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The focus of this category is on Barryton, Michigan, an incorporated village in Fork Township, northeastern Mecosta County.

The primary route through the village is M-66 (30th Avenue), which runs north-south. Lesser routes include 19 Mile Road and 20 Mile Road. M-66 connects with US-10 about twelve miles north of Barryton, and US-131, which runs north-south through Big Rapids, is about twenty miles west. From Barryton, it can be accessed by driving west on 20 Mile Road to East Chippewa Drive, at Chippewa Lake, then north to 21 Mile Road, and west to US-131.

The city of Big Rapids is 20.7 miles to the west, and Evart is 16.3 miles northwest of Barryton. The village of Mecosta is 14.5 miles southwest, Lake Isabella is 15.0 miles southeast, and Farwell is 19.4 miles northeast, while the unincorporated community of Sherman City is 5.0 miles southeast, and Remus is 10.7 miles to the south.

The North Branch of the Chippewa River enters the village in the north, while the West Branch enters in the southwestern part of the village, and two come together to form the main stem of the Chippewa River in the lower-central part of Barryton, exiting the village in the south.

Long before the first Europeans came to the area, the Ottawa and Chippewa people were there, attracted by the river and plentiful game.

The first Europeans in the region were probably fur traders, trappers, missionaries, and soldiers. After about a hundred and fifty years of sometimes uneasy coexistence, European-Americans came to dominate the Mid-Michigan segment of the Lower Peninsula.

A large influx of settlers began when the Erie Canal was opened in 1825, making it easier for people to migrate to the area from the East via the Great Lakes rather than the Ohio River route that had led to the settlement of the lower Midwest much earlier than Michigan. This new route brought New Englanders and New Yorkers, who were among the earliest settlers.

Settlement in the area that was to become Barryton began in the 1860s, the biggest attraction being timber harvesting. The dam in Barryton was built to facilitate the floating of white pine logs down the Chippewa River to sawmills in Saginaw, where they were converted into lumber and shipped to markets in the East and Midwest.

As the timber was cut, the land was cleared for agriculture, which brought farmers into the area. The Graduation Act of 1854, the Homestead Act of 1862, and the extension of railroads to the region brought even more people to the township and county, although Barryton was never a large town, with a peak population of 445 in 1950. Most of the early settlers homesteaded eighty acres outside of town.

Although a settlement was there before that time, Barryton was founded in 1894 by Frank Berry, who ran a grocery store and sold real estate. A post office was established on October 19, 1894, with Edward R. Sage as postmaster. In 1908, the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western Railroad built a station in Barryton, and the town was incorporated as a village that same year.

Websites representing the village government or any businesses, industries, schools, churches, organizations, attractions, and events in Barryton are appropriate for this category.

 

 

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