White Pigeon: The Chief Who Ran One Hundred Fifty Miles

The small village of White Pigeon in southwestern Michigan carries the name of a Potawatomi chief named Wahbememe, whose name translates as white pigeon. The story passed down says that in the early days of settlement, while at a gathering of chiefs in Detroit, Wahbememe overheard plans to attack the nearby American settlement. He was considered a friend to the settlers, and rather than stay silent he set out running south to warn them, covering nearly one hundred fifty miles across the Michigan prairie before collapsing at the edge of town.

He died shortly after from exhaustion. The settlers he saved named the town in his honor, and his burial site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places today. John Winchell had first settled the area in the late eighteen twenties, and the town was formally established in eighteen thirty-seven.

White Pigeon also holds another distinction: it is home to Michigan's oldest surviving land office building, constructed in the early eighteen thirties.