A Century Ago: Bitter Cold

Though Ypsilanti has enjoyed mild winter temperatures of late, a century ago a cold wave gripped the nation from Louisiana to the upper Midwest.

In Chicago, the homeless population wrapped their feet in rags. Some regions recorded temperatures of 50 below. It would turn out to be the nation's second coldest winter in all of its history, and would one day get its own (somewhat half-baked) Wikipedia page.

Every train coming into Chicago was running from one to ten hours late, according to the story accompanying the headline at left, from the January 13, 1912 Ypsilanti Daily Press.

The cold wave took its toll locally as well, as noted in another front-page story in the same issue of the paper.

The victim was a coal deliveryman who apparently fell from his wagon, hitting his head and presumably becoming unconscious. He was found with "hands and feet badly frozen."

The cold wave took a while to move on, and for a while a century ago, especially among the poor in Ypsilanti, locals were put to severe strain to combat the relentless threat.