t i& mm,o mik -— m"I I i A~ QA -11.1 '., 4 (" e C) % .-A e. . — I A , I V A Ann Arbor The First Hundred Years I I itf ANN ARBOR FIFTY YEARS AQO From an Old Photograph Taken About 1875 Ann Arbor The First Hundred Years By O. W. STEPHENSON, Ph. D. Assistant Professor, University of Michigan Published and Distributed by ANN ARBOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE 1927 COPYRIGHT, 1927 BY ANN ARBOR CHAMBER OF COMMERCE THE ALUMNI PRESS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN ANN ARBOR To my wife Evelyn B. Stephenson THE writing and publishing of this History of Ann Arbor were made possible through the generosity and civic spirit of the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, led by its Board of Directors and its secretary, Mr. 0. 0. McLeish Preface A S the centennial year, 19214, of the founding of Ann Arbor approached, the pride of her citzens in their city sought some proper form of expression in honor of that event. Beginning among the members of the Chamber of Commerce, and under the immediate inspiration of the President of that organization, Mr. W. H. Butler, many heartily fell in with the idea of promoting a fitting celebration alnd of otherwise recognizing the one hundredth birthday of the city. The leaders in the movement were, besides Mr. Butler, President Emeritus Harry B. Hutchins, Mr. G. Frank Allmendinger, Mr. Titus IHutzel, Regent Junius E. Beal, Mr. I)urand W. Springer, Mr. H. W. Douglas, Professor Alfred IT. White, Mr. Charles A. Sink, Mr. Michael J. Fritz, Mr. L. M. Slauson, Mr. E. E. Schmid, Doctor W. B. linsdalle, Mr. F. N. Menefee, Mr. MI. E. Osborne, Mayor George E. Lewis, Mr. Willis Johnson, Miiss Lucy Chapin, and Miss Sarah Whedon. Within a short time several committees were appointed to study ways and means, and as a result of their findings a fourfold plan was considered. It was proposed that a week's celebration should be held in which the principal feature would be an elaborate historical pageant. There was general agreement, also, that an authoritative history of the city should be written, that the principal points of historical interest within the city should be marked with alpropriate markers, fittingly inscribed, and that an elaborate centennial banquet should be held in the Michigan Union Building. It was at first thought that from five to ten thousand dollars might be expended upon the celebration and pageant, but tlle voters wisely decided that it would be better to devote the moley to material improvements then needed in the city. Iowever, the interest in the other proposals did not die out, definite steps being taken to locate the historical sites, arrange for the banquet, and negotiate for the writing of the history. The work of placing the markers went on chiefly under the supervision of vi PRiEFACE Mr. Junius E. Beal and Mr. M. E. Osborne, and the great boulders and bronze tablets to be seen here and there about the city show how well their work was done. The names of those responsible for arranging the centennial banquet are given in the last chapter of this volume where that unique event is described. Those who had most to do with negotiating for the writing of the history were Mr. G. Frank Allmendinger, Miss Lucy Chapin, Mr. Durand W. Springer, Judge Wirt H. Newkirk, Mr. Edward W. Staebler, Miss Sarah Whedon, Mr. M. E. Osborne, Mr. George Lewis, and Doctor W. B. IIinsdale. A Committee representing the Chamber of Commerce approached the author and on March 31, 1924, and in the office of Professor C. E. Goddard, in the Law Building of the University, a contract was entered into by which the undersigned agreed to write a history of Ann Arbor to cover the years from 1824 to 1925. Hopes were high that the book would be ready at the end of a year, but it soon became evident that this could not possibly be done since the task of going through all of the newslpaper and other material was far too great. The work went forward steadily, if slowly, and by the fall of 1926 the manuscript was practically ready for the press. The problem of properly financing tie publication of the work held back sending it to the printer, and it was not until the spring of this year, 1927, that satisfactory arrangements were made in this direction. This accounts for the fact that in the earlier chapters little mention is made of affairs which took place after the fall of 1925, while in the later chapters several events are noted which took place after that time. To those who read this history of Ann Arbor the chief sources of our information will be clear. It will not be clear, however, who it was that furnished the principal part of the material or otherwise gave assistance in the preparation of the book. It would not be possible in a small space to list the names of all of those who helped; but those who did may take to themselves such credit as they deserve and I hereby thank them one and all. First on the list of those who gave a great deal of help should appear the name of my wife, Mrs. Evelyn B. Stephenson, who labored long an patiently in going over old records, in arranging notes, in getting the manuscript R- EFACE PREFI~ACEC vii ready for tile press, and in the reading of proof. Second only in importance to the work of Mrs. Stephenson was that of three of our citizens, Miss Lucy Chapin, Mr. Titus liutzel, and the late Mr. G. Frank Allmendinger. Each one of these persons read all or nearly all of the manuscript, each furnished an abundance of material, and each offered valuable suggestions as to accuracy, content, anld points of view. Following these should come the name of Mr. Wilfred B. Shaw, who permitted nme to draw freely from his own splendid book, The Univ'rsity of Jlichigai, who read all of the proof, and who gave unsparingly of his time and thought to the task of making the volume mechanically attractive. In addition to the above should appear the name of Mrs. Caroline Campbell, formerly of Grand Rapids, Michigan, but now deceased, who succeeded in getting hold of a large number of letters written by the Aliens a hundred years ago. Mrs. Campbell visited the old Allen homstead in Virginia, the county court house not far from there, the offices of the Secretary of the State of Virginia in the capitol in Richmond, and the offices of the Secretary of State of the United States in Washington, D. C. From these llaces she sent for my use many details having to (1o with the Allen fiamily, most of which have been given a place in this book. The Misses Elsie (race and Rose Anderson of Toledo, Ohio, direct descendants of James T. Allen, brother of John Allen, kindly loaned the picture of John Allen facing page 12, as well as a good deal of other valuable material. Others who had a share in the work were Miss Alice I)ouglas, Miss Cynthia Sager, Miss Marie Rominger, Mrs. Caroline Felsh Grant, Professor James II. Cissel, Mr. Robert Norris, Mr. William J. Booth, Miss Fredericka Gillette, Mr. and Mrs. S. W. Clarkson, Professor Fielding H. Yost, Mr. Harry A. Tillotson, Mr. George Wahr, Mr. Sid W. Millard, Mr. George,E. Lewis, Mr. W. H. Butler, Dr. J. A. Wessinger, Dr. Wilbert B. Hinsdale, Mrs. John E. Mayer, Mr. Isaac Reynolds, Mr. Thomas O'Brien, Mr. D. W. Springer, Reverend J. R. Command, Professor Samuel P. Lockwood, Mr. Charles J. Andrews, Miss Dorothy McKim, Mr. E. E. Schmid, Mr. George S. Vandawarker, Miss Marian Goodrich, Mr. William W. Bishop, Mr. Francis Goodrich, Mr. Fred T. Stowe, Mr. Zina P. King, Regent Junius E. Beal, Mrs. viii PREFACE John Woods, the late Mr. Ross Granger, Mr. Michael J. Fritz, Dr. Walter HI. Jackson, and Miss Flora Bates of the State Library Staff, Lansing, Michigan. Gathering the material and putting it into book form was no easy task. It called for an almost endless amount of research, a great deal of traveling and literally hundreds of personal interviews. Yet, all of these activities would have come to little had not so many given assistance in one way or another. I hope that those who had a hand in producing the volume find pleasure enough in reading it to repay them, in part at least, for the pains they took. I hope, also, that they and others of our citizens who go through its pages will experience an even greater pride in their city for having reviewed the scenes described in Ann Arbor, the First Hundred Years. OILANDO W. STEPHENSON, SR. Contents I. ANN ARBOR'S ANTECEDENTS................................ 5 II. JOHN ALLEN FOUNDS A TOWN............................ 13 III. THIE SITE OF ANN A IBOR.................................... 23 IV. TIlE SETTLERS POUR IN......................... 27 V. E VIDENCES OF G ROW TH........................................ 44 V I. TI-IHE FIRST FEW Y EARS........................................ 62 VII. THE GERMANS...................................................... 80 VIII. PRIVATE SCHIOOLS................................................. 99 IX. THIE CLARK SCHOOL.............................................. 1.13 X. PUBLIC SCHOOLS........................................ 12.......... 1 XI. MILITARY MATTERS.............................................. 144 XII. POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILID)INS................... 175 XIII. THE LIGHTER SIDE................................. 193 XIV. BUSINESS LIFE...................................................... 13 XV. TI-E UNIVERSITY-PART I.............................. 237 XVI. THE UNIVERSITY-PAIT II.............................. 255 XVII. TIHE UNIVERSITY-PART III.................... 281 X VIII. BANKS....................................................... 295 XIX. FIRE AND WATER.............................................. 307 XX. GAS AND LIGHT...................................................... 323 XXI. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION............ 328 XXII. ANN ARBOR PUBLICATIONS.................................. 347 XXIII. HEALTH AND SANITATION............................. 360 x (X )NTENTS X X I. T H E S ERIOUS S IDE............................................ 36 XXV. M. C. A. AND. W. C. A................................ 394 XXVI. OF (GENERAiL INTEREST......................................... 400 XXXII[I. KIEE; ING A lBREAST,O TlE'' TIMlES........................ 412 XXVIII. TlE CENTENNIAL CE(LtivBRIN.......................... 429 APPENDIX A. ODD NOTES ON BUILDINGS ) IHOTELS, AND BU1SINESS...... 43 B. SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL ADVmERTISERS IN LOCAL IAPERS, 1830-1890................................................ 441 C. COMPLETE BUSINESS I)IRECTORY FOR TIE YEAR 1860.... 449 D. POPULATION STATISTICS (APPROXIMATE)...................... 454 E. SOME LEADERS OF OTHER I)AYS................................ 455 F. AAYORS OF THE CITY OF ANN AtRoiLR.............................. 46 G. I'PRESIJDENTS OF TH' E (OUNCIL.......................................... 469 OFFICERS OF THE CrITY, APR l, I, 1925,................................ 469 List of Illustrations PAGE Ann Arbor Fifty Years Ago............................................ Frontispiece Ann A rbor in 1852.................................................................................... 4 The Founders of Ann Arbor, John and Ann Allen............................ 12 The Huron in Winter Garb...................................................... 22 The Valley of the Huron............................................................................ 25 A Group of the Pioneers of Ann Arbor's Very Earliest Days........ 30 The Old Court House....................................................... 39 Silver Tankard and Spoon........................................................................ 43 Ann Allen's Fan........................................................................ 43 One of the Oldest Buildings in Ann Arbor............................................ 47 James Kingsley............................................................... 51 General Edward Clark........................................................... 51 The Old Frankllin Hotel......................................................... 58 Huron Street................................................. 58 Old Inn............................................................................ 63 Iills East of Ann Arbor in the Dead of Winter.................................. 67 rTh Oldetst HIouse in Ann Arbor......................................................... 71 JIolathan H enry M ann and IIi s W ife....................................................... 81 The Passport of JTonathn Ienry Mnn............................................ 'lThe First Assembly Iouse of the Germans in Mich...................... 91 Two of the German Churches in Ann Arbor........................................ 97 Andrew Ten Brook................................................................ 108 The Reverend George P. Williams............................................... 111 Mary H. Clark................................................................... 114 The Ol Clark School on Division Street............................................ 118 The Oll Union High School.......................................... 122 The Ann Arbor High School............................................................. 130 Jullson Pattengill........................................................ 132 W. S. Perry............................................ 132 The Three Captains of the Student Colmpanies in 1801 t............. 151 The Muster Roll of 1861........................................ 155 Ann Arbor Mourns the Death of President Lincoln............................ 162 Marshall Foch in Ann Arbor................................................... 173 xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE The Old( Post Office Building................................................................... 179 The Court House............................................................ 185 A Business Section in 1860........................................................................ 196 Whitinore Lake.............................................................................. 197 Barton IHills Golf Club)................................................................. 211 C h lirles A. C h alp in.................................................................................... 2 14 Northwest Corner of Fourth Avenue and Ann Street........................ 216 The Hoover Plant...................................................................................... 226 The Edison Power Plant and Dam........................................................ 233 The North End Industrial Section............................................................ 236 The JUniversity Campus in the Fifties.................................................. 240 Mason Hall Tablet.................................................. 241 The Campus in 1850, From the East.................................................... 246 The First Fraternity House in Ann Arbor............................................ 252 lHenry Philip Tappan,, D. I)., LL. D........................................................ 256 The Old Law Building andl University Hall, About 1875.................... 258 Erastus 0. Haven, D. I)....................................... 259 The University Observatory in 1855...................................................... 261 A ndrew D. W h ite, L L. D........................................................................ 264 Dr. James Burrill Angell............................... 269 The Literary Faculty in 1876-77............................................................ 272 Harry Burns HIlutchins, TLL. I).............................................. 274 Marion Leroy 1Burton.......................................... 278 C la ren ce C ook L ittle............................................................................... 278 The University Baseball Team in 1876................................................ 280 Ferry Field................................................................................................. 285 Fielding H. Yost....................................................................................... 286 The Yost Field House on Ferry Field.................................................... 288 A Program for a Time-Honored Student Rite.................................... 290 An Outlet for Student Rivalry......................................................... 292 The University School of Music............................................................... 293 The First National Bank......................................................................... 299 The Ann Arbor Savings Bank................................................................ 301 The Farmers and Mechanics Bank....................................................... 303 The State Savings Bank.......................................................................... 305 The Old Engine House............................................................................... 308 The Fire Department in 1885................................................................... 309 The Police Department in 1908............................................................... 321 Silas H. Douglas....................................................................................... 324 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xiii PAGE State Street's Lighting System About 1870........................................ 327 The Michigan Central Depot.................................................................. 333 The Poster Announcing the Completion of the Ann Arbor Railroad in 1 878.................................................. 337 After the Busses CaIme ill 1925....................................................... 344 The.lichianj(l) A'tltlC lJourIal for August 13, 1845................................. 348 The Ann Arbor T'imcs-Ncets Buildillng.................................................... 356 The Presbyterian Church........................................................... 368 The M ethodist Episcopal Church............................................................ 373 The North Side Union Church................................................................ 376 St. Andrew's Episcopal Church............................................................... 380 The St. Thom as Catholic Church............................................................ 384 T he F irst B aptist Church.......................................................................... 387 The Congregational Church.................................................................. 388 T'he Y. WV. C. A. Building........................................................................ 3 A Prim itive Saw m ill, 1865................................................................ 405 Main Street in the 'Forties........................................ 410 One of the Bridges Over the Huron....................................................... 416 The Island, One of Ann Arbor's Parks................................................ 423 The William S. Maynard House....................................................... 426 Ihe Tlallet Markin the First Settlement in Ann Arbol r...................... 427 Ann Arbor's 100th Birthday Cake............................................................. 430 Ann Arbor's 100th Birthday P rty......................................................... 431 Th'lle House Built by Rob)ert S. Wilson in 1840 on Dlivision Street, Now the Home of George Wahr........................................................ 434 i Ann Arbor The First Hundred Years I I ANN ARBOR IN 1852 The earliest picture in existence. From a unique print, now in Alumni Memorial Hall, University of Michigan. CHAPTER I Ann Arbor's Antecedents T HOSE who would understand the history of Ann Arbor during the first half-century of its existence must understand the conditions in the states from which the great majority of her people came. Mamiy of the pioneers of the Huron Valley were governed in their every action by the ideas and ideals brought with them from the states of the north Atlantic seaboard. Properly to appreciate the early years of the lives of these people here, we must first obtain a conception of the economic, social and religious conditions in the states upon which they had turned their backs, and which for a generation they referred to as "home." A hundred and more years ago the tide of westward migration fluctuated with the changes in the conditions of life along the Atlantic seaboard and with the political fortunes -of the national government. In the early years of the nineteenth century, the interests of the people along the seaboard were closely bound up with the trans-Atlantic commerce. The acts passed by the United States Congress during the administration of President Thomas Jefferson which forbade commercial intercourse with the nations of Europe worked havoc with New England's shipping and struck a severe blow at her economic life. The people of New York and those living in states farther south suffered similarly, the War of 1812 all but completing their ruin. After that war was over and the Treaty of Ghent was signed (December 24, 1814), people in these and other states more and more concerned themselves with the affairs of the future. Interest in European politics died down, but at the same time interest in the internal development of the United States steadily increased. "Hard times" came upon many of those living in rural sections of the older communities of the East, causing them to migrate to unsettled areas where they could build their fortunes anew. During the decade from 1814 to 1824 a veritable exodus to the West went on, large numbers finding homes in Michigan Territory. It was in this westward movement that Ann Arbor had its birth. THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS The steady stream of emigrants along the western trails and pikes drew heavily upon the population of the eastern states, so that in somie of them the number of inhabitants scarcely increased at all. In the thirty years from 1790 to 1820, the population of New England rose from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 people, but during that same period the trans-Appalachian region grew from 500,000 to 2,250,000 souls. The New Hampshire Supporter, in 1817, complained that the "alarming disease denominated the Ohio fever, continues to rage in many parts of New England, by which vast numbers are taken off. In Connecticut, it has spread to such a surprising extent that Governor Walcott considered an investigation of the causes which produce it as by far the most important subject which can engage the attention of the legislature." Farther south a similar complaint was heard. In Virginia, the legislature complained of "wasted and deserted fields, of dwellings abandoned...of churches in ruins, because the fathers of the land are gone where another outlet to the ocean (the Mississippi) turns their thoughts from the place of their nativity and their affections from the haunts of their youth." The questions naturally arise as to why they came and what they were seeking. A very large proportion of the first settlers in Ann Arbor came from New England and New York. Their ranks, however, were soon swollen by new immigrants from Europe, especially from Germany, where hopes of political liberals had been blasted and where a period of acute industrial depression had followed the long series of wars against Napoleon. Confining our attention for the time being to New England and other eastern sections, it should be noted that, in the former, as the shipping and commercial interests declined, the manufacturers of the section rose to such importance (in the years from 1824 to 1834) that the economic and political interests of the section were divided. The industrial centers of gravity moved up the streams to water power sites, men gave less and less attention to commerce and navigation, and more and more devoted their energies to manufactures. Cotton and woolen mills sprang up with amazing rapidity; the product of the former increased in value from two and a half millions in 1820 to over fifteen and a half millions in 1831; and ANN ARBOR'S ANTECEDENTS 17 the products of the latter rose from less than a million dollars to over eleven million dollars in the same period. Farmers left the plough and took up residence in towns, where they helped to form a labor class. Interest in agriculture suffered a decline; only the more fertile areas were used for the raising of grain, but sheep and cattle raising grew apace. Questions of a tariff for the protection of the young industries occupied men's minds as never before, and political issues developing within the states reflected the differences in the economic interests of the classes. Most of those who made up their minds to go west were of the farmer class. They were those who had been living on the less fertile lands. They believed it would be profitable to go where richer soil could be procured for almost nothing, and where grains, sheep and cattle could easily be raised and shipped to the new manufacturing centers in the East. A very large majority of the early settlers in Ann Arbor was made up of men and women in their twenties. Their ima(ginations were those of youth. Those who came from New England had been cramped and uncomfortable in the little states east of the Hudson. Before leaving they had made up their minds to go where they would have more room for themselves and for their children. Intelligent people in that section, in New York, and in Virginia, well knew that the uncleared hills and valleys of the "promised land" would yield very little for a year or two, and that large quantities of supplies would have to be taken there. However, they had faith in the future, and that faith was richly rewarded. Out there somewhere trees would be girdled, the light of day let in, the soil turned, and, on favorable sites, cities founded. They saw the rainbow and they meant to possess the pot of gold at its farther end. On the whole, the western emigrants were a rude and boisterous folk, regardless of nationality; but those who settled in Ann Arbor were a people of finer stock, with finer antecedents and more worthy ideals. The traditions of their ancestry, the pride in family, and the recollection of the best in their institutions, political and religious, laid a foundation upon which it was not difficult to build a city, or, if need be, a nation. The feeling of colonial dependence which the older generations 8 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS had harbored were scarcely experienced by the younger, and the ties of place which had bound to the East many of the fathers, and more of the grandfathers, were easily severed by the restless youths of the later generation. The idea of "manifest destiny" which possessed the souls of men in the days before the American Revolution, now, with additional strength, gripped the sons and grandsons a half century later. A desire for greater freedom was reaching and towering within them, and an irresistible urge was driving them beyond the mountains in search of new home sites in the almost unexplored and limitless reaches of the West. Many of these people were caught in the outburst of nationalism which swept over the country during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and for many years after the settlement began here their political interests revolved about national affairs. The Ann Arborites of a hundred years ago had chafed under the narrow sectionalism of the seaboard states, and they built their new homes in the places where national life was expanding. They linked their fortunes and worked out their destinies in a region where the words "freedom" and "liberty" had a meaning entirely new. Their spirit was one of festive optimism, and, undaunted by the tales of danger on the frontier, resolute to conquer, they took up their task. It was an adventurous enterprise these people set out upon, and only those whose hearts were filled with courage and selfreliance dared go their way. Those who made the journey carried a declaration of economic independence into the promised land. They were the vanguards of a citizen army in an American empire the length and breadth of which no one yet knew. In their alluring retreat they would erect, as one of their leaders said, using a figure of ridiculous absurdity, "the cornerstone of an edifice, the height and magnificence of whose superstructure is now in the womb of futurity." While it is true that the principal reasons for the movement of these people to the West were principally economic and political, the whole story is not told when those reasons are given. In New England the officeholders and the governing class generally were dominated by the Congregational clergy. The candidates for office were chosen by them, the voters were lined up, and when once a man was elected he usually re ANN ARBOR'S ANTECEDENTS 9 mained in office for many years. After the War of 1812 the returned soldiers manifested a greater interest in both local and national affairs. They determined to take a more active part in determining policies and in shaping actions, determined to have more democracy in both theory and practice. As a result, a greater number of votes were cast at elections, and the power of the dominating classes was threatened. Such denominations as Baptists and Methodists, where the democratic principle was applied in the selection of church officers and pastors, experienced a rapid growth. This was especially true in the newer frontier communities. There the democratic spirit was strong, and there it was that the various dissenting groups united to overthrow the alliance between the state and Congregationalism, and in its place substitute, on the one hand, a democratic electorate miade up of representatives from all denominations, and, on the other, officers chosen on the basis of political qualifications rather than church affiliation. It was from this dissenting class that the first settlers of Ann Arbor came. Many of them had a two-century background of Calvinistic discipline; their consciences were tender as far as they saw the light, and they distinguished clearly between right and wrong. They were inclined to be serious in their thinking, subjecting themselves to inward scrutiny and sometimes given to morbid introspection. They reflected gravely on the problem of personal salvation, at times seeking to determine whether they were of the "elect," and, at other times, deeply concerning themselves over the conduct of their neighbors. They brought to Ann Arbor a spirit of political and religious independence, and a body of political and religious ideals, which, in large measure, may be traced to their old Puri. tan training. Emotional religion was emphasized, old-time re vivals flourished, nearly everyone belonged to a church, and everyone was interested in movements for reform. It was the most natural thing in the world that these people should be reformers. They engaged in join-the-church movements, in temperance crusades, in the movement for the abolition of slavery, in missionary work, in the promotion of better schools, and in the formation of all sorts of social clubs and clubs for culture. They manifested a marked degree of patriotism, and military parades, demonstrations and celebrations 10 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS were some of the principal characteristics of their lives. A few of them had served during the American Revolution, and more had followed the flag in the War of 1812. There were mlany others, also, whose immediate relatives had served in either or both of those conflicts, and tales of the campfire and the battlefield were common among them. Not only were the first settlers advanced in their religious thinking, but they were also advanced in general culture and education. We are in the dark as to the nature and extent of the schooling many of the first settlers had enjoyed; but one cannot read the letters written by these pioneers without a sense of surprise at the easy manner in which they expressed themselves, and without a certain feeling of respect for their evident grasp of affairs. Too much space would be required to illustrate with source material all of these points, but one letter will give us some idea of the mental outlook and interests of at least one of the pioneers. It was written in Lodi by Horace Booth for himself and his brother, Virgil, and was addressed to their parents, Mr. Jesse and Mrs. Dolly Booth, living in Wallkill, Orange County, New York. Washtenaw, May 22nd, 1827. Dear Parents: I again take my pen to address you and to inform you of the safe arrival of my brother Virgil, which was on the 17th inst. He is much pleased with the country and thinks the land much better than he had expected. We have been over to Mr. Genung's lot and find it a very excellent one. Virgil has concluded to take it and wishes you to transact the necessary business in completing the purchase, the deed is in Detroit. The weather through February was uncommonly mild, snow about a foot deep until about the 20th when it went off gradually. The river Huron did not raise more than one or two feet. The spring came on early, cows and young cattle did not require fodder after the 1st March, they were foddered but 3 months. I have chopped 12 acres, burned it over and logged some. We expect to plant 6 acres with corn and potatoes. I have purchased a yoke of oxen and 3 cows and calves, for which I paid 26 dollars, and we propose getting a pair of steers and several cows more. There has been a road laid out past my house running west as far as my N. W. corner. The town laws of the State of New York are adopted here and we shall have town meeting on next Monday. ANN ARBOR'S ANTECEDENTS 11 Mr. John Slaughter and Henry Holcomb from Benton were to see me last week. Mr. Holcomb intended to purchase a lot in this part of the country, he and my neighbor Alanson Holcomb, who has lately married Nancy Slaughter, intended to move out in the fall, and we expect several settlers in this neighborhood this spring. Give our best to the family and friends. We are in good health and spirits and hope these few lines may find our friends enjoying the same beneficence. We remain yours respectfully Horace Booth Mr. Jesse Booth Virgil Booth Dolly Booth Here we see a New Yorker on the frontier living much as he had lived back in "Old Orange," a hopeful youth, making a home for himself in the wilderness of Michigan Territory under town laws of the State of New York. There were hundreds of others like him who came, and the character of their settlements was largely determined by conditions in the states they had left behind. JOHN ALLEN About i849 ANN I. ALLEN In Old Age The Founders of Ann Arbor CHAPTER II John Allen Founds a Town T might be expected, from all that was said in the preceding chapter, that the founder of Ann Arbor would be from New England or New York. Such was not the case. The founder of Ann Arbor was John Allen of Virginia; but Virginians were experiencing political, religious and economic changes similar to those which were being experienced by the people in the states to the northeast. In the matter of numbers, the migration from the Old Dominion seems to have been very nearly as extensive as that from any one of the New England states or from New York. But the destination of the Virginians, in general, was far to the south of Michigan Territory. Prior to the opening of the Erie canal, the New England element, bound for the northwest, either passed along the Mohawk and Genesee turnpike to Lake Erie or crossed the Hudson and followed the line of the Catskill turnpike to the headwaters of the Allegheny. From this latter place they proceeded to some point such as Cleveland on the southern shore of the lake. Turning west from there, they completed the journey both by land and water as the season permitted. Farther south the course taken by emigrants to the west followed the windings of the National Road. By 1818 the road was completed from Cumberland, Maryland, to Wheeling, West Virginia, or, rather, Virginia, as it was then, the western part of the state not yet having been made into a separate state. On the smooth bed of this great highway travellers could move rapidly in ease and comfort, and goods could be carried over the mountains at a cost no more than half as great as they had paid before. Cumberland was not many miles from the home of the Allens, which stood on the sloping banks of Middle River in Augusta County, Virginia. We know practically nothing of the reasons why John Allen set his face towards the west, just at the time he did, nor when he conceived the idea of founding a town. All that can be stated with assurance is that, having sold a number of cattle 14 1THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS in Baltimore, he seems suddenly to have made up his mind to go west and seek out a site suitable for his purpose. He seems not even to have taken either his wife or parents into his confidence, and they did not have the remotest idea where he was until he wrote them from Detroit many weeks later. Evidence exists to show that such plans as had been agreed upon by the whole family were discarded by John on the spur of the moment. The attractions of the West, as compared with those of the East, must have been very great, else young Allen never would have rushed off the way he did. He combined in his makeup a curious mixture of the visionary and the practical, both characteristics doubtless playing their part in causing him to set out. John Allen was a man of dreams. The glory and honor which would cling to the name of a man from the farm who would go into the wilderness and found a town must have appealed very strongly to one of such romantic turn of mind. Now that roads and canals were bringing the West to the East, riches would flow into the town of his imagination in exchange for the products of farms far more fertile than any in the valley of the Shenandoah. By the turn of the nineteenth century much of the fertility of the land in Virginia was gone. There, in many places, as in New England, the soil was quite worn out, and since modern methods of restoring to the earth its richness were yet undiscovered, it was customary to move farther west, where the business of farming could be carried on with greater profit and with a smaller expenditure of labor. In Virginia, as in other states, there were many who made up their minds to take advantage of the Government's offer of cheap land in the West. The danger from the Indians having been removed, these hardy souls disposed of most of their earthly possessions and started for fields the white man's plow had never touched. Many went immediately after the War of 1812 and settled in the western parts of their native states. But when the Erie canal was nearing completion they made up their minds to go farther on. In 1820 Congress passed a law whereby Government lands should be sold for cash for not less than $1.25 an acre, which since that time has been the minimum price at which the public land has been sold. Offering a small farm cheap for cash made it possible for any JOHN ALLEN FOUNDS A TOWN 15 man to acquire a homestead who could pay $100, a fact which attracted many a young man to the West. Only better means of communication between the farms and towns beyond the mountains were needed to guarantee cheap living in the regions along the Atlantic seaboard; only roads and canals were needed to bring the peoples of these regions into a sympathy of feeling with those east of the Appalachian barrier and to guarantee an enduring sense of national solidarity. The people living beyond this barrier were developing economic and political interests disassociated from the interests of the East. To the eastern governments it was becoming painfully apparent that if they were to hold the men of the "Western Waters" in economic and political union with themselves, work on these roads and canals would have to be pushed as rapidly as possible. This was borne in upon the mind of no one more than upon that of De Witt Clinton, governor of New York. He had a vision of the future greatness of the vast empire beyond the mountains, and he did not propose to sit quietly by and watch the wool, the cattle, and the grain raised in the West pass down the tributaries of the Mississippi, or eastward along the National Road, and not do something to direct those products to New York. He saw very clearly the value of the enormous project of a canal across the northern part of the State of New York. He saw how such a canal would benefit both the East and the West, and how important the undertaking would be to the growth of nationalism in the United States. With remarkable force and clarity he presented his views before the New York legislature. He pictured to that assembly a greater Hudson river, the farther reaches of which were lost in the western forests beyond the farther shores of lakes Michigan and Superior, where the flashing ax of the white man had never yet felled a tree. He saw the canal as a bond of union both economic and political. "It may prevent the dismemberment of the American empire," he declared. "As an organ of communication between the Hudson... and the great lakes of the north and west, and their tributary waters, it will create the greatest inland trade ever witnessed. The most fertile and extensive regions of America will avail themselves of its facilities for market. All their surplus productions, whether 16 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of the soil, the forest, the mines, or of the water, their fabrics of art and their supplies of foreign commodities, will concentrate in the city of New York, for transportation abroad or consumption at home.... The city will... become the granary of the world, the emporium of commerce, the seat of manufactures, the focus of great moneyed operations, and the concentration point of vast, disposable, and accumulating capitals, which will stimulate, enliven, extend, and reward the exertions of human labor and ingenuity, in all their processes and exhibitions. And before the revolution of a century, the whole island of Manhattan, covered with inhabitants and replenished with a dense population, will constitute one vast city." After nearly a year of agitation, ground was broken for the "big ditch," July 4, 1816. In 1825, after an expenditure of over $7,000,000, the 352 miles of ice-free waterway was opened throughout its length, and De Witt Clinton saw the realization of his hopes. As John Allen and others watched the progress of the work on the Erie canal their imaginations were stirred. It could be seen from this, and from other evidences of progress, that the vast western region soon would be at the door of the East. The building of ships on the Iludson and on Lake Erie caused people to realize that the world was about to become small. In 1811, Robert Fulton succeeded in applying steam power to water transportation, and his boat, the Clermont, ploughed up stream against a strong current, to the astonishment of the world. Within an almost unbelievably short space of time, that river of marvelous beauty was being navigated by a large number of steamboats, and each one of them was built on a bigger and grander scale than any of its predecessors. News of these undertakings soon reached the remotest regions of the West, and there as in the heart of the Governor of New York, hope was born that before many years it would be possible to go by ship from the Great Lakes to the sea. Steamboat building on the lower lakes soon was carried forward so rapidly that it amounted to a passion. The first steamboat built on any of the Great Lakes was built on Lake Erie and was called the Walk-In-The-Water. Her hull was launched May 28, 1818. She was enrolled and licensed August 22 of that JOHN ALLEN FOUNDS A TOWN 17 year, and from that time until she was wrecked in a storm, November 1, 1821, she made her way between Buffalo and Detroit and returned a handsome profit to her owners. After the wreck the hull was hauled ashore, and her engine put in a boat called the Superior, the second steamboat to run on the Great Lakes. The Superior was built at Buffalo Creek, at the foot of the present Washington Street, Buffalo, and started on her maiden voyage April 23, 1822. In 1824, a sister ship was built and named the Henry Clay. During 1825 these two boats maintained a four-day service between Detroit and Bufalo. In 1835, the Superior was converted into a sailing vessel, and the old engine of the Walk-In-the-Water was transferred to a new boat named the Charles Townsend. The Superior went down in a storm in 1843, and the Henry Clay earned unenviable notoriety by bringing the first epidemic of cholera to Detroit in 1832, from which place the dread disease was carried to Ann Arbor. As a result of the opening of the Erie canal and the transportation on the lakes, a new era of prosperity came to the people living all along its route and to all towns at short distances from it. Stories of this prosperity were told before many fireplaces on eastern farms, and we may well believe that some of them had been rehearsed in the