Matt

http://www.michiganhighways.org/

This above is a very good website. I've talked with the producer, and he may know a bit more information. Feel free to email him.

I also work for a Road Commission, and I know that sometimes roads 'disappear' for a number of reasons...property, sunk in a swamp, politics, bypasses, etc. W/o too much research, I see that part of this looks like 'Territorial Rd.', which is a common default name of early roads named for such purposes.

There's also a book called 'Michigan Place Names', which has the origin of the name of ever current and ghost town in MI. Kinda interesting. I don't recall Paw Paw off the top of my head, but know that some towns did have multiple names at time. Also, some towns were platted, given a post office (w/ political favor post master perhaps) but nothing ever materialized. I've also been told in some instances that some grants were given to start towns, but alas the money came up missing and nothing was ever built, but the town shows up on a map.

As it pertains to pre-RR history, these early settlements pushed to have the RR come to them. If no RR, then the town could never prosper, and likely to fade into memory.