Page "Dimondale, Michigan" Paragraph 1

Potowatomie Indians originally had a permanent camp along the Grand River in the Dimondale area before white settlement began in the 1830s.

Relations between white settlers ( most of whom were from New York and New England ) and the Potowatomie were generally cordial with local residents permanently deeding of land near the river to the local Indians.

The local band held the deed to the leased land until the Potowatomie were forced west by the Indian Removal Act.

Isaac M. Dimond came to the area in 1848 and, as one of his enterprises, in 1850 began to construct a dam, just east of Silver Creek on the Grand River near the center of section 15.

By 1852, the dam was completed and a saw mill was in operation.

He built a grist mill in 1856.

On August 6, 1856, Hosey Harvey surveyed the village in order for Dimond to have it platted with the name " Dimondale ".

An unusual feature of the village is that its streets run Northeast to Southwest and Northwest to Southeast, while most streets and roads in the surrounding area, indeed the whole Midwest, run North-South and East-West.

Its borders make a rough diamond shape on a map.