DIY Utility Bill

This is a bill from the onetime Ypsilanti Gas Company, a municipal utility supplying coal gas to homes all over town for cooking and lighting. The gas generator plant stood at the northeast corner of Forest and Huron, where the DPW yard is now. The plant operated as a municipal utility from 1914, when the city seized control, to the late 40s, when it switched over to natural gas and external ownership.

Here is a DIY bill in case the meter reader couldn't come in your house--presumably meters were indoors in those days--and a lot of moms were at home to be able to let them in. If not, you could just fill in the numbers yourself and mail it in to be billed, as seen on this undated sample which I would guess is from the late 20s-ish (?). ETA: Reader Paul found a date: 1931.

Tidbits from 1921 Washtenaw Map

While nosing around in a box of old maps the other day at the Archives, Dusty D found this gem: a 1921 beauty by the Auto Road Map Co. The map contains many details of vanished communities, railroads, and waterways.

Before ever seeing the copyright date, I noticed that Ford Lake was missing. This tipped me off right away that the map was made pre-1931, which is when Henry Ford dammed the river and began to create Ford Lake.

One now-vanished railroad is the old Huckleberry Line, then called the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern. You can see it exiting from the northern part of Ypsi and curving down to Saline, from which it continued west. You can also see the branch of the Detroit United electric interurban following alongside the "Chicago Turnpike," now Michigan Avenue. Remember the recent "cold wave" story? They threw a plow on one car, which was filled with photographers recording this novelty, and tried to forge through to Saline but the line was closed for literally weeks.

A branch of the old Ann Arbor railroad (still in use) is also visible, leading down to Urania. Urania was not a settlement per se but just a station name. It was named by one Thomas Richards who campaigned successfully to bring a railroad to Milan. He named it for his wife Urania Richards.

Another section of the interurban connected Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. Here you can see a westward section of the Detroit United line traveling out to Chelsea...and beyond. How Dusty D would love to go back in time and take a leisurely ride on one of the cars.

Last and most nostalgic IMO are the many little settlements on the map, now vanished. Here you can see Lima Center, Jerusalem, and Rogers' Corners, all west of Ann Arbor. Just south of these is Fredonia, which is still referred to as an existing community on the Freedom Township website. Many others are just vestigial names, like Mooreville, with only old cemeteries remaining to remember the onetime founders and residents of these tiny communities, long gone.

Techie Geek Kid of 1922

from the Daily Ypsilantian-Press, fall, 1922

Cleary College Told you to be in Bed by 10 P.M.: Or Face Expulsion

If you studied at Cleary, your time off campus was subject to the school's jurisdiction. Students had to be in their rooms at 7:30 p.m. for study. On the weekends the curfew was extended to 10 p.m.--BUT--gentlemen couldn't enter a lady student's room in her boarding house, AND ladies were NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THE CITY LIMITS. The Normal School also had a 10 p.m. curfew for many years. I believe the document below is from circa 1920.

"I w'd strongly advise any girl to avoid Detroit..."

More Cleary goodness. Here is a 1920 letter from P. R. Cleary to the superintendent of the Detroit railroad stockyards, recommending a girl as a stenographer and bookkeeper. Mr. Smith's response is not encouraging:

"P. R. C.
My secretary is on vacation, so please excuse this--Am not inwant of any one at this time--but am much obliged for your letter. Have not been very fortunate with girls from out of the City--+ find it better to get girls who have a home here. Living conditions are such here just now that I w'd strongly advise any girl to avoid Detroit unless she has friends here--If this one is determined to try--she can no doubt be placed at one of our other Offices. W. E. Smith

Runaway Slave Reenactors at Ypsilanti Centennial Celebration

The legend for this photograph reads: "Carl Lindegren, Mrs. Frederick Gorton." The two plus the boy were reenacting the arrival of runaway slaves in Ypsilanti.

Remnants of the Peckville School

This Daily Ypsilantian-Press article from February 6, 1926 reveals that in the 20s, remnants of the old northside Peckville school were still standing, near Forest and River. The city's second-oldest school, it was then being used as part of a garage by the Swaine family.

The 1856 plat map clearly shows the school on Forest near River. Other interesting details: Maple was called Mill St., and Prospect was called Cemetery St. One wonders when the last bits of the old Peckville School were razed. Also, this map shows the school abutting Forest, but the school is said to have been later turned into the Swaine malt house, which is set back some distance from Forest. Were there two iterations of the school building? Another note is that plat maps are not infallible and were drawn by non-resident plat map companies. You can certainly find errors on old Ypsilanti plat maps.


Here is a Reward of Merit given to one Florence Small(e)y in 1857 and recently published in Gleanings. At first I thought that the school illustrated on the form was the Peckville school, and thought, "that''s a pretty imposing structure for a then-semi-rural schoolhouse!" On closer examination I see that one has to fill in the school name on this form, so I speculate that it was just a standard purchased form someone ordered from a school supply-house.

