Milford Township and Proud of It

Looking to the west from R77 on the dirt road along the north side of Sec 15. That's water along the road. The hills on the right of the photo are the area where the Schweringen family met their tragic end in 1860 with the prairie fire sweeping from the back left of the picture towards the right. Milford School would be a mile to the left from the trees in the center background.

During the War-- "The War" is still the Second World War to many of us oldtimers- students at Milford Twp School, along with students at all the schools, had competitions to see which room could purchase the most savings stamps. These booklets held 10 cent stamps and when filled with 185 of these stamps they could be traded in for a $25 savings bond and then in ten years, one would get the twenty five dollars.

Also, in the fall each home room had a burlap bag hanging outside of one of the windows that was filled with milkweed pods. Being a rural community, Milford Twp did very well in the collection of these milkweed pods that were then centrally collected and used for making life vests for the “boys in the service”. They were not as good a vest as the cork vest but would supply flotation for a time.

Some School Board minutes from August of 1920: Moved to bring the toilets from subdistrict 2 to Center Site and move the coal house from subdistrict 3 to Center, to pay the teachersabout $135 a month, and to build a stable for four teams.

From the Ames Paper: Pvt. Robert Matters, son of Mr and Mrs Wm Matters was in the big Tarawa fight with the Marines, and they have word from him that he is OK and like the rest of the Marines is saying: “Bring on the Japs”. Edit: Robert's Brother, Lester, also served and both received the `Purple Heart'. See page 194

It took 500 pounds of coal and plenty of water to put this old Port Huron steam engine over the last eight miles through Milford Township to the Levin junk yard in Nevada, but the veteran of many threshing runs flew to fight the Axis without "missing a chug". Its 24,970 pounds of iron, steel and other scrap were credited to the Milford Township drive after being driven to its final step by Clarence Airhart (at the wheel), Marvin Smith, Sr (left), CoCounty Salvage Chairman, and Sheriff Harry Mills.

Scrap metal drives had a tendency to pull a lot of obsolete machinery out of the sheds and groves. A prime example is this 17 October 1942 photo of this old Port Huron travelling its final miles in Milford Twp as a living piece of farm equipment.

It looks like a 19-65 or perhaps a 24-75 from about 1918. It probably could pull an 8 to 10 bottom plow.