The Village of Vandalia was incorporated in 1875 all in thanks to Stephen Bogue and Charles P. Ball who in the years of 1848–49 built a gristmill on this settlement that soon would be call Vandalia.
On July 8, 1850, Theron J Wilcox was the colony's first postmaster and Ada Kinsbury is credited with being the area’s first merchant. and the Michigan Central Railroad built a station in 1871.
Vandalia hosted a station of the Underground Railroad. An Underground Railroad memorial sign resides at Milo E. Barnes Park just off M-60. Other locations in Penn Township, in which Vandalia is located, also were affiliated with the Underground Railroad.
Vandalia is also known as the nearest incorporated community to the defunct Rainbow Farm.
The present site of the village of Vandalia was owned by Stephen Bogue, and he and G. P. Ball built a grist-mill here in 1848-49, and January 3, 1857, laid out the village.
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A twentieth century history of Cass County, Michigan1906 · page 130Read the page →
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A grist mill built on the banks of Christiann creek along the state road in section 27 of Penn towi-iship was the enterprise which served as the nucleus for the village of Vandalia. This mill was built in 1849
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ing. Since that time, services have been held at irregular intervals at private and school houses, with no regular place of worship. The schoolhouse at Vandalia long did service in this capacity, for many years the minister in charge at Cassopolis serving them as pastor. In the fall of 1876, the church was re-organized by Rev. J. W. H. Carlyle, the first Trustees elected being John Lutes, A. Bristol, Will-
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A twentieth century history of Cass County, Michigan1906 · page 131Read the page →
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and T. J. Wilcox the first postmaster. The principal impetus to growth was, of course, the Air Line railroad, which placed the village in connection with the outside world in 187 1. This was followed by incorporation in 1875, and Vandalia is now one of the three incorporated villages in Cass county. HOWARDVILLE.
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Vandalia, 1927 to 1948
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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