Editing Manlius Township, Michigan (section)

==Communities==
The city of [[Fennville, Michigan|Fennville]] is at the southwest corner of the township, but is administratively autonomous.

=== New Richmond ===
'''New Richmond''' is an [[unincorporated community]] within the township at {{Coord|42|38|52|N|86|06|20|W|}} near where Old Allegan Road and the [[Chesapeake and Ohio Railway]] cross the [[Kalamazoo River]]. It is about a mile west of where the [[Rabbit River (Michigan)|Rabbit River]] flows into the Kalamazoo.<ref>{{gnis|633336|New Richmond, Michigan}}</ref> In 1836, three eastern investors, led by John Allen of [[Ann Arbor, Michigan|Ann Arbor]], arranged to found a city here. Allen [[plat]]ted the village of "Richmond", after his home town of [[Richmond, Virginia]]. The village was platted covering all of [[section (United States land surveying)|section]] 8 and the eastern half of section 7, just a bit north and west of the present location. Some land was cleared, a general store and some houses were built, and in November 1837, a post office opened named "Richmond". However, the office closed in October 1839, after Allen's business venture failed in 1838 due to financial depression following the [[Panic of 1837]].

Ralph R. Mann, who had been hired by Allen to direct improvements at Richmond, in 1844 moved to a location to the south of the first site and built a water-powered [[sawmill]] on the river. This settlement became known as "Manlius", and a post office opened in July 1846. It is said to be named after [[Manlius, New York]]. It was for a while a station on the [[Chicago and West Michigan Railway]], but was mostly abandoned in 1874 after the destruction of the mill's dam and the local tavern burned down. With the coming of the railroad, H. F. Marsh laid out a new village of Richmond near the older site, which prospered and after a time supplanted Manlius. In October 1872, the post office was closed in Manlius and another was established named "New Richmond". After a time, the settlement also came to be known as "New Richmond".<ref name="Romig">{{cite book | last = Romig | first = Walter | year = 1986 | title = Michigan Place Names | orig-year= 1973 | publisher = Wayne State University Press | location = Detroit, Michigan | isbn = 0-8143-1838-X}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Crisfield |title=History of Allegan and Barry counties, Michigan |orig-year=1880 |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/arh7558.0001.001 |access-date=2008-02-24 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Library |location=Ann Arbor, Mich. |pages=264–6 |chapter=Manlius |chapter-url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=micounty;cc=micounty;idno=arh7558.0001.001;q1=Richmond;size=l;frm=frameset;seq=350 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Thomas |first=Henry F. |title=A twentieth century history of Allegan County, Michigan |orig-year=1907 |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/bad0839.0001.001 |access-date=2008-02-24 |year=2005 |publisher=University of Michigan Library |location=Ann Arbor, Mich. |pages=247–8 |chapter=Centers in Manlius Township |chapter-url=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=micounty;cc=micounty;idno=bad0839.0001.001;size=l;frm=frameset;seq=321 }}</ref>
[[File:New Richmond Allegan County Michigan Old Bridge.JPG|thumb|300 px|left|Old Allegan Road over the Kalamazoo River on the [[New Richmond Swing Bridge]]]]