ancestral home of the Aliens down there on Middle River in Virginia. John Allen apparently meant to take advantage of the times. He would leave the old haunts, the old companions and the old environment, and, in a virgin wilderness, begin life over in a town he himself would found. He would seek a suitable site for this town in the midst of a rich agricultural region not far from the water route to the East. He would seek a region where the soil was rich and where cattle, grains and sheep could easily be raised. Out on the farthest convenient frontier he would find a fertile valley where the natural drainage would be all that one could wish for, where dams could easily be built and water power for saw and grain mills could be furnished in abundance. He would seek out a valley rich in timber and rich in materials for making brick and mortar. He would find fields at least partly cleared by nature where domestic animals could feed and roam. In a word, he would make a journey of a thousand miles, if need be, to find the ideal spot upon which 18 1THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS to found a town, and there he would build for himself a imonument which should stand for enduring time. Once having found the spot, he would erect a dwelling for himself and family, help any others who might find their way thither, make a survey of the place and give it a name. Then as the population increased he would encourage the building of churches and schools, a court house, and, if conditions demanded, a jail. The life John Allen lived, and the activities he carried forward, indicate that most of these things were turned over in his mind long before he forsook the Virginia home. It is likely that John Allen knew much about the Northwest before he had made up his mind to go there. The wonder tales of the West told by Georg'e Rogers Clark and his companions, the stories brought back by those who had campaigned along the Canadian border in the War of 1812, and the accounts given by the famous explorers of the time-all these were familiar to every lad in the East. It is very probable that John Allen had heard these stories and had been greatly moved by them. Certain it is that he was able to describe, with a fair degree of accuracy, the country west of Detroit, to Lorrin Mills, a tailor's apprentice whom he met in Buffalo in January while on his journey here. The route Allen had followed to that point is not known; but the necessity of taking with him extra clothing, a few tools, some cooking utensils and all the food he could carry perhaps forced him to choose the paths of least resistance, even though they were not the most direct. It is possible, therefore, that he followed the line of the Hudson and Erie canal to Rochester, and from that place went on to Buffalo. Allen's faith in his venture must have been greatly strengthened by what he saw, if indeed this was the path he took. When Allen was ready to leave Buffalo, he found that the Superior was still at her winter moorings, so he was compelled to proceed on foot along the southern shore of the lake. While in Cleveland he fell in with a man by the name of Elisha Walker Rumsey, who, with his wife, Mary Ann, had lately come from Rochester, New York. During the course of their conversations, Allen confided to Rumsey the secret of his mission, and he prevailed upon Rumsey to join him in the founding of a town. The records are hazy as to how Ann Rumsey, as she JOHN ALLEN FOUNDS A TOWN 19 was called, spent the next few days. She may have gone on with the men as far as Ypsilanti, or she may have remained in Detroit until they returned to that place for the purpose of recording, in the office of the United States Land Commissioner, a record of the land they had purchased. It is quite likely that she did not go at once to the extreme frontier, since an unknown wilderness, such as this region was in those days, was no place for a woman. Allen and Rumsey had nothing to hold them back; they were of a mind to push the frontier a little farther west. Year by year it had moved out, and still farther out. In 1806 there were but sixteen houses in the city of Buffalo. Cleveland was not much larger, and in the whole territory of Michigan there were not more than ten thousand souls. In 1807, in Detroit, General William Hull had made a treaty with the Chippewas, Ottawas, Wyandottes (Hurons), and Pottawatomies by which what is now known as southeastern Michigan became Government land. A preliminary survey was made in 1816, but no immediate settlement followed because the surveyors had reported that there was no land in Michigan fit for cultivation. Soldiers of the War of 1812, who were entitled to 160 acres of land, did not make their selection in Washtenaw County. It was not until the report of the surveyors was found to be false that people began seriously to think of coming here. In 1818, the newly surveyed lands came into the market, and from that time dates the permanent settlement of this region. The Indian claim to 6,000,000 acres, including Washtenaw County, was extinguished by a treaty concluded by General Cass at Saginaw, in September, 1819, and two years later the "Chicago Treaty" obliterated the Indian title to all the remaining lands in the state south of the Grand River. Thus the land was thrown open to settlement, a fact of great importance in the history of our city. Such fragments of information as have come down to us from those early days are meager and not always reliable. Some events, however, stand out clearly enough. In 1821, two men, James Corbus and E. G. Downer, of Wayne, as the latter wrote, "took a ramble up the Huron about as far as anarbor. There was not a white person settled in the county then to my knowledge." In 1822, "Eph" (Epaphoras) Matteson, Hammon 20 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Neal and E. G. Downer went two miles west of the present site of Ypsilanti for the purpose of landlooking. Later in the same year William Ferris, his son Dorne, and a man by the name of John G. Thair, or Thayer, each built a shanty on Ypsilanti Hill. It was in one of these shanties that a child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Ferris, the "Virginia Dare" of Washtenaw County. During the summer and fall Thayer cut the road through to Washtenaw and became the first purchaser of land in the county. In the fall of that year Downer went twelve miles northwest of Ypsilanti, where he built a shanty, and there he remained for the winter. The hardships he was forced to endure were greater than he was willing to put up with, so the frontier, in the person of Downer, retreated to the shanties on Ypsilanti Hill. Though some farms were taken up a few miles farther west, it was not until John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey made their appearance that the frontier was again so far extended. Near Ypsilanti, Allen and Rumsey fell in with a certain Daniel Cross, who had settled in the neighborhood nearly two years before. They induced Cross to proceed westward with them, looking for a good town site and for suitable lands. Following the bends of the Huron, they arrived at the site of Ann Arbor, February 6, 1824. As they were weary and cold, they blanketed the horses, built a fire, and threw together a rough shelter for the night. The next day, and for two days thereafter, they rode and tramped over every hill and valley for miles around. At the end of that time they knew nearly every square rod of land in this particular part of the valley. Noting a good site for a permanent camp on the eastern slope of a little creek, to which Allen immediately gave his own name, they turned their steps towards Detroit. Once arrived, they proceeded to the United States Land Office, and there each located his "eighty" on the Government survey for 1816. Then the necessary papers were made out and legal title to their property was insured. These events took place February 12, 1824, and within a few days the last lap of the final journey of the three travellers was begun. On the way northwest from Ypsilanti to take permanent possession of their farms, the two men and the woman may have met one or more of those who, within the last twelve JOHN ALLEN FOUNDS A TOWN 21 month, had taken up land in the area which shortly became known as Ann Arbor Township. The record in the United States Land Office in Detroit showed that for the year 1823 three families had settled there. The land of James McClosky, a son-in-law of Gabriel Godfrey, an old fur trader, of Detroit, was registered under date of April 23, 1823; that of Orrin White, under date of July 24, 1823, and that of Rohert Flemming, under date of September 29 of the same year. The little party reached the end of their journey on a mild evening, the sixteenth or seventeenth of February, and, stopping at the camp site previously noted, made ready for the night. Nearby a spring of clear water refreshed them, a fire was started and a temporary shelter put up. The box of their sleigh was inverted and placed over four vertical posts which had been cut for the purpose, blankets and a rag carpet were draped about, and the little shelter was ready. As darkness settled down, the first supper was served, the horses were cared for, and the day's work was over. It was in this setting that the city of Ann Arbor was born. THE HURON IN WINTER GARB Just West of Ann Arbor CHAPTER III The Site of Ann Arbor T HE site selected by John Allen upon which he proposed to build a town was one of indescribable beauty ten miles west of Ypsilanti and thirty-nine west of Detroit. It was approximately in the center of the county of Washtenaw, a name derived from a compound word of the language of the Chippeway Indians, Wuste-Nong, or Wushte-Nong, meaning, literally, the farther district, land beyond, or, further county. Wushte was the equivalent for further, or beyond, and it was sometimes used to indicate a frontier or region farther on. Nong was the Indian word for county, district, plain or land. At the time when Allen and the Rumseys arrived, their stopping place was surely farthest west, the white man's Wushte-Nong. The frontier was rapidly moving west. Settlements were pushing out from the hub of Detroit like the spokes of a wheel, and Ann Arbor was located at the extremity of the longest spoke. The white man followed the trail of the red man in his course toward the setting sun; and it was many years before the paths from the East to the West were crossed by others from the north and south. At times the frontier moved more rapidly than at others, but all along the way, where nature had provided sites for villages, little settlements sprang up and the population of the Territory of Michigan grew accordingly. There was no area in the southern part of this territory more richly endowed by nature as a site for a town than that in the immediate environs of the temporary home on Allen's Creek. At nearly equal distances from the little camp was the periphery of the protecting hills. Their gentle slopes and rounded tops indicated that they had been smoothed down by the action of nature throughout infinite eons of time. Toward the west, these hills were broken by the valley of a rapidly flowing river, called the Huron from the tribe of Indians which for generations had lived near its mouth. Sweeping in wide curves, it parted the hills on the west, and moving now swiftly, 24 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS now slowly, found its way to the Detroit. For many miles along its course natural dam sites were to be found where water power in plenty could be obtained and where mills for grinding grain and sawing logs could be built. There were places, also, where the river could easily be forded, and other places where the building of bridges could be accomplished without great trouble. Just above the original quarters of the first party of pioneers was a gently rolling plain studded with gaunt burr oaks, wild plum trees, hazel bushes and grape vines. There the Chippeways, Pottawatomies, Ottawas, Ojibways and Hurons were wont to dance and hold their councils of war and peace, and there, for many years, after the first camp fire of the white man lighted the darkening sky, the red man continued to come to be fed, to barter and to sell, or to listen to the strange music of a wonderful instrument which sang when its white teeth were pressed. The Indian was almost invariably friendly; but the early settlers looked upon him with mingled feelings of distrust and fear, whether he stalked alone or followed the trail to the East with all the members of his tribe. In the "thirties," Harriet Martineau, a famous Englishwoman who traveled through southern Michigan, observed that the white people, without exception, found it impossible to be romantic about the filthy and treacherous Indians. They looked upon them with nervous and apprehensive suspicion, convinced that no good Indian lived on this side of the border of the Happy Hunting Ground. Besides the Indian animal, there were other animals in this region the frontiersmen had reason to fear. Doubtless gallant John Allen had taken into account the treachery of the red man when he choose as a site for their first shelter a place where Mrs. Rumsey would not have far to go for a supply of water either for purposes of washing or for drink. But perhaps the danger from wolves was greater than that from any other forms of wild life. There were hundreds of these ferocious animals along the valley of the Huron, often running in packs to the number of a hundred or more. So numerous were they, in fact, that, in a few years after the first settlers came, all the deer had either been killed or driven out. When the snow became encrusted, it was a simple matter for THE SITE OF ANN ARBOR 25 THE VALLEY OF THE HURON Just East of Ann Arbor the wolves to catch a deer. Their light feet would be supported by the thin, hard surface, but the weight of the deer would cause his feet to break through, and soon the snarling pack would surround the frightened animal. They employed a sort of strategy by the tactics of which they would encircle the deer, drawing ever closer, until they would finally pounce upon and kill it. This was repeated so many times that, by and by, there were almost no deer left, the wolves then turning their attention to the sheep and cattle of the pioneers. This was one of the reasons why sheep-raising in the early days was so difficult; but the fences and dogs of the settlers soon greatly reduced the number of killings and the wolves gradually disappeared. There never were many bears in southern Michigan, but wildcats were common, and occasionally the lynx was seen. Besides these there was the fox; and there were many smaller animals with which every farmer's boy of today is familiar. 26 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS In Michigan Territory at that time wild turkeys were numerous, and geese, ducks, prairie chickens, pigeons, quail, and smaller birds often provided a wholesome change of diet for the pioneer. In the early days it was a common sight to see flocks of wild geese and ducks winging their way over the village from the swamp-lands lying northwest to those lying southeast of the settlement. In those days the lakes and streams abounded in fish, which were caught in the fall and salted down for the winter. The creatures of the ground, though perhaps not as numerous as in our day, were of the same species a hundred years ago as they are now, and the small boys of those days enjoyed hunting them quite as much then as small boys do today. By 1824 the various beasts and birds had seen much of the white man, and for a dozen years before that time the creatures of the forest had been disturbed by him and his activities. Fur traders and coureurs de bois (runners of the forest), on more than one occasion, had disputed for possession of these parts with the wild life hereabouts, but the dumb creatures, unfortunately for them, came off poor seconds. In 1809, three French traders settled at Ypsilanti: Gabriel Godfrey, Francois Pepin and L. Le Chambre. Their settlement, though of course not permanent, was the first one in the county. At the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century, the more valuable fur-bearing animals had so far disappeared as to make the business of the trapper and fur-trader unprofitable here. As a result, they moved deeper and deeper into the wilderness, leaving their old hunting grounds to the advancing pioneer. When Allen and Rumsey arrived, there was no one to dispute with them their newly-acquired holdings. A night of rest would fit them for the work of the morrow, when they could go ahead in their business of founding a town. CHAPTER IV The Settlers Pour In THlIE most pressing problems of the frontier people were those of food, shelter and clothing. The little group which had found a shelter under a sleigh box on the east bank of Allen's Creek had brought to the frontier a few barrels of proVisions, a considerable quantity of clothing, and a number of tools for building and for working the soil. There was no immediate necessity of devoting their time to either the problem of adding to their store of food or that of increasing their supply of wearing apparel. At that season of the year, the ground could not be tilled, and it was most important that a log cabin should be built which would offer a better protection from the elements than the sleigh box under which their first night in this region was spent. Moreover, consideration for the safety and comfort of such a gentle type of woman as Mrs. Rumsey demanded every convenience and attention the combined efforts of the men could provide from the wild surroundings in which the trio found themselves. The first few days, therefore, were devoted to two forms of activity: cutting logs for a cabin and girdling trees so the leaves would not come forth and keep the sun from reaching the soil where the first planting was to be. The first of these activities was carried forward very near the camp, but the girdling of the trees was done on the land within a radius of a quarter of a mile of where the county building now stands. It is probable that John Allen, before he left Virginia, had it in mind to build for himself the first house in the town of his dreams. But the presence of Mrs. Rumsey seems to have altered his plans. When the first logs were ready, he and Mr. Rumsey set to work with a vim, constructing a shelter more permanent in character than they would have put up for themselves had they been alone. While the business of hewing logs was going on, the site for the cabin was chosen. It was agreed that it should stand on the slope above the camp, and that it should look towards the east from whence they all had come. This site is near the 28 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS southwest corner of First and Huron Streets. It was also decided that the street farthest west in Michigan Territory should run north and south, just in front of this cabin, and that, as soon as a survey could be made, other streets would be numbered eastward from First Street as far as the dividing line between their holdings. This dividing line they agreed to call Division Street. The site having been selected, the work of "rolling up" the logs began. This had not proceeded far when along came Daniel Cross, of Ypsilanti, to see how his new acquaintances were faring. When he saw what they were doing he gave his help, materially lightening their labors. A day or two later Calvin Chipman put in an appearance. He, too, joined in the building operations. The walls went up to a height of about nine feet, and there they were left until the weather became soft and rains of spring took the place of snows. There was little more to the structure than a large pen, to which was added, in the course of a few days, a smaller pen with log walls seven feet high. John Geddes, who saw this structure in July, of 1824, described it as being "half-story" and observed that neither "pen" had over it a permanent roof. It is probable, however, that such old blankets and quilts, as could be spared from the horses and oxen quartered in the smaller enclosure, were stretched on poles laid horizontally from wall to wall. Allen slept in a rude tent just north of this first house in Ann Arbor. The weather was mild, so there was no need of a better shelter for one as fearless and hardy as John Allen; and since he remained well throughout the year and for many succeeding years, it cannot be that his health was greatly impaired by this experience. Fortunately for the three settlers, the winter broke up early in 1824, but in the spring the roads and trails out of Detroit were so deep with mud that no other settlers could possibly reach the frontier. The region was described as "one continuous mud-hole from Detroit to Enoch Pray's tavern." It was necessary to wait until the torrential rains of March, April and May had ceased and the ground, in a measure, had become dry. On the 29th of May, Mr. and Mrs. Asa L. Smith arrived in THE SETTLERS POUR IN 29 Ann Arbor with their infant daughter, Lettice. On the 8th of that month they had left Rochester, New York, on the craft of a smuggler, who deposited them at Buffalo. From there to Detroit the passage was made in a sailboat, which some time before had brought a cargo of fish down Lake Erie. At Detroit they fell in with Allen and Rumsey, who had gone there for supplies, and from them the Smiths received a glowing description of the region about Ann Arbor. Allen was determined to increase the population of his "town," and so rosy was the picture lie painted that the new acquaintances decided to make Ann Arbor their ultimate goal. With the arrival of the Smiths the population of Ann Arbor was doubled, certainly one of the greatest increases in population to be found anywhere in the same length of time. Allen already had dreamed of connecting the southern end of Lake Michigan with Lake Erie or the Detroit River by an all-water route, and had built a crude flatboat as the first step in his project. On this boat, the worldly possessions of the Smith family were placed, and they were carried in this manner until the boat could be pushed up the Huron no farther. Then the goods were loaded on a wagon, and, by the late evening of May 27, the party reached Ten Eyke's tavern at the junction of the Ypsilanti and Plymouth roads. There they spent the night. The next day brought them to Ypsilanti, and the day following the end of their journey was reached. Rumsey's rude home was opened to them, as it was to all new arrivals even after the house of John Allen was finished late that fall. Before many weeks had passed, this first building in Ann Arbor was called, by those who had enjoyed its hospitality, the Washtenaw Coffee House. Soon the origin of the name was forgotten, but the place continued to be dignified by that name, and it has since been known as the first tavern in the town. The arrival of Mrs. Smith seems to have been a boon to Mrs. Rumsey. Woman is a social creature, and Mrs. Rumsey was particularly so. It had been very lonesome for her during that first five weeks on the frontier. Much of the time she had been deeply afflicted with the terrible disease of homesickness, that unhappy malady which struck so often and so hard 'those who journeyed into the far country. Now the two women together did the necessary housework, and, within their arbor, they A GROUP OF THE PIONEERS OF ANN ARBOR'S VERY EARLIEST DAYS From an Old Photograph Taken About 1865, in Front of the Old Franklin Hotel. Loaned by the Late G. Frank Allmendinger THE SETTLERS POUR IN 31 took great comfort in their growing mutual companionship. After the arrival of the Smiths the population continued to grow. The land in the immediate neighborhood of the little community was rapidly taken up. Many of those who came purchased lots of Allen and settled within a few rods of the site selected by the Virginian for his home. This was on the corner now occupied by the Ann Arbor Savings Bank at the northwest corner of Huron and Main streets. The records once in the office of the United States Land Commissioner in Detroit showed that lands were taken up in 1824 as follows: Nathaniel and Sylvanus Noble (brothers), May 3; Titus Bronson, May 5; Eber White and Thomas Chambers, May 8; Isaac Markham, May 15; Seth Markham, May 17; Samuel Camp and J. B. Mason, May 18; Robert Flemming, his second parcel, May 19; George W. Noyes, May 22*; Samuel D. Waggoner, May 24; William Brooks, May 25; George WV. Rash and Elnathan Botsford, June 17; James Noyes, the site of the University of Michigan, July 1; and Epaphoras Matteson, July 24. Others who settled in the immediate neighborhood of Allen and Rumsey in 1824 were: Calvin Chipman, about March 1; Gideon Wilcoxan and David Martin, June 10; David E. Lord, the first physician in Washtenaw County, June 10; Andrew Nowland and wife and eight children, June 20; Samuel McDowell, July 11; James Hiscock, July 12; John and Robert Geddes, July 14; Ezra Maynard, August 28; "Good" Dr. Cyril Nichols and wife, August 30; John Hereford, September 1; John W. Maynard, September 19; the Allens,t October 16; Captain Charles Thayer, October 18, and about the same time Bethuel Farrand put in an appearance with his family. The Noble brothers brought, besides their wives, nine children, most of whom grew to maturity. The children of Andrew Nowland and his wife were James, Abigail, Polly, David, William, Betsy, Jane, Andrew, junior, John S., and Hiram, the last two born in Ann Arbor. Many of those first to come spent a few days land-looking and then went back east to dispose of their property with a view to again returning to Michigan. This was true of the Noble brothers. A few days after their arrival in March they * Killed in 1826 at a barn-raising for Andrew Nowland. t See notes on the Diary of James T. Allen at the end of the chapter. THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS went back to Geneva, New York, from whence they had come, sold out their holding there and returned to Ann Arbor about October 17. Gideon Wilcoxan remained here a short time and then went back east, to return again in 1827 to engage in the practice of law. Dr. and Mrs. Nichols remained here two years and then moved to Dexter. Andrew Nowland, Ezra Maynard, John and Robert Geddes, Charles Thayer and James Hiscock recorded their land purchases in Detroit, then went back to the East, where they closed out everything they had, and returned to Ann Arbor. It was the same story with many others. One good look at the site of Ann Arbor and its surrounding beauties was enough to convince those who came of its wonderful possibilities and desirability as a place in which to live. The movement of these pioneers to the frontier was anything but a frolic. A very large proportion of them came from the state of New York. As already stated, they followed the line of the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, or along the route of the Erie Canal, though some of them followed the line of the National Road, then nearing completion. Such household goods, as were brought along, were carried in wagons drawn by slow-moving oxen, and men, women and little children trudged along on foot. Evidence exists to show that some cattle were brought west very early, but who brought them or how many there were we do not know. Several of the women who came carried babies that were not more than a few months old. This was the case with Mrs. Asa L. Smith, Mrs. Harriet F. Noble and her sister, Mrs. Sylvanus Noble, though Mrs. Ann Allen rode all the way on horseback, carrying her infant daughter in her arms. During the journey of the Nobles, the family met a large band of Indians. An old squaw among them was carrying a particularly ugly papoose. When she saw Mrs. Noble's fine, white infant, the squaw followed her some distance for the purpose of trading babies. At last she gave up the project, to the infinite relief of Mrs. Noble. Perhaps the roughest part of the whole journey was from Detroit to Ann Arbor, and especially the last twelve or fifteen miles of the way. Andrew Nowland, not expecting to be believed, declared that he went into a mud-hole with his team a * See notes on the Diary of James T. Allen at the end of the chapter. THE SETTLERS POUR IN 33 short distance this side of Ten Eyke's tavern on the River Rouge, in the Buckland Woods, and did not see his team or wagon-load of provisions again until they reached the bank of the river at Swartzburg Plains. Here, he said, he could see the tops of the horses' ears coming up out of the mud. Whether one may doubt this or not, it is true that the wagons often would become deeply mired, and the women and children would have to wait about until the men could procure saplings and pry the vehicles out. Brush, fallen timbers and other obstacles had to be cleared from the path, streams forded and hills climbed. Ascending hills was difficult enough, but coming down was a much more arduous task. On more than one occasion heavy poles were thrust through the spokes of the wagon wheels to make them slide instead of turn, and the efforts of all the members of the group, who could give any assistance whatever, were employed to keep the wagons from bearing down upon the teams. At night, before the fire of the camp, the blistered and aching feet would be bathed in vinegar and rum, bandages would be applied, and then, too exhausted to keep awake, and almost afraid to go to sleep, the little bands would compose themselves for the night. The hardships experienced by those who journeyed to the valley of the Huron were far greater than those encountered in the little settlement at the journey's end, though these were bad enough. The sleeping quarters were miserable in the extreme and life in the new settlement began with household goods only half unpacked. A temporary adjustment of affairs was made whereby shelter for a few weeks was secured, and after that the serious business of making a home in the wilderness was begun. Usually this meant ringing trees, tilling and planting, cutting logs and building a cabin. The first house of Asa L. Smith* was built a hundred yards to the west of Rumsey's house, and John Allen's "Mansion House" a stone's throw farther up the slope and a little to the north. George W. Noyes, his wife and his brother arrived in Ann Arbor a few days after the arrival of the Smiths. The brothers built two small houses on the northwest corner of Ann and Main streets while John Allen was slowly putting together * The first Smith house was later occupied as a home by General Edward Clark. 34 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS the block house he called his home. A 'second house was built by A. L. Smith in 1824, north of the Court House Square, where the Ann Arbor Times-News office is now. Others who built, or who began to build, during the summer and fall of 1824, were: Dr. David E. Lord, at the northwest corner of Washington and Main; Andrew Nowland, at the corner of State and River streets; Dr. Nichols, John W. Maynard, Calvin Chipman, Captain Charles Thayer, and Bethuel Farrand, the latter at the corner of Williams and Main streets. It was to these log cabins, and chiefly to the three first mentioned, that nearly all the pioneers repaired when they first arrived. Naturally, there was a good deal of crowding at times. When the thirteen Nobles reached the settlement, and accepted the hospitality of John Allen, there were then in the unfinished block hut twenty-one women and children and fourteen men. The night of October 16, when the Allen family arrived, fifty-one persons were crowded under John Allen's roof! The house had but two bedsteads, so that most of the company slept in feather ticks on the dirt floor. When all were settled for the night no one dared step about without running the risk of treading on a hand or a foot, and more than once the wails of children in pain disturbed the tranquility of the night. In the Allen party were Captain John and Mrs. Elizabeth Allen, parents of John Allen; James Turner Allen, brother of Captain John and uncle of John; Sarah Allen, John's sister, and two children of John by a former marriage, James C. and Elizabeth M. C. Allen.* At times every hut in the community was similarly crowded, and for years the latest arrivals kept them so. In the course of time the hospitality of John Allen made sad inroads on his store of provisions, and had it not been for the success of his vegetable garden, on Court House Square, he would have had to receive supplies of food from those whom he had befriended months before. He may have foreseen this very situation, and if so it may explain why he spent so much energy in turning the soil of his garden to account. Cabbages, carrots, beans, potatoes and onions were raised there by Ann Arbor's first citizen, and before the summer of 1824 was far * In 1826 Hiram Welch and family, relatives of the Allens, came here from Virginia. THE SETTLERS POUR IN 35 advanced the fine plot was furnishing much wholesome food for the tables of himself and his friends. These vegetables were much sought after, since the food the first settlers brought with them soon became revolting in its monotony. For breakfast there was the usual bacon, corn-meal mush, or batter cakes, coffee, sweet or sour milk, or sassafras tea. The noon meal offered the same elaborate variety, possibly supplemented by rum, rye, and Indian bread with a thin strip of pork fat on it; and supper's savors gave unmistakable suggestion of an unchanged diet. Wheat flour was more highly prized than any other kind of food, three barrels lasting one family a year. Long journeys to Detroit were sometimes made to get it. Mrs. Harriet L. Noble told of living three weeks without flour in the house, and of her husband's consuming, in the month of December, fifteen days on a trip to Detroit for flour and other supplies. The first tears she shed in all her pioneer trials coursed down her cheeks when her little boy said to her: "Ma, why don't you make bread? Don't you like it? I do." Mrs. Noble was like other people of the frontier in that she had little ready money. Having nothing much that could be exchanged for food, it became a race with the pioneers to raise additional supplies before their original stores gave out. In consequence of this, the land was cleared with feverish activity. Even the women swung the ax, and it is told of Mrs. Noble that she drove oxen in hauling stone for the cabin chimney her husband was building. Wood was chopped by the acre, rather than by the cord, and with the coming of fall a large part of the land of the original plat had been cleared. Soon after John Allen came he concluded a treaty with the Indians and thus not only established friendly relations with them but encouraged them to bring to the settlement, to exchange for food and gew-gaws, quantities of berries, nuts, furs, baskets, and even venison. The food brought in in this way varied the monotony of the ration in the settlement and added many a toothsome titbit to their board. In all, the variety was not great at any time, but the food consumed was at least nourishing, and by its aid bodies and souls were kept together. With the drinking water the case was different. Not until a few years later, when several good wells supplied the com 36 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS munity, did the settlers have a supply of pure water. At first people drank what they called "mud-hole" water, surface water unfit for drinking purposes, which caused many a case of fever as the days went by. There was some excuse for quaffing more harmful beverages, in view of the danger known to lurk in the water used in the early days of the settlement. Nevertheless, except for severe attacks of ague, the general health of the community was good. It was not until the cholera came along in 1832 that much serious sickness prevailed. Perhaps the health of the first settlers would have been even better if the cabins had been more comfortable and sanitary. The first sawmill did not begin to operate until 1825, and all the cabins built before that time, except two or three, were of logs. A few cabins had doors and floors made of boards rived from oak, but, for the most part, they had no doors whatever and nearly all the floors were of dirt. All the furniture was made by hand. Sometimes a cabin would be built around a huge, flat stump, which would at once serve as a table and a chair. Benches and stools were made by splitting logs and driving parts of limbs into them for legs. Some of the men became quite expert with the knife. One of these was John Allen's father. He built a grist mill late in the fall of 1824, the cog wheels of which he carved by hand out of hard maple. Straw was scattered about the floors of the cabins and pigs and chickens ran in and out hunting for crumbs and morsels dropped from the tables. At night lard lamps lighted the interior of the cabins, casting shadowy glows about the walls, where, in dim outline, one could see guns, steel traps, powder horns, ears of corn, skins, steer horns and antlers of deer. In the great fireplaces the huge black pots were hung, and round about stood rustic rocking chairs and straight chairs made by hand. It was comfortable to sit before the fireplaces on cool nights, and in those days of simple living such a thing as a fuel bill was unknown. Wood was the only fuel burned, and all one had to do to get a supply was to go out and cut it and bring it in. The first year on the frontier was not made up entirely of hardships. There were many bright spots in the days after Allen and the Rumseys arrived, perhaps the first one revolving about the platting and naming of the town. Soon after the THE SETTLERS POUR IN 37 Rumsey house was built the matter of making a survey of the town was considered and the question of a name for the place was discussed. Making the survey and drawing the plat seems not to have caused much thought, but deciding on a name for the town was a matter of no small moment. Allen and Rumsey nmade their survey May 12, 1824, and within a few days drew the plat and affixed to it the name Ann Arbor. The original plat included the 480 acres John Allen bought of the Government and the 160 acres bought by Rumsey. After Allen had disposed of a part of his holdings, the area owned by the two men extended from Allen's Creek to Division street, and from Jefferson to Lawrance. As has been said, the street running just in front of Rumsey's house was named First Street. That in front of where Smith's house was later built was called Second street, and the one just east of Allen's house he decided to call Third street. The other north and south streets were called Fourth and Fifth streets. When, later, William S. Maynard platted his land west of Allen's Creek he named the streets West Second, West Third, etc., etc. To avoid confusion, in 1890, the "West" was dropped from the street names and Second street of the original plat was renamed Ashley street in honor of Governor Ashley, who was largely responsible for the building of the Ann Arbor Railroad. The name of Third street was changed to Main, Fourth and Fifth streets were changed to Fourth and Fifth avenues, but the name of Division street was left unchanged. As to how Ann Arbor's name originated, so many stories have been told as to raise doubts in anyone's mind as to the truth of any one of them. There are certain tests to be applied to each of them which help to determine their reliability. In the first place, only Mary Ann Rumsey, among the women, could have had a part in naming the town, since she was the only woman here at the time when the town was named. Also, it should be noted, the plat of the original survey was recorded in Detroit in the office of the Register of Deeds May 25, 1824, and the name Ann Arbor was written on the plat as then recorded. The wife of John Allen, Ann I. Allen (nee Barry), did not make her appearance until October 16, nearly five months after the survey was made and the name recorded in Detroit. After a careful, analytical examination of no less 38 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEAARS than a dozen different versions of the origin of the name of Ann Arbor, the author has concluded that the following is probably the true account: Some time about the middle of May, when the leaves were unfolding, Mary Ann Rumsey was sitting in an arbor of wild grapevines which ran up over a plum tree near the bank of Allen's Creek, just south of Huron street, and a hundred feet or more west of First street. Both Allen and Rumsey had spent some time in making this arbor more beautiful and for a time it had been their home. Mrs. Rumsey was wont to sew in this arbor and to wash clothes in a huge iron cauldron nearby. One day, perhaps soon after the survey was made, when John Allen was searching for a name for his town, he approached the arbor where Mrs. Rumsey was sitting and, lifting his hat, remarked with a smile, "My! what a restful place you have here; what do you call it?" Mrs. Rumsey replied, "This is Ann's Arbor; don't you think that is a good name for the place?" 'John Allen agreed that it was a good name for not only that particular spot but for the whole place he and Mr. Rumsey had lately surveyed. He saw in the name a way of honoring Mrs. Rumsey and his own wife, and rushed off to find Mr. Rumsey to solicit his opinion. Rumsey was struck with the name and the two men decided none could be better. It was duly recorded on their plat, therefore, and so it appeared May 25 when the plat was recorded in Detroit. A copy of the plat is now in the Court House in Ann Arbor in the office of the Register of Deeds. The name Ann Arbor was not the one at first used by the Indians. They dubbed it Kaw-goosh-kaw-nick, a name derived from the sound which an old-fashioned sash mill made, and which may have been suggested by the noise coming from the maple machinery of the mill built by Captain Allen late in 1824 but which ground no grist until the summer of 1825. This, however, was not the first mill used by the early settlers. The stump of a large tree formed the principal part of their first mill. Branches of a sapling growing a few feet away were trimmed off and the young stalk was bent over towards the stump. In the top of the latter a large cylindrical hole was bored to a depth of about a foot. In this hole a huge pestle of hard wood was loosely fitted, the upper end of which THE SETTLERS POUR INT 39 THE OLD COURT HOUSE From an Old Colored Stereoscopic View, Loaned by the Late Q. Frank Allmendinger. See Letter on Page 62 was fastened to the bent over top of the sapling. For handles a stout, round stick was bound across the top of the pestle. By grasping these and pumping up and down the pestle could be made to pulverize almost anything lying in the bottom of the hole in the stump. Corn could easily be broken in this way, and many a bowl of mush was made from corn which had been crushed in this machine and afterwards sifted. In the tavern built by Andrew Nowland on the corner of River and State streets a celebration was always in progress. That was one of the principal stopping places of those who came to Ann Arbor in 1825 and 1826, and of those who were moving farther west in 1827 and in the following years. It was a rendezvous for men of the rougher sort, and, though much drinking and "cussing" went on within its walls, fights and brawls were rare. Nearly all the men in those days drank spirituous liquors and "cussing" was common among them. The latter practice seemed to relieve them of the pent-up rebelliousness provoked by the hard life of the frontier, and no thought of immorality was connected with it. 40 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS The first taverns in Ann Arbor were also real estate offices. John Allen, E. W. Rumsey and Andrew Nowland may be described as the first real estate dealers in Ann Arbor, and their taverns were the scenes of numerous deals in land. As a part of their plan for boosting the community, Allen gave the site for the Court House, and Rumsey a site for a jail. During the winter of 1824-1825 they also helped build the first school house on the northwest corner of Ann and Main streets. There were no disturbances of any kind in Ann Arbor during the first year of its history. Nevertheless, E. W. Rumsey -was appointed a Justice of the Peace, and he and Allen looked after such legal business as the settlement required. Allen's block house became, before the year was out, the center of the settlement's life. He looked after the mail and was Ann Arbor's first postmaster. In his house, during the second week of September, John Hereford opened a general store, which, because it was daubed with red paint, soon came to be called "Bloody Corners." It is evident from what has been said in this chapter that John Allen was beginning to make his dream come true. In building homes, laying out streets, building a school, in giving the site for the Court House and in doing countless other things, he was making genuine progress in the work of founding a town. NOTES FROM THE DIARY OF JAMES TURNER ALLEN Family record of James Allen and his wife Elizabeth, of Augusta County, Virginia, with a short history of their journey from Virginia to Michigan, by their son JAMES T. ALLEN. James Allen was born in Virginia, July 13th, 1774. Elizabeth Tate was born in Virginia, Oct. 10th, 1775. These two were married Sept. 5th, 1793. Of this union was born, all in Virginia: Peggy Allen, in Virginia, Sept. 8, 1794; JOHN ALLEN, May 17, 1796; William Allen, Jan. 8, 1798; Mary T. Allen, Mar. 27, 1800; Nancy F. Allen, April 2, 1802; James T. Allen, Mar. 4, 1804; Sarah B. Allen, Feb. 16, 1806. John Allen first married a Miss Crawford, and later Ann I. Barry. By his first wife he had two children-James C. Allen and Elizabeth M. C. AllenI These two, together with Jalies Allen, Elizabeth Tate Allen, James T. Allen, Sarah B. Allen, Ann I. Barry Allen and a man named Orville Barnes, a Virginia school teacher, came to Michigan THE SETTLERS POUR IN 41 together. These eight persons left the old Allen homestead in Augusta County, Virginia, on the 28th day of August, 1824, their destination being Michigan Territory. Barnes at the time of the departure was teaching in Virginil, and formerly he had taught in New England. The trip to Michigan was an all-land trip. It was made with an old style covered Pennsylvania wagon drawn by four horses as far as Sandusky City, Ohio. The party had three other horses with saddles, so that anyone wishing to change from riding in the wagon to riding on horseback could do so. "We did not meet with any serious difficulty until we were coming down the Great Kanawha River. There, soon after leaving the road up to where the turnpike was finished, our wagon turned completely upside down so that the wheels were on top; and would have turned over several times if two or three small trees had not prevented it. Luckily there was no one in the wagon at the time. 