On the 7th of April, 1869, thirty-seven taxpayeres petitioned the board of supervisors to call a meeting of the electors of Williamstown township, for the purpose of voting aid to the Howell and Lansing Railroad Company. This petition was favorably responded to by the county authorities, and a meeting was held on the 6th of May, 1869, at which the proposition to subscribe $ 15, 500 was carried by a vote of 170 to 51. Coupon bonds of the township were drawn, payable in five annual installments, commencing March 1, 1874, at ten per cent interest. These bonds, fifty-five in number, were issued bearing date July 2, 1869, and deposited with the State treasurer; but before they had been delivered to the railway company, the Supreme Court of the State declared the law authorizing such issue unconstitutional, and the bonds were returned to the town board, and by them destroyed May 20, 1872.

At the annual town-meeting in the spring of 1877 the electors voted to raise $ 2500 upon coupon bonds, for the purpose of building a bridge over the Cedar River, in the village of Williamston, the vote standing 237 for and 155 against the proposition.

Taken from:
"History of Ingham and Eaton Counties Michigan", by Samuel W. Durant
Published by D. W. Ensign & Co.; Philadelphia, 1880.
Pages 338