Tag: Middleville

Middleville is a village in Thornapple Township, Barry County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,721 at the 2000 census.
The first white settler to own land in the village was Calvin G. Hill, a native of New York, who bought 400 acres (1.6 km) in 1834 on both sides of the Thornapple River. The village was likely surveyed and subdivided before 1850, but the plat was not officially recorded until 1859. Prior to 1843, the settlement was often called “Thornapple”. The name Middleville was at first given to a post office on the stage coach line between Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo. The post office was located at the house of Benjamin S. Dibble in section 2 in northeast Yankee Springs Township. Dibble had agreed to accept the post office at the request of U.S. Representative Lucius Lyon, of Kent County. Lyon suggested the name “Dibbleville”, but Dibble disliked that name. “Middleville” was suggested because of the proximity of an Indian village known as “Middle Village” on…