Sabin M. Nichols & Family

Pioneer Dairy Farmers

During the 1840s, brothers James, Ezra, and Sabin Nichols moved their families from New England to Kalamazoo, where they established one of the earliest commercial dairy farms in the area. The family business was carried on over three generations, and their home became a West Main Street landmark.

Sabin M. Nichols (1815-1889)

Sabin M. Nichols, the youngest of eight children, was born 16 March 1815 in Townshend, Vermont. His father died when Sabin was just four months of age, leaving his mother (who lived to see her 100th birthday) to raise all eight children on her own.

Sabin married Sarah Patch (1817-1903) in October 1843. Together with his brother James Nichols (1803-1846), James’ wife Wealthy C. Nichols (1810-1846), his brother Ezra Nichols (1813-1879), and Ezra’s wife Lucy Laurette Nichols (1820-1893), they joined a group of other settlers from Townshend and moved to Kalamazoo during the fall of 1843. Most of the group later returned to Vermont, but the Nichols families persevered. James bought 80 acres in Section 7 (where Grand Prairie meets Drake Road), while Sabin and Ezra bought Dr. Fletcher Ransom’s 160-acre farm in Section 18 of Kalamazoo Township. The West Main property stretched westward along the north side of the road to the section centerline (about where Turwill Lane is today), then northward to the next section line (roughly where Croyden Avenue is now), and then back east to the section line that followed an old farm lane, which would become known as Nichols Road.

James Nichols and his wife Wealthy both died in September 1846, just three years after their arrival. Both were buried in Grand Prairie Cemetery. Meanwhile, the surviving families had been sharing a farmhouse that stood near the northwest corner of West Main and Nichols. On what was described as “one of the many beautiful farms of Kalamazoo,” brothers Ezra and Sabin raised sheep, hogs, and dairy cattle; grew wheat, potatoes, corn, barley, and oats; and made sweet cream butter. Sabin Nichols was said to be the first person to sell milk in Kalamazoo.

Eventually, the brothers would divide the property between them. Sabin and his wife Sarah retained the 80-acre southern portion with the existing home, while Ezra and his wife Lucy took the northern half. By 1848, Ezra had built a lovely Greek Revival brick cottage on their property. The historic home still stands along the west side of Nichols Road.

By 1860 Ezra had sold his property on Nichols Road and moved to Gull Road at the eastern edge of Kalamazoo Township. Sabin and Sarah continued farming on West Main while raising their two sons, Charles H. Nichols, and his kid brother Frederick. But life on the farm during the 1860s was not easy. Charles Nichols died in 1865 at the age of twelve, while Frederick learned the meaning of hard work at a tender young age.

Frederick Sabin Nichols (1858-1942)

Frederick Sabin Nichols (born in 1858) attended the Alamo Avenue school and in 1877 he graduated from Kalamazoo high school. Nichols built a 14-room farmhouse on the property in 1884, which eventually replaced the older structure. A year later he married Miss Jennie Goodridge, who had grown up on a farm at the corner of Drake Road, just a mile west of the Nichols place. The couple would raise two sons, Allen and Charles, and a daughter, Ruth.

“Sabin M. Nichols, a pioneer and respected and wealthy farmer of Kalamazoo county, died recently at Grand Prairie, aged 74.”

—The Birmingham Eccentric, 31 October 1889

Sabin Nichols passed away in October 1889 at the age of 74. Sarah Nichols remained on the West Main farm until her death in 1903. Both were buried in Mountain Home Cemetery. After Sabin’s death, Frederick took over his father’s dairy farm and became actively involved in local business and politics. He was a Kalamazoo Creamery Company stockholder for a time, served as township treasurer, township supervisor, a supervisor for the Kalamazoo County Republican Caucus, and a Kalamazoo school inspector. A 1901 state dairy inspection reported his cows were clean and properly fed, and his stables were in good condition. Nichols was by then selling his milk to the Kalamazoo Creamery.

Around 1900, Frederick Nichols acquired an additional 48 acres on the south side of West Main. He farmed the land for a time, then developed the Prairieview Park subdivision during the 1920s, which today includes homes along Solon (likely named for their son), Sabin (named for the elder Nichols), and Santos streets.

Frederick and Jennie Nichols spent their entire existence in the West Main area. Fred lived and worked the very same land where he was born, and Jennie was just a mile up the road from her birthplace. Jennie Nichols passed away in 1939 at the age of 74. Frederick was 84 years of age and still actively farming with his son Allen when he died in 1942. Both were buried in Mountain Home Cemetery.

Allen Merrel Nichols (1887-1969)

Allen Merrel Nichols (born 1887) was the third generation to carry on the family dairy business. At the time of his retirement in 1958, Allen could still recall a time when there were but two or three farmhouses along the West Main road. But as the years went by, bits and pieces of the original 80-acre plot had been sold and subdivided as part of the growing Westwood Neighborhood. In July 1958, Allen and his wife moved to smaller home on West Main and the remaining 12-acre portion of the old farm was sold. Two years later, the 76-year-old home was torn down to make way for future development. Allen Nichols died in December 1969, six years after his wife Alta. Both were buried in Mountain Home Cemetery. The Landing apartment buildings now occupy the former Nichols property.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library staff, September 2024