North Plains Township — Hubbardston's Home Township

The Township That Built Hubbardston

Before Hubbardston had a name, a post office, or a church, there was North Plains Township. Organized in 1844 in Ionia County, Michigan, North Plains is the civil township that contains the village of Hubbardston and the surrounding farmland that has sustained the community for nearly two centuries.

Understanding North Plains Township is essential to understanding Hubbardston. The village sits within the township's boundaries, and for much of its history, township government was the only government. Even after the village incorporated in 1867, most of the land, the farms, the cemeteries, and the outlying homesteads remained under township jurisdiction.

Organization and the First Meeting

North Plains Township was formally organized in 1844, when Ionia County's growing population required the creation of new civil townships from previously unorganized territory. The first township meeting was held at the home of Bartley Dunn, a pioneer settler whose cabin served as a gathering place for the scattered homesteaders of the area.

At that first meeting, 37 votes were cast — a number that represented nearly every adult male settler in the township. The voters elected Nathaniel Sessions as the first township supervisor, entrusting him with the basic functions of frontier governance: road maintenance, tax collection, land disputes, and the organization of community affairs.

Geography and Landscape

North Plains Township occupies a standard survey township of approximately 36 square miles in the northeastern portion of Ionia County. The name "North Plains" reflects the relatively flat terrain that distinguishes this part of Ionia County from the more rolling landscape to the south and west.

The township's geography shaped its settlement patterns:

• Fish Creek runs through the township, providing water power for early sawmills and a natural corridor for settlement
• The flat to gently rolling terrain proved ideal for farming once the original forest was cleared
• Rich glacial soils — deposited thousands of years earlier by retreating ice sheets — made the land productive for wheat, corn, oats, and later dairy farming
• The relative openness of the landscape (compared to the dense forests of other Ionia County townships) may have contributed to the "Plains" designation

Early Settlers and the Irish Transformation

The earliest settlers of North Plains Township were primarily Yankee pioneers — families from New England and New York who moved west along the Great Lakes corridor in the 1830s and 1840s. Thomas Hubbard, for whom the village would be named, was among this first wave.

The character of the township changed dramatically beginning in 1849, when John Cowman became the first Irish Catholic immigrant to settle in North Plains. Within two years, six more Irish families had arrived, and by the 1860s, the Irish had become the dominant population in the township. This transformation from a Yankee settlement to an Irish Catholic community is one of the most distinctive features of North Plains Township's history.

Township Government

North Plains Township has operated continuously since its 1844 organization, making it one of the older functioning governmental units in Ionia County. Township government in Michigan handles essential local services:

• Road maintenance — township roads connect farms and homesteads to the village and county roads
• Property assessment and taxation — the township assessor determines property values for tax purposes
• Zoning — land use decisions in the unincorporated areas of the township
• Elections — the township administers local, state, and federal elections for residents outside the village
• Cemetery maintenance — several township cemeteries serve the community

The township board meets regularly to conduct business, and township offices handle day-to-day administrative functions for residents of the unincorporated areas.

North Plains Township Today

Today, North Plains Township remains a rural agricultural community. The village of Hubbardston sits near its center, but most of the township's 36 square miles consists of farmland, woodlots, and scattered rural residences. The township shares borders with other Ionia County townships and, to the east, with Clinton County — a boundary that has occasionally placed Hubbardston-area residents in two different counties.

The township's population has fluctuated over the decades, peaking in the late 19th century when farming was labor-intensive and families were large. Mechanization reduced the number of people needed to work the land, and the population settled into the modest numbers that characterize it today.

Despite its small size, North Plains Township remains a functioning unit of local government — a direct descendant of that first meeting at Bartley Dunn's house in 1844, when 37 settlers gathered to organize their corner of the Michigan frontier.