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    ← History drives

    A history drive · about 142 miles · about 3 hr 20 min of driving

    The County Seats Loop

    Every county in the valley fought over where its courthouse would stand, because the county seat brought the courts, the lawyers, the land office trade and the newspaper. Cassopolis was chosen in 1831 as a compromise between rival settlements; Centreville was named the seat of St. Joseph County the same year; Paw Paw won Van Buren County in 1837 and held it in a vote of 1901; and Berrien County moved its seat from Berrien Springs to St. Joseph by fewer than twenty votes in 1894. This loop visits four county seats and the old seat at Berrien Springs, where Michigan's oldest surviving courthouse still stands, and comes home through Niles, the river city that lost the contest. Most of these are working government buildings: look from the square, read the markers, and go inside only during office hours.

    Open the whole drive in Google Maps Start at stop 1

    The map opens here.

    The numbers follow the stops below. The dashed line joins the stops in order; it is not the road route.

    About 142 miles and 3 hours 20 minutes of driving as a full loop, not counting stops (road distances from OpenStreetMap routing). It splits easily into an eastern half (Cassopolis, Centreville, Paw Paw) and a western half (St. Joseph, Berrien Springs, Niles).

    The stops

    1. Court House, Cassopolis, Mich.
      Then: Court House, Cassopolis, Mich., about 1908–1916. Tinder Collection, Clements Library, University of Michigan

      1 Cass County Courthouse, Cassopolis

      120 N. Broadway St., Cassopolis, MI 49031

      The present courthouse, completed in 1899 as a wood frame with a limestone veneer, is the county's third (state marker L487, 1977): the first, of 1835, stood off the public square, and the second, a frame building of 1841, stood on it for more than half a century. That second courthouse was sold and moved to State Street, became the Colonial Opera House and later the Gem Theatre, and was torn down in 1968. The 1899 building reopened in October 2024 after renovation, as the home of county offices; the State Bar's 'Freedom Road' marker stands on its south side.

      Open: Markers outdoors any time; building open county office hours.

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    2. 2 St. Joseph County Courthouse, Centreville

      125 W. Main St., Centreville, MI 49032

      Territorial Governor George B. Porter named Centreville the seat in 1831, and landowners gave the county the public square and 56 lots that November. The Greek Revival courthouse of 1842 came down in 1899, and this red brick and sandstone Romanesque Revival building by Sidney J. Osgood of Grand Rapids was dedicated on 1 August 1900, with a clock bought by the village (state marker L1150A; National Register, 1993). A courts building added on the south side of the square in the 1970s is joined to it by a glass passage.

      Open: Exterior and marker any time; county offices keep weekday hours. (The district court is housed in the old courthouse during the courts building's renovation, from April 2026.)

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    3. Old Van Buren County Courthouse, Paw Paw (engraving)
      Then: Old Van Buren County Courthouse, Paw Paw (engraving), 1880. none required

      3 Van Buren County Courthouse, Paw Paw

      212 E. Paw Paw St., Paw Paw, MI 49079

      The Board of Supervisors chose Paw Paw as the county seat in 1837, and a county-seat fight ended with a vote of 1901 that kept it here (state marker 556, 1990). The cornerstone of this Classical Revival courthouse, with its Italian Renaissance clock tower, was laid on 2 September 1901 and the building dedicated on 23 February 1903; Claire Allen of Jackson was the architect. It is on the National Register (1979) and still serves as the county's courthouse.

      Open: Marker on East Paw Paw Street any time; building open county office hours.

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    4. 4 Paw Paw City Hall, the 1840s courthouse

      111 E. Michigan Ave., Paw Paw, MI 49079

      Two blocks away stands the county's first courthouse, begun in 1842 and occupied in 1845: a two-story Greek Revival temple front with six columns and a Palladian window. When the county decided in 1900 to build anew, it was moved off the courthouse lot to this corner, and it serves as Paw Paw's city hall. It is on the National Register (1972) and is a State Historic Site (1971).

      Open: View from the street; city offices keep weekday hours.

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    5. Whitcomb Hotel, St. Joseph, Michigan
      Then: Whitcomb Hotel, St. Joseph, Michigan, about 1930–45. Boston Public Library, Tichnor Brothers Collection

      5 Berrien County Courthouse, St. Joseph

      811 Port St., St. Joseph, MI 49085

      St. Joseph won the county seat back from Berrien Springs in the election of 1894, by fewer than twenty votes, and began a new courthouse in 1895; that building, designed by Bell & Kent, was razed for the present five-story concrete, stone and glass courthouse of 1964 to 1966 by Shaw, Metz & Associates of Chicago. It is a modern working court building, not a museum: the story is in the move, not the stones.

      Open: Exterior any time; court building open on court days only, with security screening.

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    6. Old Berrien County Courthouse (engraving)
      Then: Old Berrien County Courthouse (engraving), 1880. none required

      6 History Center at Courthouse Square, Berrien Springs (the 1839 courthouse)

      313 N. Cass St., Berrien Springs, MI 49103

      Berrien Springs was chosen as the seat in 1837 for its central place in the county, and the Greek Revival courthouse designed by Gilbert B. Avery was finished for the April 1839 term; it is called Michigan's oldest existing county courthouse. After the seat left in 1894 it was a dance hall, a militia drill hall, the first home of Emmanuel Missionary College (now Andrews University) and a church, until the Berrien County Historical Association bought it in 1967 and restored it. The square also keeps the 1860 records building, the sheriff's residence of 1869 to 1870, Bennett's Forge and the Murdoch log cabin.

      Open: Museum buildings Wednesday to Sunday, 10 to 5, by the site's museum list; call ahead, 269-471-1202. Closed during the Youth Fair and over the winter holidays.

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    7. Niles, Berrien County, Michigan (bird's-eye view)
      Then: Niles, Berrien County, Michigan (bird's-eye view), 1868. Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division

      7 Niles History Center (Fort St. Joseph Museum and Chapin Mansion)

      508 E. Main St., Niles, MI 49120

      Niles competed with St. Joseph for the Berrien County seat when the county was organized in 1831; one courthouse history says court sat at Niles in 1831-32, but the seat went to St. Joseph, then to Berrien Springs in 1837, and back to St. Joseph in 1894. The city museum, free, is in the carriage house of the Victorian Chapin Mansion and tells Niles history from earliest times through the railroad, business and industrial eras. Docents lead tours of the mansion itself.

      Open: Museum Wednesday to Friday 10 to 4, Saturday 10 to 3, free. Mansion tours Fridays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. through December 2026, $5 adults, 18 and under free.

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    Food and rest stops

    Food on the way, from the site's list: Holden Green Tavern, 151 S. Broadway, Cassopolis (/food/eat/#holden-green-tavern); La Cantina Ristorante Italiano, 139 W. Michigan Ave., Paw Paw (/food/eat/#la-cantina-ristorante-italiano); Old Tavern Inn, 61088 Indian Lake Rd., Niles (/food/eat/#old-tavern-inn). To stay: The Morris Estate, 1997 Morris Dr., Niles (/food/stay/#the-morris-estate). Restrooms: the Niles and Berrien Springs museums during open hours; none confirmed elsewhere.

    Before you go

    Sources

    All the drives The valley map Plan a day out