The land cession made by the 1821 Treaty of Chicago was the first that directly affected the Ottawa and Pottawatomi who lived along the Kalamazoo River. The treaty ceded approximately 4,000,000 acres. This land today includes the Michigan cities of Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Albion, Battle Creek, Niles, Three Rivers, Hillsdale, Coldwater, Adrian, Allegan, St. Joseph, and Benton Harbor; and the Indiana cities of Elkhart and South Bend. 

 

Tracts were reserved near Dowagiac for the Pokagon Band and along the Nottawa-seppe for the Huron Band. A 9-square mile block along the Kalamazoo River was also reserved for the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band. However, in 1827, in order to move the Pottawatomi away from the Detroit-Chicago Road, the Michigan Territorial Government reclaimed the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Reservation.

 

The marker for the northeast corner of the 1821 Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Reservation will be located along the Kalamazoo River Trail on the west side of Riverview Road, just south of Patterson Street. The actual northeast corner of the 1821 reservation was surveyed at the back wall of the interpreter's cabin. This cabin was located about 50 yards to the northeast from the current marker, on the crest of the river bluff across Riverview Road, in what is now Riverview Cemetery.

 

Select the "+" in the red cirlce on this page and the camera option to view oral histories from Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribal Councillors and band elders.

 

Tell us what you think of this new history and how we presented it - SURVEY.

 

This project is funded in part by the Michigan Humanities Council in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities.