac's Rebellion) in 1763 and to the Spanish and Indians in 1780, 1781, and was abandoned in 1781.  

Permanent settlement of the site began in 1828 when Eli P. Bunnell and Abram Tietsort, both from Ohio, built their cabins here.  Later that year they sold out to Samuel B. Walling and Obed P. Lacey.  

The settlement was first call Pogwatigue (running water).  Mr. Lacey first platted and recorded the village in 1829, naming it for Hezekiah Niles, publisher of the Niles Register, a Whig paper in Baltimore.  

It had been given a post office as Carey (it was adjacent to the Carey Mission), on December 4, 1828.  The name of the office was changed to Pogwatigue on February 27, 1829.  The post office was renamed Niles on August 21, 1841, with Joseph G. Larimore as its postmaster.

Incorporated as a village in 1835 and as a city, with Elijah Lacey as its first mayor in 1859.  It was in Lenawee County until Berrien was organized in 1831.  Niles is the only community in Michigan to have been under four flags:  French, English, Spanish and Americans.

Informational excerpts from Michigan Place Names, by Walter Romig, L.H.D.

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