Huron Hotel: Huron Motor Inn Menu from the "Indian Room"

In 1962, Ypsilanti lawyer Bill Anhut bought the Huron Hotel in 1962, and, so far as Dusty can tell, was the person who renamed it the Huron Motor Inn. The restaurant in the hotel, in the old-time coffee shop space, was called the Indian Room. Here is its menu.

Things I find interesting: one of the sandwiches consists of "imported sardines," served open faced on toast with spanish onion, tomato, and olives. Dusty D would love this sandwich, but was surprised to see it on a menu, since I don't think it would be popular today...but why not? A mystery.

Note also that lemonade is offered only "in season." We can infer that the Country Time et al drink mixes that line shelves in the store simply did not exist in the early 60s. And it hearkens back to the time when we ate everything in season (or preserved or from storage) since that's the only thing that was available.

To give you some idea of the prices, 25 cents in 1962 is $1.76 today. 50 cents = $3.52, $1 = $7.04, $2 = $14.09, $3 = $21.13.

Huron Hotel: Stock Certificate

The Huron Hotel was built in 1923 with money raised from residents of Ypsilanti via the sale of $200,000 worth of stock. Here's the stock certificate you would have received had you been one of the investors.

650 people bought stock, most of them people of modest means who bought just one share for $100. This certificate represents 12 shares of stock purchased by a couple: Atwood R. McAndrew Jr and Martha P. McAndrew.

Atwood was the son of Atwood McAndrew Sr., who with Thomas McAndrew ran the Mack and Mack furniture store on Michigan Avenue. It appears that this block of 12 shares was purchased on November 18, 1957 and sold on February 7, 1967. This surprised Dusty D because as far as she knew the only sale of stock occurred in 1923, but apparently sales of stock continued after the initial fundraising.

At any rate, the document is a testament to the civic spirit and pride that allowed one small city to build a hotel using only money raised from its own residents.

Take a Stoll down Pearl Street in 1924

Like to take a walk with me down Pearl Street in 1924 to see what's there? Then take a peek at today's story in the Courier (thanks, A.!).

Huron Hotel: Woodruff's Grove Restaurant

Here's a piece of Huron Hotel history; a menu from its 1980-1989 restaurant, Woodruff's Grove. The cute bit of this restaurant is that the menu choices are themed, with names reflecting tidbits from Ypsilanti history. Dusty Diary's favorite is "Asa Dow's Crab Legs." I can just imagine him saying, "I BEG your pardon!"

There's also the Judge Woodward (steak, but should be something more Detroit-y), the "Raftsmen," featuring a water creature on a li'l English muffin raft, and the Salad Demetrius, which is appropriately Greek. Were Dusty D to have lunch there today, she would choose...hmm, the "Fire of 1851," yummy.

The "Fence Watcher" burger confused Dusty D till she read on the back of the menu, in a little glossary there: "Fence Watcher: (mid 1850s)--A one man job riding property lines making sure fences were in good repair; prevented livestock from wandering and becoming the center of ownership disputes." Ah.

Huron Hotel: Dinner in 1931

During the Depression, the Huron Hotel (here called Hotel Huron; both names were used through the years) was one of the few hotels in Michigan to stay open and successful. Here is what you could choose for dinner in November of '31.

Things that I find interesting: There are zero ethnic-influenced dishes on the menu, though they're standard fare today. Buttermilk is one of the beverage choices. Oysters were still a common appetizer--oysters had been popular in Ypsilanti since the 19th century (one aspect of the past Dusty D is sorry she missed). Leg of lamb is still a popular and apparently common meat. All in all, it sounds delicious. I'll take the Mackinac trout if you please.

Huron Hotel: Humor with your Food

This is neato mosquito, a menu cover from the Hotel Huron in 1961 (click any image for larger version).

In that year, the hotel was facing financial difficulties.

The hotel started offering dinners for lunch prices and allowing weekly room rentals.

Though those efforts were ultimately not successful, one of the artifacts it generated was this menu cover cartoon featuring a caricature of downtown Ypsilanti.

Here you can see the downtown hotel at Washington and Pearl. You can see the buildings on the north side of Pearl between Washington and Huron. There's the Grand Army of the Republic Hall, which of course is still standing. One Yank and one Reb are having a shootout in front. Next door, at the Huron corner, is the onetime Ypsilanti Press building.

You can also see the north side of Michigan Avenue. There are a number of women swarming one store offering a sale where the modern-day Mix is housed. Note that by the 60s, the original 3rd floor of Hewitt Hall was already removed (some decades before).

In the cartoon's upper left corner, you can see the water tower and the onetime location of the business school.

There's a hunter up there too shooting a pheasant, and there's the old YHS (now Cross Street Village.

In the lower left corner, you can see a box extolling the features of the hotel. Dusty D likes "TV and Radios" especially. And a fire-resistant building is always a plus. I wonder if they meant they'd installed asbestos.

Note the little cartoon of a va-va-voom type girl inciting a car crash and another guy's wolf whistle. You can also see a bunch of kids playing stickball (?) and a woman sensibly hanging out her laundry.


Last, here's a shot of Depot Town. You can see the Streicher murder house at Cross and Huron with the old poultry barn behind it, which did exist there for many years.

A couple of guys are playing football on Frog Island--for years the YHS used Frog Island as their athletic field. Two silos seem to refer to the old Farm Bureau corn silo at Forest and the RR tracks (?). There's a simplified referenced to the old Peninsular Paper factory. Dusty D has no idea what the "Archery" building next to Michigan ladder might be. Last, you can see the present-day automotive museum ("Used Cars").

I leave y'all with a question: is that really a coal-powered steam train that's going through Depot Town? Were any of those still around in 1961? I thought things had largely switched over to diesel engines by around that time. Anything else that you notice or would like to comment on?

Huron Hotel Floor Plan

Dusty D picked up a lot of interesting ephemera during research for my last Ann Arbor Chronicle article about the Huron Hotel (Centennial Center). I'll be posting some of these cool items over the next few days as time permits. Here is a floor plan on the first floor of the hotel, labeled with a date that appears to be 1936 (possibly 1986, hard to tell; the lettering font suggests the former, does it not?). It's not much different from the original floor plan of 1923.

On the left is the old coffeeshop that later served as a series of restaurants, most recently Buffalo Wild Wings and is now Korey's Krispy Krunchy Chicken. Those tables look a bit jammed-in, don't they? At top is the big kitchen., and below it, a bar occupying the original site of the reception desk. I believe the big empty room on the right was used as a formal dining room for banquets, &c. I wish I could go back in time and traipse through and see it for myself.

Ypsilanti's Waldorf-Astoria

Like to take a peek inside the building the newspapers used to call "Ypsilanti's Waldorf-Astoria"? It's in today's Ann Arbor Chronicle! (And it looks terrific--thanks to D.!)

Do You Have Memories of the Huron Hotel? (for possible inclusion in article)

Do you have memories of Ypsilanti's Huron Hotel at Pearl and Washington (now Centennial Center)? I want to talk to you! For just 10 mins or so, for possible quotation in an upcoming article. Tiny or seemingly insignificant memories welcome [and are often the best ones!] :) Please email me at ypsidixit at gmail, (or email a phone # and a good time for me to call) and thank you!