Area Information
History: Milton Barney arrived from Lyons, New York the summer of 1832 to scout the area and returned that September with his family and workmen to settle on the south bank of the Kalamazoo River.
In 1834 when a post office was registered, Barneyville was renamed Homer after the village in Cortland County, New York, at the request of many of the residents who had moved from there. Homer was incorporated as a village in 1871.

The native population was numerous until the autumn of 1840 when the U.S. Government forcibly removed the Indians to reserves west of the Mississippi under Authority of the Indian Removal Act and Treaty of Chicago. Because of the peacefulness of the Potawatomi, they continued to co-exist with the settlers many years after the Treaty of Chicago until General Brady removed about 250 Indians of Hillsdale and Homer to Miami County.

In the early morning of May 16, 2010, the "new" Homer mills, a local landmark, burned to the ground. The fire is estimated to be the biggest fire in the town's history since the high school burned down in 1943. The fire was so intense that the Homer Fire Department requested and received the aid of the fire departments of Albion, Albion Township, Sheridan Township, Marengo Township, Fredonia Township, Litchfield, and Concord. Fire trucks had to patrol the town, as ashes were raining down and posed the threat of setting houses on fire. The cause of the fire is unknown.
Resources: Wikipedia

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