Michigan · St. Joseph River Valley
Berrien County
Where the St. Joseph River meets Lake Michigan: dunes, orchards and harbor towns.
Project Scroll is an independent local-history website. This is not an official page of Berrien County or of any township, city or village in it. For official business, contact the county or local offices directly.
Welcome
Berrien County, Michigan
Berrien County is the southwest corner of Michigan, where the St. Joseph River ends its long run at Lake Michigan. It was created in 1829, organized in 1831, and named for John M. Berrien of Georgia, then Attorney General under Andrew Jackson. Its county seat is St. Joseph, at the mouth of the river.
About 154,300 people live here today (154,316 at the 2020 census), in eight cities, nine villages, twenty-two townships and a string of lakeshore and orchard communities. Pick a place to begin.
Cities and villages
Benton HarborCity · The town that dug its own harbor across a marsh.
BridgmanCity · A lumber pier, a railroad depot and a century of strawberries.
BuchananCity · A mill town on McCoy’s Creek that built axles for the world.
ColomaCity · Once Dickerville, renamed for a gold-country town in 1855.
New BuffaloCity · A shipwrecked captain's dream of a second Buffalo on Lake Michigan.
NilesCity · The City of Four Flags, named for a Baltimore editor.
St. JosephCity · The port on the bluff where the river meets the lake.
WatervlietCity · A mill town on the Paw Paw River that ran on lumber, then paper.- BarodaVillage · A railroad village named for a city in India.
Berrien SpringsVillage · Wolf’s Prairie on the St. Joseph, county seat for fifty-seven years.- Eau ClaireVillage · A fruit-country village named for clear water, on a township line.
GalienVillage · A sawmill village in the old Galien Woods, famous for its handles.
Grand BeachVillage · A lakeside resort village with a golf course and three Wright houses.- MichianaVillage · A wooded 1920s cottage village right on the Indiana line.
- ShorehamVillage · A small lakeshore village just south of St. Joseph.
StevensvilleVillage · A lakeshore railroad stop that grew up among the berry farms.
Three OaksVillage · Named for three oak trees, made famous by turkey feathers.
Crossroads and hamlets
- Benton HeightsCommunity · Euclid Center took a new name by popular vote in 1957.
Berrien CenterCommunity · The crossroads post office at the heart of Berrien Township.
HarbertCommunity · The lakeshore hamlet where Carl Sandburg wrote of Lincoln.
LakesideCommunity · From the Ameses’ Clay Banks and Wilkinson’s pier to a lakeside inn.
SawyerCommunity · A lumber settlement named for the man who built its first big mill.
Union PierCommunity · Townline became Union Pier when lumbermen joined forces.
Townships
Bainbridge TownshipTownship · Orchard country on the old Territorial Road.- Baroda TownshipTownship · The youngest township in Berrien County, carved from Lake in 1923.
Benton TownshipTownship · Peach orchards, a ship canal and the House of David.
Berrien TownshipTownship · The county’s first farm township, dotted with small lakes.
Bertrand TownshipTownship · Prairie wheat country along the Indiana line.- Buchanan TownshipTownship · Lakes, river bluffs and the country around Moccasin Bluff.
Chikaming TownshipTownship · Old lumber piers turned lakeshore villages, and Sandburg’s Harbert.
Coloma TownshipTownship · Shingle makers, orchards and the resort shores of Paw Paw Lake.
Galien TownshipTownship · The old Galien woods, where the Galien River begins.
Hagar TownshipTownship · Lake Michigan shore, the Paw Paw River and a settler’s diary.
Lake TownshipTownship · Tall dunes, a vanished lumber town and strawberry fields.
Lincoln TownshipTownship · Grand Mere’s dune lakes, Stevensville and the berry country.
New Buffalo TownshipTownship · A shipwrecked captain’s dream harbor on Michigan’s western edge.
Niles TownshipTownship · Carey Mission, Parc aux Vaches and the first mills in the county.
Oronoko TownshipTownship · Wolf’s Prairie, the old county seat and the Feather settlement.
Pipestone TownshipTownship · Orchards, a German settlement and a village named for chickens.- Royalton TownshipTownship · Grapes, berries and the old Buckhorn tavern road.
Sodus TownshipTownship · River boatmen, mills on Pipestone Creek and a summer resort.- St. Joseph TownshipTownship · Burnett’s trading post, the lake shore and the first peach orchards.
Three Oaks TownshipTownship · Three great oaks by the railroad gave this township its name.
Watervliet TownshipTownship · Shingle makers, mill hands and the shores of Paw Paw Lake.
Weesaw TownshipTownship · Named for a Potawatomi war chief, built on whitewood and walnut.