Downtown Jonesville

In 1828, three years after a surveying outfit laid out the Chicago Road which traced the old Sauk Trail, Benaiah Jones moved his family from Painesville, Ohio to a spot on the west bank of the St. Joseph River where it intersected the trail.  In time, the area where Jones settled took his name, becoming Jonesville.  Jones had chosen well for Jonesville, an overnight stop on what was then the Chicago Turnpike, a precursor to the modern toll road, was a city of firsts-having the first hotel, the first general store, the first gristmill as well as being the first trade center, the first county seat, the first village to be incorporated in Hillsdale County and the first organized school district in the interior of Michigan.  Jonesville was an important center of civilization in the 1830s.

Federal Style Home

Today, Jonesville is a charming town with historic homes including the federal style home shown here and a symmetrical two-story, five bay Greek Revival home built by William Walton Murphy in 1840.  Brick for this home was made in nearby Moscow.  Murphy was an attorney, publisher and statesman and such greats as Daniel Webster and Horace Greeley were among the guests to stay at his home.

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