Museum - Dowagiac: Fifty Years of Growth

“Dowagiac: Fifty Years of Growth” features HO-gauge model railroad set depicting downtown Dowagiac in 1870 and 1920 to show the development of the city in those fifty years. Dowagiac, like most towns in the latter half of the century, was greatly influenced by the railroad and what it was able to bring to a community.

Dowagiac was founded in 1848 when the Michigan Central Railroad came through. The small village quickly developed into a thriving city by 1880. The railroad permitted the shipment of products in and out while also allowing for easier and faster travel to and from Dowagiac. In 1860, Dowagiac shipped more wheat than the city of Chicago as it served as the shipping hub of southwest Michigan. In 1870, an unknown foundry owner named Philo D. Beckwith had been making heating stoves for three years that by 1920 would make the city of Dowagiac and Beckwith household names throughout the nation.

Beckwith’s Round Oak Stove Company sold millions of its stoves, in no small part because of the railroad running through the city. The railroad brought raw materials into the factory and later transported finished stoves to points throughout the United States. The growth of Round Oak fueled the growth of Dowagiac – this story is shown in HO scale in “Dowagiac: Fifty Years of Growth.”