Huron Hotel: Stock Certificate

The Huron Hotel was built in 1923 with money raised from residents of Ypsilanti via the sale of $200,000 worth of stock. Here's the stock certificate you would have received had you been one of the investors.

650 people bought stock, most of them people of modest means who bought just one share for $100. This certificate represents 12 shares of stock purchased by a couple: Atwood R. McAndrew Jr and Martha P. McAndrew.

Atwood was the son of Atwood McAndrew Sr., who with Thomas McAndrew ran the Mack and Mack furniture store on Michigan Avenue. It appears that this block of 12 shares was purchased on November 18, 1957 and sold on February 7, 1967. This surprised Dusty D because as far as she knew the only sale of stock occurred in 1923, but apparently sales of stock continued after the initial fundraising.

At any rate, the document is a testament to the civic spirit and pride that allowed one small city to build a hotel using only money raised from its own residents.