(now Hatchery Rd.) and Saginaw Trail. The Drayton Plains depot was built by the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway. The railroad was responsible for the population of Waterford Township reaching 1,085 the year it opened. Drayton Plains was platted in 1860. In that year the town was laid out by Lewis L. Dunlap. By 1860, the population of Waterford Township had climbed to 1,289. As Drayton Plains continued to grow, more retail establishments began to open. In 1865, John Linabury built the first stable in Drayton Plains and the first cider mill was built in the 1860s by John Kirodot. Other business owners in Drayton Plains in 1872 included: C.B. Albertson, the first railroad station agent John Ebner, farmer and stock raiser H.D. Judd, grist mill proprietor A.A. Southard, general farmer Paul Shwesinger, merchant & manufacturer of boots and shoes and dealer in general merchandise. Moses Southard, blacksmith James Swartz, manufacturer of boots and shoes and sold general merchandise in his store. William Besley (or Beasley), son-in-law of Daniel Windiate, owned a general store, which also later served as a post office, election hall, Sunday school and Saturday night dance hall. It even housed Meinrad Hangee's tin shop., and block ice was cut from Loon Lake by Pittman and Dean Ice House and sold throughout the area. Early pioneers owning land tracts in Drayton Plains in 1872 include: C. B. Albertson Henry L. Birge (b.1816-d.1912) Andrew Cutchler (b.1803-d.1879) G. Deming Solomon G. Eagle (b.1817-d.1890) John M. Fair (b.1803-d.1884) Daniel M. Judd (b.1818-d.1877) John Linabury Oliver H.P. Osmun (b.1826-d.1907) Moses Southard H. E. Stowell Matilda Van Campen (b.1817-d.1879) William Van Ostrand William K. Van Sykle (b.1818-d.1880?) Beeckman Van Zandt (b.1808-d.1881) Peter Wager (b.1810-d.1876) Many of Drayton Plains' streets were named after local pioneers such as Denby, Covert, Frembes, Linabury, Meinrad, Van Syckle and Van Zandt. Schools The first school in Drayton Plains was built around 1865. The one-room wooden school was located at Monroe Street and Sashabaw Road in Drayton Plains, and was in use until 1920, when a new Drayton Plains School was built at the same Monroe Street and Sashabaw Road site. The first teacher at the school was Lewis M. Covert. The school was moved to The Pine Grove Historical Museum in Pontiac, Michigan and is open for tours. High school students in Drayton Plains would ride the train from the depot to Pontiac High School, as