TEXAS TOWNSHIP

Texas Township’s pioneer history—preserved in several historical accounts—reveals the settlers’ strong determination to build successful lives. Many early residents arrived from around the world by steamboat, especially after the completion of the Erie Canal made travel easier.

Among the township’s most notable early farming families were the Hopes and the Virgos, who lived on opposite sides of the community: the Hopes on 8th Street to the east, and the Virgos on S Avenue to the west. Their lives were recorded in the 1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Kalamazoo, Allegan, and Van Buren Counties by Chapman Bros., written while both families were still living and able to share their stories.

HOPE FAMILY