Past and Present: Hudson Dealership

Past & Present: Cross Street

Past and Present, Cross Street

Lost Ypsilanti: Vanished Cross Street Building

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:

"Rev. John P. Fryer was born near Brantford, Ontario, November 14, 1854. He was graduated from the Middlesex Seminary in 1873, and from the Commercial College in London in 1876. He was married in 1878 to Elizabeth S. Walker of Glencoe and entered the Methodist ministry the same year. He was ordained at Ridgeton in 1882, and held pastorates in Wheatly, Ridgelon and Dresden in Ontario, and after coming to Michigan, preached in Rochester, Saginaw, Lapeer and Flint. In 1893, he united with the Congregationalists and did missionary work in Detroit. During that year he took a http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcourse in the Michigan College Of Medicine and Surgery. lit 1895 he removed to Ypsilanti and engaged in the practice of Medicine. In 1886, he published a pamphlet entitled "Trials and Duties." He died of heart failure August 25, 189S, in his 44th year. A wife, two daughters and a son mourn his loss." --Minutes of the Michigan Congregational Association

Apparently one could practice medicine after one scant year of school. John purchased the lot from the onetime editor of the Ypsilanti Commercial, who lived near the same intersection. The building John was creating has vanished.

Men Fixing Cross Street, 1894

Demolition of Cross Street Greek Revival near Thompson Block

The Greek Revival home on the north side of Cross Street just east of the Thompson Building is being demolished. It had previously been damaged by fire.

Dusty D and colleagues were talking about this sadly today in the Archives. One colleague had walked by earlier when workmen were there. He asked permission to take a quick look around. He peeked in and said that the fire had caused so much damage inside that only the joists were left. He also spotted an original brick-lined or stone-lined well or cistern on the property, in the back.

No one was there from whom to ask permission when Dusty D came by, so I obeyed the "No Trespassing" sign and stayed on the sidewalk. Dusty D is sad to see this beautiful old house go. I know it was damaged, but......they ain't makin' 'em anymore. One resident who also laments the passing of this house commented that it used to be a stagecoach stop, a historical fact Dusty D has not yet confirmed or disproved, though I plan to research the property tomorrow (on deadline now). Pix:

Tragedy Strikes at Thompson Building, 1988

Last Wednesday's fire is not the first tragedy to occur at the Thompson Block. In May of 1988, a garbage truck driver lost his brakes on top of Cross Street hill. . . and as his brakeless truck began the descent into Depot Town, which was crowded with construction vehicles, he leaned out of the truck and yelled at people to keep away. The following is the text of the May 4, 1988 Ann Arbor News story by Laura Bischoff:

YPSILANTI-The driver of a garbage truck careening without brakes down a hill toward Depot Town warned pedestrians and construction crews to clear the intersection and swerved to avoid them, but lost his own life when he failed in an attempt to leap clear of the tipping truck.

Shaun Ivan Jobcar, 25, died Tuesday afternoon while pinned underneath the garbage truck. His co-worker and passenger, Joseph C. Laudati, 20, stayed in the cab and had minor injuries, police said.

The truck, owned by the Jobcar family company, King Rat Disposal, was traveling downhill on westbound East Cross Street toward North River Street, and the driver was honking, waving, and yelling to people at the intersection that his brakes were out.
Ypsilanti police said this morning that some of the brake hoses were disconnected and poorly maintained. Further information was not available, police said.

Jobcar swerved right to avoid traffic and pedestrians, and the truck began to tip, witnesses said. He jumped out of the cab as the truck was turning and tipping, and the truck fell on top of him in a pile of dirt on the shoulder, according to witness Randy Carpenter.

"They almost hit me," said a woman directing traffic around the North River Street construction site, who refused to give her name. "They took the barricade I was standing next to. He was going really fast, and he just kept honking and yelling, 'Get out of the way, get out of the way.'"

She said she wondered why Jobcar's door was open at the top of the hill. She also added that she didn't think he had downshifted into a lower gear on the way down.

Tim Shelly of Ypsilanti said he was walking to he store and was about 30 feet from the accident when it happened. "He had no choice but to turn or take out about four or five cars," he said. "I thought he had jumped far enough away.

Shelly said he pulled passenger Laudati, an Ypsilanti resident, from the cab immediately after the crash.

North River Street is rough and torn and the shoulder is soft dirt because it is being prepared for resurfacing by Cunningham and Gooding of Ypsilanti. Shelly said he believed some of the heavy equipment the construction company had on the site could have been used to turn the truck upright and possibly save Jobcar's life.

But Ypsilanti police said this morning it was doubtful that Jobcar could have been saved even if the truck could have been righted immediately.

About 30 police and rescue workers responded to the scene at 2:34 p.m. The truck was eventually lifted with air compressors, and Jobcar was taken to the county morgue, Ypsilanti police said.

Jobcar was a longtime Ypsilanti resident but had recently moved to a Belleville address, police said.

Ypsilanti police, Michigan State Police and the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute are investigating the accident, said Ypsilanti police Lt. James MacMillan.

