Careful on the Forest Avenue Bridge

In May of 1905, the bridge at Forest Avenue was a new one--and yet it was falling apart. Townspeople were so suspicious that someone painted graffiti on the abutments suggesting that the city had been ripped off.

Conditions at the new Forest Avenue Bridge are getting worse all the time, and now some joker has printed in big letters on one of the abutments "Graft," "Boodle," which was the cause of considerable comment yesterday.

"The break in the southwest abutment has widened so much that were it not for the anchor it would topple over. The strain has been sufficient to crack the corner on which rests one of the main girders of the bridge. As far as the Daily Press knows no engineer has yet examined the structure, but to a layman it looks as if the anchor was not sufficient to hold the side wall together much longer.

"On the east side a crack has also appeared in the same part of the abutment as on the west side. Little can be done at present by the bridge company, as the water is too high, but persons using the bridge would like to see the approaches fixed up so that it would be a little more pleasant to drive over it. If the members of the bridge company could have heard the comments made by dozens of people that looked over the structure yesterday, they would not have been particularly elated."

--May 15, 1905 Ypsilanti Daily Press

Cars: A Menace to Public Safety in 1906

This February 1, 1906 YDP article offers a look at a time of transition, when cars and horses shared the road. Indianapolis was a larger and wealthier city than small Ypsi and likely the density of cars was higher there. DD recalls a 1907 story from Ypsi when the sight of a passing car on Washtenaw caused all of the Normal students out doing athletics (on fields then closer to Washtenaw) to pause and stare at it. Like as not we were slightly later to the game as far as sharing the road--but we eventually experienced the same tenuous sharing of Ypsi roadways.

"The supreme court has sustained the decision in the case of Susan Orner vs. William H. McIntyre, Auburn. She received $2,500 damages for injuries caused in a runaway started by McIntyre and his automobile. He ran the machine to within a few feet of the horses, although they were plunging wildly. Mr. Orner was thrown out and injured.

"The opinion delivered by the judge (Hadley) was the first on the subject in Indiana. In it he said: 'There is nothing dangerous in the use of an automobile when managed by an intelligent and prudent driver. Its guidance, its speed and its noise are all subject to quick and easy regulation, and under the control of a competent and considerate manager it is as harmless on the road as other vehicles in common use. It is the manner of driving an auto on the highway too often indulged in by thoughtless pleasure seekers and for the exploitation of a machine that constitutes a menace to public safety.'

"The court held that the care which the driver of an auto must give to his machine and the road he is traveling does not excuse him from the duty of observing horses that he meets and noticing whether or not they are frightened."

Past and Present: Spanish-American War Veterans on Michigan Avenue

In this winter 1900 photo a group of about 25 veterans of the Spanish-American War march westward on Michigan Ave. They have just crossed the "Old Iron Bridge," the onetime structure and name of the Michigan Avenue Bridge. In the background may be seen the Nichols and Panek upholstery store.

Panoramic View of EMU Campus, c. 1903 or a bit later

A panoramic view of campus (click for larger image) as it existed around the turn of the century. The building complex at left is the Old Main Building. The building at center is, I believe, the Training School, where students did their student teaching. Starkweather of course, and on the right is the Science Building, now called Sherzer Hall.

Ypsi's Cleary College had a Correspondence Course

Ypsilanti's Cleary College, founded by onetime itinerant handwriting teacher P. R. Cleary, had a correspondence course if you couldn't attend in Ypsi. I was rather excited to find this out as I don't recall this aspect of Cleary being discussed before. Below is the application to apply at the school.

This is the application filled out in the summer of 1907 by 21-year-old Romulus girl Estelle Armstrong. She had finished 10th grade and lived at home. On this application she said she would have 2 to 3 hours to devote to Cleary correspondence work each day. The course she chose was no. 2.

In 1900, Estelle was a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Romulus. She lived with her 61-year-old carpenter father William, who owned his home, and her 45-year-old mother Julia. In 1907, Estelle applied for her correspondence course. In the December of next year, William died. In 1910, Estelle lived in Romulus, 24 years old and single, with her widowed 65-year-old mother Julia.Julia had her own private income and Julia worked as an independent dressmaker.

Breining Farm in Augusta Township, Whittaker Road, c. 1895

German immigrant Martin Breining was an Augusta Township farmer. In 1880, he was 43. His English immigrant wife Mary was 39 and had had the first eight of her 13 children: Lizzie, Austin, William, Melvin, Charles, John, Mary, and Verny. By 1900, at age 59, she had also given birth to Clarence, Mertie, Fread, Walter and the youngest, 6-year-old Wesley.


The Breiner farm was just south of Ypsilanti off Whittaker Road.

An aerial view from Google Maps shows that the Breining land outlines are still visible over a century later. Here is it visible as a lush green square just south of Bemis.

A photo from around 1900 shows the family members:

Some closeups:





This person is a bit of a mystery. I don't see any non-relative farm hands listed on the old censuses, but this man's old overalls and work boots suggest that that was his role on the farm.


