Berrien County, Michigan
Niles, Michigan its history, in the record
County BerrienMission 1691Settled 1827City 1859
Niles stands on the St. Joseph River beside the site of Fort St. Joseph: a Jesuit mission of 1691 and a French fort of 1697, and four flags have flown there — French, British, Spanish and American — which is why the city calls itself the City of Four Flags. The present town was settled in 1827 and named for Hezekiah Niles, the Baltimore newspaper editor.
The town at a glance
- Founded: the mission 1691, the fort 1697; the town settled 1827; village 1835; city 1859.
- Name: for Hezekiah Niles (1777–1839), editor of Niles’ Weekly Register.
- In the record: the Fort St. Joseph archaeological project of Western Michigan University; Ellis’s history of Berrien and Van Buren counties (1880) and Coolidge’s of Berrien (1906); the Niles Republican and Niles Democrat.
- On the map: the 1860 Geil & Harley county map’s Niles inset shows the river through the plan; lay it over today’s streets.
- The hunt: Niles is the first town outside Cass County in the hunt, and the river road to it runs through the early cases.
On old postcards
From public-domain postcards and photographs, each linked to the library that holds it. See them all.
Where to look
Niles holds the oldest written record in the valley, the Fort St. Joseph registers and the fur-trade accounts, and the best run of nineteenth-century newspapers in the two counties. For families on the Berrien side of the line, start here. The records page links each source where it is held, and the glossary explains the words the old records use.
Project Scroll is independent research and is not affiliated with the City of Niles or any historical society. Corrections are welcome at research@projectscroll.com.