Dowagiac is in
Cass County, and in the
West-Southwest Region. You can locate Dowagiac at the junction of State Hwy's 62 and 51, and also situated northeast from
Niles.
In 1847, Nicholas Chesbrough, a right of way buyer for the Michigan Central Railroad, and Jacob Beeson, of Niles, bought a section of Patrick Hamilton's 80 acres and first platted the village. Dowagiac was named after the river, which on early maps is spelt Dowagiake, but in 1848, when the railroad came through late, they gave it its present spelling.
