Husband and I had for tonight's dinner "Thanksgiving Hash," a delicious mishmash of mashed taters, cooked yam, gravy, stuffing, and turkey all warmed up together.
News tidbits from the November, 27 Ypsilanti Commercial.
Quick, what would you say are the seven most popular soups for sale at Kroger? Dusty D would guess chicken noodle, cream of chicken, beef and veggies, tomato, chicken and rice, beef barley, and that grand old lynchpin of Midwestern "cooking," cream of mushroom.
The Ypsilanti grocers Kief and Meanwell offered a list of tempting Thanksgiving goodies in the November 20, 1896 edition of the Ypsilanti Commercial. 
C. R. Pattison was the most fiery editor in all of Ypsilanti history. He treated his paper, the Ypsilanti Commercial, as a large cannon. He didn't fire it in every weekly issue of the Commercial, but when he did not even local ministers were out of range. 
Newest chapter in an ongoing serialization of the 1888 diary of Abba Owen, daughter of Ypsilanti mineral water baron Tubal Cain Owen and Anna (Stowe Foote) Owen. The Owens lived in a now-vanished house near the current day Roosevelt School building on EMU, where Tubal also had his magical and very profitable well.
What were Ypsilantians eating in 1870? Well, their diet was somewhat different. For one, they observed "tea" at what we now think of as dinnertime, and ate another meal around 8 p.m. Kind readers may remember Ypsi teen diarist Abba Owen in 1888, still making reference to having tea at her grandmother's house. Earlier in 1874, another Ypsi teen diarist Allie McCullough made reference to it too.
The term "faggot" was not used as a pejorative term for a gay person until 1914, and the shortened form "fag" was not used until 1921, according to this online etymology dictionary.
*What is most notable is the complete absence of any foreign cuisines. No Mexican, no Italian or French, nothing. There are only 5 dishes that are even vaguely foreign, and even those have been Americanized: chop suey, "American chop suey," chili con carne, Spanish rice, and something called "Indian salad," a fruit salad containing coconut.
*The oldest recipe in the book is for the medieval recipe for mincemeat pie, which in this book is called "pork cake" in 2 separate recipes and "mincemeat in a third.
*There's a section for "Invalid Cooking." In the first recipe, the minced beef is simmered "until the strength is quite extracted from the beef."
From the November 20, 1896 Ypsilanti Commercial comes this tidbit about a onetime building that used to stand on the southeast side of the Cross Street and Huron Street intersection, built by one Dr. John P. Fryer. More info on Fryer:
Here's a story themed to Veteran's Day about the onetime little German restaurant on Huron, the family behind it, U-M professors fired for being "pro-German," and a special ceremony that took place here in 1933.Newest chapter in an ongoing serialization of the 1888 diary of Abba Owen, daughter of Ypsilanti mineral water baron Tubal Cain Owen and Anna (Stowe Foote) Owen. The Owens lived in a now-vanished house near the current day Roosevelt School building on EMU, where Tubal also had his magical and very profitable well.
Monday Nov. 19th: To-day has been quite cold. The third entertainment of the Normal Lecture and Music course was a lecture given this evening by Dr. James Hedly on the "Sunny Side of Life" and it was splendid. We liked him better than we did Col. Sanford.
Tuesday Nov. 20th It has been the coldest day we have had yet.Eber went down this afternoon and joined Prof. Haufer's German class in which we can learn to converse in five weeks. I shall go and join tomorrow.
Thursday Nov. 22nd: We go to our German class every day at a quarter of five. Last night Mama, Aunt Kate, and I went down to a Ladies Library Social at Mrs. Daniel Putnam's. Prof. Luderman read a paper on [space left in diary] which was very good. 
With the firearms deer season nigh, it's interesting to compare a few snippets of a November 9, 1922 article on the subject to today's regulations. 
"Each hunter with a license is permitted to shoot one buck whose horns are at least three inches long. Does and fawns are protected to prevent the animals from becoming extinct. Each party of at least four hunters may also shoot an extra deer for camp use." Today's firearms license is similar, with the exception that only ONE horn has to be more than three inches. It is no longer permitted to take another deer for camp use. 