'hatt was the most serious difficulty we experienced in our long and tedious journey. We attempted to pass through what was called the Black Swamp, in the northern part of the state of Ohio bordering on the head of Lake Erie, with wagon and team, but after travelling a few miles in that direction we came to a place in the Wyandotte Indian Reservation in Ohio called the Big Spring; here we found ourselves right among the Indians and from what we had heard and read of the savage character of Indians we felt some afraid that they would rob and murder us before morning. But having no alternative but to stay and take the risk, we turned our horses to the trough (old style) and pitched our tent. After we had taken our supper Father thought he would look about a little and see how things looked. He had only to go a short distance to the Indian cabins which had some appearance of civilization and comfort; and on approaching one of them he heard the voice of some one. He proceeded cautiously and there, to his surprise, an old Indian, perhaps the Chief, or one of their head men, was kneeling down before the mercy seat, lifting up his voice in prayer and supplication to the great All Father. When my father returned to our camp he said we need not have any fears of any persons murdering us that prayed. That had a tendency to allay our fears, and we retired to rest and slept soundly and unmolested. The next morning we found ourselves all right, and having seen the same Indian made inquiry of him in regard to the road leading through the swamp? He said it was no good. To satisfy ourselves Father thought it best that I should ride around and see how things looked. I did so but did not discover any road for wagons leading from it except the one upon which we had come. We supposed that we would have to return to the same road, which was very bad... but the Indian said that he could take us by a nearer and better way, so we employed him to go with us. He took his horse and wagon and put some of our baggage in it, and piloted us out to a place on the Sandusky road which we had left, where there was a little village... called Tarmocherty. There we lunched and fed our horses; paid our Indian friend.. and bid him a hearty good 42 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS bye. And then proceeded on our journey through upper and lower Sandusky to Sandusky City situated on Sandusky Bay. There we expected to ship our horses, wagon and other articles on the only steamboat on Lake Erie. She was called the Superior. The steamboat that was running on the Lake previous to the Superior was called the Walk in the Water which we were informed had foundered some where near Buffalo, N. Y. a short time previous, leaving the Superior the on y steamboat on the Lake at that time. It was expected that she would make her appearance very soon at Sandusky City, so we waited a number of days for her, but to our great disappointment we saw her pass by the mouth of the Bay without coming into the Harbor, so our.expectation of having our horses shipped by water to Detroit failed. There happened to be a small schooner in the Harbor (named the Hannah) that offered to take the family and all our effects aboard (except the horses) up to Detroit; so having no other alternative Father made a bargain with the captain of the schooner to do so and we took our wagon apart and shipped it on board with our other baggage, and all of our company went on board except Mr. Barnes and myself. We were elected to go through the Black Swamp with our seven horses. We waited to see the vessel sail out of the Harbor; and then we started on our journey around the head of the Lnke and through the swamp, and by the blessing of Providence and our own exertions we finally made our way through the swamp. We had to lay out in the swamp one night about seven or eight miles from Fort Meigs (toward Sandusky). It rained through the afternoon of the day and continued through the fore part of the night. To say that it was dark that night in that dense forest would be but a faint description of it. In the day when the sun shone, it scarcely ever penetrated through that dense forest; then fancy what it would be in a cloudy, rainy night without fire or light of any kind. I could not compare it to anything else, than the blackness of darkness. We had two blankets with us; one we stretched over a small sapling (that grew between the roots of a great tree) which we cut partly off and bent down and which afforded us a partial covering and shelter from the rain, and the other we spread under it on the ground and laid ourselves down upon it to rest. The wolves howled all around us, we felt afraid of them, but being so fatigued and worn out by our days travel we soon went to sleep, and in the morning we found ourselves safe and sound and some refreshed notwithstanding our uncomfortable lodging. We mounted our horses at daylight and went into Fort Meigs where we took breakfast and fed our horses, and then pushed forward on toward Detroit; where we arrived the fourth night after leaving Sandusky City, at about 9 o'clock in the evening. We there found our friends all safe and well and anxiously awaiting and looking out for our arrival. I also there met my brother John Allen who had the February previous located at Ann Arbor, Michigan (then Territory). We had notified him of our coming and he had met us as above stated. He with a man by the name of Walker Rumsey THE SETTLERS POUR IN 43 SILVER TANKARD AND SPOON ANN ALLEN'S FAN Made from Episcopal Communion Service Pictures Loaned by Miss Lucy Chapin. were the first settlers of Ann Arbor. They bought the land on which the village stands and had the county seat established there before our arrival. We started from Detroit on the 12th or 13th day of October for Ann Arbor and arrived there on the sixteenth day of October, A. D. 1824. The name "Ann Arbor" was given to the village in this wily. The proprietors John Allen and Walker Rumsey desired to give the name to the village that would memorize them or their families, and agreed as their wives names were Ann they would call it after them, and as they built an arbor in which they lived for a time they added "Arbor" to the name of their wives; hence the name "Ann Arbor." The writer of this was, when arrived at Ann Arbor a few days over twenty years and seven months old. All of his father's family-Father, Mother, Brothers, and Sisters have all passed away to that land beyond the River whence no one ever returns. And he alone is left, the only surviving member of the family living in the hope that when he is called to pass over, he may be ready and prepared to meet them (with other near and dear friends that have long since passed away, and also with those that still remain who will soon be called to follow). On that happy shining shore where parting will be no more. There will be no sorrow there. There we shall meet at Jesus feet and the lover of sinners adore. For He so loved us that while we were yet his enemies, he gave up his life a ransom for us and not for us only but for all those that put their trust in him. Written in Chicago June 4, 1875, by James T. Allen, from his own old diary. Allen deaths: The elder James, at Ann Arbor, July 18, 1828. Sarah B. Mays (nee Allen), Warm Springs, Bath Co., Va., Feb. 26, 184. Mart T. Welch, Ann Arbor, Nov. 27, 1847. John Allen, Near San Francisco, Cal., Mar. 11, 1851. Peggy Pogue, Pulaski Co., Va., Oct., 1864. Nancy F. Lewis, in Va. during the Civil War. Elizabeth Allen (nee Tate), Ann Arbor, July 15, 1861. William Allen, Davis Co., Missouri, May 7, 1873. James T. Allen went to live in Chicago from Ann Arbor, Nov. 4, 1856, after living in Ann Arbor thirty-two years. He lived in Chicago the rest of his life. CHAPTER V Evidences of Growth T HE coming of people to Ann Arbor and the building of homes and roads were in themselves evidences of the growth of the village, but there were other evidences quite as.striking. The traveller coming near the infant settlement could hear the whir of mill wheels and the siren shriek of a saw cutting its way through logs. He could see oxen hauling lumber from sawmills on the banks of the Huron, and in 1827, if he had taken the trouble, he could have seen the building of a dam on the river and the construction of the third grist mill there. Near the corner of Iuron and Main streets he could have seen the pounding device, with its sapling and stump, a plaything for children. In the years 1826 to 1830, the appearance and activities of the village were rapidly changing, the beginnings of industry could be seen, and hope for the future was bright. With the surplus of grain and the ever-widening areas devoted to pasturage, it was proved that cattle and sheep raising could be carried out on a large scale. A small beginning in this direction had been made in 1825, but the following year, and more especially in 1827, these animals were raised in large numbers. In this lay the foundation of an industry which, for many years, flourished in Ann Arbor. During the summer of 1827, George Prussia started a tannery not far from the corner of First and Washington streets. Prussia and others cured their hides on the rail and picket fences about the village and on horizontal poles put up for the purpose. Emigrants stopping at Rumsey's Coffee House objected so strongly to the odors given off by these hides that Prussia agreed with Rumsey that they should be hung farther away. Thereafter they decorated the fence which enclosed "Jail Square," the block bounded by Fourth and Fifth avenues and Liberty and William streets. Little objection was raised to this, since Rumsey had given the property to the village. Nearly all the wool and most of the leather was taken to Detroit and sold. There was no shoemaker in the village until about 1830, many of the EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 45 pioneers making their own shoes as well as those for other members of the family. The success of Prussia's tannery, and the ease with which sheep and cattle could be raised, encouraged land clearing and the raising of larger quantities of grain. Thus the mills were kept busy and, on a small scale, industry thrived. Business enterprise and the arrival of new emigrants made necessary a larger exchange of goods. In 1826 and 1827 several sought to take advantage of the opportunities the situation presented by opening stores. The first house in Lower Town was built by James Jones in 1825. The next year this was sold to Samuel Doty. This house was later sold to Fred Alber. An invoice of Jones' store at one time showed the stock to consist of "half a barrel of whiskey, with a nail on the side holding a tin cup, three open-top thimbles, five darning needles, and a hank of linen thread." Doty sold custommade shoes in this house and enjoyed a splendid trade. In the "older part of the town," as the upper village was always called, Lorrin Mills opened the first tailor shop west of Detroit. Not far away A. De Forest sold drugs, groceries and agricultural implements, and, on the southwest corner of Huron and Main streets, Henry Welch opened a general store. Anson and Daniel B. Brown began to operate one of like character farther south on Main street. This year, also, A. Sperry started a blacksmith's shop, and the year following took in his l)rother, J. H. Sperry, as partner. In 1827 these places of l)usiness all were running. That year the Ely brothers and Edward Clark opened a store, Clark's place of business being situated on the east side of Main street near Washington. By the end of that year there were eight or nine stores of different kinds here, several taverns, a tannery, two sawmills, two or three grist mills and one blacksmith's shop. The population numbered between four and five hundred people. On July 9, when the first election in Ann Arbor was held for territorial congressman, 238 votes were cast. Two years later the number reached 444, and the local population was nearly 900. Among the most progressive who entered business during * See Chapter XII. The section of Ann Arbor north of the Huron River was known as the "lower village," or "Lowver Town." 46 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS these years were Charles Tripp, the Brown brothers, Chauncey Goodrich, Lorrin Mills and James Kingsley. Little is known about Tripp more than that he was honest and dependable and that he established a foundry on Allen's Creek in 1829. Daniel B. Brown was a young man of boundless energy and not afraid of hard work. His father was contractor on the Erie canal, and Daniel helped him fulfill the terms of his contract. Unlike many young men, he saved carefully, and it was not long before he saw an opportunity to turn his savings to account. IHe purchased a drove of hogs, took them to New York, and there made profit enough to enable him to buy a canal boat and horses with which to tow it. He devoted his time to the canal business for many months, enjoying some interesting experiences during the time. Once he rode with a company of young men to meet Lafayette at Niagara Falls and escort him to Lockport, New York. In 1826 Daniel went to Detroit for barrelled pork. There he learned about the beautiful valley of the Huron, and he decided to pay it a visit. IHe was so pleased with the valley, and especially with the promise Ann Arbor gave for the future, that he decided to come here and settle. Going back home, he closed up his affairs and, like numerous others, returned here with a young wife. They took their first meal in Rumsey's Coffee House, and for nearly three-quarters of a century this city was their home. In 1831 and 1832 he was sheriff, his office being an appointment by the governor. After several years in partnership with his brother, Anson, he associated himself in business with the nephew of Lieutenant Governor Mundy. It was during the period of this partnership that Brown was appointed the first superintendent of the Michigan Central Railroad, in which capacity he served faithfully and well. He was one of the original members of the Baptist church, occupying the office of deacon for forty-seven years. The first store operated by Daniel and Anson Brown was located in the south part of the building now occupied by Woolworth's Five and Ten Cent Store. They brought from the East great quantities of dried fruits and other groceries, as well as tobacco and general merchandise. The partnership lasted four years. At the end of that time Anson purchased land of Andrew Nowland, built a dam across the Huron and EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 47 ONE OF THE OLDEST BUILDINGS IN ANN ARBOR A Relic of Early Days at the Corner of Broadway and Swift Streets From a drawing by Samuel Chamberlain erected a grist mill there. Opposite the mill, in Lower Town, he built a brick block, the center part of which he occupied for a store.* Daniel continued to operate the original store on Main street until 1832, numbering among his customers a great many Indians. They seemed fond of dealing with Daniel, giving him the principal part of their trade and bringing to his store their choicest supplies of wild honey, furs and cranberries. These Brown shipped to New York, where they sold at fancy prices. The story of the coming of Chauncey L. Goodrich to the West is quite as interesting as that of the coming of Anson and Daniel Brown. The Goodrich family came from Conway, Franklin County, Massachusetts. Mr. Chauncey L. Goodrich * This building still stands just east of the power house of the Detroit Edison Company on Broadway. 48 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS left this place with his wife and children, six boys and two girls, of which Morrill, a lad of fifteen, was the oldest. With them came Samuel Huxford Goodrich, Chauncey's brother, and his wife, three sons and one daughter. They travelled by way of the Green Mountains, Albany, and the Erie canal. During the journey on the canal the high hat of Samuel blew off and landed in the water. Samuel was horrified. The hat contained all the money he had, $300, and the loss of it would have been an irreparable blow. Fortunately, the hat landed top side down. The bareheaded man offered a reward of $25 for the recovery of the hat and the money. He might just as well have kept his offer to himself. A dog, trained to the business, seeing the hat fall into the water, immediately jumped in after it and brought it back with its precious cargo of paper money still dry. A day or two later the towline swept Morrill overboard, but aside from a mud bath and a good soaking, no harm was done. Arriving at last, the family settled on their 700-acre farm near Dexter, in Lima township. In 1829 Chauncey purchased of James Abbott, of Detroit, for the sum of $1,000, the entire block on the east side of the grounds John Allen had given to the county upon which to build a court house, and which was called the "Public Square." In 1831 Goodrich built a frame dwelling on his property and occupied it as the "Goodrich House" until 1842. The old house stood until 1903, when it was torn down to make room for the city Y. M. C. A. building. Chauncey Goodrich was prominent in affairs of the town up to the time of his death. Lorrin Mills was another pioneer of high character. As a lad of sixteen he became a tailor's apprentice in Buffalo. While working at his trade, late in the winter of 1823-24, a young man entered his shop to have a coat mended. This man was John Allen. He told Mills and his employer what he knew of the region about Ann Arbor, arousing their curiosity and stirring the imagination of the young apprentice. About three months later Mills sent his brothers out to look over the region for Asa, their father. These brothers, Simeon and Augustus, came here by way of Plymouth on a stage run by Bethuel Farrand, and among other things saw the original arbor on Allen's Creek. On returning home, they gave a glow EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 49 ing description of the country they had seen and made a prophecy concerning its future. The result was that Mr. and Mrs. Asa Mills and several of the children made preparations for going to Ann Arbor. They boarded a schooner at Nanneaut, New York, with their household goods, two yoke of oxen and a cow, and completed their journey about the first of June. Within a few days Lorrin arrived to visit the other members of the family. He remained several days, going to see Ann's arbor and visiting other places of interest about the village. After his short stay he returned to Buffalo, fully resolved to come back here as soon as possible. This he did, reaching the village in October of the same year. Within a short time the entire Mills family was located here, and a remarkable family it was. Ten of the children lived to middle life, married and raised families. All of these were proficient as vocalists, all played one or more musical instruments, all were total abstainers, all abolitionists, and all became members of the Republican party. The seven Mills brothers, in 1827, organized Ann Arbor's first band. The instruments were the flute, bassoon, houtboy, drum and clarinet. Lorrin was the leader, as he had had more experience than the others. In fact, he was a member of the band that had escorted the aged Lafayette and his son from Dunkirk to Buffalo, and had the honor of a formal introduction to the nation's distinguished guest. He also played at the ceremonies held to commemorate the opening of the Erie canal in November, 1825, heard the famous address given by the vigorous Governor of New York, and saw him pour water from Lake Erie into New York Bay to show that the two bodies of water were one. There was no finer character in the early history of Ann Arbor than James Kingsley. He played such a prominent part in the early history of the city as to deserve more than passing notice. HTe was born in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut, January 6, 1797. While he was yet a child the parents moved to Brooklyn, in the same county, where James attended school until he was nineteen. He then went to Providence, Rhode Island, where he studied Latin with a professor of Brown University. After finishing his course he returned to Brooklyn and began the study of law. Soon after being 50 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS admitted to the bar he went to Virginia and was engaged as a private teacher in the family of Ludwell Lee, son of the famous Richard Henry Lee. In the winter of 1826 Kingsley went to Grand Gulf, Mississippi, but with the outbreak of an epidemic of yellow fever he decided to come to Michigan. Ile followed the Mississippi and Ohio rivers to Cincinnati, where he abandoned the boat for a horse, which he rode to Detroit. There he sold the horse and proceeded on foot to Ann Arbor. He selected two plots of government land about two miles north of the village, and the next day started for Detroit to complete his purchase and secure title to his property. Arriving there, he had his holdings recorded in the Land Office, and immediately returned. Like many others, Kingsley at once set to work to clear his land. He worked at'the task unceasingly, and in a remarkably short time had cleared five acres. He kept on clearing his acres while he studied law, and in 1827 was the first local attorney to be admitted to the bar in Ann Arbor. In 1830 he married the charming Miss Lucy Ann Clark, sister of Edward Clark. She died in 1856, leaving four children, Mrs. Charles A. Chapin, Frank Kingsley, and George and James Kingsley, long residents of Paola, Kansas. In 1828 James Kingsley was appointed Judge of Probate, holding the office until 1836. In 1829 he built a pretentious home on the northeast corner of Detroit and Kingsley streets. It was to this home that he took his bride the following year and it was here that their daughter, Frances, was born. From 1830 to 1836 he was a member of the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory, and March 3, 1831, he was appointed a trustee of the University of Michigan. In 1835 he built a house on the northeast corner of Lawrence and Division streets, with the west half of the block for a yard. This was the Kingsley home for many years. Here three sons, James, George and Frank, were born, and from here the beloved wife and mother was borne to her last resting place. Afterward the house and corner lots wXere purchased by Mr. Henriques, Judge Kingsley moving to his farm a little south of town. Later, when David Rinsey purchased the Kingsley property, the best part of the old house was moved to the north end of the lot on Division street. There it was modernized, and Rinsey built for himself EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 51 JAMES KINGSLEY GENERAL EDWARD CLARK pictures Loaned by Miss Lucy Chapin a new house on the corner. In 1837 Kingsley became a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature, and in 1838, 1839 and 1842 was a member of the State Senate. It was while he was a member of the latter body that he drew up the charter by which the Michigan Central Railroad went into operation. In 1848 he was again elected to the House, and two years later served as a member of the Judiciary Committee of the State Constitutional Convention. In this convention he was very active, helping to solve many difficult problems and on numerous occasions giving his colleagues the benefit of his great knowledge. In 1852 he became a Regent of the University, one of the first set of elected regents, those serving before that year having been appointed by the Senate upon the nomination by the Governor. As regent he filled out the full term of six years. In 1869 he was again elected to the Lower House, his membership at that time representing his last in an official position. He was Ann Arbor's second mayor, an office he filled with distinction, always putting the interests of the community before his own. It was largely through his efforts that the University was located in Ann Arbor, and once it had been located he did everything in his power to further its interests. He had 52 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS high standing as a lawyer, was an earnest advocate of right and justice, was noble, enterprising, kindly, honest, well educated, and, withal, humble. His vision was more than provincial, his interests broad and his motives sincere. Zealous, patriotic, respected, loved-the kind of pioneer to make firm the foundations of a city.* The men described above, and many others of scarcely less importance, gave their support and encouragement to every movement looking to the improvement of conditions in the town. These men were interested in the improvement of the streets and nearby roads, in schools, churches, cultural organizations and amusements. Moreover, most of them were alive to concerns of wider scope, several subscribing to New York papers, copies of which still may be seen in the University Library, bearing, in flowing script, the names of the subscribers. The news items found in these papers kept local leaders informed of matters of national and international concern, and gave them many arguments which they applied to affairs which were often purely local. Not much attention was given to political affairs by Ann Arlor citizens until 1827. Then some found time for leisure hours and for grocery store debates. The particular character of the local political thinking was determined by two things: a widespread belief among the frontier people that the plain folk should rule, and a desire for internal improvements. In those days the village was Democratic. Most Ann Arborites believed that affairs in Government should be ordered by the sons of the soil, and they looked upon themselves and their kind as most truly representative of the best in American life. It was from this class that the majority of the supporters of Andrew Jackson were recruited. The prevalent idea in the West was confidence in the future of America. Imagination was keen on the subject, and people readily adopted the theory of the home market. Many were deeply concerned over the tariff. They wanted good prices for their wool, so they adopted the policy of protection. The high prices caused by the tariff of 1816, and the panic of 1819, were two reasons why migrations from the East were so numerous in the next few years. But now that the East was West and the West was no * See note at end of chapter. EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 53 longer self-sufficient, local business favored "upward revision." In 1827 a woolens bill was introduced in Congress raising the rates on both the raw and the manufactured product, but it failed to pass. That same December a situation developed in Congress over the tariff which ended in making Jackson President. Jackson's party was in control of the House. About half of them favored a tariff, and about half were opposed to it. A few New Englanders supported the bill then introduced, and practically all of those from the North and Northwest did also. The result left Jackson as popular as ever. His friends in the North could point to their votes to show that they favored the tariff, and his friends below the Mason and Dixon line could point to their solid vote to show that they had fought ably to defeat it. The woolen schedule was increased, and those in Michigan Territory who anticipated high prices for their wool had reason for rejoicing. All this tended to increase the business of sheep-raising hereabouts, and it enlivened interest in easier communication with eastern markets. News of the declining rates on the Erie canal was received with enthusiasm, and business men here eagerly listened to stories of improved conditions of transportation. But the interest in political affairs beyond the limits of the village was more than matched by interest in political happenings in the village itself. The settlement was not three years old when it was seen that some form of organized government was necessary. By that time some few had come to the village who were lacking in their respect for the rights of others. Some petty thefts occurred, a fact which may explain, in part, E. W. Rumsey's gift to the community of "Jail Square." The material which, in 1826, was collected for a jail building was put together the following summer. The structure was such as the resources of the time could provide. A piece of ground of the desired size was enclosed by a ditch into which trunks of trees were set of a length equal to the height of the building, plus the depth of the ditch. These tree stems formed the outer walls of the jail. Across the tops a roof was placed, and the interior was fitted up for the first jailer, Israel Branch, and his family, and quarters for the prisoners. Rumsey himself was the first Justice of the Peace, 54 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS and John Allen seems to have acted in the capacity of the first police force. It is clear that Rumsey performed the functions of his office, but no evidence has so far been discovered to show that Allen was over-busy as a self-constituted marshal. A further evidence of Ann Arbor's growth is seen in its increasing importance as the political center of the county. To Bethuel Farrand belongs the distinction of having been the first Probate Judge in Washtenaw County. He presided at the first session of the County Court, held in Ann Arbor April 2, 1827. Two years before, Cyrus Beckwith became registrar of deeds, and he seems to have engaged in some minor legal matters in addition to performing the duties this office entailed. If we include Beckwith and John Allen, the legal profession here, at the end of 1827, was made up of these two men, James Kingsley, Marcus Lane, Elisha W. Belcher, and Gideon Wilcoxan.* David E. Lord served as County Clerk from 1827 to 1830. During the winter of 1826-27 the New York State town laws were adopted for Michigan Territory. These laws were applied in Washtenaw County, including the village of Ann Arbor. Since more of our inhabitants were from that state than from any other, it seems only natural that the laws of New York should have been adopted here. The first reference to the organization of the county government is found in a letter of January 25, 1827, written by Ezra Maynard to his son, William S. Maynard, then living in Whitesboro, New York. It is interesting and important enough to quote in full: "Our county is organized, all the officers commissioned, and tomorrow the first court is to be held in Ann Arbor, in the county of Washtenaw. All the formalities must be attended to, but I hope not one case will be placed on the docket. Some people mentioned yesterday that it was best to indite one man for living with another man's wife, but I told them that it would be commencing a business that would perhaps never come to an end, for I can name a number * * * both male and female who had come here from the states and Canada who were in the same condition, and if they demeaned themselves as good wholesome inhabitants, and no complaints * Lane afterwards moved to Ypsilanti, and Belcher to the western part of the state. Wilcoxan, in 1827, was appointed by General Cass Prosecuting Attorney. He died August 30, 1830. EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 55 came from those more interested, I thought we had better let them alone."" Apparently no one was indicted when court met January 26, and only one case came up for trial. A worthless sort of fellow naned Erasmus Priest had been selling whiskey to the Indians in violation of the law. His trial was held in his own house, Judge Samuel Dexter presiding, and assisted by Oliver Whitmore as associate. Mr. B. G. H. Witherell, of Detroit, acted for the people in the prosecution of Priest, and O. D. Richardson, of Pontiac, defended him. The testimony of eight witnesses was offered by the prosecution to only one for the defendant. Nevertheless, when the jury returned with a verdict, after a deliberation of two hours, they declared Priest not guilty, and he was accordingly discharged. The only other business done at that session of the court was to grant three tavern licenses, and to grant to Reverend William Page a license to perform the ceremony of marriage. The three tavern licenses were granted to John Allen, Nathan Thomas, and Benjamin Woodruff. It is probable that some of the men and women living out of wedlock took advantage of the newly-acquired legal powers of Reverend Mr. Page, continuing the married state under the sanction of the law. After the organization of the county in 1827 the first great question of a political nature discussed in Ann Arbor, on which sides were taken, had to do with the abduction of William Morgan, who was charged with publishing the secrets of the Masonic fraternity. This crime of abduction was never proved, but that did not prevent the founding, in 1826, of a powerful party known as the Anti-Masons. Its membership was made up of those who believed the brotherhood was responsible for the disappearance of Morgan. Ann Arbor's population included several adherents to the party. Whatever their attitude towards Masonry may have been before 1827, John Allen and Samuel Dexter, among others, became rabid Anti-Masons. With John Allen to have convictions was to act * There w-ere a number of common lawv marriages here in the early days, many of the young women who came here taking husbands to themselves without the formality of a wedding ceremony. It is possible that this would not have been the case had ministers of the gospel or legal officers been available who could have performed the sacred office. 56 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS vigorously upon them, so, late in 1829, with Dexter, the management and ownership of the Western Emigrant was taken over, and that publication became spokesman for the AntiMasons in this region. Mr. George Corselius, who had been employed on the Advertiser in Detroit, and had had excellent journalistic training, became an associate editor and did most of the editorial work. According to the story of Morgan's abduction, generally believed, he was abducted from a small town in New York and illegally confined in the Niagara County jail in charge of William R. Thompson. In western New York feeling ran so high against Thompson that he struck out for the West, finally locating in Ann Arbor and making his home in a brick house he built on the southeast corner of Fifth avenue and Huron street, and later occupied by Judge Edward D. Kinne.* A race for political office, in which the Anti-Masons here took part, developed between Austin E. Wing and Judge Dexter, in which the prize was the office of delegate to Congress from the Territory of Michigan. Wing beat Dexter with ease, though he had no newspaper backing whatever. Dexter, like most Anti-Masons, was strongly opposed to General Jackson for President, and Wing was equally as strong in his support of "King Andrew," as the General's enemies derisively called him. The Anti-Masons hurled at the supporters of Jackson the epithet, "Jack-Masons," but their anathemas availed nothing, and the rugged soldier was chosen for the highest office in the land. After Jackson became President, and after local business men began to feel the benefits of the protective tariff, little more was heard about Anti-Masonry in Ann Arbor. Another evidence of the growth of the village is seen in the organization, in 1826, of a literary society among the local women called the "T. P. F. Society." The significance of the initials has not been determined, but the membership and objects of the society are clear. Among the members were Minerva Rumsey, Almira G. Bird, Mary M. Lane, Lucy Clark, Martha Welch, Abbey W. Hayes, and Maria Maynard. According to the rules, the ladies belonging were to be under twentysix years of age, they were to meet regularly for improvement, to discuss topics of the day, and, besides presenting papers on * Torn down in 1923. EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 57 various subjects, they were to propose questions and suggest answers on the facts of history and natural science. The annual election of officers was held the first of May. Two of the by-laws give a hint of certain evil practices of the time. Rule nine provided, "That the members of the society consider themselves under obligations to defend each other's characters, and counsel and advise each other, as circumstances may require." Article ten suggests that possibly all the time devoted to their meetings was not given over to the high lights of history or to the mysteries of natural science. That particular article provided that, "the prevailing evil of slander is becoming so prevalent we unitedly will discountenance and suppress it as much as possible." This amusing agreement was signed by all of the above ladies December 15, 1827. This society seems to have had its origin in an attempt to outdo some of the young men of the neighborhood who met informally to discuss topics of current interest and to debate questions of importance. The number of young men who gathered for these meetings grew larger and still larger until the assemblies included most of the bachelors in the village. One of the questions of current interest most frequently discussed was whether the married state was more conducive to human happiness than the single. The negative frequently won, but, since the number of marriageable bachelors constantly dwindled, it was demonstrated in practical life that, in the long run, the affirmative had the better of the argument. The young ladies of the village spent their time to better purpose, perfecting their society and purchasing for it books worth while. The fate of the T. P. F. Society is not clear, but it is probable that it was revived in the Ladies' Library Association organized some years later. In 1826 the mail began to be carried both east and west from Ann Arbor with greater frequency and regularity. That year Judge Dexter established a postoffice in his own home, and himself once a week carried the mail to and from Ann Arbor. In 1827 it was carried to Detroit every two weeks, at that time usually by Bethuel Farrand. Sometimes Farrand's young son was allowed to take the trip for him, and, though he was but thirteen years old, he went quickly and experienced no difficulties along the way. There was one time, however, 58 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE OLD FRANKLIN HOTEL HURON STREET Which Stood on the Site of the First Post About 1875 Ofice, Now Occupied by the Ann Arbor The Old Cook Hotel and the Presbyterian Savings Bank and Wahr's Bookstore Church in the Distance when the father received a scare from which his recovery was slow. In the early spring of 1828, he sent the boy, Lucius, to Detroit with the mail. He was detained there until the morning of the third. This delay made it necessary for the young lad to travel in one day the entire distance to Ann Arbor, more than forty miles as the route then lay. There had been a deep snow, followed by a thaw and rain; the streams were greatly swollen and the fords were deep with rushing water. The mail on that particular day was unusually heavy, and the pony the boy rode to carry it was a small one. As night approached Mr. Farrand became alarmed about his son, finally going down to the bank of the Huron to see whether the lad was near. The river was a swirling torrent. Ice, jagged and broken, was still clinging to the shore on either side, but in mid-stream it was broken up and carried swiftly along in the strong current. It was nearly dark when Lucius appeared on the opposite bank. There was no alternative-he must cross the river. There were no houses for miles back, his clothes were wet, and further exposure might mean the dreaded pneumonia. The brave boy headed the pony straight for the bank of the river, and the little animal stepped carefully upon the ice where it was unbroken. Suddenly he lunged into the dark water and swam to the ice on the other side. The water now EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 59 reached the pony's back, but he managed to plant his fore feet on the ice, only to break in and sink almost out of sight. He made a second attempt, this time successful. Leaping up, he soon was on solid ground, and the boy, without waiting for his father, sped home to the shelter of the cabin and the warmth of the fireplace. The difficulties arising from the roughness of the way and the slowness of transporting the mail made necessary a high charge for sending a letter. There were no stamps in those days, the cost of carrying a letter being determined by the distance it had to go as well as its weight. As a rule, the mail was not heavy, since only those who were fairly well-to-do could afford the luxuries of regular correspondence. Twentyfive cents was the usual charge for sending a letter, but it was not always paid at the time the letter was posted. Nearly everyone ran up postage bills at the postoffice, but these bills were always paid. Upon the settlement of an account an informal scrap-paper receipt was given, and no other record of the transaction was made. As the population and wealth of the village increased, the volume and value of the mail increased, and it was not many years before a postoffice building had to be erected. The continued movement of the people farther west made this seem more necessary than ever. Judge Dexter's home was farthest west, in 1826, but early in 1827 Jackson was founded by the Blackman brothers and another man, and later in the same year a small company left Ann Arbor and set the stake for the seat of the county west of Jackson. As Ann Arbor continued to grow and the travelling became better between here and Detroit, the taverns along the way made a greater effort to please their patrons. Ten Eyke's tavern stood at the forks of the roads leading to Plymouth and Ypsilanti. Half way between there and Swartzburg Plains old Mr. Salisbury kept a tavern, a double log house. Nine miles,northeast of Ann Arbor Squire Enoch Pray kept a tavern, then little more than a log shanty. At Dixboro was Peter's tavern, and in Ann Arbor there were several, including the Osterhout House, which stood on the site of the present Allenel Hotel. It was in this latter tavern that E. W. Rumsey died in 1827. 