Modern-day Peckville resident Janice A. has written a delightful account of her onetime neighborhood, published in the Summer 2010 Gleanings. It's worth a read to learn about this onetime northside community.

Scenes from Ypsilanti Centennial Barbecue, 1923

From One-Room Schoolhouse to Lincoln Consolidated Schools

This photo labeled "1924" shows the presumably new Lincoln Consolidated School District and the previous one-room schoolhouses from which it drew its pupils, the sons and daughters of Ypsilanti Township farmers. In an era of increasing industrialization, car ownership, and the dawn of the Jazz age, the time of one-room schoolhouses in Washtenaw County was fading.

A Look Inside

Tree and Bird Day

In 1924, the governor of Michigan urged residents to devote May 2 to tree-planting, in the hope "that the date mark the beginning of the greatest tree planting ever conducted in the state."

It wasn't the founding of Arbor Day, though the man who founded it, Julius Sterling Morton, grew up in Monroe County, Michigan and was a student at--but not a graduate from--the University of Michigan. He moved to Nebraska and in 1872, he began the campaign of tree-planting that resulted in today's Arbor Day.

Oh, and the name of the Michigan governor Tree and Bird Day booster?

Alex Groesbeck.


--April 17, 1924 Ypsilanti Record

Ypsilanti Knights of Pythias, 1923

Ypsi's Knights of Pythias was one of many fraternal groups in town. Others included the Masons, the Oddfellows, the Maccabees, the Phoenix Lodge, the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the Elks, the Catholic group the Knights of Columbus, and so on. Many Ypsilanti men were members of more than one group.

In Ypsi the Masons, the Oddfellows, and the Knights of Pythias among others had their own dedicated lodge meeting hall. You know where the Masonic one was; the K of P's was on the third floor of the old bank building at the southeast corner of Michigan Ave. and Huron (now City Hall). They met twice a month and shared the space with the Oddfellows.

The K of P was nationally founded in 1864. Wikipedia: "It was founded by Justus H. Rathbone, who had been inspired by a play by the Irish poet John Banim about the legend of Damon and Pythias. This legend illustrates the ideals of loyalty, honor and friendship that are central to the order."

Pythias, according to Greek legend, was a guy sentenced to death who asked to return home one last time. Dionysius [EDITED TO ADD: A king of Syracuse, not the god] granted his wish provided that he be chaperoned by Damon--and that if Pythias fled, Damon would be executed in his place. The day for Pythias to return came and went, and Dionysius was about to kill Damon when Pythias showed up at the last minute, saying that his ship had been delayed. Dionysius was so impressed by Pythias's loyalty that he pardoned both men and hired them.

Which may explain the vaguely Greek-ish dress of the group pictured here...but perhaps not the weird wildman pictured in back left. I'd like to know the story behind that. Click for full image.

Horsepower

Check this out. This is from a wonderful 1924 book called "A Popular History of American Invention" by Waldemar Kaempffert. This book has taken up permanent residence in the bathroom (TMI). Here's one of my favorite pictures in the book. It's from a chapter titled "FARMING BY MACHINE." The caption says:

"From 1841, when D. A. Church built what was probably the last of the early harvester-threshers, until about 1881, harvesting and threshing were regarded as separate and distinct operations. But when California became the greatest wheat-raising State, labor sufficient to harvest, haul, and thresh wheat in the old way could not be secured. Combined harvesters and threshers ("combines") were built. These were drawn by great teams of horses, as here shown. Gasoline-engines were used to supply the power for the machinery, the horses being used only for hauling. nowadays tractors take the place of horses."

Deist Grocery, Then and Now

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

Let's Go To the Wuerth

Let's go to the Martha tonight.

No, we always go there. What's playing at the Wuerth?

Let's see...a Charlie Chaplin picture, "A Woman of Paris."

Oh, he's funny. What's it about?

Hmm...it sounds like a melodrama. Not comedy.

That's odd. OK, let's try it. Their matinee is cheaper than at the Martha, anyways. Say, look at that picture. Is she...wearing anything?

--Ypsilanti Record ad, January 10, 1924

What's Playing at the Martha?

Like to go see a movie this weekend?

Sure, what's playing?

Over at the Martha they have "The Fighting Blade." That's the one set during the English civil war. Richard Barthelmess plays a soldier of fortune who ends fighting for Cromwell. It's a historical drama.

Eh, everyone thinks he's so handsome; I don't think so. Anything later in the week?

Yeah, on the 16th and 17th they have "Trilby."

Ooh, is that based on the book about that Svengali who hypnotizes the maid and makes her a great singer? Isn't that the one that will indirectly inspire the long-running Broadway musical The Phantom of the Opera sixty years from now? Yeah, let's go see "Trilby"!

--Ypsilanti Record, January 10, 1924

Order of the Eastern Star 1923 Cookbook

Dusty D was tipped off to the existence of this cookbook by a posting on the YCVB's Facebook page. I found a copy online and read it with great interest. DD loves to cook and loves learning about culinary history. I definitely want to know what people were cooking and eating in 1923, the year this cookbook was published by the OES, the ladies' auxiliary to the local Masons.

