Historic Bike Tour Stop 17: Pawating River Marker 

For the Potawatomi, this area was known as “Pawating,” a shallow crossing over the St. Joseph River. The French took advantage of this ideal location and built Fort St. Joseph in 1691, using the river to trade goods throughout the Great Lakes Region.

Niles was originally called Pawating. When city founders laid out the village plat in the late 1820s, they adopted the name Niles.

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