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HOLT - DIMONDALE AREA COMMUNITY RESOURCE GUIDE
HOLT: A HISTORY Located in the Township of Delhi, Holt is one of the oldest unincorporated communities in Michigan. While Holt is technically not a village or a city, it is a zip code area with beautiful parks, excellent schools, local businesses, and close proximity to Lansing and Michigan State University. Holt is also home to the most famous esker in Michigan. An esker is a long ridge of gravel and other sediment deposited by meltwater from a retreating glacier. While Michigan is home to many eskers, the Mason Esker, which stretches for roughly twenty miles, from south of Lansing, through Holt, and into Mason, is the longest in the state. The first officially recognized inhabitants of the Holt area were the Native Americans from the Potawatomi, Chippewa and Ottawa tribes, including the famous Chief Okemos. Chief Okemos and his band mainly used the land in and around Ingham County as their summer hunting grounds, and they made numerous trails throughout the land as they traveled. Their trails were later used by early pioneers as they made their way into the area. In the Treaty of Saginaw in 1819, the United States government negotiated with prominent Native American chiefs, resulting in the U.S. government taking possession of most of the land in lower Michigan. In the 1830s and 1840s, early pioneers began to purchase the land that would eventually become Delhi Township, including Holt and the surrounding areas. As more pioneers chose to settle in the area, land was converted for agricultural use. This reduced the amount of wild game that the Native Americans had counted on. Also, diseases such as smallpox and measles hit the Native American population hard and their population dwindled, as the land became settled by more and more pioneer families. An early timeline, up to the 2010s, traces some of the major developments of Holt that forged the thriving area it has become today.
1830s
In 1837, the first permanent settlers of Delhi Township, John Norris and Fred Luther, arrived. Other early settlers include William Wood, Joseph Wilson, Philander Morton, David Wait, Alonzo Douglass, George Phillips, and the North family. Most of Delhi’s early residents came from New York, Ohio, and Detroit. In 1839, the first post office was established, in the home of George Phillips.
1840s
In about 1840, the first school in the Delhi Township/Holt area, a structure made with logs, was built. In 1842, the township of Delhi was organized as a congressional township by act of the State Legislature. It had previously been part of Alaiedon Township. In 1848, the first inn/saloon opened, in the home of John Ferguson.
1850s
In 1850, 402 settlers lived in Delhi Township. In 1852, a frame building replaced the log school house. In 1853, Pioneer Cemetery was established. More than 200 of Delhi’s Pioneer residents are buried there. In 1856, the first sawmill in Delhi Township was built, by Lee and Corey, a firm from Ohio. By 1857, Delhi Center (which would become Holt) had several businesses, including a post office, hotel, and tavern.
1860s
In 1860, the post office of Delhi Center was renamed “Holt” to avoid confusion with Delhi Mills, which was located in Washtenaw County. Joseph Holt was postmaster general during that time.
