One of Ypsi's More Unusual Products

Nothing says comfy cozy slipper like a swastika.

These were made in Ypsilanti--in Depot Town, in fact.

But why?! And by whom?

And why were they advertised in national magazines?

Find out in the Chronicle; thanks to them!

Deist Grocery, Then and Now

1923 and 2011 photos of the onetime Deist Grocery in Depot Town. The building burned in the 1970s.

A Fine State of Things

--December 7, 1888 Ypsilanti Commercial

Coal Haiku

Falling leaves mean coal

after ages of pressure

Dad lights the furnace.


--ad from October 11, 1939 Ypsilanti Daily Press

Marsh and Son was a coal company that operated in what is now the Sidetrack's rear parking lot.

Five huge silos supplied coal to trucks carting it to private homes' coal cellars, or you could pick up your own.

Marsh & Son was in business as late as 1962 and possibly later. Those were sooty days in Ypsilanti...


To read the recollections of someone whose mom worked in the coal company office and who went out on coal deliveries to outlying farmhouses, look here.

The Great Depot Town Train Crash of 1939: Photos

The famous late-Depression Depot Town derailment that took out more of the previously damaged depot.

The little boy in the first few pictures looks to be around 6 years old. Perhaps he was born around 1933, which would make him around 77 today. It's quite possible this crash still lives in living memory in several Ypsilantians. Perhaps the little boy is someone who's now living in Cross Street Village. Or someone's uncle, or something Grandpa mentioned a couple of Thanksgivings ago.

I would love to find this former little boy who looked, astonished, at these tumbled bricks and tossed-about railcars all those years ago...and hear what he had to say.

Click for larger images.

He of the Silver Tongue

Ah, that Warren Lewis. Handsome devil, isn't he? He had a way with words as well. The onetime auctioneer ran a horse race betting den in Depot Town, right under a house of easy pleasure; read all about it in this week's Courier!

James Mann tour this Friday: $5

Dusty D is pleased to publish the following press release about her friend James Mann's tour this Friday:

"Today the Depot Town section of Ypsilanti is quiet and peaceful, a fun place to take the family for a meal or shopping, but it was not always so. The history of Depot Town has its share of murder, crime and sudden death, as well as vice and other good things. Local historian James Mann will lead a Ghost Tour of Depot Town this Friday evening and tell some of the tales of death and ghosts of the area. The tour will include a tale of murder at the Michigan Central Railroad Depot, the ghosts of the Newell Block and explain the real reason for the tunnels of Depot Town."

"The tour will be Friday, October 30, at 7:00 PM, beginning by the Michigan Central Railroad Depot at Cross and River Street. Cost is $5 per person."

Readers: Have You Considered Purchasing the New Pasteurized Milk?

Dear readers, have you considered trying out that new-fangled milk? I know it sounds strange, but I assure you it's harmless. In fact, it's healthier than regular milk!

And one big benefit this hot summer of 1919 is that it'll last longer--hours longer--in your icebox. Regular milk turns sour so fast. Your glass bottle of pasteurized milk will last long enough till the next morning's front porch milk delivery!

Just phone 914-W to reach the Ypsilanti Pure Milk Company at 320 E. Cross Street in Depot Town.

These days, many people are advocating for the sale of raw milk as a new and novel and healthy kind of milk, but 90 years ago it was the other way around!

Heads Up: Huge Sale in Depot Town this Saturday!

Yes sirree, you don't want to miss this one! Need a few hams? How about some tasty Pillar Rock Salmon? Dusty D is drawn to the "Store Cheese, old and nippy" [like attracts like --ed.] Wash down your old cheese with some lovely Killian's Cough Syrup. Dusty D just sampled some last night, left over from last Saturday's cookout. It comes in six-packs these days. Sure kept the coughs away, I can tell you, mister! Not one cough all evening, though that may be due in part to the generous dosage. Hey, don't forget--spend a meagre 20 cents over at Grieve and they'll throw in a handy flour scoop! Best of all, you can take the whole shebang home in your new Galvanized Pail while wearing your spiffy new shoes! If that don't galvanize you, brother, I dunno what will! Value? Yessir! Savings? You bet! See you there!

Ypsilanti's 1980s Boomer Days Celebrated Hobo & Railroad Culture

The erstwhile Ypsitucky Jamboree is not the first festival to stir up controversy in town. For several years in the 1980s Ypsilanti celebrated "our railroad heritage and the hey-day of bums, tramps, and hobos" with a weekend festival called Boomer Days. A "boomer" is slang for a hobo "always on the go--he has a travel itch."

The July, 1987 Depot Town Rag featured this R. Crumb-esque figure of a hobo and a full slate of family activities.

Kids could take part in a carp-fishing contest in Riverside Park, and adults could compete in the "Coronation of the Hobo Royalty," or vote for their favorite "bum" with spare change, at the Cricket Box, 19 E. Cross St. There was also a hobo art display and hobo fashion show.

A "Mulligan Stew-Off" offered local cooks the chance to try their hand at making an authentic hobo jungle stew. The prizes for the stew-off included an oak bench and a "country wreath" to add elegance to one's jungle camp.

The July 'Rag notes that the 1987 Boomer Days is the "8th Annual," but James Mann & Tom Dodd's popular book Down by the Depot says that the fest ran for only 6 summers. It continues, "The concept proved enormously popular until the advent of homelessness in America. While some citizens were sleeping on sidewalks in refrigerator boxes all winter, it seemed a bit rude to be celebrating such poverty in an annual summer festival and the concept was abandoned."

Quiz Time: Date That Photo!

Dating photos involves a combination of observation, experience, and inference. But once in a while, there's a telltale clue that pinpoints the date, as in this Depot Town photo. Can you date it?

Sure, there are some obvious clues. You can see that the old Christos Bar is occupying the present-day Sidetrack spot. A bit further down, you can see Turner's Restaurant. If you knew that Christos' was open from years A to C and Turner's was open from years B to D, you'd know that the photo was from years B to C.

But that's still a bit fuzzy. You could also exhaustively research the car models displayed...but people keep cars for a good many years. That wouldn't narrow it down to much more than a decade or so.

But we can do much better.

There is ONE standout clue in this photo that sharpens our focus down to just a few months in one particular year and one year only.

What is it? Where is it? And in what year was this photo, definitively, taken? Can you spot the clue? (Click photo for larger image). For a hint, mouseover the photo to see the name of the jpg in the bottom left corner of your browser).