60 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS A little while before Rumsey's death the greatest celebration the county had witnessed up to that time was held July fourth. How many attended the exercises is not known, but we do know that the crowd nearly filled the Court House Square, "the entire county being present." There were no trees on the grounds at that time, but a temporary arbor to protect the people from the sun was erected after great labor. Lorrin MIill's band furnished the music, most of which was of a martial character, and Rumsey's company went through its paces. After the program a dinner was served by the ladies of the town. Very soon after the dinner was over an exciting incident occurred which seemed to act as a signal for the breaking up of the crowd. The ox team of Orrin White ran away in the general direction of nowhere. The patriotic sentiments the day's doings had stirred in the breasts of White and his wife were somewhat cooled during the long walk home over rutty roads. Otherwise the celebration was a complete success. From what has been said in this chapter, it is evident that Ann Arbor was fast developing many lines of interest and that it was rapidly growing. We can now follow some of these developments and see more particularly how some of the things in the village came to be what they are. TAXES AND LAND VALUES, 1839 From Judge Kingsley's assessment roll "of the estate, both real and personal, lying in that part of the village of Ann Arbor, west of the river Huron," made and completed by the then assessors, Chauncey L. Goodrich and Chester Ingalls, on the 30th of March, in the year 1839. It is noticed that the combined valuation of both real and personal property in the limits mentioned then amounted to $328,950. Among the entries on the roll is the following: "Old brick school-house on jail square, valuation $250; tax 76c. Bank of Washtenaw; stock owned in this State, $25,000; tax $76.15. The names of 205 property owners appear on the roll, most of the valuations being under $1,000. The valuations over $5,000 were those of Bach & Abel, $7,350; Bank of Washtenaw, $25,050; C. S. Goodrich, $10,400; E. W. Morgan, $7,700; W. S. Maynard, $9,280; W. R. Thompson, $25,850, and Lucius Lyon, $9,000. AT THE END OF TEN YEARS-A LETTER Lodi, April 21, 1834. Dear Brother: We received your letter of the first of February on the first of EVIDENCES OF GROWTH 61 March, but deferred writing until the present on account of the time it would have taken for a letter to reach you, but navigation is now open and communication more rapid. The steamboats were expected to start on their regular trips from Buffalo to Detroit on the 14th inst. They have been running on the upper part of the lake for some time past. In fact there has been but a short time this winter that boats could not run, the winter has been uncommonly mild and the spring early. We had but little sledding, and that in the fore part of the winter. Cattle have picked their own living on the marshes for several weeks past, and wheat looks very fine. Crops came in well last season. I had 700 bushels of wheat and oats from 21 acres and fatted 2140 lbs. pork worth from 5 to 6 cts. per lb. Wheat... is at present rather dull in consequence of the scarcity of money caused by the commotion in the banking system. * * * This surveyed township was organized by the Legislative Council last winter into a separate township by the name of Lodi. We held our first town meeting at the post office on the plain the first Monday in April. I was elected Supervisor of Schools. This town is nearly all settled... and the wild land in this region of Country is all located.... Mr. Beckwith, my first neighbor west, sold his farm of 160 acres a few days ago for $1500.00. This County is building a Court House at Ann Arbor let out on contract by the Supervisor for $5350-$2000 of which have been paid, $2,000 to be paid next winter, and the remainder the year following, to be built of brick 42 feet by 60 and two stories high, to be completed the present season. * * * I hired a young man last fall for a year at $130.00. We have done our threshing and chopped 30 acres by hireing one month's work..... I think there will soon be a chance for letting land out to be cleared for the use of it a few years. * * * Give our best respects to mother and all the family and friends. Yours affectionately, Horace Booth Adaline Booth Mr. Alfred Booth. N. B. Direct your letters to Lodi, Washtenaw Co., M. T. CHAPTER VI The First Few Years FOR two years the pioneer farmers near Ann Arbor, and the people who settled in the little community, were almost, if not entirely, shut off from the outside world. This was due to the fact that the roads were so poor, a journey to Detroit never being undertaken unless it was absolutely necessary. The road from Detroit to Ypsilanti, and from there through Ann Arbor, as far west as Dexter, was surveyed by Orange Risdon in 1824; and in 1825 he surveyed the famous road to Chicago, going through in a baggage wagon, with six teams, pack horses and twelve men. This was the first step in bringing the outside world a little nearer the settlement. It made easier the carrying of the mail and tended to fix the route along which people travelled back and forth. That same year Risdon, in company with a man named Whitmore, was surveying north of Ann Arbor when they came in sight of a lake. Risdon gave to the body of water the name Whitmore in honor of his companion. The one who followed the route of Risdon's survey with greatest regularity was John Allen." I e was Ann Arbor's first postmaster, establishing the postoffice in 1825, though his official appointment did not come for some months after he vol* This letter, written by John Allen, Sept. 18, 1824, to John Williams in Detroit, bears an earlier date than any other in existence sent from Ann Arbor that year. Ann Arbour 18th Sept. 1824 Dr. Sir: You will add to your favour by sending me two barrels good flour, with the bearer Win. Clinton. We have nothing new here, our little village is increasing Rapidly-My Saw Mill will go into operation in a few weeks. I expect in three weeks to see my Father and brothers,-Lawyer Willcokson has purchas'd in the Village a farm in the VacinityJOHN ALLEN Col. John Williams Burton (Clinton's name was Wm. S. Clinton.) Letter M. S. THE FIRST FEW YEARS 63 OLD INN Eight Miles North of Ann Arbor on the Whitmore Lake Road, a Type of Tavetn Common in the Early Days untarily began his service. During the winter of 1824-25, he made several trips to Detroit and back, but with the return of Bethuel Farrand to the village in the late spring of 1825, Allen gave up the work. Farrand then assumed the duties, receiving for his services pay at the rate of $100 per year. The mail was carried about once a month, on the average, and it took from four to seven weeks for a letter to reach the frontier from New York, depending on the condition of the ground and streams. When the weather was cold a trip could be made in four weeks. Hard ground and frozen streams made for speed, but soft ground and swollen streams made carrying the mail a slow and hazardous undertaking. When navigation on the lakes was closed, the entire trip was made by land; but when the boats were running the mail was carried from Detroit to Buffalo by way of Lake Erie, and from Buffalo to Albany and New York by way of the Erie canal and Hudson river. For some weeks, in the late fall of 1825, Farrand was ill and unable to make the trips to Detroit, and at another time he spent several weeks working on the roads. During these times Andrew Nowland carried the mail, later going 64 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS back to the improvement of the roads, a work Farrand already had begun. Farrand, or, sometimes, his son, received the outgoing mail from John Allen in the morning. The first night he would stop at Elder IIickock's, on River Rouge. The second day he would go to Detroit and deliver the mail to Postmaster James Abbott, and then he would return to Hickock's for the night. The third day he would return to Ann Arbor, and there deliver the mail to John Allen. In- and near the settlement, the roads were in such poor condition, and the traffic on them increasing so rapidly, that putting them in better shape was a matter not long to be neglected. It was during the latter part of the summer of 1826 that a proposition for improving them was first seriously considered. Several meetings were held, which were attended by Allen and other influential men of the village and many from the surrounding farms. It was proposed that the holes be filled, cuts and fills balanced, ditches dug along the sides, and that, as far as possible, the line of surveys be followed. There were no funds available which could be drawn upon for the purpose of hiring men to work the roads, so it was agreed that each man should spend two or three days making them straight, grading and rendering them passable. The roads were supposed to follow the township lines and to run in parallels. But, as a matter of fact, they ran wherever travellers decided the going was best, where grades were natural, or where ruts and sink-holes were fewest and ox teams least liable to go down out of sight in the mire. It will be remembered that Andrew Nowland said that "I went into a mud-hole a short distance this side of Ten Eyke's tavern on River Rouge, in the Buckland Woods, and did not see my team or wagonload of provisions again until they reached the bank of the river at Swartzburg Plains. There I saw the tips of the horses' ears coming up out of the mud." Though it was not difficult to make shipments eastward from Detroit, after the opening of the all-water route in 1825, it was not easy to get products of the farm into Ann Arbor, and hauling them from there to Detroit was a very serious problem. Good roads were more important to the prosperity of the village than anything else. Without comfortable com THE FIRST FEW YEARS 65 munication with points east, the people of Washtenaw would continue to live in sublime isolation and comparative poverty. Not only this, but, as the frontier moved farther west, it became increasingly important to those who were thinking along nationalistic lines to make surveys and build roads so that the people living in the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi would be bound to the East by economic ties as well as those of sentiment. In the village, roads soon took on the appearance of regular streets. Zenas Nash built a road across the gulley, as it used to be called, out the street now known as Miller avenue, and some of the half-buried "thank-ye-manms" (logs) are still to be found there, a century later. Rail fences marked the streets in 1824 and 1825, but, when the sawmills began to operate, picket fences made their appearance and the streets were made more nearly straight. Along some of these fences board walks were laid, and in front of the two or three stores hitching rails were set up. Stumps along the sides of the streets were pulled or burned out, brush was cut away, and the large stones that were taken from the ground were piled up and used for the foundations of houses. The small stones were used at crossings and for lining the shallow gutters between the walks and the roads. The houses were built at approximately equal distances from the street, neat barns were raised behind them, and a general appearance of orderliness became evident. Similar road-building activities went on all over the eastern half of Washtenaw County during the fall of the year 1826, and the work of improvement has never ceased. Within two or three years roads were radiating from Ann Arbor as a center in much the same way as they were from Detroit. In Wayne County the progress of road construction kept up to that in Washtenaw. By the fall of 1827 the route between Ann Arbor and Detroit was in fair condition and contacts with the outside world were more immediate. What with fourday service of the steamboats on Lake Erie, and the easy communication between Buffalo and eastern points, mail service all along the way improved, and a letter rarely took more than four weeks to reach Ann Arbor from the towns along the Atlantic seaboard. The building of these roads and the opening of the Erie 66 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS canal largely explain the great influx of settlers in and about Ann Arbor in 1826 and the years immediately following. Several of those who had located land in 1823 and 1824 returned to take possession and clear the land of trees and brush. Some of these people built homes in the village, going out to their farms in the morning and returning to the settlement at night. In the summer of 1825 there were nine houses here, but before another year had passed there were as many as thirty, many of them of frame construction. No figures are available as to the volume of traffic on the great canal before the year 1826, but those for that year are enlightening. The canal had two branches, one to Lake Champlain, on the north, and the other to Lake Ontario, at Oswego. In 1826, nineteen thousand boats and rafts were carried down these canals to the Hudson river. In 1825 the freight rate from Buffalo to Albany was eighty-eight dollars a ton; twenty-six years later it was less than six dollars, and during all those years there was a steady decline. This decline, and the comparative ease with which people could make the journey to the west, stimulated many to go, especially those of the farmer class. In 1820 the population of Michigan Territory was but 7,450; a decade later it had multiplied by four. In 1834 it had reached 87,263. The population of Washtenaw County at that time, nearly 12,000, in round numbers, was within 1,800 of the population of Wayne County, and nearly all of these were farmers. The year the University was founded 174,389 persons could call Michigan their home. In 1840 the population was 213,267, and the growth continued in about the same proportion throughout most of the succeeding decades. As stated above, the wave of emigrants coming to this region from New York and New England followed Orange Risdon's survey along the old Indian trail through the townships of Ypsilanti, Pittsfield, Saline and Bridgewater. Ypsilanti came to supplant Woodruff's Grove as a stopping place of emigrants, and the farm lands along this route improved almost overnight. Ann Arbor enjoyed its fair share of this growth. In 1824, besides those persons mentioned in Chapters II and IV, there came to Ann Arbor the following people: Samuel Camp; Hiram Putnam; Alvin Cross; Clark Sills; William C. Clinton; John W. Maynard; David Martin; Josiah P. Turner; C. THE FIRST FEW YEARS 67 HILLS EAST OF ANN ARBOR IN THE DEAD OF WINTER Branch; Zenas Bird; J. C. McGee; Alva Brown; John Allen's parents, Captain John Allen and Elizabeth, his wife; a brother, James Turner Allen; two children of John Allen by his first wife, Elizabeth M. C. and James; John Allen's wife, Ann Isabella, their daughter, Sarah, and Orville Barnes.* Barnes was the first school teacher in Ann Arbor, his name appearing among those of the first members of the Presbyterian church. During the winter of 1824 few came to the village, but with the opening of spring new faces began to appear. Nearly all,of these were characters worth while. Among the first to arrive this year were John and Robert Geddes. They came from Pennsylvania, by way of New York, in an open wagon, bringing with them extra clothing and a store of provisions. On arriving, May 11, they cut down an elm tree, from it stripped the bark, * See J. T. Allen's account at the end of Chapter IV. THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS and over parts of its branches, set upright in the ground; placed their wagon box. The bark was laid over this, and here they lived for several weeks. May 12 a yoke of oxen was purchased and an attempt was made to plow with one of Wood's patent plows. Little could be accomplished with it, so John concluded it would be better to go to Detroit and obtain a share for a "bull" plow. He covered the entire distance on foot, and as far as Springwells on the return trip. There he overtook a man who was driving an ox team. Geddes accepted a ride as far as Ypsilanti, where he resumed his walk, carrying the plow the remaining nine miles, first on one shoulder and then on the other. While he was making the trip to Detroit, Robert was putting together a ten-by-ten slab shanty, which served as their home for two years. Josiah P. Turner hired out to the Geddes brothers for $1.50 per day, and all together they succeeded in plowing fifteen and three-quarters acres of ground. The yield from this the first year was but fifteen bushels, but the second year twenty-five bushels were the reward of their efforts. - Another sterling character who came in 1825 was Bethuel Farrand, referred to above. He left Cayuga County, New York, in May and came to Detroit. Six months later, with his family, lie started up the Huron river in a flat-boat. After twenty miles he purchased a yoke of oxen and a large wagon, hired a man who owned another yoke, and started through the wilderness. In many places they were forced to cut their way. Some of the hills were so steep that, in descending them, one of the teams had to be hitched to the back of the wagon to keep the load from rolling down on the team ahead. Arriving in Ann Arbor, Dr. Lord let them have two rooms in his house until, six weeks later, their own shanty was ready for occupancy. This home was built on the corner of Main and William street, where, subsequently, it was much enlarged. The main part of this house, nearly hidden with vines, stood, with the shanty at the back, for more than half a century, when it was destroyed by fire. In making the journey to Michigan Territory, Farrand walked from Aurelius, a part of Auburn, New York, by way of the southern shore of Lake Erie. While in Detroit he submitted a proposition for supplying the city with water. Suc THE FIRST FEW YEARS 69 ceeding in his object, he returned to Aurelius through Canada. In May of the same year, he entered upon the construction of the waterworks. Stories of Ann Arbor reached him, and he began to consider the idea of going there and making the place his home. In the fall he transferred to Mr. Wells his interest in the water project and made his way to the future county seat of Washtenaw. Orrin and Eber White, two other vigorous pioneers who came here in 1825, are deserving of special mention. They were of rich New England stock, descendants of Pilgrim ancestry, and brought up in the strictest religious discipline. Eber visited the region in 1823. He was so amazed at its beauty that he decided to go back East and return with a wife. Carrying out these plans, he finally arrived in Ann Arbor, and was cared for by the settlement's first bride and groom, Temperance Morton and George Allen. White's cabin was immediately "rolled up," but it was fifteen years before a larger house was built. This house stood on the north side of West Liberty street, about half a mile from where the tracks of the Ann Arbor Railroad now run. Eber White soon became prominent in military life. In 1831 he was made ensign by General Lewis Cass; in 1832 Governor Porter commissioned him a lieutenant, and three years later Governor Stevens T. Mason made him a lieutenant-colonel of the First Regiment, Second Brigade, of the First Michigan Division. Orrin White, though less prominent, was a recognized leader in the community and took an active part in its improvement. Between 1824 and 1829 no less than fifty prominent people came to Ann Arbor.* The coming of these people tended to * Partial list of settlers who came between 1825 and 1829: 1825 Cyrus Beckwith, the second merchant to keep a general store in the village Elnathan Botsford Cornelius Osterhaut 1826 The Blackman brothers, who with a third man founded Jackson, Michigan Elisha W. Belcher Edward Goodspeed Luther Boyden James Kingsley Anson Brown Marcus Lane 70 THE FIRST HIUNDRED YEARS break down the spirit of isolation, which at first pervaded the settlement, and the news they brought kept alive the interest in the outside world. The chief occupations were land-clearing and home-building. There are but two of the first homes still standing. The oldest house in the city is the Mary Austin house, standing on the northwest corner of Ashley and Liberty streets. It was probably built by Asa L. Smith in 1826 from lumber sawed out in the new mill on the Huron river. Mrs. Hannah Gibbs Clark, a native of Connecticut, came to Ann Arbor in May, 1827, with her son Edward, afterwards called "General," and her daughter Lucy Ann, afterwards Mrs. James Kingsley, grandmother of the late Volney A. and Miss Lucy E. Chapin. There were no houses available for the use of Mrs. Clark, so she rented part of this Ashley street house of Mary Austin until she could secure a home of her own. Lucy Ann, recently returned from a boarding school in New Haven, Connecticut, owned a piano, which was brought here from Detroit by ox team with the rest of her possessions. This instrument, the first of its kind Daniel B. Brown Judge Henry Rumsey Horace Carpenter Asa Mills Alvin De Forest Lorrin Mills Dr. Samuel Denton Shairer Solomon Doty A. Sperry The Fritz family Henry Welch 1827 Smith Bottsford David and Jonathan Ely Joseph Brown Chauncey and Morrill Goodrich William S. Brown Gideon Wilcoxan Edward Clark Solomon H. Mathews (seven miles H. S. Crippen northwest of town) 1828 Hiram Arnold Lewis C. Ristow Lorenzo Davis J. H. Sperry Daniel Hiscock A. T. Sutherland H............ Laraway James Wicks E. W. Morgan J. D. Williams F. L. Parker 1829 Daniel F. Allmendinger L. C. Risdon Conrad Bissinger Charles Tripp Charles G. Clark THE FIRST FEW YEARS 71 THE OLDEST HOUSE IN ANN ARBOR Probably Built in I826. Northwest Corner of Liberty and Ashley Streets west of Detroit, was made by John Kearsing and Son, Bowery Lane, New York. It now graces the hallway of Miss Lucy E. Chapin's home at 803 Kingsley street. The other house dating from the late '20s was that belonging to Dr. Lord. It is still hanging to life as a part of the store at the back end of the building the second door south of the Whitney Hotel. The quaint little piano has an interesting history. Shortly after it was placed in its first home it was taken to a house which stood where the building at Number 17 South Main street then stood. The Pottawatomies and other Indians came there almost daily to enjoy the music, and sometimes they came in large numbers for the purpose of dancing to its strange melody. The little instrument passed into the hands of Mrs. C. A. Chapin, daughter of Hon. James Kingsley, and from her it passed to Miss Lucy Chapin and her brother Volney, daughter and son of Mrs. C. A. Chapin. In Mrs. E. F. Ellet's little book called The Pioneer Women of the West, published by Charles Scribner in 1852, reference to the piano is made on page 385 as follows: "The patriarch of pianos is still extant, and stands as prim as ever upon its thin legs, a type amongst the scores that have succeeded it, of a bygone age, and representative of the stately politeness and formal breeding of the ladies and gentlemen of its own date." Of the early settlers mentioned in this chapter, Deacon Mills built on the corner of Liberty and Main, the first brick house in the town; John W. Maynard built on Division street; William S. Maynard owned the home which now houses the Elks 72 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS lodge, and Captain Charles Thayer located on Huron street. The Thayer home was three times remodeled, the north of the structure now serving as part of Mr. Fred J. Rentchler's photograph gallery. David B. Brown built on the southwest corner of Mosley and South Main streets; Edward Clark on the southwest corner of Ashley and Huron streets, and J. H. Sperry on the northwest corner of State and Huron streets. While these changes were going on there were two new elements being added to the local population, the Irish and the German. The conditions in Ireland among the lower classes during the first quarter of the century were very bad. They were so bad, in fact, that the sons of Erin were willing and glad to brave the terrors of three thousand miles of ocean that they might carve out for themselves homes in a new land where they could work and worship as they pleased. In consequence of the migrations from the Emerald Isle the population of America materially increased. Many who came to this country found work on the Erie canal. After it was completed some took up small farms in western New York and some drifted farther west. A number of these stopped off in Detroit, but several made their way to the new settlements to the west, and Ann Arbor proved to be the goal of many. In those days the daily wage of a man without a team was fifty cents-a lot of money for an Irishman a hundred years ago. In 1825 a man could hire out for a year for $50.00 and his room and board. In 1826 the price of labor went sharply upward, some "hands" receiving as much as $75.00 and room and board for their services. In 1827 fortune favored them still more; and by 1830 the annual cash value of common farm labor was one hundred dollars. By 1833 it was $130.00, and for several years it continued to rise. The more thrifty among the Irish began to accumulate, and as they accumulated they made purchases of land. Some of these people entered into agreements whereby they obtained the use of the land for a term of years on condition that they clear a certain number of acres. As a result of their industry land was cleared with incredible speed, orchards were planted and fields were turned where many kinds of grains were raised. The experience of the German people who settled in Ann Arbor was, in some respects, like that of the Irish. As a rule, THE FIRST FEW YEARS the German people were better off financially than the Irish, and their lands were bought outright. The first of the Teutons to come to Ann Arbor was Conrad Bissinger. He arrived Septemniber 1, 1825. He was born at Mannheim, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, where he learned the baker's trade. There was no empl)loyment for a baker in Ann Arbor at that time, so he went to Charleston, South Carolina, where he engaged in business. During the course of the next three years he saved enough to buy, in 1828, some Government lands in Scio, the patent to the land bearing the signature of President Andrew Jackson. Bissinger did not come to take possession of his property until 1831, and by that time several other Germans had settled in the neighborhood. The increase in the number of farmers, the yield of grain from the enlarging acreage, and the unprofitableness of transporting the grain to Detroit, soon showed the necessity of l)building a grist miill. One of those who appreciated the advantages of such a mill was Andrew Nowland. He began the building of a mill on a site about twenty rods north of the present Michigan Central Railroad cattle yards. The mill stones were heswn out of large boulders obtained from a hillside near the jail. For some reason the mill was not finished until 1826, and no corn or wheat was ground there until the summer of that year. Crops then were amazingly good, no killing frost making its appearance until October 8. The delay in the opening of the Erie canal caused a sharp decline in food prices in the fall of 1825, and there was still a great surplus of unground grain on hand in the early summer following. Much of this was used up by the new people who arrived, many of whom reached the frontier poorly supplied with food. As a result of having a surplus of grain, pioneers that year did more building and less planting. What was needed most was lumber from either Allen's sawmill or that built by John Geddes on the Huron in the summer of 1825. But it was not entirely due to the unfinished condition of the Erie canal that grain remained unground in Ann Arbor. Heavy rains in the fall of 1825 made travel eastward exceedingly difficult, though southward the roads were not so bad. Meat and other supplies were not so plentiful in the villages that fall, and, had it not been for the drove of hogs Bethuel 74 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Farrand brought up from Ohio, and for the food brought up the IIuron on flat-boats, the bill of fare for local citizens would have been far from elaborate. The first hogs raised locally were marketed in 1826, and within a year many were taken to Detroit for slaughter. The provisions kept in the stores did not offer much of a variety, though every sort of article for frontier use could be found in them. The first general store opened here was that conducted by John Hereford, who, as we have said, began business in the fall of 1824. Cyrus Beckwith opened a store in the summer of 1825, and so strong a competitor of Hereford was he that the latter was driven out of business. Within a year or two John Allen took over the stock owned by Beckwith, and for several years either he or his brother, James Turner Allen, ran the business at the corner where the Ann Arbor Savings Bank now stands. As late as 1832 the following advertisement ran in Ann Arbor's first newspaper, the Emigrant: ANN ARBOR Cash & Barter The Undersigned is Now Receiving From New York An Assortment of DRY GOODS GROCERIES HARDWARE CROCKERY BOOTS and SHOES and READY MADE CLOTHING Which he offers for sale, for CASH OR BARTER, at lower prices than they have ever been offered for in the country. Those Who doubt this statement are requested to fill their purse and call, and examine for themselves. JOHN ALLEN Ann Arbour, June 11, 1832. Beckwith's store was located on the west side of Main street about where the Federal Bakery now stands, and was one of the first frame buildings in Ann Arbor. Most of Ann Arbor's original homes were built of logs. It cost nothing to build them except for a few nails and hinges and a little glass for windows. Two or three frame houses were built before any lumber was sawed out in the mill. The boards were split from basswood and dressed down with THE FIRST FEW YEARS 75 pilanes; the shingles were rived from oak. Naturally, boards were very expensive, the prices ranging from $10.00 to $18.00 per thousand feet, and few people in those days could afford to pay as much. The first lumber sawed in Allen's mill was used by Cornelius Osterhaut for the frame house he built on the corner where the Allenel Hotel now stands. But most of the frame dwellings erected in the village in 1825 were put up by Asa L. Smith. He made it a business to build a house, move into it, build a second, and then sell the first. He followed this practice until he had lived in no less than a dozen of the early homes. When the outdoor work of the day was ended, Smith employed his time far into the night in the lucrative occupation of making bedsteads. With the money he miade in this way, and in selling the houses he built, he was able to offer a comfortable living to his wife and his five boys and two girls. It may be observed, in passing, that the second child of the Smiths was the first child born in Ann Arbor. The birth occurred November 24, 1824. The second child to be born in the village was John S. Nowland, June 13, 1826; and the first child born in Lower Town, not then a part of Ann Arbor, was Prudence Chambers, a daughter, born June 15, 1825, to Thomas and Prudence Morton Chambers, owners of most of the land on that side of the river. The Smith baby was also the first to die in the upper village, the little one passing to a brighter "Wushte-Nong" April 15, 1827. The little folks seemed to suffer most from drinking the impure water of the village, though at times everyone was afflicted with ague. When good wells were put down the infant mortality fell off and the general health of the community became better. But in spite of the rains, the wretched roads and the ague, some very good times were enjoyed. Perhaps the very desire for relief from their drudgery made people work hard at their play, and get from it all the pleasure they could. A dance was an all-afternoon and an all-night affair, and a Fourth of July celebration lasted from early morning until late in the evening. Everyone came; there were no distinctions as to sex; everyone "spoke to" everyone else, and a "grouch" or a jealous person was not tolerated on the frontier. Music for the first balls was furnished by Captain John Allen. He was noted 76 THIE FIRST IIUNDRED YEARS throughout the country for the way he could play "Turkey-inthe Straw"; his endurance was remarkable, and he could play on and on without becoming weary. Two dances were held after the harvest in 1825, both of them taking place in Rumsey's Coffee House. All of the dancers could not get on the floor at once, so Captain Allen took up a position in the doorway and played for those who capered about outside as well as for those who danced within. Between dances cider and stronger beverages were served, but not in quantities sufficient to cause any great amount of inebriation. The third ball to be held in the village was whirled out on the floor of John Allen's "Mansion House" at "Bloody Corners." It was an elaborate affair for those days, many coming from great distances to be in attendance. It was held to celebrate the inauguration of the Masonic lodge, and was, therefore, carried out in an orderly and dignified manner. A number of guests from Detroit were present, including General Lewis Cass, Judge Witherell, O (liver?) Cook, General Lamed, General Schwartz, Nathan Newell and James Abbott. But the greatest celebration held during the first few years of our city's history occurred July Fourth, 1825. It drew together the population of the entire county, including the town's first military company, recently organized by Mr. Rumsey. The would-be soldiers marched from the Court House Square to the site of St. Andrew's church, where they offered a drill for the benefit of the spectators, to the number of nearly three hundred. Ann Isabella Allen and Mary Ann Rumsey had fixed up an arbor for the occasion similar to the original arbor on Allen's Creek, and there the assembly listened to a varied and interesting program. They were told how the name for the settlement had originated, and Calvin Chipman complimented the two Anns on the arbor they had built for the celebration and for the other decorations they had made. After impressively reading the Declaration of Independence, Ezra Maynard called upon his two daughters to lead the singing. When the voices had died away Judge Dexter delivered a stirring patriotic oration. Captain Rumsey then put his company through the manual of arms, several salutes were fired, and the entire gathering sat down to an old-fashioned country dinner. In the afternoon another program was given in which a large THE FIRST FEW YEARS 77 number of children took part. This was followed by dancing which lasted nearly all night. It is not improbable that the first person actually to teach here had prepared the children for their part in the Independence Day celebration of 1825. Though Orville Barnes was the first teacher, there is no record that he actually conducted a school. The honor for this goes to a Miss Monroe, and John Allen deserves the credit for the construction of the building. It stood on the northwest corner of Main and Ann streets, where an automobile tire repair shop and salesroom has been in operation for several years. The few benches and chairs, strongly suggesting the "Sawhorse" in the Wizard of Oz, were similar to those made of split logs to be found in all homes and schoolhouses on the frontier, and more uncomfortable pieces of furniture could scarcely be imagined. The interior of the building was lighted by several tiny windows, each composed of a single pane of glass eight by nine inches in size. In 1829 the labors of Miss Monroe were cut short by her untimely death, her work of teaching being taken up by Miss Harriet G. Parsons, later the wife of "Deacon" Lorrin Mills. It was during this year, 1829, that a one-story schoolhouse was erected on the southwest corner of Jail Square, the money for the building having been raised by subscription. It was used for all sorts of gatherings, political, educational and religious. In 1830 the Board of Supervisors added a second story, and the large room upstairs served for several years as the county's courtroom. Miss Parson's health was not good, and her teaching from time to time was interrupted by illness. So delicate was she before the year was ended that she was unable to go on with her work, and Miss Hopey Johnson was prevailed upon to take her place. In 1830 she resumed the duties once more, but her strength also failed and she concluded it would be impossible for her to complete the year. When the children learned of her plans they were greatly downcast. Among these was little James Allen. IHe begged his grandmother for permission to ask Miss Johnson to come and live with them, the Allen home being much nearer to the school than the house where Miss Johnson lived. The child's entreaty was so earnest that the old lady granted his request and the little fellow ran off. 78 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Presently he returned, leading Miss Johnson by the hand. As he entered the house he exclaimed triumphantly: "Here she is, Grandma!" And there she lived for the remainder of the year. Miss Parsons, a Connecticut girl, was one of a large number of young unmarried women who came to the West to teach, to do missionary work, or, possibly, to find husbands. Hundreds of young women came to Washtenaw for one purpose or another, but few were more worthy than Harriet G. Parsons. In the summer of 1825 she gathered together the first Sunday School that ever met west of Detroit. It assembled in the woods about five miles east of Ann Arbor and about the same distance from Ypsilanti. Slabs were laid across logs for seats, and on these sat the pupils and the little missionary from Connecticut. This was not the only religious meeting of those days. The first settlers seem to have carried on some kind of religious work from the very beginning. The meetings were at first held in private homes. A Scripture lesson was read by a volunteer, and then someone would read a sermon from one of the great preachers of the time. The first minister to preach in Ann Arbor was a Baptist, Moses Clark. With Amos IHicks, he located 160 acres of land on section 26, in the township of Ann Arbor, and there he died in the early seventies. There was no regularly organized church here until 1826, but itinerant preachers stopped, off and on, for several years after the town was founded. Between times the informal meetings at private homes were held and the spiritual needs of the people were satisfied in this way. The coming of the ministers brought much news from the outside world, but in 1829 information came to local homes from a source more direct. Ann Arbor's first newspaper was called The Western Emigrant, and later the Emigrant, or Michigan Emigrant. It made its appearance Wednesday, November 18, 1829, as a weekly paper; Thomas Simpson, editor. A little later it was run by John Allen and Judge Samuel Dexter, who immediately associated with himself George Corselius. For a time the latter ran the paper alone. The "printer's devil," the first in the village, was Mark Howard, a youth who seems to have been of great assistance to Simpson. In 1837 the Michigan Emigrant was continued under the name of the State Journal, THE FIRST FEW YEARS 79 for a time an organ of the Whig party, ably edited by Franklin Sawyer, the second State Superintendent of Public Instruction. This weekly carried almost no local news, but from some of the advertisements and editorials we can obtain a few sidelights on the times. John Allen was a consistent advertiser. Late in the year 1829 the partnership with his brother was dissolved and "James T. Allen and Company" operated the business on the same corner. About that time John Allen became an Anti-Mason and he and Judge Dexter used the pages of the Emigrant to attack the Masonic fraternity and to boost the party of their allegiance. Allen sold his "Mansion House" to Colban Cornwell and engaged in politics more actively than ever. He studied law with James Kingsley, became register of deeds in 1830, and within a few months hung out his shingle in front of a little white building on Huron street about where the United Cigar Store now stands, between Fourth avenue and Main street. Here he did a real estate business, acted as notary and performed the duties of Register of Deeds. At the same time he helped his brother in the store and boosted everything that needed boosting. His term as postmaster seems to have run out in the late spring or early summer of 1830. At least, in the Emnigrant for August 4 of that year, the name of James T. Allen appears as postmaster. In a little over a year he was back in the general store, and his brother, still postmaster, became Clerk of the Circuit Court. The next we hear of John Allen he is acting as agent for the Manual Labor School, and in a little while he is running for the office of village president, a race in which he was an easy victor. In February, 1832, the Emigrant contained an editorial which, in those days, must have seemed fanciful enough. It set forth a splendid scheme for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by a series of waterways and railways. The scheme was elaborated by Mr. Corselius, though John Allen seems to have originated the idea, and several articles, after the first, pointed out the value of the project as well as its practicability. By this time the little community had begun to feel its importance; some of its churches had been organized, the foundation of several fortunes had been laid, and in another year the young frontier settlement planned to raise itself to the dignity of an incorporated village. CHAPTER VII The Germans N OR ABOUT May 20, 1824, a stalwart German, a tanner by trade, landed in Philadelphia without his wife and three children. Six months later he went to New York, and from there to Mexico, where, in the employ of a New York firm, he was to teach the art of drying fur and leather to members of the branch firm. The year 1825 found him back in Pennsylvania, this time in Reading, where he wrote a letter to his family in Germany telling them to come to America. In the spring of the next year the family started down the Rhine, tying their boat up every night and seeking shelter in a neighboring village or city. In Rotterdam they were compelled to wait six weeks before procuring passage for Philadelphia. At last the voyage was begun; and it lasted for seventy-three days! For three years, after the big tanner met the family, Reading remained their home. Descriptions of wonderful Michigan, with its cheap lands, of the Great Lakes and the marvelous canal leading to them across northern New York, appealed strongly to the imagination of the thrifty German, and he made up his mind to go and settle there. On his way to Michigan Territory, the tanner met two other men whose plans accorded with his own. At Danville he introduced himself to Philip Shilling, a fellow-countryman, as Jonathan Henry Mann. At Buffalo'they fell in with Daniel F. Allmendinger, and the three proceeded by boat to Detroit. Within a short time they reached Ann Arbor, made purchases of land and had them duly recorded in Detroit. Mann and Allmendinger took leave of Shilling and went back east for their families. There property was disposed of and the journey to the frontier again begun. No untoward incident marred the long trip except on one occasion. While going up the Hudson, Mann was compelled to jump into the river to save from the water, and from the boat's dangerous paddles, his little five-year-old daughter, Sophia, who had fallen overboard. Thus, in 1829 and 1830 the first permanent settlement of THE GERMANS 81 JONATHAN HENRY MANN AND HIS WIFE The First German Settlers in Ann Arbor German people was made near Ann Arbor. Within a few years a large proportion of the inhabitants of the surrounding farm lands and of the village were of German stock. The great German traveller, J. G. Kohl, in 1855, said that, about 1830, in Germany, Michigan was being lauded to the skies. In the Old Country word was passed from village to village, friend urging friend to go. First a dozen men, then a dozen families, crossed the ocean, until, by 1855, more than 5,000 Swabians had settled in and around Ann Arbor. Speculators in the village bought up land near prosperous settlers, but the increased price of land did not stop the purchases, and the farms of the Swabians were extended. Some twenty years after the first settlers came, a new wave of Germans arrived, and several successive waves added to their numbers. Most of the later comers located in Ann Arbor, since within a few years all the available farm lands had been taken. To understand the reason for this migration, and to explain their views;of life, it is necessary to understand the conditions in Europe during the early part of the nineteenth century, from which the German people were fleeing. For more than a generation before our city was founded, Europe had been engaged in war. The great central figure in all the tragic drama was Napoleon Bonaparte. His long years 82 THE11. FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of success were followed by inevitable defeats, the odds against him became too great, and, near the end of the struggle, he was forced back towards France across the frozen plains of Russia. His retreat took him through Germany, and by the early spring of 1814 the soldiers of the enemy who were following him were making themselves at home in the streets of Paris, his capital city. Within a short time the Napoleonic regime was over and European statesmen and rulers were busily engaged in the impossible task of reconstructing Europe and putting things back where they had been many years before. The famous Congress of Vienna, held in the Austrian capital during 1814, undertook to redraw old boundaries, resurrect half decadent states, restore to uneasy thrones unworthy rulers and, as far as possible, re-establish the political, social and religious orders as they had been in the days when the "Little Corporal" was yet at the apron strings of his mother in a Corsican village. The