Old Wing Mission

Old Wing Mission is a Michigan historical marker in Holland, Allegan County, dedicated 2021.

5298 E. 147th Avenue, Holland

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The main portion of this building was the residence of George N. Smith, a Congregational missionary to the Indians in this area and at Waukazoo’s village on nearby Lake Macatawa. The mission was named after an Indian convert. Built in 1844-45 by Isaac Fairbanks, a government agricultural agent to the Indians, this house is the oldest structure in the vicinity. Nearby were a church and school, and some Indian dwellings. The first Dutch settlers in 1846-47 lodged here and in the Fairbanks cabin on the knoll to the southeast. As the Dutch settlement grew, Smith and the Indians moved away and established a new village on Grand Traverse Bay. Isaac Fairbanks remained in this area and was active in the settlement of Holland.

TodayHistorical map

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Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1849 · Illinois (Mitchell/Cowperthwait, 1849) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1852 · Wisconsin (Cowperthwait, 1852) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1853 · Map of the surveyed part of Michigan (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1854 · A map of the surveyed part of Michigan / by John Farmer ; engraved by S. Stiles & Co. (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
[Road map of southwestern Michigan, Grand Haven and Grand Rapids to Benton Harbor and… (University of Chicago Library, Mapping Chicagoland · CC BY-NC 4.0, used by permission)

Map of the surveyed part of Michigan, 1853, covering the location of Old Wing Mission, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Map of the surveyed part of Michigan, 1853, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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