Disquisition on the Ypsilanti Hen

Tonight City Council discusses whether to extend the sunsetting chicken ordinance. Chickens have a long and intimate history with Ypsilanti; here's one small example featuring Ypsilanti farmer Emma Campbell.

Ypsilanti's Very First Fourth of July Celebration Featured Log Cannon Firing, Oceans of Whiskey, Dainty Loaf Sugar

A discussion of the first Fourth of July celebration in Washtenaw County with DDH centered not on the nation, or the oration, but the libation.

DD: "They had half a barrel of whiskey!"
DDH: "How much is half a barrel?"
DD: "I think it's a small barrel...you wouldn't just fill a big barrel half way. I think 'barrel' was a unit of measurement as well as a container."

DDH: "So...I'm guessing there was at least a gallon in there." [activate geek mode] "There are 128 ounces in one gallon."
DD: "A shot is one ounce."
DDH: "Yeah."
DD: "There were fewer than 100 people there...so everyone got at least one shot. Except, wait, probably not the women. So all the guys got at least TWO shots. And, there might have been as few as 29 people there! And there might be more than one gallon in a 'barrel'!"
DDH: "That might be enough to get me through an oration."

They ate well, too, with a cartload of goodies trucked in from Detroit that included expensive loaf sugar and raisins. The peas and beets suggest that there were some early local gardens contributing to the feast.

Note too that there were multiple nummy chickens--so we can see the history of poultry-keeping in the city goes back to the very first patriotic celebration. You could call it a venerable history. You could also call it historically accurate--people kept chickens in town well into the Depression and beyond, as DD's fat "poultry" file reveals.

DD's takeaway mental image from this 1907 Ypsilanti Daily Press story is of the blue and white Greek flag by the water tower rippling in slow motion, with a nice fat chicken in front, holding aloft, in one wing, a sip of golden beverage. Happy 4th!