RIGA TOWNSHIP

This Township was first called Pottsdam, after a village of the same name in New York. Zebina Smith, from New York State, was the first actual white settler in Riga, in 1836, who was followed, the same fall, by Reuben Tredway and E. S. Guernsey. Mr. Smith is deceased; the others yet living, in adjoining townships. The first settlement in Riga Township was in its southern portion; but Buswell W. Knight arrived into Pottsdam, from Blissfield, in 1839, and erected the first house in the north part of the town, now the site of Riga Village; and the same year, with some others, cut a road through to the settlement in the south part of the town; while thus engaged, his son Almon killed a bear, weighing two hundred and five pounds. Among other early settlers we may mention Armon Barrett (the oldest settler in Riga), Rufus Wells, Levi Eddy, John Dings, James and George Westerman. The first white child born in the Township was Martin Van Buren Tredway, who served as a volunteer in the 47^th Ohio Infantry and was killed in the battle of Rescea, Georgia. The first mill was built by D. D. Sinclair and T. G. Templeton, in 1858. The first church in the Township to rear its spire heavenward was the German Lutheran, in 1865. The Indians were very tenacious of their “happy hunting grounds,” in this part of the country at least up to 1852 they made the southern portion of Riga their abode. Riga is settled mostly by the German element, -- a sturdy, thrifty race, and from whose ranks have come many of the leading business men and some of the prominent officers of the County. The soil is principally loam, with a clay subsoil, while some portions are sandy. The old maps, which made this Township nearly all swamp, were greatly in error, there never having been a foot of that undesirable variety of surface in the Township. On the contrary, as a grain-growing and stock-raising town it is not excelled in the County. It is also noted for its heavy yield of fine grass.

Riga Village is on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad, in the northern part of the Township. It was founded by Boswell W. Knight, about the year 1855. Mr. Knight gas the railroad company the land for the erection of depots, etc, and the station was named, in his honor, Knight’s, but after his death it was changed to Riga. Population about 300. It contains a steam saw-mill, a stave and heading factory, several stores and shops, a hotel, two churches, and a fine brick school-house costing $10,000. The only post-office in the town is located here, and bears the same name.

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