Here are DD's observations about the food in the cookbook:

*What is most notable is the complete absence of any foreign cuisines. No Mexican, no Italian or French, nothing. There are only 5 dishes that are even vaguely foreign, and even those have been Americanized: chop suey, "American chop suey," chili con carne, Spanish rice, and something called "Indian salad," a fruit salad containing coconut.

*In line with that, another glaring lack in the cookbook is an absolute lack of French or Italian herbs. No oregano, no thyme, no basil, no bay leaves--nothing at all. The food sounds relatively bland compared to the kind of food I like to cook. Salt, pepper, cayenne, and paprika are the only spices I see.

*The section that could be copied and placed in a modern cookbook is "Cookies."

*The section that is most different from a modern cookbook is "Meats." We are used to eating tacos, nachos, stir-fries, and other everyday meat dishes borrowed from other cuisines. Every dish in this section is strictly old-time American. There are a lot of veal recipes and a couple of oyster ones too...though the era of oysters was in decline by this time.

*There are a lot of escalloped dishes, which take some time to bake. Just a small reminder that most women spent all day at home and could afford the time.

*Vegetable preparation sounds pretty bland, and most of them are boiled or baked.

*The ONLY processed foods mentioned in the whole book are canned vegetables, cream cheese, Worchester sauce and gelatin (in my casual survey). Every cake in the extensive cake section is made from scratch.

*Doughnuts were made at home.

*The oldest recipe in the book is for the medieval recipe for mincemeat pie, which in this book is called "pork cake" in 2 separate recipes and "mincemeat in a third.

*There's a section for conserves/jams and for confectionery.

*There is NO pasta--except spaghetti noodles and macaroni. No others.

*There is NO pizza. My husband (mid-40s) remarked that he had once overheard people of his parents' generation (late 70s) discussing pizza as if it had been a novel and wild new thing in the 1960s.

*There's a section for "Invalid Cooking." In the first recipe, the minced beef is simmered "until the strength is quite extracted from the beef."

Pretty interesting! Thank you, OES ladies!

Deer Season Then and Now

With the firearms deer season nigh, it's interesting to compare a few snippets of a November 9, 1922 article on the subject to today's regulations.

"The Michigan deer season will open tomorrow [Friday, November 10] and several hunting parties from here have already left for the Northern Woods while others are planning to leave later." Of course today the firearms season begins on the 15th, with some special September and October restricted seasons for disabled hunters and youth hunters. As today, the 1922 firearm season ended on November 30.

"Hunters from here started early in the week although there can be no shooting until Friday. The trains from Detroit and Chicago are carrying their quotas of roughly dressed men, with guns in cases, and other camp paraphenelia. Many go in automobiles." I can't imagine anyone traveling up North to hunt by train these days. And the vehicle of choice I imagine is not one of Ford's Model Ts, then the most popular car, but a pickup.

"Each hunter with a license is permitted to shoot one buck whose horns are at least three inches long. Does and fawns are protected to prevent the animals from becoming extinct. Each party of at least four hunters may also shoot an extra deer for camp use." Today's firearms license is similar, with the exception that only ONE horn has to be more than three inches. It is no longer permitted to take another deer for camp use.

The regular license is also valid for taking an antlerless deer in Deer Management Unit (DMU) 487--the deer management regions system is also something that didn't exist in 1922. Also, today there is a combination license which should be called the COMPLICATED license which basically allows you to bag two deer, one buck and one antlerless. In addition, there is an antlerless deer license and a youth antlerless license. So basically there are 4 license choices today instead of apparently just one in the past. Also, hunters in the southern Lower Peninsula can buy as many licenses as they like, also in the tuberculosis region, DMU 487. GOT ALL THAT?

"Last year the state issued 27,000 deer licenses, about 1000 fewer than the year previous." In 2008, about 550,000 firearm licenses were issued--not counting archery, muzzleloader, and youth permits. The Michigan Sportsman forum says there are roughly 2 million deer in the state.

1922 Post-Suffrage Cartoon from Ypsilanti Press

I think this speaks for itself as to attitudes of some towards the newly-minted women voters. From the Ypsilanti Press, November 16, 1922; the Nineteenth Amendment had been passed two years earlier. Like 2010, 1922 was a midterm election year.

U-M Students Crash Normalite Party, October 9, 1924

Ann Arbor college men hopping on the interurban and cruising down to Ypsilanti to woo the large numbers of female college students at the Normal used to be a time-honored practice.

But sometimes it went too far, as it did this night in 1924.

The U-M men crashed a party at the present-day Riverside Arts Center, blasting right past the chaperone. It didn't end well.

"One of them was arrested and placed in the city bastille where he spent the night meditating on the sorrows attending a follower of forbidden pleasures."

The altercation led to a meeting of the presidents of both universities to find out how to stamp out such vexatious nonsense.