Blizzard Causes Havoc for U-M Beaus and their Ypsi Belles

On the night of February 21, a blizzard struck Ypsilanti, as part of the ongoing January-February cold wave. "Business in Ypsilanti is at a standstill," says this February 22, 1912 Ypsilanti Daily Press article. "For once, at least, a holiday is welcomed by local merchants because conditions are such that no trade is lost by reason of the stores being closed and there is plenty of work in snow drifts in front of nearly every man's house today to afford him ample exercise and [pastime]."

The storm's effects were also chronicled in the 1912 Aurora yearbook's joke section. On the night of the blizzard, the Senior Dance had been held, with plenty of visiting would-be suitors from Ann Arbor. The poor things were caught in the midst of it.

The Aurora editors wrote up the U-M students' consternation in the form of a mock resolution that may be paraphrased thus:

"Because the weather is unpredictable, with deep snow difficult to slog through, and because the interurban doesn't run a late-night car, leaving the only other option a ride from Ypsi to Ann Arbor on the 2 a.m. Michigan Central train, we U-M students will skip the traditional finale of our dance parties so that we can return our ladies to their homes earlier and arrive back in Ann Arbor in a timely fashion."

2/15/1912: Peckville-Area Worden Greenhouse in Danger!

Here's one side effect of the severe cold wave Ypsi was experiencing in January and February of 1912. This item is from the February 15, 1912 Ypsilanti Daily Press.

John Worden was a florist. His greenhouse was on the east side of River Street opposite Highland Cemetery, and his home was at 733 River on the west side of the street. The site where John's home stood is now the small empty field on River across which one can see the Corner Brewery.

John had landholdings opposite the cemetery, as seen below. His Peckville-area land adjoined properties held by machinist Robert Ziegler (possibly misspelled on plat map), dairyman Dwight Peck, cider manufacturer Harvey James, William Leslie, and Nelson Freeman. The little sliver cut from its southwestern edge is labeled "Pattee's Addition."

Thank goodness John could fetch water from the nearby river for his greenhouse boiler, that chilly day!

The onetime Worden land as seen today:

The Cold Wave of 1912

Read all about the great cold wave of exactly one century ago this January! Thanks to the Courier and its great new editor T.! (If you don't have a sub, don't forget to pick up your paper copy on Thursday!)

A Century Ago: Bitter Cold

Though Ypsilanti has enjoyed mild winter temperatures of late, a century ago a cold wave gripped the nation from Louisiana to the upper Midwest.

In Chicago, the homeless population wrapped their feet in rags. Some regions recorded temperatures of 50 below. It would turn out to be the nation's second coldest winter in all of its history, and would one day get its own (somewhat half-baked) Wikipedia page.

Every train coming into Chicago was running from one to ten hours late, according to the story accompanying the headline at left, from the January 13, 1912 Ypsilanti Daily Press.

The cold wave took its toll locally as well, as noted in another front-page story in the same issue of the paper.

The victim was a coal deliveryman who apparently fell from his wagon, hitting his head and presumably becoming unconscious. He was found with "hands and feet badly frozen."

The cold wave took a while to move on, and for a while a century ago, especially among the poor in Ypsilanti, locals were put to severe strain to combat the relentless threat.