At least two of Martin's sons left the farm and moved into Ypsilanti for urban jobs. William worked as a baggageman and Charles as a clerk. Martin died in 1906 and his wife Mary a year later. He is buried in Stony Creek Cemetery. Several of his children are buried there, and later others were buried in Highland Park Cemetery.

Classified Ad WTSH (What the Sam Hill)

Okey-dokey. Here's a July 15, 1909 Ypsilanti Daily Press ad placed by someone who seeks to come personally to your house and collect your hair combings.

The nice long ones. Presumably you've saved them, right? Not cuttings--combings. This person pays cash! Cash on the barrelhead, ladies, for those combings of yours. After which this person will call on several other folks for their combings and then traipse right on home with a handful of different people's combings...

...to do WHAT?!

The Coldwater Doll

When Michigan orphans, including one girl in Ypsi, became indentured servants.

Shockingly Immoral Boys

Student pastor Fred Merrifield had some news for the good Temperance ladies in June of 1909. According to him, the moral condition of Ann Arbor boys was in a shocking state. However, he had a plan to straighten them out with the help of some upright U-M students.

"Rev. Fred Merrifield, student pastor of the Baptist church, dropped a bomb in the middle of a W. X. T. U. meeting when he told the good ladies that boys in Ann Arbor between the ages of 13 and 16 were existing under shockingly immoral conditions; that gangs of these lads habitually associate with women of the lowest possible depravity; that the low class of Ann Arbor saloons encourage these young lads congregating at the rear doors of their places and furnish them with the filthiest literature.

"Mr. Merrifield pointed out that these boys could not be reached by the usual methods of the Y. M. C. A. because they were too poor to pay the fees that such organizations demand, and he asked for money to be donated for the rent of rooms, promising that he would have the help, without financial compensation, of 20 university students--'good, clean university men, not on the sissy order'--to take upon themselves the duties of giving these lads instructions in gymnasium work and in placing before them educational advantages that they could never hope for otherwise."

--June 5, 1909 Ypsilanti Daily Press

X-Ray Finds No Heart in Miss Roosevelt

St. Louis--Miss Alice Roosevelt posed before the big X-ray machine at the German section of the educational building at the World's Fair to-day. The result was edifying to the beholders, but startling, too, for, try as he would, Prof. Leopold Bahlsen, who was operating the machine, could not locate Miss Roosevelt's heart.

Miss Warder, her Washington friend, and Miss Catlin, her hostess, stood revealed before the rays as possessors of hearts of generous proportions and so did the man of the party. Not so Miss Roosevelt. Repeated efforts revealed nothing more than the first experiment showed, and the other members of the party agreed that Miss Roosevelt must have lost her heart. --June 1, 1904 Ypsilanti Evening Press

Indianapolis, Ind.--Wm. H. Brown, president of the Brown-Ketcham Iron Works, one of the well-known business men of Indianapolis, has been treating his fine carriage horse by Christian Science to cure lockjaw. When asked yesterday if he had resorted to Christian Science methods to cure the animal, he said, "I resort to prayer in all my sorrows."

The police were called to his home to investigate a case of alleged cruelty to animals. They ascertained that the horse had been suffering for several days from lockjaw, and that Mr. Brown had been trying to cure it by faith.

Mrs. Brown informed the police that her husband had been praying daily for the recovery of the animal as he has as much faith in Christian Science as in the solidity of a mountain. They were informed that a veterinarian had been called, but that Mr. Brown had broken all the bottles of medicine that had been left, as Mrs. Brown declared that he was absolutely confident that prayers would save the horse.

The humane officers were notified, and have charge of the case. --May 25, 1904 Ypsilanti Evening Press

Tonybumpkins & Co.

Hey! How many times have you wondered what the popular dog names were in Ypsilanti a century ago?

102 years ago, to be precise.

Well, hold onto your seat. I will tell you this thing. These are from a list of dogs whose owners followed the local law and got their dogs a license...there was an intermittent rabies scare that long-ago spring and summer, with one kid bundled off to U-M for rabies treatment, which was fairly painful in those days.

Anyways, who's a good boy? Whooo's a gooood booooooooyyy?

Beaut, Bess, Bettie, Bing, Doc, Don, Gil, Jack, another Jack, Jim, John, Lassie, Nellie, Piker, Queen, Rab, Riley, Rover, Sheriff, Stub, Sugar, Teddy, Tip, Tobias, Toby, Tonybumpkins, Trey, and Willie (one of our dog's names!).

--July 13, 1909 Ypsilanti Daily Press

Bonesteel, S. D. --John Herron, a homesteader north of here, thought to evade the federal laws limiting one family to one claim of 160 acres. Though two children had been born to his wife he was not deterred. A divorce was received and then his wife was free to take out another claim of 160 acres which she did, taking the quarter adjoining Herron's. They built a house so that half was on the woman's claim and half on the man's. Then they lived, each on the claim taken,but were under the same roof and the childen were as well cared for. They were to remarry when the woman secured her patent and the family would be $6,000 ahead. When all seemed lovely a neighbor, whose name is unobtainable, began courting the woman, and now she has married him in the helpless indignation of Herron, who has lost both wife and land. --May 10, 1904 Ypsilanti Evening Press

The First Bris in Ypsilanti

This May 20, 1905 Ypsilanti Daily Press article marks the birth of the first Jewish child born in Ypsilanti.