You have seen the old refrigerators with the large cylindrical compressors on top. Apparently the public dubbed them with what turns out to be not a product name but a nickname, the "Monitor Top." 
The Civil War was about as distant from 1927 as WWII is from 2010. It is remarkable to DD that the Civil War had made an impression so lasting that more than six decades later, it was vivid enough in collective memory to provide a bit of slang. 
Dusty D found this interesting as a relic from days when fraternal organizations were popular social institutions, in Ypsi as well, whose newspapers used to feature frequent stories about the goings-on of the Knights of Pythias et al. 
Had you taken a stroll in Riverside Park on a chilly mid-November day in 1933, you might have noticed a group of local men working outdoors on the western bank of the onetime junk-lined park. 
This article is merely an interesting little peek into EMU students during the Depression. Somehow I had imagined students of the past sort of just existing at school but then as now many worked hard in addition to their studies to pay their way through school.
Around the turn of the last century, even a faculty-chaperoned public dance stirred some members of the Ypsilanti community to vent their spleens about what they perceived as an immoral practice.
"The gymnasium is to be used for dancing this year as before, but with certain restrictions, which are that but one party may be given within one month and that dancing must limited to between the hours of 8 and 11, standard time: also that each party must be vouched for by members of the faculty.
Newest chapter in an ongoing serialization of the 1888 diary of Abba Owen, daughter of Ypsilanti mineral water baron Tubal Cain Owen and Anna (Stowe Foote) Owen. The Owens lived in a now-vanished house near the current day Roosevelt School building on EMU, where Tubal also had his magical and very profitable well.
Wensday, Nov. 15: This has been a beautiful day. The Republicans had a grand torch light parade to-night. Ebe and Richard rode horse-back in it. Eber rode a new horse Papa bought to-day her name is Maud H. and she is very handsome. Ebe had the bridle decorated with flags and so did Ricky have his horse. Robin's bridle, with flags in it, and Ebe also bought a Republican hat for the occasion which was a white stove-pipe with a white band on it. The Democrat hats are the same only they have a black band. [The Owen's house is mentioned in the paper's excerpt, at right].
William Lambie was a Ypsilanti farmer of Scottish extraction. His introduction to his 1883 book of prose and poetry "Life on the Farm" reads thus:
Ypsilanti's Gilbert Residence originated around this time of year in the Depression when a wealthy native Ypsilantian who became a Grand Rapids real estate agent gave his entire fortune to charity. From the November 1, 1933 Ypsilanti Daily Press:
New Chronicle article about Ypsilanti poet-farmer William Lambie and his quest to connect with his favorite poet.
Kind readers may remember that in a post not far below this one Abba gave us a peek at the wild excitement in Ypsi following the Republicans' election victory. Aside from the big parade, speeches, and bonfire on the night of the election (the lightning slingers* must have nearly dropped dead!), some election bets had to be settled.
As I observed my husband studying on his laptop for an upcoming business trip, I sensed that what he really wanted at that moment was a conversation about 19th-century fish balls.Newest chapter in an ongoing serialization of the 1888 diary of Abba Owen, daughter of Ypsilanti mineral water baron Tubal Cain Owen and Anna (Stowe Foote) Owen. The Owens lived in a now-vanished house near the current day Roosevelt School building on EMU, where Tubal also had his magical and very profitable well.
Mama went down to the Sappho club which met at Mrs. Daniel Putman's and she said they had a very nice meeting. It began to rain when Mama got home.
Friday Nov. 9: It has rained pretty nearly all day. Papa put [up] the stars and stripes to-day to celebrate Harrison's election but it began to rain so he took it down again. He put it way up on top of the tank house and it looked very pretty. Mabil was up to-day and took dinner and spent the afternoon.
First of all, did you try to guess the four technologies? Did you get them all right? I got one wrong. Instead of "telephone," I guessed "sewer system." But I shouldn't have, since this is from a book called Out of the Dark: A History of Radio and Rural America, by Steve Craig. I checked it out from Halle Library--yes, you, fellow average non-student Ypsilantian, can get a FREE library card at Halle! And check stuff out! When I found that out I was like JESUS I just got A WHOLE NEW LIBRARY!!! They charge you an arm and both legs to do that at U-M. But I digress.