people of the world watched the proceedings then just as in 1918 they watched the World War Peace Conference held at Versailles. Nowhere in Europe were the citizens more interested in the deliberations than those in Germany, and especially in the southern part, where liberal thinking had taken root. The teachings of the eighteenth century French philosophers as well as the teachings of liberal German leaders were readily accepted along the upper reaches of the Rhine, and people there had longed for the day when those teachings would be applied to the practical affairs of life. In Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Wurtemburg, and in other cities and towns near by, in little secret meetings, the "rights of man" and social and political equality were discussed. Private citizens stood upon tables or chairs and waxed eloquent over the doctrines of religious toleration, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and equal justice before the law. Behind drawn shades they debated the right peaceably to assemble, the right to petition the government for the redress of grievances, to go and come freely, and to engage in any sort of labor that might suit their fancy. These people had dreamed of rising above the political and social status in which they were fixed by law, and they had entertained the hope that the day might come when worth, rather THE GERMANS 33 than birth, would determine man's position in the social order. The soldiers returning from the Napoleonic wars would never again willingly submit to the old order of things. They had much time to think, since trade and industry were at a standstill, and while they pondered they kept their eyes on the deliberations at Vienna. It was not long before the German people realized the futility of their hopes. The loftier principles of the French philosophers were not adopted in the Austrian capital as guides in the settlement of territorial disputes that came up, nor did the assembled autocrats concern themselves with the ideals and aspirations of their various subjects. In fact, not one worthy motive inspired them, and their energies were expended in an undignified and selfish scramble after the spoils of victory. The German people were treated with ignominy and contempt. So low and mean did the debates among the diplomats become that a quarrel developed over the question of whether certain people who paid small taxes should be counted as "whole souls" or "half souls." The indignation of the Germans over this knew no bounds, and one of their great officers compared the Congress to the annual cattle fair. Within a few months, however, a discouraging turn came in affairs which permanently blasted German hopes. The reason for this is found in the formation, in 1815, of an alliance of European nations which, for peculiar character, is unique in history. Many ignorant people, and some not so ignorant, firmly believed that the end of the world was not far off. During the last years of strife deep religious sentiments had been aroused and people had been moved to kindly acts and unselfish deeds. Some saw in the fall of Napoleon the "fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword," and the conviction grew that never again should one of such ignoble birth as the Corsican be allowed to get control of things in Europe. The so-called Holy Alliance, born of this religious emotionalism and this conviction, was put forward by Alexander I, of Russia, and much that it contained was backed by Austria and Prussia. The document was in the nature of a treaty, but it did not contain the practical stipulations and guarantees a treaty usually contains. Rather, it was a statement of Christian 84 - THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ideals and lofty purposes. Hereafter the monarchs of the three nations, in the name of the "holy and indivisible Trinity," having "placed their confidence and their hope in Him alone," agreed that in their future dealings they should be "guided by the sublime truths taught by the eternal religion of God their Saviour." They solemnly declared "to adopt no other rule of conduct, either in the government of their respective countries or in their political relations with other governments, than the precepts of that holy religion, the precepts of justice, charity, and peace." They agreed that these precepts shouild apply to private life and should "control the resolutions of princes, and guide their steps as the sole means of establishing human institutions, and of remedying their imperfections." In accordance with the teachings of the Bible, hereafter, the three rulers were resolved to look upon each other as brothers. They pledged themselves to aid and assist each other on all occasions and in all places, "regarding themselves, in relations to their subjects... as fathers of families." It was recommended to the various subjects that "as a sole means of enjoying that peace which springs from a good conscience, and is alone enduring, to fortify themselves each day in the principles and practice of those duties which the Divine Saviour has taught men." It seemed to the more progressive peoples in the southern part of Germany that a spirit of liberalism and tolerance pervaded this document, and that it contained a promise of better things. The disillusionment, however, was not long in coming. The Alliance was a dead letter from the moment it was formed, having no influence over either the foreign or domestic policies of any country in Europe. One statesman referred to the document as "a piece of sublime mysticism and nonsense"; and the great Austrian minister, Metternich, called it "a sonorous nothing,... a philanthropic aspiration clothed in religious garb... and an overflow of pietistic feelings of the Emperor Alexander." In fact, from a policy of toleration and liberalism, just the opposite was adopted, and a period of the severest repression began, the like of which had never yet been known in Europe. Between 1815 and 1823, the principal nations of Europe held a series of congresses, and they exercised a most rigid THE GERMANS 85 inquisition into all liberal movements, no matter how small they were. There were to be no innovations. New ideas in government and religion were looked upon with marked disfavor, and every little meeting, called for the purpose of discussing these ideas, was summarily broken up. The leader in all this repression was the Austrian, Prince Metternich. He had exalted notions of the powers and rights of rulers. He believed in special privileges for the favored few, and was a champion of absolutism in government. The misery of the masses was no concern of his. It was his business to see that the old order of things was re-established in Europe and that, once established, there should be no further change. A system of espionage was set up which was even more hateful than that which existed in Russia in the years just before the outbreak of the World War. Spies were everywhere: they worked as clerks in government offices; they shifted scenery in the theatres; handled "copy" in printing houses; attended university lectures; took notes of books withdrawn from libraries; sat in at every public gathering, and secretly opened private correspondence in search of revolutionary doctrines. After 1819 reactionary policies were carried to their greatest extreme. Liberals were shadowed by day and stealthily trailed by night. The founder of the famous gymnastic societies, Jahn, for five years was tortured and subjected to every kind of indignity, only to be discharged at the end of that time because no charge deserving of punishment could be found against him. Poets and preachers, farmers and mechanics, authors, actors, university students and professorsmen of every class were subjected to the persecution of the police. Their homes were ransacked, their papers searched, and often members of their families were shamefully treated. In the light of all these things, and the bitter memories of the long wars and devastations brought by them, it is little wonder that the more vigorous among the idealists began to turn their eyes towards those lands where their hopes might be born anew and where persecutions were unknown. Some looked to other nations of the Old World, some to the young Latin republics of South America, and some visioned a brighter day in the free air of the United States. Here and there in southern Germany, a few succeeded in slipping away 86 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE PASSPORT OF JONATHAN HENRY MANN Dated from Stuttgart, April 9, 1824 THE GERMANS 87 to these lands of promise, and many others decided to follow their example. It was a hazardous undertaking; property must be disposed of, and all had to be done without the knowledge of the police. Moreover, the movements of people were under the strictest surveillance, and getting out of the country was difficult in the last degree. Nevertheless, a great many did succeed, and for some the little village of Ann Arbor proved to be their ultimate destination. On February 27, 1835, a large number of English, Irish and German immigrants living here, among other expressions of loyalty, "Resolved, that in case of an invasion by any Foreign Power, we pledge ourselves to be found, in the ranks, defending the rights and liberties of our adopted country." Those who came to this region almost immediately entered into correspondence with friends back in the Old Country or with those who had settled in Pennsylvania or New York. Michigan Territory was pictured in rosy colors as to its soil and climate, and its future greatness was enlarged upon. Those who decided to make Michigan their home knew that they would be among kindred spirits there, and they knew also, that on that remote frontier there would be no distinctions of class, no religious or political inequalities, and that there no devastating legions would trample their grain. Their vereins could flourish, their children could grow to healthy, respectable maturity, and their fortunes could be worked out under the clear skies of their adopted home. By 1832 there were twenty-five or thirty families here, their lands were largely cleared, and their neat homes were suggestive of the thrift for which the German people always have been noted. Between 1832 and 1850 other German people continued to come, and in the decade after the passing of the half-century mark nearly a million reached the American shore. To account for these astonishing facts, we must again turn our attention to conditions in the home land. In 1848 a great revolution swept over Europe, starting from Paris as a center. When the news reached Vienna the government lost control, and the old reactionary, Metternich, was forced to flee for his life. In Prussia, and in the smaller German states, similar events took place, the people of Berlin throwing up barricades in the streets. Demands were made 88 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS for religious freedom, freedom of the press, trial by jury, and governments responsible to representatives chosen by the people. But the revolutionary movement was short-lived. In a little while the reactionary element obtained control, and the liberals were crushed without mercy. Some of these liberals believed things would take a brighter turn if the various German states could be united. As a result of their efforts a great German parliament was elected which was opened in May, 1848. Unfortunately, the members had had no experience in dealing with the practical problems of government, though they were moved by grand ideas concerning the nobility of man in general and of democratic rights in particular. Lengthy debates were held in which the fundamental principles of democracy were extolled, but after a year of work no strong government had been brought into being. In fact, when the parliament came to an end in 1849 the same old scheme of things remained, and bitter disappointment was the portion of those who had dared to dream. For some the disappointment was greater than it had been a quarter of a century before. Liberals were everywhere discredited, and relatives and friends of those who had left the home land a generation before now set their faces to the west, resolved to cast their fortunes with their prosperous countrymen in the United States. Many of these reached Ann Arbor, where their vigor and industry did much to make our city what it is. A third wave of Germans came just before the FrancoPrussian war, 1870-71, and a fourth sought these shores as soon as that war was over; nearly a million arrived during the five years, 1881-85, and before the World War and even since that dreadful conflict they have continued to come. A large proportion of those who came during the last fifty years came to escape the required military service and the economic bondage under which they suffered. Many of them detested the thought of giving the best years of their lives to military training. They wanted to spend their days in peace where, without disturbance, they could enjoy the fruits of their labors. These things partly explain why the Germans came to Ann Arbor, and at the same time they suggest the ideas they THE GERMANS 89 brought with them. Looking backward, it is not hard to understand why the lands of the German people who settled here were cleared so quickly and why so many of the German people prospered. The days of both the men and women were spent in arduous toil, their savings were carefully applied, their farms improved and their time taken up with things worth while. In the 'fifties neat farm houses of light-colored brick were erected, and here and there the spires of their churches pointed to the sky. Social organizations similar to those in the fatherland were brought into being, German games were played, German songs sung, newspapers read, and violations of the law were an almost unheard-of thing. Drawn together by ties of blood, religion, nationality and common interests, for decades they lived apart, pioneers in isolation on a frontier where, for nearly a dozen years, isolation was almost complete. It was not until the question of slavery began seriously to agitate the minds of Michigan people that the Germans took much interest in political happenings. But when, in 1854, the Republican party was organized at Jackson, Michigan, it found in Ann Arbor hosts of recruits among the people of German blood. Moreover, when the Civil War came on, first among the many in Ann Arbor to volunteer were the young men, whose parents had fled the bondage of Europe, and to this day many of them still sleep on the southern hillside where they gave their all for the freedom of the black man and the cause of the Union. Perhaps greater solace has come to these people from the work done in connection with their churches than from any other source. The first few who came worshipped in the village with other Protestant people. But by 1832 feeling was strong for a church of their own. In that year, therefore, Jonathan Henry Mann, representing German settlers in and near Ann Arbor, sent a petition to the Evangelical Missionary Institute of Basel, Switzerland, asking that a pastor might be sent here. In answer to that petition, the Reverend Frederick Schmid was sent to America, arriving in Ann Arbor August 20, 1833. He immediately announced that a service in the German language would be held in a little log schoolhouse in Scio township, about four miles west of the Court House Square. When this service opened, nearly all the German peo 90 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS pie in Scio and Ann Arbor were there. This was the first religious gathering of Germans in Michigan Territory. Before the devotionals were over steps had been taken to perfect a church organization, and a date was set upon which more formal action was to be taken. During the last week in August a meeting was held in the home of Daniel F. Allmendinger, about two miles west of the village, and a religious organization created under the name of "The First German Evangelical Society of Scio." It was decided that a church building should be erected at the earliest possible moment. Mr. Allmendinger presented the society with an acre of ground, and on it, at a total cost of $265.32, a small frame building was erected. The list of members and non-members who contributed to the building fund offers accurate information as to the names of these early German settlers and at the same time it tells us who helped to perfect the organization of this pioneer society. Among the nonmembers were David F. Allmendinger, Ludwig Mayle, John G. Koch, George Kleindop, Frederick Traver, Charles Schmid, John George Allmendinger, Emanuel Wild, Howard Eyley, Jacob Paul, Karlo I-ornung, George Guterkunst, Andreas Beck, Christian Auch, John Stollsteimer, Gottlieb Nordmann, Frederick Laubengayer, George Prussia, Salome Schweizer and Elizabeth Katherine Allmnendinger. The members of the church who contributed to the building fund were Daniel F. Allmendinger, Jonathan I-enry Mann, George Straatmen, Jacob Markle, George Maayle, Christian Prussia, Abraham Kroman, Josiah Kroman, John Kroman, John Beck, Jacob Steffe, John MI. Schneider, Jacob Stollsteimer, and the minister, Frederick Schmid. Twenty dollars were also given by the Josenhans family, who were still living in Stuttgart, and ten dollars were given by "a friend" living in Philadelphia. On the third of November, members of the "Evangelical Society" again met at Mr. Allmendinger's home and trustees of the society were chosen. The men so honored were Christian Prussia, John Beck and Abraham Kroman. They were to be known as the "Trustees of the First German Evangelical Society of Scio." After some discussion, it was decided to incorporate, so a record of the proceedings was filed in the Court of Washtenaw County under date of December 16, 1834. :D. (A rll llz IXZ)m pi q m PL..;3 -q (O Oo 0;3 m $4 z P., 0;s m 54 I Fl tn m (A 0 4-,;3;3 A Z, 0 tTl i m 1+ m P;3 1-4 00 ui w t~l Ir1 tIll (00 (A/ trl 0 (/2 0 92 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Meanwhile, work on the little church building was progressing rapidly, the workmen doubtless receiving a certain amount of stimulation from a barrel of beer which, at a cost of four dollars, had been hauled out from Detroit for their use. By the latter part of December, 1834, the little edifice was ready for occupancy. During a solemn service the building was dedicated to the service of God and called Zion Church. With the opening of this church most of the German people withdrew from worship in the Protestant churches in the village. Some idea of the leanness of its beginnings may be obtained from the fact that the total Sunday offerings for the first year amounted to the munificent sum of $13.29! But as new settlers continued to come the society prospered and the offerings became larger. These German people tended more and more to keep to themselves, and, as a consequence, for some years did not play a conspicuous part in the affairs of the town. When the second generation grew to manhood the English tongue became much more common. The contacts with their neighbors from New York and New England increased with the passing years, and they assimilated themselves ever more rapidly in speech and customs. By the '40s German names appear with increasing frequency in the public records, on the rosters of the schools, fraternal organizations, church membership lists and societies of various kinds. In the village they began to set up shops, open stores and take an interest in public affairs. Most of these people drank their lager beer, but, unlike some of the Irish, their business failures were few and they were never fond either of the stronger alcoholic beverages or the litigations which too frequently followed when the sons of Erin imbibed too freely. All of these people enjoyed the respect and good will of the villagers, a fact that is partly explained by the influence of their able spiritual leader, Rev. Frederick Schmid. This pioneer pastor was a man of boundless energy and limitless zeal. Strong in body, vigorous in thought and speech, he was an ideal leader of his flock. After the organization of the church at Ann Arbor, he organized the present large and influential church in Detroit, the Lutheran church at Monroe and some twenty other congregations. As the local German THE GERMANS 93 population grew, and it became difficult for the townspeople of the same faith to get out to the Zion church, a movement was started to hold services in the village. Reverend Schmid acquiesced, and meetings began to be held in the old Presbyterian church, then situated on the northeast corner of Washington and Fifth avenue. Later they were held in the Old Academy, and again in the old schoolhouse on Jail Square. In 1845 the congregation decided to build a church home in the village. A lot was secured on the northeast corner of First and Washington streets, and plans for putting up a building were made. The membership was poor, and, after the shell of the building was built, the resources of the people were exhausted. For nearly three years the congregation worshipped, first in the small basement of the structure, and later in the unfinished upper room. In 1849 the building was completed, the dedication services being held June 24 of that year. This church was called "Bethlehem Church." Within a few years services ceased to be held in the Scio church, but the old building was allowed to stand until forty-odd years ago, surrounded by the graves of the pioneers, where it stood so many decades, a silent monument to the frontier soldiers of the Cross. The Bethlehem church was organized without any synodical affiliation, but in 1856 Reverend Schmid, who had united with the Ohio synod, induced the Ann Arbor congregation to become a part of that body. When, a few years later, Reverend Schmid severed his connection with this synod, the local church also withdrew, and it has remained an independent congregation up to this time. Reverend Schmid resigned his pastorate in 1871, after having served for thirty-eight years. With the advance of age illness came upon him, and he felt that to carry on the work was more than his failing strength could bear. Reverend Herman Reuter was therefore called upon to take the charge. He was a German clergyman who had received his education in the Evangelical Mission Institute at Basel, and had lived in South America for a number of years. His short incumbency was marked by violent conflicts. Powerful and eloquent, his magnetism drew such crowds that it became necessary to build a new and larger church. Over $20,000 was subscribed and building operations were begun. It was in the midst of this 94 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS work that the dissensions broke forth. Nearly half the members were either dropped from the rolls or resigned, and it seemed as if the end of Bethlehem church had come. Many of those who left helped to form other congregations where the German element predominated, and some of them went into other Protestant churches of the city. With those who remained, however, the crisis passed, wounds were healed and the bitterness forgotten. Upon the resignation of Reverend Renter, in 1877, Reverend John Neumann's efficent pastorate began. Things moved along very well until October of the next year, when a commotion suddenly arose. This was occasioned by the announcement that the well-known rule of the church, against its members belonging to secret societies, would be strictly enforced, and that offending members would either have to withdraw from the societies or be cut off from the church. Some considered the church rule too narrow and went to other denominations where no such rule was in force. After this little disturbance disappeared everything was serene again. The church body grew rapidly in membership and, in 1895, a parsonage was put up. That same year a contract was let for the construction of the magnificent edifice near the corner of Packard street and Fourth avenue. This structure was completed late in 1896. After twenty-six years of consecrated service, Reverend Neumann resigned to accept the superintendency of the Home for Orphans and Aged in Detroit. He was followed in the pastorate here by Reverend S. A. John, and he in turn was succeeded by the present pastor, Reverend G. A. Neumann. During the last few years the work of the church has gone steadily forward and there has been among the members a fine spirit of harmony and Christian fellowship. Perhaps the most important event in recent years was the purchase of the $5,000 pipe organ. This was dedicated Sunday, July 12, 1908, and since that time many thousands have enjoyed its beautiful notes. On January 19, 1921, under the leadership of Reverend G. A. Neumann, the present pastor, the church celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the building. At the banquet Mayor E. MA. Wurster acted as toastmaster. Four others spoke who had been members of the church building THE GERMANS 95 committee a quarter of a century before: Titus Hutzel, John Koch, John Mayer and Albert T. Bruegel. Another church society in which the membership is almost entirely German is the Zion Lutheran, the church home being located at the corner of Fifth avenue and Washington street. On July 11, 1875, Reverend J. Graessle, of Bucyrus, Ohio, a member of the Ohio Synod, preached in the old Congregational church. He called a meeting for the sixteenth, where preliminary steps looking to the organization of the church here were taken. Plans were completed during the next two weeks and 135 names for membership were obtained, most of them former members of the Bethlehem church. About the first of August the old Congregational church, which stood on the corner where the present Zion church stands, was purchased for the sum of $4,300. Services were held there August 8, and very soon thereafter Mr. D. F. Allmendinger built and installed for the members a fine organ. It was in place and ready for use December 4, 1876, at which time an organ concert was given by George N. Lovejoy and Professor Frieze, of the University. The organ cost about $1,300, was sixteen feet in height, nine and a half feet in width and had fourteen stops. The year the church was organized a school next to the church was built in which the German language was taught. This was done in the belief that the children would continue to have an attachment for the old language and would better understand the church services, which were held principally in the German tongue. Since those days a larger school has been built and playground space to the east has been purchased. The first pastor, Reverend Herman Frederick Belser, served from 1875 to 1889, doing everything in his power to build up an organization large in numbers and standing for the highest type of Christian life. As the church prospered and the membership grew a new edifice became necessary, but it was not until five years after the pastorate of Reverend Belser came to an end that a new building became possible. In the spring of 1894 the old building was torn down and the present church was erected on the site. The mason work was done by Koch Brothers, the carpenter work by Charles Sauer, and the painting by Oscar O. Young. While these activities were going on 96 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS services were held in the High School or in the basement of the new church. The upstairs was ready early in the winter, dedication services being held there December 9, 1894. The building is sixty-five by ninety-eight feet, and the main tower rises to a height of 145 feet. The members of the church planned, built and paid the cost, nearly $25,000, before the dedicatory services were held. The pastor, Max Hein, and the trustees deserve great credit for their faithful labors during those trying times. Another church whose membership is largely German is the Trinity Lutheran, at the corner of Fifth avenue and William street. With W. L. Tedrow as pastor, it was organized in 1893 by people of German descent who had lost their familiarity with the old tongue and who showed a preference for English in religious services. From the charter membership of forty the society has grown until now the communicants number about 150, and there are about 200 in the Sunday School. The first members worshipped in Newberry Hall, but in the winter of 1894-95 the church home was ready and the congregation began to occupy it. The building cost about $10,000, and at the present time is free from debt. The fourth church in which the membership is German is located on the corner of West Jefferson and Fourth streets. It is a Methodist Episcopal church and was organized in 1847. Its body belonged to a conference distinct from that of the English-speaking Methodist people, most of its members having come from Ohio. The church, though its membership is small, is very much alive and its religious influence is good. St. Paul's Lutheran Church, situated on the northeast corner of Chapin and West Huron streets, was organized by Reverend H. A. Brauer, January 20, 1908, and since the date of incorporation, April 6, 1910, the society has worked under the legal nanme of the Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul's Church. Reverend Brauer came to Ann Arbor upon the call of four students in the University: Theodore C. Heinecke, Edwin W. Kronbach, Theodore C. H. Abelmann and Victor Walther, and with their aid organized the original society of twentyone members, most of them students. Of these there is but one left, though the present membership is 240 and the Sunday School numbers 190. The church edifice was constructed in THE GERMAN'S 97 BETHLEHEM LUTHERAN CHURCH ZION LUTHERAN CHURCH Fourth Avenue Washington Street and Fifth Avenue TWO OF THE GERMAN CHURCHES IN ANN ARBOR 1910, the money for the work being obtained as a loan from the district extension fund. Each year ten per cent of the sum borrowed was paid back, so that now the society is free from debt. Most of the members live on the west side of the city, about half of them being of German descent. The present pastor, Reverend C. A. Brauer, is a brother of the organizer of the society, the only other pastor the church has had. He is carrying the work forward in a manner worthy of his beloved and able brother. As has been suggested, the German people took little interest in political affairs until the abolition movement became strong locally. Then they met with other citizens in a room on the second floor of the postoffice building, the location of which has already been spoken of. Here, and elsewhere, the war fever ran high, and when the call for volunteers came the response was as whole-hearted as that made by local Germans in the World War. In the course of time the casualty lists began to come in, names like the following giving unmistakable evidence of the sincerity of the convictions of those who 98 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS bore them: Bestle, Binck, Bisel, Celfe, Corgell, Fielkins, Fischer, Iillier, Hoffman, Knapp, Krapf, Lehmann, Joun, Miller, Nubling, Olderhage, Salmann, Seerg, Sprague, Swady, Vetter and Wakenshaw. These men, and others of their nationality, saw in the slavery issue, and in the effort on behalf of the Union, something akin to the struggle for the "rights of man" and the once hoped-for united Germany their grandsires had dreamed of and struggled for in the home land of other days. The German boys who came back from the Civil War had good reason to feel that this country was their own and that they had had a share in its making. Other citizens agreed with them, and English, Irish and Germans living here were brought together in a closer bond of sympathy. From that time forward the German people were viewed in a new light, and since that time there never has been a movement for the city's betterment in which our German citizens have not had a leading part. It is from such stock as we have been describing that some of our most prominent business men have come: the Eberbachs, Hutzels, Staeblers, Macks, Schmids, Luicks, Herz, Wagners, Hallers, Haarers, Kochs, Wursters, Muehligs, Schumachers, Arnolds, Weinmanns, Goetz, Bachs, Fischers, Schlenkers, Georges, Manns, Fritz, Walz and many others, some of whose names appear here and there in this history. It was a fortunate day in the history of Ann Arbor when the first settlement of German people was made here, and it is no more than right that some fitting marker should be placed in honor of those who first led the way. CHAPTER VIII Private Schools T HE schools conducted by the earliest teachers in Ann Arbor were at first not intended to give instructions in anything more than the three "R's"; but in 1829 the first of a long line of private schools made its appearance in which instruction in the higher branches was attempted. The first school of this character was conducted by the Reverend T. W. Merrill and his brother, Moses. It was opened in the Goodrich House, which stood on the site of the Y. M. C. A. building, but it soon was moved to a brick building which stood on the site now occupied by the Main street section of the Fischer Hardware Company's store. According to the advertisements appearing in the Emigrant, Latin and Greek were taught, "together with the higher branches of an English Education." This school prospered for three years and then went out of existence. Reverend Merrill later settled in Kalamazoo, where he continued his teaching, finally endowing a professorship in Kalamazoo College by a gift of $20,000, a sum at that time sufficent for the purpose. The second private school organized here was called the "Academy." It was organized by local citizens during the summer of 1832, and by the last of October was ready to carry on its work. The Emigrant informed the villagers that the "Ann Arbor Academy" would commence Monday, October 29, 1832, the trustees having procured Reverend 0. C. Thompson, A. B., "as instructor for the young ladies and gentlemen who might attend for the coming season." Reverend Thompson had been travelling in the Territory as representative of the American Sunday School Union, but was induced to give up his connection with that organization to establish the Academy here. True to the announcement, the school was opened in the old Presbyterian church, the first winter enrolling 100 pupils. The work of the first term was so successful that many continued to send their children to the school, many of the pupils coming from distant parts. The institution in De 100 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS troit, established in 1817 as the germ of a future University, was then in suspension, and some of Reverend Thompson's best pupils came from that city. Among those best known was William Woodbridge, who became a United States Senator and Governor of the State. In 1836-37 a school building was erected at the northwest corner of William street and Fourth avenue. Before it was finished the Griffin school had quarters there, but as soon as it was completed Reverend Thompson moved his "Academy" into the new building. In time this building came to be known as the "Old Academy." It was used for school purposes until about ten years before the Civil War, when it was moved to the mill property of Luick Brothers. There it became a part of their sash, blind and door factory. The building still stands at 514 Detroit street, just northeast of Kingsley. Reverend Thompson seems not to have conducted the school for more than a year or two after moving into the Old Academy; but in October, 1841, it was reopened under the superintendence of Mr. G(eorge?) Landreth, and remained in operation throughout that school year. In 1842 the private school of the Misses Page was housed in the building, and when that school was broken up a man named Wilkins conducted a sort of high school there. The Wilkins school was what remained of an earlier school conducted in another part of the village. Beginning in 1847, it was operated for a short time by Wilkins, J. C. Norton and P. S. Donelson. The Wilkins high school, if one may so speak of it, seems to have been the last school conducted in the Old Academy before the building was moved away. The third private school to open here was that directed by Luke Parsons. He took advantage of the growing popularity of the words "High School," calling his institution a "High School of Oral Instruction." Its first sessions were held on the morning of May 13, 1835, in a store which, up to that time, had been owned by W. C. Pease. Within a few months Parsons took his school to the corner of Huron street and Fourth avenue, where he agreed to "teach all those branches usually taught in the common schools of New York, together with Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, History, Rhetoric, Logic, Algebra, and the Latin and Greek Languages." In reading PRIVATE SCHOOLS 101 this part of Parsons' announcement, one of Oliver Goldsmith's characters comes to mind, and of how the "wonder grew, that one small head could carry all it knew." The private school year in those days usually was divided into quarters of twelve weeks each, and the rates for Parsons' school were approximately the same for all schools of a similar character during the next twenty years. One of these schools, in an announcement in a local paper, stated that the "Price of tuition by the term consisting of twelve weeks will be, for Spelling and Reading, $2.50; for Writing, History, English Grammar and Geography, $3.00; for Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, Rhetoric, and Logic, $4.00; for Algebra, Geometry and the Latin and Greek Languages, $5.00." A mathematical calculation will show that spelling and reading were only half as valuable to the children of the pioneers as the classical languages. Parsons more or less modestly asserted that "For the experiences which he has had as a teacher, in tlese respective branches of literature, he flatters himself tlht ihe shall gain the confidence and have the support of the public. No labor will be spared to make the school interesting." Ile promised that it would be his "one grand object to (kepl up a spirit of literary enterprise, and to spread over the whole school a lively relish for scientific knowledge. At recitations, lectures will at all times be given and the lesson expIlained to the comprehension of each student in the class. l'articular pains will be taken to cheer and encourage the mind of the youth, while he is endeavoring to climb the steep and rugged path, that will, if diligently pursued, lead him to the pinnacle of fame; where sits reputation, clothed not in the obscure mantle of ignorance, but in the shining habiliments of intelligence. Whenever it shall be deemed necessary an able assistant will be employed." In spite of these highsounding phrases and inducements, Parsons' school failed to lure, and, like many others begun about the same time, it soon passed out of existence. Two blocks south and a little east of Parsons' school, near the corner of Liberty street and Fifth avenue, on Jail Square, Mrs. B. F. Brown conducted a school from 1835 to 1842. During the latter year it was moved to the second floor of the postoffice building, on the northwest corner of Ann street 102 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS and Fourth avenue. Mrs. Brown was a sharp disciplinarian, using the flat side of a ruler to enforce her edicts and impress the pupils with the necessity of getting their lessons. So fearful of that instrument did some of the children become that on one occasion two of the little girls surreptitiously stole the ruler away and hid it under some bushes on the far side of the square. A school of much superior merit to that conducted by Mirs. Brown was one known as the "Manual Labor School," which stood on the site of the old Eberbach residence, a mile and a half southeast of the Court House, just off the south Ypsilanti road. It was conducted by Reverend Samuel Hair, and was considered by some to be the successor of Reverend Thompson's "Academy." Certainly some of Reverend Thompson's pupils attended the Manual Labor School when the Academy ceased to function. The Manual Labor School was organized in 1832, John Allen advertising himself in the Emigrant, for July 24 of that year, as "agent" for the institution. In 1833 the doors were opened, but the number of pupils seems to have been small. Within two years, thanks to Allen's efforts, it was in a flourishing condition, a long list of subjects being taught. Besides Greek and Latin, the curriculum offered English Grammar, Composition and Declamation, Arithmetic, Geography, Natural Philosophy, Algebra, Astronomy, Chemistry, Trigonometry, Surveying, Navigation, Geometry, Rhetoric, Political Economy, Philosophy of the Mind, Moral and Political Philosophy, "Paley's Natural Theology, Evidences of Christiancy," and History. A glance at this array of studies will show that this institution was in reality a college, perhaps the first of its kind in the West! Those who attended Reverend Hair's school were required to pay for their meals by working three hours daily on near-by lands which belonged to the school, or, if they preferred, they could work two hours daily, and in addition pay fifty cents each week. Board in the vicinity of the school could be obtained for from $1.25 to $1.50 per week. At this rate the twelve to eighteen hours each boy put in per week had a money value of from seventy-five cents to a dollar and fifty cents. Most of the boys preferred to work their three hours each day, since money was scarce, and the tuition for half a year, $9.00, PRIVATE SCHOOLS 103 was looked upon as a very large sum of money. Each student was given a room, rent free, and no charge was made for firewood; but each student was required to furnish his own bedding. The Manual Labor School was kept open the year around, the word "term" applying to the six months period from November first to May first, or from the latter date to the first of November. No girls attended the school, and the number of boys seems never to have been more than thirty. Everything was done that could be done to keep the doors of the institution open, but, like so many other private schools, the resources were too limited, and, after an existence of about seven years, further efforts to lengthen its life were given up. The Griffin school, referred to above, enjoyed a longer life than most of those begun about the same time. Mr. and Mrs. Henry O. Griffin opened their institution for the first time in the fall of 1835. It was similar in character to other Ann Arbor female seminaries, but it boasted of inducements some of its competitors and successors never succeeded in offering. In April, 1835, its advertisement declared that a lady had been employed to teach during the ensuing term "who had had charge of a Female Seminary in New England several years with great success." It was further announced that "Botany and Calisthenics" would be taught without extra charge. The year the University was located here the Griffins stated that "Mezzotinto painting" would be taught, in addition to the common branches, for $5.00 extra. The public was informed that Mr. Griffin was "furnished with Chemical apparatus, good Surveying instruments, Philosophical apparatus for illustrating Mechanics, Pneumatics, Hydraulics, Optics (including a Microscope and set of models of the human eye), and eiectricity." He was also furnished with "a Globe, Orrery, Tellurium, Geometrical solids, &c., &c." No new branches were offered until 1846. At that time the work of the school began to be carried on by a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Griffin and a Miss Johnson. They dropped some of the subjects originally taught and in their stead introduced studies better suited to their own talents. That same year the school opened "at the Cottage formerly occupied by Judge Thompson," the following subjects being offered: all the primary studies, higher 104 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS English, Latin, French, Pencil Drawing, Painting, Piano, German and Spanish. The two young women did not enjoy the popularity the originators of the institution had enjoyed, in 1847 finding it impossible longer to keep open. A number of other private schools were opened during the years from 1835 to 1850, but, with the exception of the school operated by the Misses Page and that operated by the Clark sisters, they did not survive more than a year or two. Most of these private schools copied either the schools of New England or those of New York in the subjects taught, methods of discipline, choice of books, exercises, and their plan of having "Boards of Visitors." In general, the subjects taught in all the private schools in no way fitted the young men and women for the kind of lives they would have to lead in a frontier environment, but a large percent of our early settlers were determined to be cultured themselves and to encourage the growth of culture among their children. These private schools served to promote these ends, and they kept alive a real interest in things of the mind. Discipline was strict, and in school, at least, the young folks were compelled to keep to the straight and narrow path. It was the business of the "Visitors" to attend the Friday "exhibitions" and through the newspapers give an opinion of the work done. Usually these "Visitors" were loud in their praises of the character of the work and of the ability and ideals of the teachers. After the University was opened there was competition among the schools for the services of the professors as "Visitors," and it sometimes happened that the name of one especially prominent person would appear on the Boards of Visitors of several schools at the same time. This resulted in causing the particular professor to be very guarded in his estimates, lest he be more extravagant in the praise of one school than he was of another. The Friday "exhibitions" were staged for two reasons: to offer a sort of review of the week's work, and to give the "Visitors" an opportunity to judge of the merits of the school. At the end of each term examinations were held, compositions read, promotions made, and announcements given to local papers relative to the opening of the next school year. The Herald for May 10, 1841, for example, announced that the PRIVATE SCHOOLS t05 sixth term of the school conducted by Mr. and Mrs. Gott would commence Monday, August 23, 1841. This school was opened in 1836, and is unique in that it was the only private school in Ann Arbor conducted by people of German ancestry. It was located on Main street, "a few doors north of the Herald Office." On August 7, 1841, the "Visitors" reported in the Herald that the examination at Gott's Female Seminary "was highly interesting and satisfactory. As it is too well established to need a puff, we will say that the sixth term will commence on Monday, the 23rd INSTANT." Some idea of the kind of training these girls were subjected to may be gained from reading an original composition by a Miss McColluIn, presented by her at the commencement exercises of the Gott school, August 6, 1841. Soon after it was printed in one of the local papers in its entirety, and deserves equal space in this volume. It was entitled "Our Country," and it ran as follows: "What thrilling emotions are excited in the bosom of every true patriot, as he contemplates the rising glory of our beloved country. It is the birth-place of liberty and of her free, happy, fearless and noble sons. It is here that peace and contentment find a home. It is here that the book of nature unfolds its brightest and most beautiful page. The noble oak rears its stately form, and the picturesque grandeur of hill and dale-the majestic rivers and glassy lakes-united with the numerous and lovely villages and vast cities which everywhere adorn our land, combine to render it, indeed, 'The land of the free and the home of the brave.' No despot tyrant is here, to sway the rod of oppression over the heads of an enlightened and independent nation. A nation rendered free by the rigorous and effectual efforts of brave and determined patriots. Patriots who fought for freedom, and obtained it at the dearest price. And shall we hold in light estimation the dear-bought liberty, for which they bled and died? No! 