Singapore, Michigan
June 17th, 2005
I told my sister about this but she didn’t believe me. So I looked it up.
Beneath the sands near the mouth of the Kalamazoo River lies the site of Singapore, one of Michigan’s most famous ghost towns. Founded in the 1830’s by New York land speculators, who hoped it would rival Chicago or Milwaukee as a lake port, Singapore was in fact, until the 1870’s, a busy lumbering town. With three mills, two hotels, several general stores, and a renowned "Wild-cat" bank, it outshone its neighbor to the south, "The Flats," as Saugatauk was then called. When the supply of timber was exhausted the mills closed, the once bustling waterfront grew quiet. The people left, most of them settling here in Saugatauk. Gradually, Lake Michigan’s shifting sand buried Singapore.
It’s interesting how two places seperated by time and space could end up with exactly the same name. Plus it’s now ‘one of Michigan’s most famous ghost towns’.
June 18th, 2005 at 1:26 am
verrrryyy interesting!
June 18th, 2005 at 9:45 pm
there was a huge influx of migrants during the 1800s, so i guess it was named singapore by someone who passed thru our tiny island.
June 20th, 2005 at 9:48 pm
Whoa! damn cool!
June 21st, 2005 at 9:08 am
Happened to chance upon ur website. This article is cool… but i bet many pple at that part of the world think that spore is part of china yeah? :p
June 21st, 2005 at 9:12 am
I actually had quite a few people ask me that. Chalk it up to sheer ignorance.
June 22nd, 2005 at 9:56 pm
Hello to the one person who outgeek’d me on Kelly’s blog
I spent a summer in Michigan working and visiting relatives when I was still in uni. My colleagues asked me where I studied. I replied “London” and got the response, “You mean ‘London, Canada‘?”
And… you’ve been tomorrow’d apparently.
June 22nd, 2005 at 10:32 pm
Hi ‘Nique! *waves*
I believe that many Americans only have a passing interest in the world outside their big ass country.
I’m surprised they mentioned a place in Canada to tell you the truth!
June 23rd, 2005 at 1:19 am
[...] e to read based on interesting content) and it reference a blog that said that there is a famous ghost town called Singapore in Michigan USA. I did a search on mapquest, google maps and yahoo but the [...]
June 23rd, 2005 at 1:56 am
that’s ridiculously interesting.
June 23rd, 2005 at 8:52 pm
Yeah, after a month there, I realised just how bad it was. I’ve met incredibly ignorant Americans who thought Wales was the capital of England… and they were political science majors from an Ivy League university too!
But the worst question I’ve ever been asked by an American? After learning I was from Singapore, A colleague in Michigan asked me, “So did you work on the assembly lines when you were in China?”
I was sorely tempted to reply, “Yes, in fact, I recognise my handiwork on the shirt you’re wearing now.”
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:00 pm
well I bet many of you guys don’t know what the capital of Assyria is, or where Assyria is for that fact.
June 23rd, 2005 at 10:16 pm
Fair ’nuff.
But to be truly fair, is Assyria at the same level as Singapore as far as world exposure is concerned?
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:29 pm
To I’m Singaporean: I’m with Ke-Winn. Given that Assyria doesn’t exist any more in modern times, I don’t feel it’s a fair comparison. Granted, it may have been quite significant in Biblical times, but it’s not something that you’d expect to see appearing in the news today.
If this is in direct response to my Wales and England comment, I reiterate that the people making the error were political science majors, and therefore, one could reasonably expect them to possess basic knowledge of the major political powers today. On the other hand, in the case of Assyria, not all of us study ancient history, and therefore can reasonably be expected to be ignorant of where or what it is.
And in case you’re wondering, no, I didn’t look Assyria up. I recognise it from the times I’ve heard it mentioned in church.
June 23rd, 2005 at 11:47 pm
Jeez I thought it was a place that actually existed now.
What a stupid I am.
June 24th, 2005 at 6:32 am
i’m with you kewinn. i was going to google it.
June 24th, 2005 at 9:54 am
hehe gotcha
(“what is the capital of Assyria” is a movie quote, by the way)
ok to be fair: then, can you list the capital of all 50 states? (without googling or anything, of course)
June 24th, 2005 at 10:07 am
No way man, I’m too dumb for that. I couldn’t even name all 50 states without missing one or two (I’ve tried before)
What movie did that quote come from anyway?
June 24th, 2005 at 10:58 pm
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
June 28th, 2005 at 2:46 am
Ah, I guess I shouldn’t have gotten so miffed over what I perceived to be an offensively smart-alecky response.
My bad.
July 12th, 2005 at 1:39 pm
I’m from West Michigan, the town was founded by New York land speculators. They wanted it to be a bustling port to rival New York and other large cities. The town was rocketed by a bank scandal and the cost of living became too much for the town, besides the natural resources were used up. The people moved to the small village of Saugatuck which was just down the Kalamazoo river and it grew into the touristy town that is today.
The town of Singapore itself is buried under the sands of Lake Michigan, 23 buildings and two mills are there waiting to be escavated by archaeologists.
July 12th, 2005 at 4:01 pm
Thanks for the info. Do you know why they called it Singapore?
June 28th, 2007 at 9:26 am
>>>>>ok to be fair: then, can you list the capital of all 50 states? (without googling or anything, of course)
June 28th, 2007 at 9:27 am
>>>>>ok to be fair: then, can you list the capital of all 50 states? (without googling or anything, of course)
Let me guess here…. is it Washington, DC?
July 16th, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Can anyone tell me exactly where this historical marker is and exactly where the town of Singapore was (as in, what is there now? up or down river from Saugatuck? south or north shore of the Kal. River?) I live close by and would like to check it out.
October 22nd, 2007 at 7:40 pm
I live in Saugatuck, up the river from Singapore’s location. A local historian has written that there is nothing in the records or correspondence of the investors who founded Singapore as to why they chose the name.
I can speculate that it was chosen to give the town appeal in the competition for settlers. I talked to a lady in Saugatuck whose great grandparents lived in Singapore. She said that her great-grandmother was expecting Singapore to be a settled and nice city, but although it did have wooden sidewalks it was pretty much raw wilderness. She said that her grandmother was disappointed that Singapore’s streets were so sandy and muddy she couldn’t wear her best Sunday clothes while living there.
January 2nd, 2008 at 6:43 pm
if u have been 2 sagetuck u have clearly seen the giant hill mount ball head (has a water thing on top) if u climb the steps (actualy a track 2 a old train thing) on the other side there is sand as i was told it is right there
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:13 am
http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=42.676125~-86.200662&style=a&lvl=15&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&encType=1
This is the Local Live map of Singapore for those interested. It’s the sand dunes to the north of the mouth of the Kalamazoo river. You really can’t see much, though. After all, it’s just a bunch of sand now.