About Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918
Belding, Mich. (1889-1918)

The Belding News, The Belding Banner-News and Belding Banner

The Belding Banner of Belding, Michigan, was a weekly paper that began publication in 1889. Embrie P. Lapham and Charles R. Cowden founded it as a Republican newspaper by. In 1904, Lapham purchased Cowden's interest and became sole owner. Lapham sold the Banner in 1913, but remained in Belding running a job printing house in a partnership with the men who owned the city's other newspaper, the Democratic Belding News. Lapham remained connected to the newspaper business. In 1915, he bought back the Banner from the men to whom he had sold the paper, although he now co-owned it with James M. Langston. In 1918, the Banner merged with the Belding News to form Belding Banner News, the name under which it published until 1974, when it was combined with the Greenville Daily News.

Belding was first was known as Broas Rapids (after Levi Broas, who settled the area in 1838). Later, it was called Patterson Mills and, during logging days, Hog Wallow. The name Belding was chosen in 1871 to honor the family that made the town one of America's major silk manufacturing centers. The foundation of the silk industry was laid in 1860 with the arrival of Hiram H. and Alvah N. Belding, who had moved to the town several years before. As their business prospered and grew, the brothers expanded their silk industry operations to a total of four states and Canada, but Belding became the company's hub. The Belding name first appeared on a mill in 1890; the firm eventually operated four mills in the town.

Most of the company's employees were young, single women. To house them, the Beldings built three dormitories, handsome, well-appointed buildings with all the "modern conveniences" including steam heat, hot and cold water, baths, and electric lights. The dormitories were comfortably furnished, and each had a free library. They were presided over by a matron who enforced rules and regulations similar to those of contemporary college dormitories

In 1925, Belding Brothers & Company merged with Heminway Silk Company. Silk production in Belding ended with the Great Depression. In partnership with Joshua Hall, the Belding brothers also pioneered the production of ice boxes, which before the invention of mechanical refrigeration, were well-insulated, wooden storage boxes which housed a regularly replaced block of ice and which kept food or beverages cold. Some of Belding's former silk mills were later repurposed to accommodate refrigeration production.

Provided by: Central Michigan University, Clark Historical Library