Friday, April 22, 2011

Once Upon a Time at the Old Bus Garage


(Click for larger image) The Lewis-Geer company operated in what some now call the grey "bus garage" on Railroad Street. This is the company that built that building, in 1909. Lewis-Geer made several different models of porch swings, coat hangers, sleds, and, as you can see here, wagons. This looks like a Fourth of July float the company made. Here's an April 9, 1910 Ypsi Press article about the business, in the spring after it started up.
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5 comments:

  1. Dusty DApril 22, 2011 at 12:15 PM

    On the side of the little wagons in back you can see the word "Ypsi."

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  2. RedlegApril 22, 2011 at 1:25 PM

    Thanks Dusty-- I always wondered what that building was used for in the past...

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  3. RussApril 22, 2011 at 8:05 PM

    This is a very interesting picture. It appears that this is a straight line building. When I was growing up there was an "L" addition on the left side which would have been coming toward you. The "L" included a very large boiler room that might have supplied Steam Power for the factory. The large chimney wasn't there then so perhaps the addition supplied the heat too.

    I grew up in a house to the east of this picture. My mom told me once that there was a crack in plaster of our upstairs outside wall that faced this building. She told me that it had been caused by a part of that buildings roofing coming off and hitting our house during a tornado many years earlier. I see in your picture that the very left side of the roof appears to be newer than the rest. I wonder if that was to repair the damage my mom talked about. She wasn't born then but her grandparents had bought the house and were living there then. My parents moved into it after WWII just before I was born.

    Wonder if there is any reports of a tornado hitting Ypsi around that time?

    I'd love to see more pictures if there are any.

    Thanks,

    Russ

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  4. Dusty DApril 22, 2011 at 9:34 PM

    Dusty an' Redleg, a-headin' off down the trail. :)

    You're welcome!

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  5. Dusty DMay 6, 2011 at 8:04 AM

    Hi Russ,

    That is fascinating. I'd be glad to look for more pix of the old Lewis-Geer building tomorrow at the Archives; now I'd like to see them too.

    If I understand you correctly the tornado your Mom spoke of occurred sometime during WWII. I'll see if I can find any newspaper mention of that--it is ringing a bell, but might take some time to pin down.

    That roof DOES have a different section--how interesting to hear from someone who lived nearby! Thanks, Russ!

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