Funeral services will be held at Moore Memorial Chapel in Ypsilanti, but details have not yet been worked out.

Response to Reader Request: Cross Street Mill

Hey, you want a piece of toast?

Then you'd better hitch up the team, boy, 'cause we're out of flour again. Yep, I know. We gotta go to Detroit for more.

Close the door but leave the latch string out. C'mon, let's go while it's early. We can stay along the plank road.

We're lucky we got a wagon to go in--them early folks wasn't so lucky.

They had to wait for the flatboats to come on up the river there. Couldn't even make it all the ways to the city. You run out back then, in the 20s, you were plumb outta luck. Dang, this plank road's bumpy. Hang on!
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My dad and I used to have to go clear to Detroit to get so much as a peck of flour. I ain't funnin' ya, missy--all the way over there. 'Course now we have the city mill on Cross Street. Take a look at this-here old map and you can see it...right there.
Here's another one. On the 1856 map you can see it's labeled "Ypsilanti Mills" and there on the 1864 one they have it as just "G.M.," which I imagine stands for Grist Mill.

70s...that was when Bill Deubel bought it. Did you know Bill's dad was Napoleon's butcher? Yes ma'am. Anyways, Bill bought it in '73 from Nathan Follett and renamed it the Deubel Mill. Deubel had another one too, down near Congress. I think one in Ann Arbor too, around that time. Can't remember. That Deubel, he was a big name in the community. Fact they even wrote a poem about him, and some other Ypsi folks too. How did that--Oh yeah:

"Round the flowery meadows winding

Deubel’s corn and good wheat grinding

Driving all the wheels and bands

Tumbling o’er the deep mill dams

Then foaming down in white cascades

And murmuring in the woodland shades.

Runnin the Mayor’s belts and cranks

And sawing Fomor’s logs in planks,

Barnes and Cornwell’s paper mills

Many a purse and pocket fills;

Giving work to the great and small,

Where the bright booming waters fall.

Straw and rags with steam and vapor,

Rolled out in sheets of clean white paper.

And rolls of paper by the mile

For printing in the best of style,

The notes and credit good and strong

the city paying every bond."

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You-all think times is tough now, with the Depression--well, this old grandmother remembers when MY grandfather told me about HIS father having to go all the way to Detroit for just a reg'lar barrel of flour! Yes, sir! And not in no automobile, neither! That was about a hundred years ago. Long before that old mill on Cross Street and all the other old mills in town. Hand me that book and I'll show ya.
This right here is a map from 1874. You can see that old mill right there. It's labeled "City Grist and Flouring Mill." You can see that by 1874 the mill had its very own railroad spur, coming off. Take a look at all of those tracks! There's one, two...six railroad lines going through right by that mill. Must have been pretty noisy with those trains all day long.

Here's a map from 1895. Take a look at that huge swamp just north of Frog Island. That was from the woolen mill dam.

The dam was down in the water where Forest Street crosses over, just on the south side of Forest Street. Quite a factory back then. Famous for its undergarments.

The hoboes hang out in that general swamp area up there--right by the trains--so they say.

I don't want you going up there, now.

This last map is from around 1915. Look at that old mill race on Frog Island, closin' up. End of an era.

And look at the photo I've got stuck in here. Can you figger out when this was taken? Give you a hint--it's this century. Can you find any clues?

Exactly right-there's that old car on Rice Street, looks to be about a...maybe around 1915 too.

Just like your uncle's old car, isn't it?

Take a look at the nice paint job they had up on that mill back then.

Says the "Ypsilanti Grain and Elevator Co." Right nice lookin'.That old mill stood for a lotta years. Hope you do half so well in your time. That's enough chit-chattin' now, and it's time to go to bed.

Tomorrow we can make some cookies, with some of that store-bought flour of your mom's.

Yes, I'll tell you another story tomorrow. Off you go now.

Spot the Differences: Then and Now

In just a few inches, these two photos span more than a century. Kind readers will recognize this image as an eastward view of Cross Street, taken just east of Huron. It encompasses the old City Hall on the left, Cross Street Bridge, and a sliver of Riverside Park.

Between the 1907 photo and the 2009 photo, how many differences can you spot? There are also a couple of structures that Dusty D does not recognize, to my chagrin--but perhaps a reader will! You can click on each photo for a larger image.

Here are the differences I notice:

1. The 2009 photo features some 250-horsepower vehicles; the old photo features a 1-horsepower vehicle.
2. The old photo has what appears to be manually-operated railroad traffic barriers in the distance. Where did the operator stay?
3. The new photo features an addition on the east side of the old City Hall at left.
4. The old photo shows a much narrower Cross Street Bridge.
5. The old photo shows a large white building opposite the river from the old City Hall. Dusty D hastens to inform readers that I once knew what this was, but have unfortunately forgotten. On the water as it is, would it be a mill?
6. The old photo displays a complex of buildings in what is now Riverside Park. What are these buildings?
7. The old photo features telegraph (?) or electrical poles; which one?
8. The new photo shows streetlights...it must have been very dark going home in 1907.

How many other differences can you spot? Feel free to add your observations and speculations in "comments."