'tis ready to burst from the lips of every son of freedom. Long may the shout of liberty resound through the land, and long may the banner of freedom wave; and may the glory and honor of our country never be tarnished, but remain pure and unsullied, as when first entrusted to our care." "Should our enemies dare attempt, to strike the standard 106 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of freedom from the place assigned to it by its original inheritors; quicker than the lightning's flash would the swords of freemen fly from their scabbards, and then, on to the rescue, to sustain the honor of their country, and the freedom of her sons. Nor would they desist from her defence, until every intruder was conquered or driven back to his own home and country, to yield to a cowardly and servile submission to his own tyrant masters. Could a sister cheer each son to deeds of noble daring, she would say: 'Go, Go! thy noble sire was brave! Go! emulate his fame. Bethink thee that thy race hath borne an eye-blemished name? Still be that name upheld by thee: thou wearest thy father's sword. Unsheath it now, and through the ranks give forth the battle word. Oh! Could thy sister's prayers defend, how strong would be thy shield. The God of battles thee protect! Now forward to thy field.' "" One is apt to smile at this adolescent effusion, but the smile would fade if it were possible for one to stand on that little platform, as Miss McCollum did, and face an audience of men and women whose fathers and grandfathers had fought in the Napoleonic wars, the American Revolution or in the War of 1812. The intense patriotism felt by the men and women of the Atlantic seaboard who came here in the early days, and settled in the free air of the frontier, had its origin in those memorable struggles and in the enthusiasm the German and Irish citizens had for their adopted country. It is no wonder that the little graduate was greeted with a storm of applause, and that for many days her flaming words were the talk of the town. A private school similar in character to Gott's Female Seminary was opened in 1844 by Miss Eliza Page and her sister Melanie. The school was popular, and people gave the sisters credit for excellence in teaching. In 1845 Miss Eliza Page took into the partnership Miss Levina Moore, and the school was moved into the Old Academy. Before that time it had been housed wherever the Page sisters happened to be making their home. The faculty for 1845-46 included Miss Eliza Page and Miss Moore as principals, and, as assistants, Mrs. Rebecca Iughes, who taught drawing, painting and music, and Mr. Adonijah S. Welsh, who taught mathematics and Latin. There * Michigan State Journal, August 24, 1841. PRIVATE SCHOOLS 107 were 127 pupils enrolled that year, ranging in age from six to nineteen. The tuition for each term of twenty-two weeks for the children of the primary department was six dollars; for the "Juniors," eight dollars; for the "Middle Class," ten dollars, and for the "Seniors" it was twelve dollars. Discipline in the Page school was severe. The little tots, besides receiving merit and demerit marks for good and bad behavior, sometimes were subjected to punishment little short of barbarous. At times Miss Eliza Moore would pull out several of her own yellowish red hairs, and, making a tiny cord of them, bind together the wrists or thumbs of two of the little girls. If the slender band should be broken, the children were kept in after school, a form of punishment calculated to instill in the hearts of the little folks a strong love for schools in general and for the school of Eliza Page in particular. The little girls sat dangling their legs from long, high benches, their heads pressed against numbers painted on the stiff boards which served the benches for backs. Often Miss Moore would purposely drop a pin, and if those were detected who were making so much noise that the impact of the pin could not be heard, Miss Moore descended upon them in all her magnificent wrath. At the annual exhibition of this, the "Ann Arbor Female Seminary," held in the Presbyterian church, in 1816, all the girls were required to wear white muslin dresses with blue sashes. The sashes were knotted over the left shoulder and brought d down diagonally across the body to the waist, where they passed around to the back, ending in a great bow. The dresses were low-necked and the sleeves were short. The little girls wore pantalettes reaching to the ankles. Each girl also was required to wear a badge pinned on her right shoulder on which her standings were written. The young ladies had been required to send out their standings, including all bad marks, if they had any. Present at the exhibition was the entire Board of Visitors, and surely the list of names is an imposing one: IHon. Alpheus Felch, Prof. George P. Williams, Prof. Andrew Ten Brook, Prof. D. D. Whedon, Rev. O. C. Comstock, Rev. William S. Curtis, Rev. Henry Colclazer, Rev. C. C. Taylor, Hon. Samuel W. Dexter, Dr. C. N. Ormsby, and Munnis Kenny. The Board of Trustees was present, including, 108 THIE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ANDREW TEN BROOK- A School "Visitor" The First Historian of Ann Arbor, Member of the University's First Faculty and Later Librarian besides Judge Dexter, Col. Thomas Mosely, James Kingsley, Luther Boyden, Thomas Wood, Edwin Lawrence and Fitch Hill. The object of this female seminary, so their advertisements stated, was "to aid young ladies to educate themselves to answer the great end of their being-to enjoy and impart elevated happiness." Certainly the benches were high enough for this; but to forestall any who might question the practical bread-making value of so extensive a course as that offered by the "Ann Arbor Female Seminary," Miss Page asked of her patrons: "Does the knowledge of plants, or the manner PRIVATE SCIOOLS 109 of their growth, prevent her from superintending her garden, with an eye to utility and beauty?" "Is she less interested or useful as a daughter, sister or friend, because she has refined and strengthened her native powers by the study of intellectual and moral P'hilosophy?" "Has it diminished the softer, gentler virtues of her sex, that she is able, not only to follow, but richly enjoy a long abstruse problem in higher Mathematics?" "Has it rendered her less efficient in her particular sphere, that she can relish a 'Virgil's lay, a Livy's picture( page' in the original, as well as the softer accents of ]Moliere and Racine?" "Lectures, Orations, Sermons, and the public speakers of the day, does she hear; and is she less worthy as a lady or friend, because she is able to ap)reciate boldness of metaphor, elegance of diction, simplicity of language, chasteness, perspicuity, and purity of style?" No wonder the exhibitions brought out the whole town! There prophecies were fulfilled, hopes realized, and people saw in the near future the rosy dawn of a b)righter day. The Page school broke up very suddflenly in the early fifties with the albrupt announcement of Miss Moore, at the close of the annual exhibition, that she, then and there, severe(l her connection with the institution. Miss Eliza, Page for a time tried to manage the school alone, but she found the burden too great, and the key was turned in the lock for the last time. The girls and young ladies of the village were not the only ones who had an opportunity to attend private schools in Ann Arbor. March 4, 1840, a classical school for young gentlemen was opened in the basement of St. Andrew's church by a man named Percival C. Millette. He agreed to teach "according to the most approved systems followed in European colleges, which he has by experience found to be admirably calculated to facilitate the improvement of the pupil. Terms, $6 per quarter of eleven weeks." Millette kept the school open for a year. At the end of that time it came to an end, and the basement of the church remained unused for educational purposes for twelve months more. In 1842, John Brannagan, an Irishman, started a school of book-keeping in the basement of St. Andrew's church, the first 110 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of its kind west of Detroit. The school catered both to "males and females," and, for a time, seems to have enjoyed a liberal patronage. Brannagan promised to teach both single and double entry book-keeping through a course of lectures, and so successful was his first attempt that he was encouraged to try again. On December 7, he announced that the "second course of lectures on the above art" would begin the nineteenth of that month, and that "persons wishing to avail themselves of the opportunity to learn book-keeping" should do him the favor of attending one of the lectures he was then giving, "any evening of the week, except Sundays, at 6 o'clock." The demand for double-entry book-keeping in a village where manufacturing was in its -infancy, and where each storekeeper was his own accountant, was not very great. This may explain why Brannagan's school was not very popular and why it soon gave way to'schools of a different type. During most of the year, 1847, St. Andrew's church housed a school conducted by a Miss J. B. Smith and a Miss Sally Field. Mrs. Rebecca Hughes gave a part of her time to the teaching of music there, and in addition she taught classes in painting, drawing and needlework. This school was succeeded by one managed by Mrs. Robert Woods, which, before. 1850, was located in a large, pillared, brick house which stood on north Ingalls street near Cornwell Place. For a time Mrs. Woods was assisted by a teacher from New Hampshire, her pupils meeting in the upper hall of the building. This particular "Young Ladies' Seminary" prospered largely because the tuition was low, only two dollars having been charged for eleven weeks' instruction. But, about the year 1853, it ceased to return a profit to its sponsors and was discontinued. Some of the pupils entered a girls' school opened in August, 1854, by a Mrs. Cox, on Huron street, and some of them entered a school begun about the same time by Mrs. Horatio Van Cleve. The Van Cleve School occupied an old frame building which stood opposite the old Presbyterian church. Mrs. Van Cleve and her husband had formerly managed a boarding school in Pittsfield called "Rosedale"; but when they came to Ann Arbor Mrs. Van Cleve started the school just mentioned, while Mr. Van Cleve opened a school for boys in the building on the northwest corner of Main and Huron streets. PRIVATE SCHOOLS ill THE REVEREND QEORQE P. WILLIAMS The First Professor to Teach in the University-A very Popular School "Visitor" During the time when the Van Cleve schools were in operation, sisters by the name of Vail opened a school in the basement of their residence on Broadway. This school and all the other private schools, with one or two exceptions, went out of business when the Union School threw open its doors in 1856. The most important private school surviving that event was the Clark school, described in the next chapter. Such schools as came into existence during the latter half of the century, as well as those begun during the first quarter of the twentieth century, made their appeal to special groups. 112 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS In this class was a School of Telegraphy which came here in 1865 to give instruction in telegraphy and in commercial law, and in this same class, also, was a "School of Telegraphy" which came here from Oberlin, Ohio, in 1883. In the fall of 1883, Selby A. Moran came to Ann Arbor from Iowa and in 1881 opened a stenographic institute. This school had a continuous existence from that time until Mr. Moran sold out to Mr. F. G. Hamilton in 1922. Mr. Hamilton had come here in 1915 and had opened the business college which operates under his name. He had been teaching commercial branches in the High School of Chillicothe, Ohio, and had otherwise prepared himself for his venture in Ann Arbor. The Hamilton Business College, like that Mr. Moran had conducted, draws its students from those who are also attending the University, from the local High School and from the surrounding country. These schools have enjoyed a great popularity, appealing to those interested in secretarial work, bookkeeping, and various other business branches. There is one other private school which should be mentioned before this chapter comes to a close, that conducted by Mrs. J. V. Palmer in her home at 1345 Geddes avenue. In 1910 Mrs. Palmer opened her school. At first it was conducted only for those in the primary grades, but in more recent years older children have attended, and the splendid success Mrs. Palmer experienced with the little tots she now experiences with the older children. Much individual attention is given to all in her charge, and many pupils make progress there who have done poorly in the public schools. This school, like all the other private schools which have been conducted in Ann Arbor, supplies a real need, and on that basis the place of the Palmer School is justified. NOTE: For many years before the Civil War a man named Nutting conducted a preparatory academy on Lodi Plains. Just after the war, upon Mr. Nutting's death, the school was discontinued and the building was cut up into houses. Mr. William J. Booth is the only person now living (October, 1925) who attended this academy and entered the University of Michigan. CHAPTER IX The Clark School THE most important private school in Ann Arbor's history was that conducted by the Clark sisters between November, 1839, and 1875, when the head of the school, Mary H.Clark, died of apoplexy. The character and management of the institution were largely determined by the early training and background of the three women who conducted it. The father, an Episcopal clergyman, brought the family to Michigan in the late thirties, living a short time near Brighton, and again for a number of months in St. Clair county. The young ladies were educated at the famous school for girls kept by Mrs. Willard in Troy, New York. Mrs. Willard was one of the foremost educators of her day and the author of a number of books. The Clark sisters held her in highest esteem, often quoting from her textbooks, and voicing her opinions against co-education. The methods and lofty ideals of the Willard school were brought by the Clark sisters to the wilderness of Michigan, where they were implanted in the hearts of Ann Arbor's young women. From thence they went out to the next generation and the next, and even to this day are a part of our rich heritage. The appearance and talents of the three Clark sisters varied greatly. The most able one was Mary H., a small, nail-biting, nervous creature with a face one would long remember. The profile was striking. The chin, lips and nose were strong in outline, the lines of the jaw and the forehead clearly defined, brows heavy, and the unusually large brown eyes were shaded by long lashes that went well with her wealth of beautiful.black hair. Her skin was very dark, and when the girls were permitted to plait her hair they often gave their teacher the make-up of an Indian. Miss Mary Clark rose at five o'clock in the morning and busied herself at something all day long. She fairly ran when she walked, and in conversation was animated in the extreme. Very often she would go visiting just before the dinner hour, 114 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS MARY H. CLARK expecting to be invited to eat, as she usually was. News of the day, and much gossip, came to her in this way, a large portion of which she passed on to her pupils during the "conversation hour," or during the class in "general knowledge." The special intellectual interest of this lady was in the study of Botany. In 1837, the Legislature authorized a geological survey of the state, and Governor Stevens T. Mason gave his approval to the measure. Dr. Abram Sager was then the state's leading botanist. Within a few years he, Dr. John Wright and Prof. George P. Williams, the first resident professor of the University, made a fine collection of native plants, embracing a hundred different orders. This collection came into the possession of Mary II. Clark, and she, with the help of her pupils, increased it to 2,000 species. This valuable work THE CLARK SCHOOL 115 helped to form the basis of similar botanical work later carried on in the University. Next to Mary HI. Clark in importance in the Clark School was her sister Chloe. Miss Chloe was equally striking in her appearance, but in a less refined and different way. Her hair was long and dark, hanging in great curls around her shoulders and well down her back. She was looked upon by the pupils as the real ornament of the school. Though she lacked much of being beautiful, she was exceedingly attractive, and her numerous beaux, including both young men of the town and students in the University, took great delight in her company. Her wit was remarkably keen, her conversational powers extraordinary, and she had the habit of complimenting her listeners right and left. Those who remember her best associated with her two things not altogether to her credit: she was fond of wearing stockings which would have been white had they been introduced often enough to the wash cauldron; and she was equally fond of carrying about in her arms a greasy, yellow poodle, which had an unpleasant habit of snapping at the heels of inoffensive strangers. The name of the third sister was Roby. She was at first little more than a housekeeper, but she soon took on the more dignified title of matron, and still later became "Associate Principal." She had little part in the management of the school, however, but she filled a position in the scheme of things no other one of the sisters could have filled. There was a fourth sister, Jessie, a pupil in the school, who was a great favorite with her classmates, and the particular pet of her older sisters. The Clark School was opened November 18, 1839, in a brick building on Main street, which was afterwards known as the "Argus Block." In December, of the same year, they moved to the northeast corner of Fourth avenue and Liberty street. In August, 1841, the school was moved to the Charles Fuller house, on Main street, a few doors north of the main entrance to Mack's store. The next move was to the corner of Huron and Ashley (then Second) streets, the building later being incorporated in the Leonard Hotel. After nine years the school was taken to the Schetterly house, on north Fourth avenue, where the sisters made their home. This building burned July 116 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 4, 1865. A big Independence Day celebration was being held in Gregory Hall, several hundred people taking part. Just at the close of the exercises, when some 300 returned Civil War veterans were rising from the l)anquet table, and the local firemen were preparing to seat themselves, a fire broke out in a wooden building adjoining the brick residence and school of the Misses Clark. The firemen hurried away, but for lack of water were able to save only the furniture, the doors and the windows. These were stored and later put into the last building to house the school, the three-story building (now a flat) erected on two lots at the corner of Division and Kingsley streets. Miss Mary Clark obtained the funds for this building as free gifts from friends and former pupils. Soon after the school was opened in its final home, Miss Mary fell down one of the stairs, breaking a small bone in her ankle. This resulted in a slight but permanent lameness. As the school moved about from place to place, other teachers were employed, here and there the name of a man appearing in the different lists of assistants. Few of these teachers remained long with the Clarks. The explanation for this seems to be in the general tendency of the teachers of those days to roami about, employing their talents wherever and whenever the inducements were most attractive. The New England system of having the older pupils act as monitors was employed as a measure of economy. These girls often.taught the younger ones, heard their lessons, and at times were called upon to do somen of the work the housekeeper was supposed to do. This old-time boarding school was kept open most of the year, 1)eginning about the first Monday in September, and closing a few days during the holidays. A vacation of a week came early in February, another the first of May, and a long vacation was taken between the end of the third week in July and the opening of the next school year. This year was divided into two terms of twenty-two weeks each, or into four quarters of eleven weeks each. The renown of the Clark school was more than local. More than a third of the total number of girls attending lived outside of Ann Arbor, mostly in the southeastern part of the state. During the year 1848-49, for example, of the total enrollment of ninety-seven, thirty-six came from other places, THE CLARK SCHOOL 117 some from as far away as East Avon, New York. That year girls were enrolled from Pontiac, Milan, Jackson, Coldwater, Manchester, Owosso, IPlainfield, Bellevue, and Massillon, Ohio. Many found it impossible to go home during the shorter vacations, but at the end of the third week in July there was a general clearing out, and this was followed by a great housecleaning at the school. Some extracts from old newspapers and annual reports will give an idea of the character of the work done. The report for 1849 stated that "Though it would be impossible to enumerate all our rules-to prevent erroneous impressions, we would say, that boarders are not allowed to accept invitations to walk, ride or visit, without permission; or unless from family or friends, to receive calls, except on Friday and Saturday evenings, and then with the Vice Principal. On Wlednesday or Saturday afternoons they attend to their shopping, returning calls, &c., and on no other days, as it is not our desire to promote undue love of society, unfitting alike for present duties and future usefulness; but an acquaintance with the courtesies of life-those observations resulting from the law of kindness and sound conventional rule." Parents and guardians were "requested to visit the school, and judge for themselves its discipline and mode of instruction." Every Friday morning the studies of the week were reviewed, when visitors were admitted. "Also on Wednesday afternoon, semi-monthly, is the reading of original compositions, to which particular attention is paid, each of the senior class being required to write one for every week, also keep a diary. To enlarge the sphere of general intelligence, the intervening Wednesday afternoons are devoted to lectures or sonme profitable reading from carefully selected books, the young ladies meanwhile employing themselves with the needle." When the original compositions were read, the hour was enlivened by selections from "Thle Wild Flower," a periodical published once a fortnight b;y the pupils themselves, beginning with the year 1840. Some of the compositions were printed in this paper, among the titles being, "Summer on the Hillside of the Meadow, and Summer in the Heart," "The Depths," "The Real Lady," "The Value of a Good Book," and "The Effect of Example." The Clark School, like all the other private schools in Ann 118 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE OLD CLARK SCHOOL ON DIVISION STREET Now Remodeled and Serving as an Apartment House Arbor, had its Board of Visitors. Some of these boards were made up of the most distinguished citizens. One of the earliest of these included the names of Rev. Charles C. Taylor and Professors Williams, Whedon, Ten Brook, Sager, Douglas and Fasquelle. Miss Mary Clark invited these men "to be present, when convenient at the weekly reviews, but especially attend during the semi-annual examinations." The books studied in this school bore names which sound strange, but they give a hint of what the girls were wont to stock their minds with nearly three generations ago. Among the books were: Playfair's Euclid; Brocklesby's Meteorology; Mrs. Willard's Universal History; Mrs. Willard's Republic of America; Olmstead's Natural Philosophy; Burritt's Geography of the Heavens; Watts' On the Mind; Paley's Natural Theology and Evidences of Christianity; Abercrombie's Intellectual Powers; Abercrombie's Moral Feelings; Butler's Analogy; and Kane's Elements of Criticism. In the early days the charges were, for the English branches, $2.50 for juvenile, and $5.00 for senior classes per quarter. In addition to these fees, there were certain special charges: "For Music on the Piano; with the use of the Instrument, $8.00; THE CLARK SCHOOL 119 French, $5.00; Latin, $2; Board, including washing, lights, etc., $2.00 per week. For those who have their washing done away from the house, the charge is $1.75 per week. For board, always a part payment in advance. Young ladies, boarders are requested to come supplied with their own towels and napkins." Teachers and pupils alike were aroused mornings at daylight, or before, according to the season; and soon after breakfast, the rooms being set in order, school was opened for the day. A chapter from the Bible was chosen, and each one of the older girls was required to read a verse. All then knelt, and Miss Mary Clark read a "collect" from the English Book of Common Prayer. All joined in repeating the Lord's Prayer, and the morning devotionals were ended. At the end of the day all joined in singing "Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing." Sundays, the girls were required to attend one or another of the village churches, most of them going in a body with Miss Mary Clark. Later they attended the University commencements and other exercises in the same manner. After University Hall was opened in 1873 the girls, with their teachers, sat in the first rows of seats in the left gallery of the auditorium, and it was there that the final illness came upon Miss Mary Clark. During the school year a number of things served to amuse and entertain the girls, some of a trivial and some of a more serious character. When the school was located on the corner of Huron and Ashley streets, the front part of the building was used to accommodate the boarders of a Mr. and Mrs. Irving, grandparents of some of the O'Briens of our day. The schoolrooms were upstairs over the rooms of these boarders. Often the young ladies would play jokes on the boarders, and then hide on a large square platform built over a brick oven which was housed in a woodshed at the rear of the boarding house. The girls would climb up there by means of a ladder, and, once up, would pull the ladder after them. There they would whisper their secrets and compose paragraphs of nonsense for their diaries. The braver among them sometimes read these paragraphs during the Wednesday afternoon programs, often to the great annoyance of the principal. One of the events which both amused and entertained the 120 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS girls and numerous friends and former students was the quarter-centenary celebration in Roger's Hall, held on the evening of Friday, November 18, 1864. Present were ladies representing every year of the school's history, and also every town in Washtenaw County. The patrons, all former pupils, were as follows: Mrs. Caroline Burger Gott, 1845-47; Mrs. Mary K. Brigham Sinclair, 1839-45; Mrs. Maria White Hiscock, 1842 -45; Mrs. A. A. Goodrich North, 1839-40; Mrs. Elizabeth Everest Schoff, 1843; Mrs. Fanny Kingsley Chapin, 1846-53; Mrs. Josephine M. Smith, 1844-60; Mrs. D. H. Pope Pray, 1846-58; Mrs. Ernestine Buchoz Bour, 1848-52; Mrs. Heloise Buchoz North, 1850-54; Mrs. Theresa Scott Deane, 1849-54; Mrs. Jane E. Howard Mosher, 1850-54; Mrs. Mary Cook Avery, 1847-50; Mrs. Martha Williams Landon, 1845-47; Mrs. Emma Imus Loomis, 1853-56; Mrs. Mary Wheeler Buckland, 1841-43; Miss Mary White, 1851-57, and Mrs. E. E. Gibson Du Bois, secretary of the committee. Miss Cynthia Sager, daughter of Dr. Abram Sager, is the only one now living in Ann Arbor who attended this celebration. During the evening, speeches were made, and letters of regret read from those who had found it impossible to attend. A beautiful and costly tea set was presented to the Clark sisters, after which a splendid supper was served. The graduating exercises of this school were held every year, beginning with the first class of two young ladies in 1841, up to the time of Mary Clark's death in 1875. The two first graduates were Miss Martha E. Ladd and Miss Caroline iH. Cuming. The exercises were similar in character to those given by the Page School, and again most of the town was present. Mary H. Clark appeared in public for the last time at the commencement exercises of the University. She was taken ill during the exercises and had to be taken home before they were over. She grew steadily worse, and when, on Wednesday, June 30, her physician came to call, he found her sleeping her last sleep. She was survived by her sister Chloe, but the school was never opened again. Nineteen miles north of Ann Arbor, in the little cemetery of Brighton, one may still see the monument former pupils erected to the memory of these two women. It is a simple block of dark gray granite, three THE CLARK SCHOOL 121 feet two inches in height and twenty-two inches wide. On the beveled front these words may still be read: "MARY H. CLARK, 1813-1875 CHLOE A. CLARK, 1817-1880 A Memorial From Their Scholars." In a private letter to a friend here in Ann Arbor, President Henry P. Tappan, from his retreat in Basel, Switzerland, August 7, 1875, wrote a brief estimate of the character of Miss Mary Clark. "Mrs. Tappan," he wrote, "grieves very much over the loss of Miss Clark, to whom she was strongly attached. She was one of the noblest and most excellent of women." - z -. l -e;r= * -~ - - 2 t * THE OLD UNION HIGH SCHOOL Opened in 1856 CHAPTER X Public Schools W H EN the Ann Arbor High School burned at the end of the year, 1904, most of the school records were consumed. Such facts regarding the history of Ann Arbor public schools as we have been able to piece together do not make a very complete story, our chief dependence for the material in this chapter having been placed on old scrap books, private letters and newspapers. It is probable that the districting of this region for public school purposes dates from the year 1829. We are sure that the first plublic school was in operation in 1830, since a report on its condition was made in 1832. The report was meager enough, containing but three items: the number of school children between the ages of five and fifteen was given as 161; the average number in school was given as thirty-five, and, finally, it was stated that no public moneys had been received. Orrin White had much to do with the work of establishing the first school, and, if we may hazard a guess, John Allen must have been somewhere in the foreground of the movement. His interest in education, and especially in Ann Arbor's schools, was then shared by a large number of his fellow townspeople. The growth of the schools and the interest in them kept pace with the growth of the village. In 1838, Rev. Thomas Holmes, later a resident of Chelsea, and known as Dr. Holmes, conducted a school in the Baptist church, on Wall street, in Lower Town. In 1839 this became the district school. In 1840 Rev. Holnes moved the school to a new brick schoolhouse on Traver street. Later Mrs. Mudge, who afterwards became the wife of Professor C. K. Adams, taught the district school in Lower Town. After the Central Railroad was opened, in the fall of 1839, the population in both parts of the village was rapidly increasing, due to the arrival of emigrants and to a growing birth rate. A greater interest in the schools developed than ever had been known before. This interest was especially 124 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS high in the spring of 1842. Between April 6 and April 8 of that year, the citizens of the county friendly to common schools assembled several times. On the sixth a constitution was presented by a committee previously appointed by the citizens of the county, and just before noon it was adopted. Dr. Samuel Denton was the first president of the Washtenaw Common School Society as provided for by this constitution. The object of the society, as set forth in Article I, was "the improvement of Common Schools in the County of Washtenaw-and any person willing to aid in promoting its object may become a member by signing the constitution." On the night of the sixteenth, Friday, when the citizens were gathered in the Court House to discuss the question of supporting common schools by a public tax, John Allen moved, "That in a Government constituted like ours, where the people have to pay, either directly or indirectly, all the expenses attendant upon the prevention and punishment of crime, it is not only their duty but it is their interest to educate, thoroughly, every child, who is to become a member of society; and that we recommend to the next Legislature of this State, to pass a law providing for this object." Allen strongly favored larger and better schools for Ann Arbor. His sentiments are expressed in a letter to E. W. Lawrence, editor of the Michigan State Journal, printed in the issue of April 20. A large central school for the upper village was advocated, to which all the children could be sent. The advantages of a central location were pointed out, and it was argued that, in a large school, higher salaries could be paid, better teachers secured, and that such a central school would be more efficient and economical. It was stated, also, that it was better to have one good school than "the puny and inefficient schools, established upon the old plan." The movement for consolidating the schools brought a sharp division in the village. Some wanted the seven districts (their total enrollment Was 296) reduced to four, to have built in each a small school, and to give the numbers 11, 12, 13 and 14 to the new districts. Others wanted the number reduced from seven to two, and still others, like John Allen, wanted only one school, and that centrally located. The position taken by the Michigan State Journal, then published in Ann Arbor, was set forth in its issue of April 27, 1847: "There are about PUBLIC SCHOOLS 125 250 scholars in the private schools of this village, for whose tuition is paid from two to five dollars a quarter. About 200 of them pursue the studies usually taught in district schools, and pay two dollars a quarter-$8 a year-about $1600 a year. There are one hundred more, at least, who ought to be in school, and would be, if their parents could afford to pay. The cost per year of schooling 300 scholars, which is the lowest average number that ought to be constantly in school in this village, with the present system of private schools, would be $2400." The advantage is for two districts rather than one, argued the Journal, and it further pointed out that with but two large schools the per pupil cost would be only $3 as against $8 under the system of private schools. Certainly financial considerations were not to be overlooked in settling so weighty a matter. The truth of this becomes apparent when one takes into account the fact that, in 1840, only $140 had been raised for school purposes and that, during that year, only 139 pupils attended the public schools. In 1846, in one of the districts, but $90 was paid for teacher service in the instruction of 180 pupils for a year. When, in 1847, the time for debating was over, the twodistrict system was adopted, one for Lower Town and one for the upper village. This arrangement continuing in existence until 1851, when the city, as it then became, was divided into wards, with a small school in each ward. In 1856, when the Union High School was opened, only two of the four district schools were kept open, one in the second and one in the fifth ward. There is just one fragment of information remaining to us about schools of the two districts as they existed in 1850. The location of the one in Lower Town has been lost, but it is known that the other one was held in the Old Academy under the direction of a Mr. Bassett, assisted by "some young ladies, associate teachers." The regular patronage of this school was much greater than that of the school in Lower Town, about 100 pupils attending most of the time. Not much is known about the work done in this Fourth avenue school other than that, every month, the older pupils published a school paper which, in form and character, differed little from the Wildflower, published by the pupils of the Clark School. 