A Volcano in Dibbleville?

Dibbleville

Date Visited:  June 23, 2019

Stop:  #13

With all the activity going on in Fenton, parking was at a premium, so as we crossed the Shiawassee River heading towards our next historical marker, it didn’t look good that we would find a convenient place to park.  We didn’t even have a good idea where the marker was located, so after driving around a couple of minutes, we pulled into a very small public parking lot next to the AJ Phillips Building, which is home to the Fenton Museum, and got lucky – one last parking spot that I was able to gingerly maneuver into.  And what was the first thing Kathy and I would see?  A smoking volcano.  Yes, a VOLCANO.  I thought I was having a brain cloud.  There was an empty lot between the parking lot and a house (or maybe it was part of the house’s backyard – it wasn’t really obvious), and there in the middle of it was a five-foot-tall volcano with smoke spewing from its crater.  There were lava formations down the side of the volcano, and bright red flowers growing out of the cooled lava flows.  I would have to say, this was probably one of the most unusual sites I would have ever expected to have seen in downtown Fenton. 

After gawking at the volcano for a few minutes, we turned our attention to locating the historical marker.  Lo and behold, it happened to be right at the entrance of the parking lot we just pulled into.  The map I was using had the location of the marker across the street.  It was by luck that we spotted it, especially since a nearby tree was obscuring most of it from sight as well.  Again, the coordinates shown in the data sheet below are accurate, so please use them if you desire to visit this sign and disregard any of the other sources currently on the web.

Now, the name of this sign was Dibbleville.  Turns out, Dibbleville was the first name given to the 40 acres of government land that Clark Dibble laid claim to in 1834.  The sign describes the original business district that made up Dibbleville, with many of the original structures still standing today.  In 1837, Dibbleville was purchased by William Fenton and Robert Le Roy and renamed Fentonville.  This settlement was incorporated as a village in 1863 and renamed Fenton.  Fenton went through a major urban renewal project during the 1970’s, with all of the downtown area being leveled and Leroy Street being completely closed.  In August, 2007, Fenton was hit by an E2 tornado that damaged many buildings, homes, and a school, as well as completely destroying the new Tractor Supply Company.  Fortunately, there were no fatalities or serious injuries, but it was another setback for a city trying to restore itself.  Today, Fenton boasts a population of 11,286 (as of 2017) and is a vibrant community with impressive new buildings and many renovated historical buildings and repurposed landmark buildings (like the Fenton Fire Hall restaurant mentioned in my previous blog and the Fenton Grain Elevator mentioned in my Fenton House blog).  Although we still had two more historical markers in Fenton to visit, I already knew that our day spent in “Dibbleville” was one of those unexpected gems that makes this quest we are on so exciting.

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