In 1838, two banks were established in Allegan County: the Bank of Allegan and the Bank of Singapore. Both were "of the famous wildcat species". By 1838, over $50,000 in Singapore Bank notes had been placed in circulation. Shortly after the Civil War, Singapore was involved in a bank scandal. State banks were required to maintain enough hard currency on hand to cover at least 1/3 of the banknotes that were circulating, and neither Singapore nor Allegan was at that level. From time to time collectors come across Singapore banknotes used by the Singapore Bank. There are a few known full sheets of the banknotes before they were cut into individual notes, sometimes signed and sometimes unsigned by the bank president or authorized personnel at the time.
40-day blizzard
The 40-Day Blizzard of 1841 might very well have wiped out the people of Singapore, had it not been for the shipwreck of the Milwaukie just off her shore. The food with which that ship was stocked nourished the people of Singapore until the blizzard blew over.
Change of ownership
Wilder deserted the town in 1846, moving back to Calhoun County. James Carter of New York bought out Wilder's interest in the town and moved there to oversee his investment. It was only two years after that that Carter sold the town to his brother, Artemas. Artemas was more innovative than his brother, and very soon after arriving, built a three-masted schooner, dubbed the Octavia, to carry lumber from Singapore to Chicago over Lake Michigan. The town thrived and boasted a population of several hundred people by 1871.
Singapore's demise
After the fires which swept through Chicago, Holland, and Peshtigo in late 1871, Singapore was almost completely deforested supplying the three towns with lumber for rebuilding. Without the protective tree cover, the winds and sands coming off Lake Michigan quickly eroded the town into ruins and within four years had completely covered it over. The town was vacated by 1875. Today, Singapore lives on only in the name of the , which is at one end of town. Just as the "cow kicking over the lantern" story was born out of the Great Chicago Fire, this event also gave birth to a legend. The story persists that one resident of Singapore refused to move, even as the sand enveloped his home. Eventually, he had to enter and leave the dwelling by a second-floor window, and he stayed until the sand reached the roof.