126 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS The next year, after the consolidation of the districts here, the primary school money received from the state was but $225.67. One year later it reached $295.96, and it grew in proportion to the growth of the city and the pupil enrollment. In 1866 the "City and Town" received $1,097.10, and in 1895, when the pupil enrollment was 2,398, the primary fund was $1,119.00. In the fall of 1905 our schools received from the state $8,735.40, the enrollment then being 3,242. In 1924, $66,304 was received, the pupil enrollment having reached 4,081. It'was not many years after the Union High School was opened that it became necessary to build schools in each of the four most populous wards of the city. For the year 1864-5 there were 314 pupils enrolled in the first ward, 256 in the second, 256 in the fourth, 151 in the fifth, and 550 attending either the grades or the high school department of the Union School. In 1876-7 there were 1,126 attending the ward schools, and in the Union School 720, of which 430 were in the high school department. The ward building first to be erected, after it was found that the Union School could not accommodate all the pupils in the city, was that put up in 1862 in the first ward, Peleg Marshall holding the contract for the work. According to the terms of his contract, he was to receive $4,200, the building to be ready by October 15 of that year. This building stood on State street about a hundred feet south of William. It was torn down a few years ago to give yard space to the new Betsy Barbour dormitory. Four years after Marshall received his first contract he was given another. For the sum of $6,000 he agreed to build a school in the third ward like the one he had built in the first. This building stood on Miller avenue just north of West Park. It was torn down in 1922 when it was decided to build the new Mack school farther out Miller avenue. The site of this old school is now used for a little park. Soon after the first ward school was built, the one in the second ward was erected on the northwest corner of West Jefferson and Fourth street, as also was the one on Wall street in the fifth ward, where the Donovan school now stands. The school in the fourth ward stood where the Jones school now stands, and in some respects was like the others in general appearance and in inside architecture. During PUBLIC SCHOOLS 127 the first week in April, 1883, Lucas and Tessmer received a contract to build the old Tappan school on East University avenue, half-way between North and South University avenues, in the sixth ward. The contract price was $10,988. In 1902-3, at the intersection of East Madison and Packard streets, the W. S. Perry school was built. This school was named in honor of W. S. Perry, for 27 years superintendent of the city schools. The building was designed by W. A. Otis, of Chicago. Though the building was ready for occupancy in the fall of 1902, it was not formally dedicated until January 7, 1903. When the building was formally opened a fitting program was given, the guest of honor on the occasion being Mrs. W. S. Perry. It was fitting that Mr. Perry should have been honored in this way. He did for the schools everything it was possible to do in view of conditions during his incumbency. He succeeded in creating an interest in the schools which had never existed here before, and he succeeded in turning that interest to account in better equipment, better teachers and larger and more regular attendance of pupils. When Leslie A. Butler came to Ann Arbor in 1919 as superintendent of schools, the citizens were ready for improving the whole educational system of the city. For several years the retiring superintendent, H. M. Slauson, and members of the Board of Education, especially Mr. D. W. Springer, had waged a fruitless campaign which had for its object keeping Ann Arbor schools up with the times. But the taxpayers had been bearing the burdens which progress in other directions had made necessary, and the schools had suffered by neglect. However, our citizens, like those in most other progressive cities throughout the United States, had been impressed with the value of education as seen in the conduct of the World War. When the United States was drawn into that conflict the advantages of a well-educated citizenry became even more apparent. People everywhere began to take stock of their schools, and they began to realize how old they were and how antiquated their methods. The pride was piqued, and they began to demand for their children the best to be had in the way of teachers, methods, buildings and equipment. Superintendent Butler was far-sighted enough to see the trend of the times in education, to size up the local situation, and to inau 128 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS gurate a program of improvement such as the city had never seen before. Now the labors of those who had long striven for better things were to find their reward. Well educated, rich in experience, and of engaging personality, Superintendent Butler was eminently fitted for his work. He made a detailed survey of conditions and offered perfectly definite proposals which, if carried out, would put Ann Arbor where she belongs among the best school cities of the country. But before going into the details of this movement, let us go back and consider such progress as already had been nade in the educational system of the city. Soon after the Civil War the salaries of the teachers were materially increased. For the year 1867-8, with thirty-five teachers in the system, the total paid for salaries was $14,685, an average of $419.43. The high School principal was paid $1,200, and the superintendent $1,500. The next year the average for the teachers was slightly lower, but for the year 1870-1 it reached $476.28, the average salary for the male teachers being $1,117, but for the women only $370. The newspapers reveal little concerning the salaries of the teachers after 1871, and since most of the records of the various boards of education were destroyed when the High School burned a generation later, little is known about this matter after that time. There are, however, many references to the activities centering in the High School, after its opening in 1856, and a fairly detailed account of that can be given. During the more than seven years after the two-district school system went into operation, much dissatisfaction was expressed on account of its management. The people of the lower village complained that their school received scant attention from the various boards of education, both as to teachers and to school equipment. When, in 1851, Ann Arbor became a city, a movement was begun to make the local schools more modern. Several of the leaders in this movement were on the faculty of the University, some of them insisting on fair dealing as regards the school in the lower village. Professors E. 0. Haven, Abram Sager and H. S. Frieze looked upon the higher grades as places where pupils might prepare themselves to enter the University. These men were, in a sense, responsible for the close association which later developed PUBLIC SCHOOLS 129 between Ann Arbor High School and the University. Their attitude, the attitude of other men on the faculty of the University, and that of W. S. Perry, helped to make the local High School one of the leading institutions of its kind in the United States. Almost countless families have moved to our city that their children might go to Ann Arbor High School and prepare themselves for entering the University. It has often been the case that, while older sons and daughters in the same family have been enrolled in the University, younger sons and daughters in the same family have attended the High School, thus giving the latter an enrollment in excess of the normal high school enrollment for a city the size of Ann Arbor. The first result of this mid-century movement for better schools was the purchase of a site for a union school which would be convenient to pupils in both sections of the city. After much casting about, and after a spirited contest, the site of the present Senior High School, then the property of E. W. Morgan, was purchased for the sum of $2,000. No building had ever stood on this site, the land usually having been devoted to pasture. Between 1854 and 1856 the work went forward, the new structure going up approximately in the center of the ground now occupied by the Senior High School building. In 1856, at a total cost of about $32,000, the building was ready for use, though at that time it was not entirely finished. On September 8, 1856, Editor E. W. Lawrence, who signed himself "Director" of the school, announced that "This SCHOOL will commence its term the first Monday of October next, under the direction of competent teachers." He stated further that "There will be a male and female department, in which young gentlemen may be prepared for admission to the University, and young ladies receive such instruction as usually is afforded in the highest female Seminaries." Thus Lawrence addressed himself to the pupils attending the Clark and other local private schools for girls. To lure those from beyond the limits of the city he stated that, "A certificate of a competent teacher, of the proficiency of the applicant in the studies required for admission, will entitle persons residing out of the district, to enter this School, on payment of the tuition fee." Lawrence closed his announcement by saying THE ANN ARBOR HIGH SCHOOL Erected in 1907 PUBLIC SCHOOLS 131 that it was "desirable that applications should be made on or before the commencement of the term." When, in the fall, the basement rooms were opened for the use of the classes it was seen that the pupils had enrolled for a variety of reasons. Some had come because they wished later to enter the University. Preparatory work in the state institution was no longer offered, so many entered the Union High School as preparatory to the University. Several came from outside the city; but a much larger number was drawn from the local private schools, many of which, because of the falling off in attendance, soon were compelled to close their doors. The Union School began its sessions under the principalship of T. C. Abbot. The preceptress was a Miss Merryless. In 1860 she married Mr. Abbot, then an instructor in the Michigan Agricultural College (now the Michigan State College). Later Mr. Abbot became president of the East Lansing institution, where one of the dormitories for boys still bears his name. The first assistant teachers were Miss Abbie A. Mize and Miss Nettie Pelham, formerly a teacher of mathematics. Other early teachers were Miss Anna Robinson, later the wife of the banker, Donald McIntyre, who taught mathematics; Miss H. C. Norris, who taught algebra; Warren Jackson, head of the grammar department; George Landon, who taught German; and there were also a Miss Anna Warner and Miss H. S. DeLameter. In those days, before the Civil War, the eighth grade was organized on the same plan as the high school. It was divided into a department for the girls and another for the boys. Miss Clara Cooley was in charge of the girls and a Mr. John F. Nichols was in charge of the boys. Miss Clara H. Reade was the assistant in the eighth grade, or grammar department, as it was called. In 1864 a Mrs. Du Bois was followed by Miss Anna Osborne, and she in turn by Miss Mary J. Fairman. The first boys' principal was Mr. Bradley M. Thompson, and Miss Minna Lind was the first preceptress. The assistant was Miss Abbie Saunders. After the resignation of Mr. T. C. Abbot in 1858 the principalship rapidly passed from one executive to another. Mr. B. B. Briggs held the office from 1858 to 1861, when he was succeeded by C. B. Grant, the latter holding the position only a JUDSON PATTENGILL W. S. PERRY High School Principal, z876-1908 Superintendent of Schools, I87c-1897 PUBLIC SCHOOLS 1g year, when he went to war. Other principals followed each other in this order: Martin L. D'Ooge, 1862-64; Arthur Everett, 1864-65; J. D. H. Cornelius, 1865-66; A. H. Hamilton, 1866-67; Albert H. Pattengill, 1867-69; S. R. Winchell, 1869 -73; I. N. Demmon, 1873-76; Judson G. Pattengill, 1876-1908 (died in December); D. W. Springer, Acting Principal, February to June, 1909; A. W. Smalley, 1909-12; D. W. Springer, 1912-13; W. M. Aikin, 1913-16; Lewis L. Forsythe, 1916 to date. Before Mr. Springer became principal he was occupying a position in the commercial department in Cass Technical High School in Detroit, a position similar to one he had formerly held in Ann Arbor High School. After conferences with Superintendent H. M. Slauson and others, Mr. Springer, in 1907, introduced the banking system in the local schools. In 1913 he became Secretary of the National Education Association, with offices in Ann Arbor, and W. M. Aikin, who had been in the English department for three years, became principal. In 1916 Mr. Aikin became a member of the Department of Education of Ohio State University. The center of school life was in the assembly room, on the third floor. Commencement exercises were sometimes held in the Presbyterian church, but the High School assembly room was used for chapel purposes, and numerous Friday evening gatherings enlivened its rather plain interior. For many years the Juniors gave annual exhibitions there, bands from Detroit often furnishing music for the occasions. During the exhibition of the year 1859 one of the columns which supported the ceiling fell on the head of Silvanus Chase, nearly killing him. It was in that assembly room, also, that the members of the first literary society, the Philomathean, gathered for their meetings, and under its auspices many a spirited debate was held. In 1861 some of the girls met there and organized a short-lived society, probably the first secret society in the history of the school. The initial letters of its name, M. I. O. M., were said by the boys to stand for "Miserable, Inebriate Old Maids." The increasing enrollment and the awakened interest in human affairs which came with the Civil War and the Reconstruction era which followed, showed the need of other societies and further outlets for self-expression. Out of that need was 134 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS born the Lyceum Society, the Arena, the Clio, the Clendaneum, and a number of other organizations, some of greater and some of lesser importance. In 1876 the High School Students' Christian Association was organized. In later years this came to be known as the Hi-Y Club, the membership being made up of boys attending the High School who belonged to the city Y. M. C. A. In 1881, also, a new desire for organizations came into being. In that year secret societies were organized, and it was not until 1882 that they were discovered. Several boys were suspended from the High School, but the societies continued to flourish. During the week of September 17, 1883, much excitement developed in school circles because of the discovery of one called the Delta Theta Phi, which met in the Haven Block. The members gathered Sunday evenings and their meetings were so noisy that other tenants of the block complained. The landlord broke in and seized the records, later placing them in the hands of the Board of Education. That body was sharply divided over who should be held responsible for the society, themselves finally disclaiming all responsibility and, without warrant, blaming Superintendent W. S. Perry for their existence. All of the eight known members of the secret fraternity were suspended, but six of them were allowed to return to school after promising that they -would sever their connection with the society. A few extra suspensions from school mattered little in those days, usually from eight to fourteen per cent of the total High School enrollment being invited to take shorter or longer vacations each year on account of serious or trivial infractions of school discipline. During the next few years little more was heard of secret societies in the High School. They were finally crushed when the State Legislature put a legal ban upon them and when higher educational institutions went on record against allowing to enter their sacred precincts those who in High School had been members of the outlawed organizations. The great interest pupils of the local High School always have shown in athletics may account, in part, for the lack of enthusiasm for membership in fraternities and in literary societies. In March, 1879, the boys formed an athletic association and fitted up a room on South Main street, where each day they went to indulge in physical exercises. In 1884, the PUBLIC SCHOOLS 135 Board of Education voted $1,250 for a frame house for the janitor. Many argued that the money should have gone for a gymnasium. In the late 'eighties and in the early 'nineties a demand for a school gymnasium grew steadily. In October, 1894, the Athletic Association acquired the sole right to use the gymnasium in McMillan tall, a director was employed and gymnasium classes for both sexes begun. The pupils had no regular athletic field until their present field was obtained in 1915. It was named in honor of Levi D. Wines, and is known, therefore, as "Wines Field." Some years after the Union High School was opened an early graduate, Mrs. Noah M. Cheever organized an Alumni Society. Upon her death the society disbanded. This organization was for the earlier graduates and was not in any way affiliated with the organization now known as the Alumni Association. Beyond tie fact that the organization was effected in June, 1876, the details connected with the origin of the present association have not survived. It is certain, however, that for many years it has had a conspicuous part in every major celebration held by graduates and others connected with the Iigh School. On June 18, 1907, the association engineered the colorful semi-centennial celebration, and during the week of June 21, 1916, they managed the great celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of the HIhigh School. During the last fifty years of the life of the High School several noteworthy publications have been issued by the pupils. The An A Arbor Index, in charge of C. I. J. Douglas, was among the first TIigh School publications. It came out in the fall of 1882. That year also it was decided to publish for the IHigh School an annual catalogue. It was not to be issued in connection with the grammar school catalogue, which up to that time had been published every two years. The Omega began to be issued in 1884, but the next year its name was changed to the Sub-Tract. In 1886 the original name was again taken, and for ten years the paper continued to be published under that name. During the next three years the paper was called the Breeze, but from 1900 to the present the Omega has been the official annual organ of the school. Often special numbers were printed in maize and maroon, but in 136 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 1901 the school colors were changed to purple and white, and often since that time the publication has been dressed in those colors. Of late years the regular issues during the year have appeared under the name, The Optimist, but the last issue of each year is called the Omega. Students elected by the Senior Class have edited the Omega, the printing being done on contract outside of the school. The Optimist has been printed in the school, members of the faculty supervising both composition and press work. Ann Arbor High School has put on many creditable theatricals, but perhaps none ever surpassed one staged back in the seventies, called "The Honey Moon." Mr. Junius Beal, in one of the leading parts, played like an experienced actor. Professor Du Pont directed the players, and though they did remarkably well from a histrionic standpoint, the net "gate" was small. After an expense of some $600 and receipts of $607, it was decided to spend the profits on a picture of Professor Du Pont. The picture was purchased and it continued to hang in the assembly room until flames destroyed it years later. The first commencement of the Union High School was held in 1860 in the Presbyterian church. Though the members of the class did not receive diplomas, eleven actually graduated, and seven of these entered the University. The first class formally to graduate was that of the year 1861, diplomas marking the completion of the work of the school. There were fifteen in this class, and eleven of these became students in the University. In 1871 twenty-five per cent of the freshmen in the University had prepared in Ann Arbor High School, as the Union School had come to be called. In 1872 thirty-two out of a class of fifty-six matriculated in the University, and in 1923,115 out of a class of 159 paid their entrance fees in the higher institution of learning. The growth of the High School is seen in the enlargements made from time to time to the old building. In 1871 it was increased to nearly double its original size, and in 1888 an addition costing $25,000 was made to the north end. The enrollment went from about 200 in 1856 to 325 ten years later. It grew from about 410, at the beginning of 1876, to 530 in 1886, and from 680 in 1896 to over 800 in 1906. By 1916 the number had reached more than 1,000, and by the end of 1923, when PUBLIC SCHOOLS only the three upper grades were kept in the building, the enrollment was approximately 1,200. The attendance in all the schools in the city became much greater in 1905, when the compulsory school law was put into force. Then truancy practically stopped, but drastic action in some cases seemed necessary to make it clear that the law had teeth. The first prosecution of a negligent parent under this law came in November of that year. After that incident more pupils remained in school until the eighth grade had been completed, with the result that many continued on into the High School. The burning of the building drew the attention of many citizens to the magnitude of their loss and set people to thinking more seriously of better fire protection and of the value of a high school education. This, together with the influence of the movement for better schooling which came with the World War, greatly increased the attendance at the High School and made it impossible to accommodate all who wished to enter. By this time many of our citizens were convinced of the need of Junior High Schools. Two such schools soon came into existence, the Lincoln School, at Burns Park, and the Mack School, out Miller avenue. Children in grades seven, eight and nine are now cared for in these schools, so that the former congestion at the High School no longer exists. In the old building only Senior High School classes are held, those for the tenth, eleventh and twelfth grades. In 1889 the High School building was seriously threatened with a fire when a blaze started in a ventilator shaft. Within a few minutes the pupils were out of the building and the firemen were on the ground. A hole was chopped in the roof near the chimney and a hose turned on the blaze, quickly extinguishing it. Then, as always, the fire department was prompt to answer the alarm, but if the water pressure had not been high at that particular time the building would have been consumed fifteen years sooner than it was. The fire which destroyed the old High School building started about three o'clock in the morning, Saturday, December 31, 1904. Someone saw the blaze and awakened Dr. 0. A. Griffin. who lived across the street, and he turned in the alarm. The fire department responded immediately, but from the very first it was seen that, because of the low pressure in 138 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS the water mains, the building could not be saved, the streams of water reaching only to the second-story windows. Superintendent H. M. Slauson, Alfred Mummery, 11. N. Chute, L. D. Wines, Jabez Montgomery and W. H. Hiawkes, with the assistance of a large number of boys, saved everything possible. Most of the 8,000 books of the library and nearly all of the laboratory apparatus were carried to safety, but heavy losses were sustained in the botany and commercial departments. The old bell, weighing 1,480 pounds, crashed to the ground and broke in two pieces. In 1870, for the sum of $500, it was purchased for the belfry of the new addition to the Union School. It was cast by Meneely Bell Foundry Company, of West Troy, New York, and at the opening of school in 1871 summoned the boys and girls for the first time. The memory of that old bell was not to die. During the summer of 1905 Miss Lucy Chapin, corresponding secretary of the Alumni Association, sold, in the form of little souvenir bells, what was left of the old bell. The souvenirs were four inches in height and two and a half inches in diameter. They bore the inscription, "1854-A. A. H. S.-1904," and they were sold for one dollar each. The money procured from the sale of the bells was added to the W. S. Perry Scholarship Fund, which had been created to assist needy students in obtaining a University education. While the loss of the books and laboratory equipment was very great, the loss of the pupils' records was far greater. Up to about 1885 their records were kept in bulky, ledger-like volumes, but in 1886 the card system was adopted. This system, with modifications, is still in use. All of these books and cards, except those of the class of 1904, and all of the records, except those of non-graduates in school before 1895, were totally destroyed. In fact, by daylight there was little left of the building but a heap of smoldering ruins, above which the charred walls still towered. A crisis had come in the history of the city, one that called for prompt and vigorous action. At eleven o'clock in the morning, December 31, the members of the Board of Education met in the law office of M. J. Cavanaugh and 'W. W. Wedemeyer to consider the outlook for accommodating pupils and teachers. The townspeople rose to the occasion, and many PUBLIC SCHOOLS 139 offers of temporary schoolrooms were made. Some discussion arose on the question of a new building, but emergency needs took up most of the time of this meeting of the Board. Plans then partially worked out were completed the following Monday, January 2, 1905. As a result of the offers made by the people of the city and of the success of the Board in procuring rooms, classes began to be held in the Congregational, Baptist and Presbyterian churches, in Sackett and Harris Halls, in the Perry School, in Mr. Selby Moran's School of Shorthand, and in three store rooms and the basement of the Hamilton Block, on the northwest corner of North University avenue and Thayer street, which, fortunately, were just then completed. Work was resumed Tuesday, January 10, at eight o'clock, and proceeded as well as could be expected under circumstances so trying. The real problem, however, yet remained to be solved, that of providing for a new and modern building. The responsibility for solving this problem fell upon the members of the Board of Education: M. J. Cavanaugh, president; G. J. Ray, secretary; Dr. Royal S. Copeland (now United States Senator from New York), W. D. Harriman, H. J. Brown and N. J. Kyer. These men began a series of meetings and engaged in innumerable other activities looking to the building of a new High School. So successful were their efforts and so well did the citizens back them up that within two years the new structure was practically completed. On March 28, 1905, the citizens, by a vote of 370 to 42, bonded themselves to the amount of $200,000. Dean Mortimer Cooley, of the Engineering College of the University, strongly advised that the building be fireproof, but June 24, when the matter was submitted to the people, the proposition was lost by a vote of 88 to 76. If but seven voters of those 88 had cast their ballots on the other side the proposition would have carried. The contract to build the High School was awarded to E. M. Campfield, of Finley, Ohio, for the sum of $250,738, for which he was to build the new Carnegie Library as well as the High School. Campfield gave the Board $2,000 for the material in the ruins of the old building, and within a short time building operations began. The plans for the structure were those furnished by the architects, Malcomson and Higginbottom, of Detroit. 140 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS When the building was nearly finished thousands of visitors streamed through the great halls and classrooms to see the latest thing in school architecture and equipment. People could not wait until the last bit of work was done before talk of a great house-warming was heard. Plans for such an event rapidly matured, and on March 29, 1907, the doors were thrown open to the crowds who came to see and admire. This was followed by the ceremonies of dedication, held April 12; the building was formally accepted, and the problem the Board of Education had set out to solve on that last morning in December of 1904 had been solved at last. Ann Arbor citizens had done a splendid piece of work. In fact, they were so well pleased with themselves, and had spent so much money, that for a decade they were unwilling to spend much more on their schools. But, as has been said, the demands of the times forced them to consider the matter and the strong pleas for improving the system made by many of the leading citizens were SOOII taken as something more than far cries in a wilderness. Superintendent HI. MI. Slauson, G. J. Ray, Charles Sink, D. W. Springer, C. W. Gill, Roy G. Seeley, Judge George Sample, Reginald Spokes, Professor Henry E. Riggs, H. J. Hanson, Ottmar Eberbach, John C. Fischer, Principal W. M. Aikin, and many former members of the Board of Education, as well as most of the members of the Chamber of Commerce, got back of the movement. Local newspapers caught the spirit of these men; their reporters interviewed them, and news items and editorials began to appear favorable to the movement for better teachers, better equipment and for new and more commodious buildings. The first definite steps taken by the Board of Education in the direction of bringing the schools of the city up to date were taken in April, 1916. The school census for the year 1915-16 showed a school population of 3,892, and it was increasing from five to seven per cent each year. To take care of this rapid growth, the Board believed a ten-year program of expansion was necessary. Accordingly, they asked for $235,000 to modernize the Mack, Jones and Tappan schools, setting forth the need for kindergarten and social center rooms as well as for additional rooms for some of the grades. When the proposition was. submitted to the voters it was over PUBLIC SCHOOLS 141 whelmingly beaten. This defeat was due, in part at least, to the united opposition of the Federation of Mothers' Clubs, who saw clearly enough the need for better schools, but who were opposed to the particular plans presented by the Board. In the opinion of the women, the city should immediately bond itself for the purpose of raising funds for a large junior high school. In May the Board asked the voters to bond themselves to the sum of $60,000 to repair and modernize the Bach and Christian Mack schools. This proposition passed, but the next year, in November, when the citizens were asked for an additional $70,000 for these same schools, the vote against bonding was 528 to 136, a ratio of five to one. Before the entry of the United States into the World War the citizens were unfamiliar with some of the newer ideas in education. They did not fully understand the junior high school movement which was sweeping over the country, nor were they entirely familiar with modern tendencies touching such things as child accounting, health programs, continuation and vocational schools, summer sessions,* Americanization and night schools, up-to-date kindergartens, extra-curricular activities, modern equipment, etc., etc. So, when money was asked for, the question of the purposes for which it was to be spent inumediately came up, and the people had to be informed about many of these subjects. It was not long before they adopted most of the new ideas as their own and more and more became willing to reach down in their pockets for the money to put them into practice. Evidence of this is seen in the growth of the school budget and the salary increases given to teachers. For the year 1916-17 the budget was $104,000; for 1918-19 it was $221,970; for 1919-20 it was $301,200, and for 1923-24 it was $549,000, and it is still going up. Several times between 1916 and the present the salaries of teachers have been raised, many having $100 added to their contracts at each increase. In September, 1916, and in April, 1919, general increases were made, and a large number of special increases have been made from time to time since the latter date. In February, 1919, Superintendent Slauson informed the * The first summer session was held in 1916, when 447 pupils were enrolled. 142 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Board of Education of his decision to retire at the end of the school year. He had served for twenty-one years as principal of the High School or superintendent of the schools of the city, and the responsibilities of the office were beginning to weigh upon him. Once, while Mr. Pattengill was in Europe, and again just after W. M. Aikin resigned, he had taken upon himself the duties of the principal, and in that capacity, as in all his years as superintendent, he had given the best that was in him. The Board expressed the deepest regrets over his action, asking for suggestions for a possible successor. The choice of the Board fell upon Leslie A. Butler, of Mt. Pleasant. At the end of the third week in April, Professor Arthur G. Hall, then registrar of the University, and president of the Board, received a telegram from Mr. Butler notifying him of his acceptance of the position. Happily for Ann Arbor schools, the choice of a superintendent was a wise one. In Mr. Butler they found a man of great sincerity, strength of purpose, vision, ability and genial persistence. He had not been on the ground long before he had, with the help of the Board and the teaching force, thoroughly familiarized himself with the history of the schools and had made a complete study of their needs. Having done this, he determined to carry forward the policy of expansion. To this end he set about explaining to parents the newer ideas in educational practice and began to convert them to his way of thinking. As already stated, this was not such a difficult task, the spirit of the times and the efforts of the boosters on behalf of better schools having already done much of the work. That Ann Arbor was able to stand the cost of a great program of expansion is evident from the fact that, in 1920, it was found that the wealth back of every child attending schools in the city was $10,487.35. About a year before this estimate was made, a site for the new Christian Mack school was purchased from Mr. Edward Pardon, superintendent of buildings and grounds of the University. A bonding proposal was made to the people which called for the sum of $750,000 to be spent in the purchase of additional land and in the construction of new buildings. Superintendent Butler, with the assistance of the Board, succeeded in interesting the Chamber of Commerce in the proposition, and soon local pastors, mem PUBLIC SCHOOLS 143 bers of the Parent-Teachers' Association and members of all the clubs in the city which stand for a bigger and better Ann Arbor were giving it their support. When the matter of bonding came before the voters in 1922 it was easily passed. The voting of money made possible the practical working out of the school improvement program. Land was purchased at Burns Park, in the region of the Jones school, along South University and Washtenaw avenues, and contiguous to the Bach school property, and building operations -were begun according to plans already prepared. Before the close of 1924 the Bach school had been remodeled and a large wing facing Fourth and West Jefferson streets had been added; the Jones, the Mack, the Angell and the Lincoln schools had been constructed, and a fine, large addition fronting on Packard street had been made to the Perry school. Some years earlier the Donovan school, on Wall street in the fifth ward, had been remodeled, so that at the end of the first quarter of the twentieth century our schools were in splendid condition. In 1924 the superintendency of the Grand Rapid schools was offered to Mr. Butler. That he might be in a position to accept the attractive offer made by the Board of Education of the Furniture City, March 18 he resigned his position in Ann Arbor. He did not remain to see the completion of the expansion program here, nor was it necessary to do so. He left it in such shape as to enable a capable successor to "carry on" according to plans already made and at the same time broaden them when necessary. In the choice of Mr. Otto W. Haisley, of Niles, the local Board found a man to take up the burden Mr. Slauson and Mr. Butler had carried so well. As things appear at this writing, Mr. Haisley will fulfill the expectations made of him, working upon the theory that an investment in our children is the best investment we can make for ourselves, our city, and our country. CHAPTER XI Military Matters HE military history of Ann Arbor reaches back over a hundred years. It begins with the organization, in 1825, of a company headed by Elisha Walker Rumsey, and it continues down to the present time. Rumsey's company at first was composed of practically all the men in the settlement, most of them in the prime of life. They drilled on special days, and their marching was loudly applauded, especially by the ladies of the village. The fate of this company remains a mystery, but perhaps interest in the hard business of making a living made it impossible to meet regularly, and at last the members ceased to meet at all. Nothing is heard about military life in the village after Rumsey's company fades from the records until 1831, when General Lewis Cass appointed Eber White to the office of Ensign. The next year White was made Lieutenant by Governor Porter, and in 1835 Governor Stevens T. Mason raised him to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel of the First Division, Second Brigade, First Regiment. Some time later Orrin White, brother to Eber, was given successive high military offices, but of what his duties consisted we are in the dark. The first lengthy account of military affairs which has come down to our times was made by Professor Ten Brook, who came to Ann Arbor in 1844. He gives a description of what was known in the early days as the "Cholera War." The war chiefly concerned Washtenaw County, but it raged in Detroit, where the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory passed an act permitting the inhabitants of each town or village to prohibit travellers from entering their territory. They might call out the militia to enforce their prohibition. In this service a company, under Captain Burton, was called out and stationed at Bowen's Tavern, three miles east of Ypsilanti. The stage coming along with mail and passengers was stopped at that point. The driver, not waiting for the issue of a parley, attempted to force his way forward, and one of his horses MILITARY MATTERS 15 was shot down. In an instant the animal, not having been hurt much, scrambled to his feet, and the stage went forward without further molestation. The matter of interrupting the mail service of the United States was referred to Washington, and upon Lorenzo Davis the chief blame for the unfortunate incident was placed. However, the department dismissed the case without action. In Ann Arbor the mail was received without hesitation, but, at times, arms were carried for the purpose of keeping away strangers who might be bringing the dread disease to the settlement. But the disease did arrive, nevertheless, and it brought much misery in its train. That same year, 1832, a good deal of excitement was generated here over what had been known in history as the Black Hawk War. The war itself was never carried into Michigan, but the rumor of it produced a profound sensation, and citizens in Ann Arbor cast eyes towards the West with nervous apprehension. In May, 1832, it was reported that Chief Black Hawk, with 80,000 men, was already at White Pigeon Prairie, Michigan, on his way towards Detroit, burning and murdering as he marched. Regiments were raised and formal military orders were issued by General John R. Williams, of Detroit. Migrating parties, at the time rushing westward into Michigan, were stopped and turned back. Here the excitement and alarm was felt as sensibly as anywhere. Within a short time news came that the chief had been captured in Wisconsin and the excitement subsided as suddenly as it had arisen. One Abraham Lincoln was a humble captain in this service, but in later years he occupied a far higher office. It was during this war that General Edward Clark befriended the Indian chief Okemos, the head of the Pottowatomies. As a result of this kindness Chief Okemos adopted young Clark as his son and took him into his heart to fill the place of a favorite son who had died. General Clark learned to speak fluently the language of the Pottowatomies and up to the time of his death could converse in that language with those who understood it. It was five years before Ann Arbor again gave much attention to military affairs. During the winter of 1837-38 there occurred along the frontier between the United States and Canada what was then known as the "Patriot War." The 146i THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS object of the war was to separate the British possessions, of Canada from the mother country, that they might erect themselves into sovereign and independent states. Behind this movement were grievances extending back nearly forty years. Along the St. Lawrence river then lived thousands of persons of French descent. They were a piquant element in Canadian life, and even now they preserve their native tongue and many of their traditions. These people and their English neighbors never lived in entire peace with each other. As early as 1791, in order to placate her French subjects and prevent civil war, the British Government divided Canada into two districts, with separate legislatures-the one English and the other French. Lower Canada, largely French, had its own constitution and governor; while Upper Canada, largely English, was similarly organized. Each governor was appointed by the Crown, as likewise was an executive council, or cabinet, and a legislative council. The only medium of selfgovernment was vested in an assembly elected by popular vote. This arrangement persisted some fifty years, but did not suit the liberty-loving people who had for neighbors the free republic of the United States directly to the south. In neither of these two Canadian provinces were the people allowed to carry out their own desires. In Lower Canada the opposition grew especially bitter. The French were of a different religion (the Catholic) and, in addition, there were political and racial differences. Both English and French "Patriots," as those in rebellion were called, as a means of protest, ceased paying their taxes, and in 1837 an armed revolt broke out. It began to look as if England was about to have on her hands a revolution similar to that which gave independence to the American colonies to the south. On the Michigan side of the border people took sides in their sympathies. Some were ready to give their support to the "Patriots," while others, especially the more conservative, and those anxious to preserve a neutral position, were of a mind either to keep hands off or engage in activities designed to assist in putting down the threatened uprising. In the region of Ann Arbor there were many adventurous, reckless and idle persons who were more than willing to take part in the disturbances; but, on the other hand, responsible men MILITARY MATTERS in the community had no sympathy with the tempestuous movement. Among those most determined that the United States would remain neutral no one was more firm than the brilliant young governor of the new state, Stevens T. Mason. He met General Edward Clark for a conference in a back parlor of the National Hotel, as the old Russell House in Detroit was then called. Governor Mason ordered General Clark back to Ann Arbor to raise a company of militia and to report to Colonel Smith in Detroit. Smith at that time was under orders to march down the Detroit river and break up an encampment of "Patriots" located near a place called Gibraltar, a short distance from the mouth of the river. Moreover, Smith was to drive the Patriots back into Canada, since they were camping on the neutral soil of the United States. Clark was also to carry an order to Colonel Slingerland, to muster his regiment so that he, Clark, could recruit his company from it. Colonel Slingerland issued his orders and did his duty, but so strong was the sympathy in favor of the Patriots and against the English that not over thirty men out of about 600 composing the regiment obeyed the colonel's order. Clark was obliged to report his inability to raise the company ordered by the Governor. Colonel Smith made a similar report, so the encampment near Gibraltar remained undisturbed. As the winter wore along, several little battles took place between the regular British forces and the Patriots. In one, at Point au Pelee, the Patriots were victorious. Just before the fight, "General" Sutherland, of the British army, made his appearance at Ann Arbor in full uniform and posted handbills notifying the public that he would address them at the Court House on the subject of the Patriot war. The courtroom was filled and the "General" was listened to with respect and attention. Then, and during the remainder of his stay in Ann Arbor, he did everything he could to raise men and munitions. Neither here nor at Manchester, where he next went, was he able to accomplish anything of moment. In time he turned traitor to the Patriot cause and helped in its downfall. Several little invasions of Canada were attempted from the American side, but they failed of their purpose. After the 148 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS war was over and things had quieted down the leaders of the movement were taken and severely dealt with. A war which stirred Ann Arbor inhabitants to a greater pitch of excitement than either the Black Hawk War or the Patriot War is known in history as the Toledo War. This conflict grew out of a dispute between Michigan and Ohio regarding the ownership of a strip of land about seven miles wide at its eastern end, and extending westward to the line of Indiana, and including the site of the city of Toledo. Michigan had possession of the strip, but in 1835 Governor Lucas of Ohio laid claim to it and entered upon vigorous measures to obtain possession, even going so far as to arrange for holding a court under Ohio's jurisdiction in Toledo, where he meant to push his claims. Acting Governor Mason, plucky and vigorous as ever, then scarcely twenty-five years of age, called out the military forces of the Territory to defend its claim. Mr. Morrill Goodrich, in the interests of Michigan, went out from Ann Arbor as captain of a Michigan company raised here, and J. Austin Scott, of Ann Arbor, held a captain's commission on the side of Ohio. There were no casualties in the war other than that of a white mule which belonged to one Lewis Bailey, who continued every year to apply to the Michigan Legislature for the value of the animal. In 1846 the matter was closed when the sum of fifty dollars, plus interest, was paid to Bailey for the loss of the animal. Besides Captains Goodrich and Scott, Governor Alpheus Felch was also in this war. He served on the staff of Major-General Brown, the Michigan commanderin-chief. The importance of this war lies in the fact that it was closely bound up with the entrance of Michigan into the Union as a state. Governor Mason's policies, with respect to keeping possession of the disputed strip of land, did not meet with the approval of President Andrew Jackson, so the President sent out here to succeed him John S. Horner, of Virginia. The temper of the people of Michigan was such as to make a settlement of the dispute extremely difficult. President Jackson got the assent of Congress to the admittance of Michigan into the Union as a state with the provision that the Toledo strip should be given up for the land known as the Upper Peninsula. MILITARY MATTERS 149 A convention of delegates met at Ann Arbor, September 4, 1836, and almost solidly voted to reject this arrangement. As a result of political jockeying and corruption, a number of Jackson Democrats were chosen to sit in a second convention where the matter was to be adjusted. This convention met in Ann Arbor, December 6, 1836, and was derisively referred to as the "Frost-bitten Convention." Through this convention "King" Andrew's henchmen railroaded the plan of settlement the President wanted, and Congress adopted its findings. Michigan, therefore, was admitted into the Union through misrepresentation and fraud. It is little wonder, then, that P'resident Angell, on Commencement Day, many years later, pretended to believe, on hearing the reports of a cannon, that the good citizens of Toledo were bringing him a deed to the site upon which their city stands. During the decade following the entrance of iMichigan into the Union as a state, interest in military affairs continued high in Ann Arbor. This was due in part to the organization of the Washtenaw Guards in 1838 and to the outbreak of the Mexican War in 1846. Samuel R. Doty seems to have been responsible for the organization of the Guards, though a man by the name of Cobb was the first captain. The Guards were drilled once a week and, on special occasions, were put through the manual of arms, setting-up exercises and various military maneuvers. Captain Cobb succeeded in bringing together a military band, which rendered music at public meetings and gave concerts on the Court House lawn. He lost his life on Lake Erie and the captaincy fell upon John C. Mundy. He was followed by Samuel R. Doty, whom Cobb had once given a fife which was used in the band. This fife long remained in the possession of the Washtenaw Pioneer Society, but seems now to have disappeared. Yearly encampments of the Washtenaw Guards were held, the