Tidbits from the August 10, 1888 Commercial

"Any imperfections which may be noticed in this paper can be accounted for by fact that, owing to the ague, the editor has given his business 'the shake,' and us boys are running things to suit ourselves."*

"The old tannery building near Congress street bridge has been sold to Joseph DeMosh, who will turn it into a livery stable."

"Dick Cady is a great dog fancier. His dog Don has been so trained by his owner that he will lie down and tamely submit to be curried with a 'cow card.'** He seems to like the fun. He sat for his photograph the other day; but up to date he hasn't expressed his opinion as regards whether it is a good picture or not. "

"Alfred E. Thomas, one of the most esteemed colored men of this county, died at his residence in Ann Arbor last Saturday morning, aged 52. Mr. THomas was born a slave, but gained his freedom and came to this city upwards of 35 years ago. He was an old soldier, being a member of Co. I 102 Colored Infantry, which was Michigan's colored regiment. He was wounded at Deveaux Neck, N. C. Mr. Thomas was a prominent member of the A.M.E. Church of this city with which he was united 11 years since. He was also an active member of St. Mary's lodge F. & A. M., under whose auspices he was buried, Monday afternoon, there being about 30 of his brothers in line, including some from Ypsilanti. Rev. Mr. Jeffries, of Ypsilanti, preached the sermon, and the funeral was probably the largest colored funeral ever held in the county. He leaves a wife and two children."

Ad: Longtime Commercial editor C. R. Pattison sells his home prior to moving to Florida.

*Ague = malaria, of which trembling was one side effect.
**A brushlike tool apparently used for currying a cow.

Tidbits From the 1888 Commercial: A Visit to the Commercial Printing House

Dusty D's favorite paper from Ypsilanti's past is definitely the Ypsilanti Commercial. Originally edited by the tempestuous C. R. Pattison, the paper was taken over in 1887 by the Coe Brothers when Pattison retired.

The Commercial under Pattison was pro-Temperance, pro-suffrage, and anti-slavery. Pattison engaged in regular and fiery criticisms of the other city paper over at Michigan Avenue and Washington, the Sentinel.

Under Pattison, the Commercial printing house stood on top of the Riverside Park sledding hill on the southeast corner of Cross and Huron; it later moved to Pearl and Huron. But it wasn't just a newspaper. They did all sort of job printing for anyone who wanted posters, commencement booklets, wedding announcements, church bulletins, calling cards, and so on. Dusty D's Baltimore grandfather, Charles Benjamin Franklin Bien, was a job printer, and DD's dad, a longtime printing press mechanic, owns a beautiful old-school self-inking platen press.

A look at some tidbits from the January 27, 1888 issue gives a peek at life in the printing house.

Here's one example of the job printing done there: a color poster advertising the Cornwell Fire Company's Masquerade Ball. Dusty D is not sure why a fire company is throwing a gala masquerade, but there you are.

Another item published at the Commercial was the Normal News, the campus newspaper.
Under the Coe Brothers (later just Henry Coe), the Commercial gentled down a bit from Pattison's fusillades of the past. They even went so far as to reprint a most charming description, taken from their rival the Sentinel, describing an evening of sleighing and reading.
A final charming tidbit details a handwritten newspaper written by two young Ypsi boys, even finding space in the Commercial to reprint one of their jokes.

Thanksgiving Note to the Ministers of Ypsi from Editor C. R. Pattison

C. R. Pattison was the most fiery editor in all of Ypsilanti history. He treated his paper, the Ypsilanti Commercial, as a large cannon. He didn't fire it in every weekly issue of the Commercial, but when he did not even local ministers were out of range.

The Commercial's printing-house stood at the corner of Huron and Cross Streets, though I don't know which corner it stood on. In the November 22, 1884 edition, Pattison tells local preachers to tone it down already.

A HINT
As a rule Thanksgiving sermons are unmercifully long. This fact has kept a great many people away from church. A year's thoughts and ideas are piled into one effort. Boil down, cut off the prefaces and expletives and long drawn conclusions. Give the solid meat.

Again enough singing is piled service to last five years. Last year we laid up the program of song, such a multiplicity of pieces on purpose as a reminder to this coming occasion, but we have mislaid it.

At all events short prayers, not over three glorious Thanksgiving hymns, a brief boiled down wide awake sermon, and there will be many more thankful souls. Many a good woman can give the promised good dinner and yet enjoy the church service, many a farmer and farmer's wife can come to church and get back to their turkey, and not grumble all the way homeward and be [ticked off...]

In the very same issue, even on the same (front) page, Pattison delivered another editorial, this one aimed at the Commercial's detractors.

ANYTHING BUT STAGNATION
Some would like to have the Commercial tamed or toned down so as to give no progressive ideas, to be very careful not to advance a step beyond the path it has been accustomed to tread. Not give its readers anything to think of but lull them to sleep with the same old song. Better give them something to get mad on, for they will soon get over it and feel better, than to administer to a perpetual stagnation of thought and action. It is the glory of American freemen that they are not hampered and if they kick and get a little mad [they] yet have common sense enough to soon get over it and behave manfully and nobly. The COMMERCIAL would not be worth taking did it not stir up your laggard brains and ideas occasionally. Count on it doing so at least when you need it bad.

Lost Ypsilanti: Vanished Cross Street Building

From the November 20, 1896 Ypsilanti Commercial comes this tidbit about a onetime building that used to stand on the southeast side of the Cross Street and Huron Street intersection, built by one Dr. John P. Fryer. More info on Fryer:

"Rev. John P. Fryer was born near Brantford, Ontario, November 14, 1854. He was graduated from the Middlesex Seminary in 1873, and from the Commercial College in London in 1876. He was married in 1878 to Elizabeth S. Walker of Glencoe and entered the Methodist ministry the same year. He was ordained at Ridgeton in 1882, and held pastorates in Wheatly, Ridgelon and Dresden in Ontario, and after coming to Michigan, preached in Rochester, Saginaw, Lapeer and Flint. In 1893, he united with the Congregationalists and did missionary work in Detroit. During that year he took a http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifcourse in the Michigan College Of Medicine and Surgery. lit 1895 he removed to Ypsilanti and engaged in the practice of Medicine. In 1886, he published a pamphlet entitled "Trials and Duties." He died of heart failure August 25, 189S, in his 44th year. A wife, two daughters and a son mourn his loss." --Minutes of the Michigan Congregational Association

Apparently one could practice medicine after one scant year of school. John purchased the lot from the onetime editor of the Ypsilanti Commercial, who lived near the same intersection. The building John was creating has vanished.

Ypsilanti had its own time zone in 1883

Kind readers, did you know Ypsilanti once had its own time zone? Yep! You can read about it in my story for today's Courier!