The Real McCoy

Without the little "crick" running through its center—long neglected, trash-filled or hidden under cement—Buchanan, Michigan, might never have come to be.
Didn't that body of water deserve more respect?

That was the question asked by Norma Jean Stevens when she worked as a columnist at the local, small-town newspaper, The Berrien County Record in the late 1960s. She started digging in the historical archives and this book is the result.

A waterway all but forgotten in the 20^th century but essential to the first white settlers, the book is also a poignant (and ultimately successful) plea to save the neglected creek from ecological damage. Hugely popular when it was first published, it's a perennial favorite among local residents who have taken it upon themselves to restore and celebrate McCoy's Creek and its surroundings.

Culled from old newspaper records, letters, and stories of pioneer days preserved by family descendants, the book details the "acquisition" of land from Native American tribal chiefs, the arrival of the first white settlers and businessmen, the critical role of the creek in supplying water power for its mills, and the growth of Clark Equipment Company as the town’s mainstay for much of the 20^th century.

Written in the late 1960s as a series of newspaper columns, rewritten and published in book form in 1975, The Real McCoy quickly sold out its initial run of 518 copies. But it also spurred many of the town's subsequent efforts to restore the creek and build parks and trails in its honor. The 2010 edition by Jolibro Publishing is a facsimile reproduction of the original, which was hand set in the newspaper’s lead type.

As the author wrote in her introduction, “It is hoped that the serious student of history will find in these pages enough detailed information to be of research value, and that the casual reader will find herein an easy, readable story that will enable him vicariously to hear the creak of water wheels and gears, to smell the fresh sawdust and the sweet flour aroma of a dozen mills, to sense the drama of good times and bad in a fledgling community, and to see in the mind’s eye the people and environs of ‘those good old days.’”

Researchers and fans of Michigan history, especially about the so-called "Land of the Four Flags," will find this gem of a book to be an invaluable resource, thanks to the author's diligence in collecting historical anecdotes and pictures from residents whose pioneering families still live in the area. Environmental activists may cheer its positive impact as well. Perhaps that's one reason Buchanan, Michigan was named by  Reader’s Digest as 2020’s “nicest place in America.”
 

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Available from your favorite booksellers
* Illustrated *
ISBN 978-0-9824691-2-5
Paperback