The celebration described here is actually likely the 8th-day bris ceremony at which the baby is circumcised, though the story omits that part.

This story interested me because it produced an "ohhh, yeah...." moment of realizing that in 1905, there were no synagogues in Ypsilanti. You can see that the family even had to import a rabbi from Detroit to preside over the ceremony. Given that Ypsi had Eastern European immigrants, it's likely there were other Jewish people in town...was there a minyan, the quorum of ten Jewish males needed to conduct services? If so, where did the men gather? It's nigh impossible to know; the census never recorded religious affiliation, though it certainly pried into other very personal areas of people's lives over the years.

The tone of this article is respectful, and the level of detail implies that there was a reporter present, versus a post facto report delivered to the paper. Taken together, this may imply that Judaism was not looked down upon or discriminated against in town. This is in stark contrast to the manner in which Catholics were treated in the paper a mere fifty or so years earlier, by Protestant editors who hated the idea of supposed sons of liberty in America subjugating their hard-won free will to a foreign authority.

Edited text of article: "What is said to have been the first ceremonial of this kind according to the full Jewish rites was performed yesterday at the home of Mr. Samuel Raport, 204 North Street, when his 8-day-old son was given the name of Edward, according to the Jewish service and creed, the rites of the church being performed by Rabbi A. Rubiner of Detroit, who came here for the purpose.

"Mr. and Mrs. Raport came to Ypsilanti about three months and Mr. Raport is in the employ of Mr. Thompson and is a paper hanger by trade and as he proudly announced, a member of the union.

"Yesterday, however, was a gala day in the little home and after the formal ceremony a feast was served to the participants, at which wines of choice vintage and various sweetmeats took a conspicuous place.

"Never was an 8-day babe better provided with sponsors than Master Edward, for in addition to the official witnesses of the naming he was further provided with three godfathers and a godmother. . . "

"Master Edward Raport has the honor of being the first child of Jewish parents born in Ypsilanti and although he has a small sister and still smaller brother, they claim the Empire State as their native heath. The young gentleman was the recipient of some pretty presents, among them being some beautiful dresses from his godmother."

Kalamazoo, Mich.--The marriage of Julia Damon and Henry Chamberlain, which occurred last week, has presented some interesting developments. Chamberlain was a peanut vendor, nearly a pauper. Proceedings for license ejectment had been started against him by the city council. Miss Damon, 30 years old, is a heavy property holder here and has considerable capital in local banks. The couple are spending their honeymoon in Chicago. Tacked in front of the vendor's old stand is the placard, "Closed: am on honeymoon." Chamberlain is 69 years old. --May 10, 1904 Ypsilanti Evening Press.

Everybody Come and Enjoy the Re-union with the Boys.

This rainy evening marks the 107th anniversary of a special day in Ypsilanti: the 5th reunion of Michigan veterans of the Spanish-American War. In addition to the Ypsi boys, there were vets from Ann Arbor, Jackson, Detroit, and elsewhere in Michigan. You can read more and see their portraits here.

You've Been Warned

--May 17, 1909 Ypsilanti Daily Press

Boarding at Rollins

This is an interesting bit of evidence from an era when many adults rented a room in someone's home or in a rooming house as their residence. Around this time there was even a short-lived single-panel cartoon called "Room and Board" (the "board" being an old term for the table).

Roomers in boarding houses sometimes got meals in the house (especially true of Normal students around campus) but others fended for themselves. This restaurant offered a meal plan for roomers. $3 in 1905 would be about $72 today.

--May 15, 1905 Ypsilanti Daily Press

1907 Aurora Editorial Staff

A portrait of the students who created the 1907 EMU "Aurora" yearbook. (Click for larger image).

Rabies Scare of a Century Ago

In the early spring of 1909, the city was dealing with a rabies scare. Loose dogs running about town had been an on-again, off-again problem for years, and loose animals in general were an issue addressed by city ordinances dating back to the city's earliest days. Eventually the rabies alert would culminate in at least one dog being shot dead on the street in town. Prior to that, the March 1, 1909 Ypsilanti Daily Press offered the salutary tale of a dog who was doing things right, the tale of Denny.

Do you know Denny?

Denny is the homeliest, orneriest dog in seven counties. He is a full-blooded yellow cur with no particular claim to distinction except that he is without doubt the homeliest dog in the world today.

But Denny is a politician, undoubtedly, for he has appeared on the street wearing a neat and reassuring muzzle although no proclamation has been issued by the mayor anent the recent case of rabies. Denny's one desire seems to be to reassure the citizens whom he may meet that he is not liable to a similar attack and in this way to provide for the safety of the children.

Denny is credited with hunting up the muzzle and putting it on himself, but this statement is not vouched for.

--March 1, 1909 Ypsilanti Daily Press