368 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



BY HON. J. T. ESCOTT. 



Professors, Ladies and Gentlemen : 



As President of this Farmers' Institute, I extend to you, on the part of 

 the city and county, a hearty welcome. 



When we look back to the time when some of us were boys and girls on the 

 farm, what a contrast ! Then intelligent people thought that any lunkhead 

 of a boy or girl would do to make a farmer or a farmer's wife, and that the 

 brightest children should be educated for professors. 



Now the impression is that the brightest children make the best farmers 

 or farmers' wives. 



Mecosta county is fast coming to the front as an agricultural county. A 

 few years ago lumbering was the main business, and farming a secondary 

 occupation, and everything raised or produced on the farm during the sum- 

 mer was skinned off and taken to the lumber camps in the winter. But our 

 forests are fast receding and we must devote more time to the cultivation of 

 the soil. 



The first white settlers within the limits of what is now known as Mecosta 

 county located about 1851. The first wedding was in 1854. The first white 

 child (Alice Brockway) born in Mecosta county was born in what is now the 

 fourth ward of this city, July 20, 1852. The first winter wheat was two 

 acres, sown in 1854 by James Montague, who still resides on his old farm in 

 the township of Green. The first saw-mill (the old red mill at the foot of 

 Michigan avenue) was built in 1856. The first weekly mail service (from 

 Greenville) was established in 1357 ; prior to that time the nearest postoffice 

 was Oroton, 28 miles distant. The first school-house (a log one) was built 

 in 1858. The first newspaper (the Pioneer) was published in 1862. The 

 first religious services were conducted by Kev. Kelley, about 1862. The 

 first church (the Methodist, but built as a union church) was erected in 

 1865. 



Today we find large farms, good orchards, large barns and comfortable 

 houses; improved stock of every description ; churches of almost every 

 denomination ; free schools, well conducted, all over the county ; good roads, 

 with railroads reaching out in every direction; telegraph and telephone 

 communication with other cities; two daily and six weekly newspapers giv- 

 ing us the news of the world ; and agricultural and manufacturing develop- 

 ments going on. Surely Mecosta county is on the high road to prosperity. 



Friends, again we welcome you. 



RESPONSE. 



BY PRESIDENT WILLITS. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen — * * * Your 

 county had its first impetus from lumber and you thought it was making 

 you rich, but you were mistaken there. You were despoiling your county, 

 and I venture to say that a large proportion of the profits of lumbering 

 have been taken elsewhere to spend. 