greatest having been that of July 7, 1842, at Adrian, under the captaincy of Mundy. He and the secretary of the Guards, J. M. Welch, caused to be printed in the Michigan State Journal of July 20, 1842, several resoluti)ns. In these the Guards spoke of the ladies of Adrian as having "excelled their highest expectations; often had we heard of their loveliness, their beauty, their generosity. Rumor had but half told the tale." This outburst had its origin in a 150 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS huge banquet the Adrian ladies had given the Guards, at which they presented the men with two beautiful silken banners. The Washtenaw Guards helped keep alive in Ann Arbor the military spirit, but it seems not to have been burning with noteworthy brilliancy when the Mexican War threatened in 184o. The local newspapers contained a great many items about the events on the southwestern border of the United States, and the names of Generals Taylor and Scott, along with items about Mexico and Texas, took up much space in their columns. In a community where the reading of newspapers and other publications amounted almost to a passion, and where "foreign intelligence" was discussed over every table, it is surprising that local interest in the relations of the United States and Mexico was so mild. A recruiting officer, Lieutenant Snyder, came here from Detroit, in November, 1847, to get volunteers for service in the war. Regular army pay was promised, and an additional inducement of 160 acres of land was offered to all who should enlist. On December 1 of that year advertisements for volunteers began to appear in the True Democrat, but the response was disappointing, the number going from here being ridiculously small. For many years before the outbreak of the American Civil War the citizens of Ann Arbor had been discussing the various issues involved. All the arguments having to do with the further extension of slavery, the question of "squatter sovereignty," that of the moral right to hold slaves, the right of a state to withdraw from the Union, and many other controversial matters had been debated on platforms, in private and in public. For many years the newspapers had carried stories having to do with one or more of the issues involved, and most of our citizens were well informed as to the relative merits of the arguments on both sides. They had been stirred by speeches of a political character, by sermons, and by authors of greater or less repute. Far removed from actual conditions in the South, and accepting as a true picture the fanciful account of those conditions as set forth by Harriet Beecher Stowe in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," local citizens, like so many others in the North, failed to see clearly the exact nature of the issues involved. MILITARY MATTERS 151 THE THREE CAPTAINS OF THE STUDENT COMPANIES IN I861 Charles Kendall Adams, University Guards; Isaac H. Elliot, Chancellor Greys; Albert Nye, Ellsworth Zouaves A strong abolition society existed here for several years. It held its meetings in a large room on the second floor of the old postoffice building on the northwest corner of Ann street and Fourth avenue. The young bloods who gathered there held their meetings in secret, abolition not having been very popular in those days with the average man-about-town. On one occasion, in fact, a number of irrepressible spirits, having learned of the secret meetings, decided upon breaking up one. To this end, they stealthily stole into the building and began 152 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS to creep up a ladder which has since been replaced by a stairs. The leader, however, on reaching the top, was knocked halfunconscious by a well-directed blow on the head. By the dim light from above several stalwart figures could be made out, each holding a huge club. As the leader tumbled down on his companions below it was decided that perhaps the "arguments" of the abolitionists were more than a match for the heads of those who would break up their meeting, so the wouldbe disturbers withdrew as quickly as possible. The 'small contingent made up of those opposed to the abolition of slavery was always ready for a demonstration. During the winter of 1860-61, Parker Pillsbury came to Ann Arbor to speak against slavery. He had scarcely begun to talk when a mob armed with sticks and stones broke in the windows, poured through the openings and drove Pillsbury and his audience out of the rear windows into the snow. After this they set about demolishing the interior. About a month later the famous lecturer, Wendell Phillips, came here to speak against slavery. lie went from place to place within the city seeking a hall in which to speak, but for some time none was placed at his disposal. Finally, the Congregational Church, on the northeast corner of Washington street and Fifth avenue, was opened to him. By this time everyone in the city knew of his presence, and a great crowd was on hand to hear his address. Among those present in the church were the University students of the class of '61. They were determined that Phillips should be protected in the interests of freedom of speech, and that no group of rowdies should molest him in any way. These young men went to the church armed with heavy clubs, and some of them even concealed weapons of a far more dangerous character. Phillips came in late and strode down the aisle, a man of huge proportions. He mounted the platform in an atmosphere tense with suppressed excitement. Without losing a moment he began his address. After he had warmed up to his subject someone in the audience hissed. Instantly the boys of '61 rose up around the place from which the sinister sound had come, and if they had been able to discover the transgressor it would have gone hard with him. Outside the mob became quiet, and Phillips, just to show how little he feared those who were hostile to him, six MILITARY MATTERS 153 different times repeated the stirring words which had brought forth the ominous hiss, but it was not heard again. Many of those big fellows of '61 later served in the cause of the Union, several of them leaving their mortal remains in the sunny soil of Dixie. Anni Arbor has been especially fortunate in the quality of the newspapers which have been published here, and in the high character and extraordinary ability of those on the different editorial staffs. In the Civil War, as in other great events which have affected the history of the city, the newspapers were leaders in forming public opinion. Of these papers, the Mlichigan State News was published by Elder Davis in the third story of a brick building later occupied by Fred Besimer as a saloon and now occupied as soft drink and light lunch parlors, just south of the National Bank building. The Michigan Argus was owned and published by the able E. B. Pond, in the third story of the building occupied by Fred Schairer. The Ann Arbor Journal was published by Seaman and Cole in the quarters later occupied by the Argus. The Penuinsular Courier was started in 1861 as a Republic journal and was owned by General Clark, and Messrs. Wiltsie and Holmies, but soon came into possession of Dr. A. W. Chase, who used it to help him get under way his famous receipt book. It was published on the third floor of the shoe store building, corner of Main and Huron streets. The two junior partners of this newspaper enlisted in the Twentieth Michigan Infantry and the paper was thereafter published by Mr. C. G. Clark. Captain Wiltsie was killed during the war, but Holmes, after the conflict was over, became the proprietor of a newspaper in another city of this state. Most of these newspapers were taken up with the war, few items of local interest, other than military, appearing in their columns. Many of the articles finding space in their pages were designed to arouse the people and excite them to action. In one way they did much harm, but for the most part their influence was good. The harm came when the heat generated over the various arguments threatened to destroy all sorts of clubs, fraternal and social, as well as organizations of a religious character. Certain churches suffered greatly, some even experiencing divisions within their ranks from which they 154 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS never fully recovered. The newspapers printed stories describing the militia, the outfit needed by a soldier, the character of the coast artillery, the destruction of property here and there, of mass meetings and of the speeches made in them. One of the first evidences that these articles were being widely read came when the lads at the Union School organized a military company which was called the Union Cadets. This was early in March, 1861, about the time that Abraham Lincoln was taking the oath of office as President of the United States. On April 12, Fort Sulnmter, in Charleston harbor, was fired upon by southern insurgents. The news of this extreme measure spread like wildfire. The Stars and Stripes had been fired upon; civil war was a fact. Those who had scoffed at the abolition movement, as well as others of opposite view, men and women of every class and station in life, without regard to color or religion, were thrown into a fever of excitement. When the news of the happenings at Fort Sumlter reached Ann Arbor the citizens gathered in the old Court House in a meeting the like of which had never before been seen within those walls. It ran out the windows and overflowed across the spacious yard into the street. Impassioned speeches were made calling for support to the general Government and for the lonely figure at its head. G. D. Hill, always foremost in patriotic affairs, proposed these resolutions, unanimously adopted: "Resolved, That the people of Ann Arbor City will stand by the President of the United States in the proper and continued performance of his duties in executing the laws of the United States." "Resolved, That a committee of five be appointed by this meeting to take immediate measures to secure the organization of all citizens of Ann Arbor Who are prepared to stand by the Federal Government in the present emergency into military companies in order to be ready to meet a draft upol the State of Michigan which the President's proclamation intimates will soon be made." President Tappan of the University, as chairman, appointed as the committee of five: General G. D. Hill, Governor Alpheus Felch, Hon. James Kingsley and Majors Barry and Vance. MILITARY MATTERS 155 MUSTER ROLL The First Page of the Muster Roll of the Ann Arbor Home Guards Dated April 23, i86i 156 THE FIRST iJHUNDRED YEARS On motion, President Tappan's name was added to these five, making, in all, a committee of six. The expected proclamation of President Lincoln was issued that same day, April 15, calling for volunteers to the number of 75,000, of which Ann Arbor's quota was, including officers, 780 men. As soon as this call reached Michigan, Governor Austin Blair issued a proclamation within the state supporting that of the President. On Sundays local pastors made a special point of the stand our citizens should take in the crisis, warning them against acts of violence and admonishing them to be calm. On the twenty-ninth a beautiful new flag was flown from the roof of the Catholic church, and immediately thereafter practically every other building devoted to public uses had done the same. The Barry Guards were present when the national emblem was unfurled over the Catholic church, and appropriate speeches were made by the beloved Father Cullen, by R. G. DuPluy, Governor Felch, and others. The splendid appearance of the Barry Guards on this and other occasions had its influence in causing to be formed, in May, another local organization, the Ann Arbor Home Guards. The members of this group were those who had reached the age of forty-five or more. General Edward Clark was chosen captain, and rules were adopted governing the purpose and conduct of the men. These were duly printed in the Argus -for June 8, 1861. So impressed was the City Council over the fine spirit shown by the boys of the various companies that they decided to vote a sum of money to equip them and to be used in partial support of their families. To this end, about April 24, a taxpayers' meeting was called for Saturday, April 27, at which the people voted a tax of $5,000, a good part of which was spent for the support of the families of those who already had answered the call of the colors. The action of the Council greatly stimulated recruiting and other military activities in the city. The Steuben Guards vied with the Barry Guards and with Captain Burleson's Ann Arbor Greys for neatness in appearance, skill in maneuvers and in military bearing. The Home Guards, not to be outdone by boys of the Union School or by the guards of young men, held parades of their own, marched, and engaged in activities suitable to their years and to the spirit of the times. MILITARY MATTERS 157 The Steuben Guards, to the number of seventy-eight, were mustered into service early in May by Captain Fink. The names of these guards appeared in the Argus for May 10, a striking fact al)ollt them being that over half were of German origin. Soon after the company was recruited to its full strength, the members from Ann Arbor, more than fifty per cent of the total, left for Jackson, where they made ready to go to the front. The entire company came to Ann Arbor, August 2, 1861, en route for Washington, stopping long enough to take part in exercises in front of the old Court House. There the sturdy old patriot, Conrad Krapf, bid the Steuben Guards God speed. The ladies of the city made the occasion memorable by presenting each guard with a small Bible, Mr. Krapf making the speech of presentation. Captain Roth, of the guards, replied as follows: "Ladies and SchentlemensI tank you very mooch for the presentations of the Bibles to my goompany. I vood say more, but, by God, I got no time, as I moost go mit de vor." Soon after President Lincoln sent out his first call for volunteers an encampment was set up on the old fair grounds, south of Hill street and east of Forest avenue. There the Barry Guards, and at certain times other companies of guards as well, pitched their tents and received their first introduction to military life. Another camp was located on Fountain street just north of Miller avenue.* Streams of visitors went out to these camps in the evenings and on Sundays, when one or another of the local ministers would preach to the boys. A favorite text for the sermons was taken from the third chapter of Joel: "Proclaim yet this among the Gentiles: prepare for war, wake up the mighty men, let them come up. Beat your plough-shares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears." The Barry Guards remained in their camp about a month before leaving for the general encampment at Adrian. May 29, 1861, they were escorted from the fair grounds to the yard of the Court House by the Tappan Guards, the Univer* This camp was organized at the end of June. By July 18 there were nearly 400 on the ground, and at the end of the third week in August the number was 680. They kept coming in from Ann Arbor and from all the surrounding country until a full regiment was made up 158 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS sity Guards and the Ellsworth Zouaves, all in uniform. There, each officer and man was presented with a copy of the New Testament, a stout shirt and a "house-wife," substantially and elegantly made and well stocked with buttons, pins, needles and thread. The shirts and "house-wives" had been made by a sort of military aid society composed of prominent ladies of the city. Interesting items concerning these guards appeared in the Argus for May 31, and their names are to be found in an issue of the same paper for June 21. An even more impressive ceremony attended the departure of the soldiers who for some weeks had been at Camp Fountain. For several days, before the time for leaving arrived, there was a great stir and bustle about the tents. Precious photographs were hidden away, keepsakes packed and clothes made ready. The drills became longer, the number of visitors increased, relatives hung anxiously about, and everything was put in readiness for the long journey to the nation's Capital. On Saturday, September 14, Governor Austin Blair came with offical orders for the Michigan First to go forward to Washington. Amidst a tearful following, led by a military band, the march to the Michigan Central depot was made. There admirers of the regiment's commander, Lieutenant-Colonel H. S. Roberts, presented him with a fine black charger. At noon the 800 men filed slowly into the train of twenty cars, and soon the engine "Rover" was pulling cars and men over the glistening rails to Detroit. On the train a roll call was taken, first by companies and then by men. The companies were lettered from A to I, inclusive, all men being "present or accounted for." From Detroit the journey eastward was continued on the steamer "Ocean," but the last part of the distance was covered by rail. After the Michigan First had gone the city was more quiet than it had been for many weeks. Hon. James Kingsley and others who had been active in procuring recruits for the service were forced to content themselves with the duties connected with their regular vocations and with street-corner discussions in which the topic of chief interest was the war. Renewed interest in local military matters came when, in October, Louis R. Buchoz was commissioned to raise a company of lancers. Immediately he began recruiting for the MILITARY MATTERS 159 company, and within a few days the men were drilling in the streets. The activities of these lancers and those of the Home Guards, the University companies, and those of the lads of the Union School, kept Ann Arbor looking like an armed camp. In the tonsorial parlors, about the postoffice, in the vestibules of the churches, in the lodge rooms, in offices and on the street, newspapers were scanned for stories of the war's progress and the doings of the "Rebs." When the casualty lists began to be printed, friends and relatives anxiously followed them through. The arrival of the mail sent throngs to the postoffice and the operators in the Western Union telegraph office were eagerly sought after. On March 1, 1862, the ladies of the Soldiers' Aid Society sent to the Sanitary Commission, at Chicago, a great quantity of bedding and clothing, together with a large number of books, games, magazines and papers. In 1862 the events of the previous years were repeated. When, in July, President Lincoln sent out another call for men, Ann Arbor was ready to respond. On Wednesday evening, July 16, an enthusiastic war meeting was held in the Court Iouse at which the citizens pledged a bounty of $1,000 to the first company to be raised in the city in answer to the appeal for new regiments. Immediately $750 was subscribed, and within a week the amount had been increased to $1,500. Messrs. W. D. Wiltsie and E. P. Pitkin, as Captain and First Lieutenant, on the day following this meeting, began to raise a company for the Twentieth Regiment, and Captain R. P. Carpenter set about raising a third company for the same military unit. A few days later C. B. Grant was similarly engaged, and, by August 8, Wiltsie had enrolled eighty men and Grant had enrolled seventy-five. By August 11, Grant's company numbered 110, all raised within two weeks, and most of them were already in camp at Jackson. The total number liable to the draft as applied at that time was, for the city, 769, and for Ann Arbor Town, 183. Both city and town met this and all subsequent calls promptly, their quotas in each case being filled in remarkably short time. It was in July of 1862 that Congress gave President Lincoln authority to declare the perpetual freedom of the slaves in certain states. In September he issued a proclamation warn 160 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ing the people of those states that unless they should cease making war upon the Government he would set their slaves free. The circumstances revolving about this warning include some of the most dramatic incidents in history. President Lincoln opened his Cabinet meeting on the twenty-second. After telling a humorous story, he became serious and spoke these words: "I am going to fulfill the promise I made myself and God. I have got you together to hear what I have written down. I do not wish your advice about the main matter; for that I have determined upon for myself." In a tense silence he began reading his proclamation of emancipation, one of the immortal documents in the history of the world: "On the first day of January, 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state or designated part of a state, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." By January 5, 1863, the news of this proclamation had reached Ann Arbor and the people of all the surrounding region. The city was filled -with people who had come in from the farms to help celebrate the issue of the proclamation andl to glorify the President. The colored population went wild with joy. They shouted, shook hands with white people and invited them to enjoy the festivities they themselves had arranged. They paraded through the streets while the white people cheered and gave hurrahs for Old Glory and for the nation's chief. In the afternoon the white population, or so much of it as could crowd in, enjoyed a "speaking meeting" in the new Presbyterian church. A supper was served there in the evening, and a grand soiree was held in the Exchange after the supper. Ann Arbor's main interest in the Civil War, after the issue of the Emancipation Proclamation, centered in the reports of casualties. The Argus for July 17, 1863, reported of the Barry Guards that, aside from the officers in the regiment, twentythree had been killed, seventy wounded and eighty-nine missing, or a total of 182. Many memorial services were held in the local churches and the newspapers took space to give high, praise to those who had made the supreme sacrifice. These newspapers themselves suffered greatly in the conflict: Helber and Emery of the staff of the State News were taken away; MILITARY MATTERS 1.61 Bartlett, Pond and Cook of the Argus; Saunders and Howard of the Journal, and Wiltsie, Holmes and Buchanan of the Courier. Many members of the Steuben Guards never came back, some losing their lives at Alexandria and others at Bull Run and places where the struggle was most fierce.* It was in the midst of the joyful anticipation of the homecoming of those who survived the conflict that the news of the assassination of President Lincoln reached Ann Arbor. The people here were horror-struck, looking upon it as a great national calamity. The news arrived about six o'clock on the afternoon of April 21, 1865, and immediately the telegraph office was besieged. George W. Maynard, an operator in the telegraph office in Washington, confirmed the rumor by this wire: "Washington, April 15th, 71 o'clock A. M. President Lincoln died at 7:22 this morning. Secretary Seward is dangerously ill, but may recover." When there was no longer any doubt of the truth of the news, a meeting of citizens convened in the Court House, where resolutions of sympathy and sorrow were drafted. Business was entirely suspended and remained so for a week. On Sunday the churches were filled as they never had been before, the citizens then formally expressing their grief. Lincoln was extolled and the assassin denounced in the strongest terms of which the people and their ministers were capable. On the day that the President was laid to rest, a solemn program of mourning was carried out, the people marched to tolling bells, bands played dirgeful music, and black streamers and mourning-cloth were to be seen on every hand. It was a long time before the pall lifted from the souls of our citizens. Perhaps the anticipated home-coming of the Ann Arbor boys caused them temporarily to put aside their sorrow. Many of the city's finest men had entered the great conflict, some to return and others to rest where they had fallen. Among those who had gone were such fine characters as Colonel John Randolph, Captain R. G. DePuy, Lieutenant Jones D. Richardson, all of the Fourth Michigan Infantry; Colonel Norvell E. Welch, of the Sixteenth; Nelson Imus, of the Chicago Mercantile Battery; Frank Kingsley, of the * Among those who did not return after the battle of Bull Run were Daniel Schaithiman, William B. Newell, John Rauser, and John Lang. 1 6 2 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ANN ARBOR MOURNS THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN MILITARY MATTERS 163 Twentieth; Anson Brown, Clay Arnold, Lieutenants Williams and Ainsworth, and many others. The coming home of the boys was heralded in a five-verse poem which appeared in the Argus for May 5, 1865. The first verse of this poem ran as follows: "Thank God, the sky is clearing! The clouds are hurrying past! Thank God, the day is nearing,! The dawn is coming fast. And when glad herald voices Shall tell us peace has come, This thought shall most rejoice us: Our boys are coming home!" The eager joy with which the return of the soldiers was anticipated, on the night of their arrival, was nearly turned to sorrow. For several days rumors reached the city carrying conflicting reports of the exact time the train would appear. Finally, late in the evening of July 15, 1865, news came that a large number of soldiers would arrive about midnight. An anxious throng gathered at the Michigan Central depot, and for several hours hung about waiting for the train. At last the whistle was heard, the lights gleamed along the tracks and the train, carrying over 300 of the Michigan Fifth Infantry, rattled along the rails. Suddenly, a terrific bumping sound was heard, followed quickly by a resounding crash. The engine had run into an open switch just east of the depot and the three forward cars were in the ditch. However, no one was hurt except Frederick Hursts, of Saginaw. He had been standing on a platform and when the car wheels left the rails he jumped into the ditch, where he was crushed by the second car. This was the only incident which marred the return of the veterans. Within a few months most of the ablebodied soldiers who had gone from Ann Arbor were back in the old home town and busily engaged in the ordinary run of affairs. Those who had served in the cause of the Union had much in common and they meant to keep alive the memory of the days spent in the service of their country. Immediately after their arrival the soldiers and sailors of the city, and other places near by, held a meeting in the Court House, where preliminary plans for an organization were made. A week 164 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS later, July 21, an organization of soldiers and sailors for Washtenaw County was effected. Both at the preliminary meeting and at the meeting where the organization was completed the question of a fitting monument to those who had given their all was discussed. A number of the soldiers in the city had, on June 29, attended a county convention in which many towns were represented. In this convention a committee of twenty-four was chosen to further the project of a monument. At the meeting of the sailors and soldiers of July 21 the plans of this committee were unfolded and they met with general acceptance. The project for a monument found support, also, from the twenty-two veterans of the War of 1812.* It began to seem as if the funds for a suitable memorial would be raised with little trouble, but, for some reason, they were not forthcoming for many years. The apparent failure of the project was a great d:sappointment to the people living in the fifth ward. For a long time nothing was done there to honor fittingly in a material way the memory of the brave lads from Lower Town who had answered the call to arms. In August, 1873, a number of ladies in that section of the city organized what was called the Fifth Ward Decorative Association for the purpose of caring for and decorating the graves of the soldiers and sailors. In one of their meetings the desirability of a monument was suggested. Gradually the idea grew, and in a little while it was accepted by every member of the association. The money for a monument, designed by Anton Eisele, was procured through gifts, festivals and entertainments. The executive committee in charge of raising the funds consisted of Mrs. N. II. Pierce, Mrs. Moses Sebolt and Mrs. William Fisher. The ceremonies of unveiling were held May 30, 1874. When Old Glory was drawn aside a beautiful shaft of Ohio sandstone was revealed, reaching to a height of eight feet. On the various sides the names of the twenty-five who had died in the cause were read together with this inscription: "Brave soldiers, rest; your strife is o'er, And you have gained a sweet release; The bugle blast, the cannon's roar No more shall break your spirits' peace." * Their names and ages may be found in the Argus for Mar. 31, 1870. MILITARY MATTERS 165 The names of the twenty-five soldiers on the monument were just one-third of the seventy-five who enlisted from the fifth ward, and these seventy-five were more than half the voting population of the ward! It was not until the time of the Spanish-American War, in October, 1898, that the movement for a monument to the memory of the sailors and soldiers of Washtenaw County came up again. It began in a meeting of the Welch Post, 137, G. A. R. But nothing permanent came of the agitation, and it was not until 1908 that much of anything was accomplished. In 1909 the project took definite shape, and under the leadership of Mayor William L. Walz, G. F. Allmendinger, Ross Granger and others, funds were obtained. A soldier statue was designed by Homer P. Finley and a site was chosen. However, it was not until May 29, 1915, that the monument was unveiled. The impressive ceremonies were held, in a downpour of rain, with the Woman's Relief Corps and the Welch Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in charge. The unveiling cord was pulled by Miss Lydia Laird, daughter of William Laird, who had done much work to make the monument possible. The principal address of the occasion was delivered by Professor Edwin C. Goddard, his theme being, "Some Lessons from the War." The fine monument stands on the southwest corner of the Court House yard, a silent reminder of the splendid sacrifice made by soldiers and sailors in the greatest internal conflict of American history. The placing of monuments to honor the memory of departed heroes was not the only activity which kept Ann Arbor citizens thinking along military lines. The celebration of national holidays, especially the Fourth of July, annual state military encampments, and the activities of the W. R. C. and G. A. R., all served to draw attention to affairs of a martial character. During the week of April 17, 1892, Ann Arbor was host to the state meeting of the W. R. C. and the G. A. R. The city outdid itself in its effort to give her guests a cordial reception and an enjoyable time. There have been few times in the history of the city when the homes and buildings of the business section have put out a more glorious display of colors, and perhaps not more than two or three times in her history when any visitors from outside have received a heartier welcome. 166 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS The Spanish-American War did not greatly affect Ann Arbor's life. A number of fine young men went from here, but the city as a whole did not experience the excitement and anxiety which the Civil War brought on. One can run through all the newspapers issued in 1898 and 1899, and scarcely find mention of the struggle with Spain. Nevertheless, the war kept up the military tradition, and it aroused great interest in the minds of local members of the state militia. This interest expressed itself, in 1909, in a campaign for a new armory. The matter was discussed in the Council, where a vote was taken to bond the city for $10,000 to purchase a site. It was found that two lots on the northwest corner of Fifth avenue and Ann street could be purchased for $4,600. In time this purchase was made. Colonel A. C. Pack, Samuel W. Beakes and Arthur Brown were largely responsible for procuring favorable governmental action on the proposition, and thus the movement got under way. On June 30, 1911, the finished armory was accepted by the State Military Board. The night before Company I had vacated the old quarters on Huron street, and thereafter all drills were held in the new building. The building was erected by Koch Brothers at a cost of $23,000, the lockers added $300 more and the furnishings brought the total to something over $25,000. The armory has been in almost constant use since the day of its formal opening, dances, athletic contests, theatricals and other forms of entertainment being given there in addition to the activities for which the building was designed. Had not the WV. R. C. and the G. A. R. done enough to keep fresh the memory of Annl Arbor's soldier dead, a new organization, formulated in the spring of 1914, would have done so. This was the Sons of the American Revolution. The organization was completed May 20, of that year, in the offices of the Eastern Michigan Edison Company. The chapter adopted the name, "Washtenaw Chapter Number 3," and its jurisdiction was limited to Washtenaw County. The first officers of the new organization were: W. W. Florer, president; Colonel H. S. Dean, vice-president; W. H. Butler, secretary; R. W. Hemphill, treasurer, and Junius E. Beal, historian. Since that time meetings have been held with more or less regularity, smokers have been given, dinners spread MILITARY MATTERS 16d7 and stimulating programs offered. Entertainments to raise money for charitable purposes have been held, historical papers prepared, able speakers from far and near secured, and all manner of valuable patriotic services have been rendered. This organization and others like it played important parts in a patriotic way when the United States was forced into the World War in 1917. Frorn the very first the tragic events of that great struggle appealed strongly to the English, German, Irish and Greek people of Ann Arbor. The great war involved all of the nations from which our citizens or their forebears had come, and manv of those living here had friends and relatives in the lands where Mars had begun to march. Large numbers of our people did not know what the conflict was all about. To come to a better understanding of the causes of the war citizens called upon members of the History Department of the University to speak on the subject. In response to these requests, Professor Claude HI. Van Tyne, head of the department, and Professors Earl WV. Dow, Arthur L. Cross, Ulrich B.. Phillips, Edward R. Turner, William A. Frayer and Arthur E. Boak gave freely of their time in an effort to make clear the issues involved. They pointed out that, as a neutral nation, we should think and act as neutrals, but before two years had passed these men and others who had studied the times saw that it would not be long before the United States would be compelled to join the Allies and help "to make the world safe for democracy." For two years and eight months our country kept out of the war, but the effects of it were felt on every side. The shipment of food to the belligerents in Europe increased prices everywhere, the cost of clothing went up, food expenses mounted, and every commodity used by man sold at an advance. To offset this, local factories received larger orders than they ever had received before, and the orders came in on every mail. The immediate supply of labor became inadequate, many men and boys coming in from the rural areas to meet the new demands. Wages soon began to ascend, stock values rose and greater investments were made than at any time in the previous history of the city. All of this was accompanied by a fever of home-building more widespread than any in the mem 168 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ory of the oldest inhabitant. Vacant lots were taken up, new additions were made to the city, realtors prospered and other local business men enjoyed a period of unprecedented prosperity. But all of this was not to last; the war clouds began to gather over our own fair land. The time arrived when the United States could no longer remain out of the war and at the same time retain her self-respect and rights as one of the great powers of the earth. Germany's warfare against commerce had becomne, as President Wilson said, a warfare against mankind; and on April 2, 1917, he appeared before Congress to deliver his famous war message. The great President recounted the outrages which Germany had committed against the lives and property of citizens of the United States and referred to her false and quickly broken promises. "We shall not choose the path of submission," he declared, "and suffer the most sacred rights of our nation and our people to be ignored or violated." President Wilson solemnly advised Congress to accept the state of war which Germany had forced upon the people of the United States. This message electrified the world, but its effect was no greater than that produced a few days later by the news that war on Germany had been declared. Three reasons made this declaration imperative: (1) The loss of American lives and property due to Germany's merciless submarine warfare. (2) The menace to the Monroe Doctrine and to our own independence resulting from the ambitions for conquest of a war-mad Germany. (3) The conflict had become one between democratic nations on the one hand, and autocratic nations on the other. News of these proceedings caused the greatest possible excitement in Ann Arbor. Everyone wondered what the next move would be, but it was not long before they found out. On April 9, in the morning, just three days after the declaration of war, orders sent out by the United States Department of Commerce were received at the city Y. M. C. A. requiring all radios to be immediately dismantled. This order was supplemented a few moments later by a similar order received at MILITARY MATTERS 169 the University. Newspapers kept people informed of the progress of events throughout the United States as well as military happenings in Europe. The importance of the entrance of the United States into the war was appreciated here quite as much as anywhere, a result of the interest being a greater amount of newspaper reading than had ever been known before. But citizens of the city did far more than read newspapers and watch the war go by. During the months of April and May, 1917, they did everything possible to help the cause of the country. The Y. M. and Y. W. C. A., Masons, Knights of Columbus, Salvation Army and every other organization did its "bit." Especially noteworthy was the work of the local chapter of the Red Cross. This unit came into being largely through the efforts of Mrs. Henry Douglas and Miss Jane Pindell, superintendent of nurses in the old University hospital. One of the first things done by the Red Cross was to give a grand ball in Waterman Gymnasium. They realized a large amount of money from this venture and from every other attempt they made to raise funds. Their humanitarianism, the character of their work, and the things for which they stood appealed strongly to the imagination, causing people to rally to their support and making the problem of raising funds easy to solve. It was in April and May, too, that a gardening campaign was begun which lasted until the war was over. It started April 16 and continued intensely for four days thereafter. Practically every vacant lot in the city was plowed up and turned into a garden. In the schools the teachers organized the children into groups of gardeners, and they were given instructions on the planting of seeds and the care of the plants. Within a short time Mrs. John K. Biederman was given general supervision of a large part of the gardening activities, hours for work were arranged according to a definite schedule and valuable results were obtained. A few of the older High School boys, and many who were not in school, left their gardens, their school books and their city and went to the different training camps of the Great Lakes Training Station on the shore of Lake Michigan, north of Chicago. During the summer months and in the early fall several 170 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS noteworthy events came to pass. On June 5 all the young men in the city between the ages of 21 and 31 registered for the first draft, 2,200 in all. On June 22 was held the most impressive commencement exercises the High School had ever seen. Two members of the class already had gone to the Great Lakes Training Station, William Van Orden and Donald Hause, so their mothers were given their diplomas to keep until their sons should return. That same day three University Ambulance Corps left the city, and eight days later, as a war measure, the City Council adopted the daylight-saving plan. On the evening of September 4, more than 5,500 citizens assembled in Hill Auditorium to bid "Good-bye, good luck, and God bless you!" to the Washtenaw men who had been drafted for service under Old Glory. After the invocation by Rev. S. A. John, the presiding officer, Hon. E. B. Manwaring, introduced the speakers for the occasion, President Harry B. Hutchins, Dr. Fred B. Wahr, Robert Campbell and Major A. H. Gansser. The music of the program was furnished by Robert Dieterle, Earl Moore and Otto's Band. On September 19, ninety-seven boys left the city for Camp Custer, just west of Battle Creek, and their going brought to Ann Arbor a sharper realization of the war than anything else had done up to that time. Even before these boys went away Ann Arbor began to -feel a shortage of food and fuel. The people in our city, like those in every other city of the United States, were urged to conserve food, to eat less meat, sugar, and wheat, in order that more of these commodities might be sent to Europe. Herbert C. Hoover, who had been in charge of relief work in Belgium, was placed at the head of the National Food Administration with powers which practically made him a food dictator. Acting under his direction, State Food Administrators were established in each state, and local administrators in each county. In Ann Arbor, A. B. Groves and Fred Heusel as food administrators, rendered a valuable service in the nation's cause. The United States Fuel Commission took charge of the country's supply of coal. Under the chairmanship of Harry A. Garfield, this body set prices for the different kinds of coal throughout the United States, and gave orders to the rail MILITARY MATTERS 171 roads concerning the transportation of fuel. Here in the University City the distribution of fuel was in charge of Regent Junius Beal, who worked in co-operation with Police Chief Thomas O'Brien and his men, to the end that the orders of the Government might be faithfully carried out. As the weeks passed the supply of sugar, coal and wheat gradually grew less, until pure cane sugar could not be purchased at all. People cheerfully resorted to substitutes, sweetening their coffee with a poor quality of brown sugar, glucose, or nothing at all. Local grocers were besieged for sugar, but it was not until the war was several months along that more than a pound or two could be purchased at a time. Even then the cost was several times what it had been in pre-war times, and the quality was not nearly as high. The supply of coal became so small that it was possible to purchase not more than from a hundred to four hundred pounds at a time, and even then orders from the police department were necessary before delivery could be made. The third week in February, 1918, orders from the Government at Washington were received by the owners of local flour mills to cease the grinding of wheat. Bakers in the city were hard put to it after that to get wheat flour, and good white bread became scarce. In fact, only those who baked their own bread, and who were fortunate enough to have a supply of flour on hand, continued to eat good wheat bread. The slogan, "Food Will Win the War," vwas very much taken to heart, and such poor substitutes for wheat bread as the market afforded were cut on the table, or, rather, crumbled there. The situation was improved early in March when grinding was again permitted in the mills and when, March 6, Sam Heusel received a car load of flour. Not only did Ann Arbor citizens do their part by saving food and fuel, but they also gave great financial aid to the Government. Immense sums of money, so large as to be almost beyond conception, were necessary for Uncle Sam's vast military preparations. To raise this money the Government put a tax on excess business profits, incomes, liquor, tobacco, theatre tickets, club dues, promissory notes, deeds, mortgages, freight and express shipments, telegrams, motion pictures, automobiles, tires, and on all sorts of luxuries. 172 THE FIRST HUNTtDRED YEARS But this did not bring in anywhere near enough. To procure even greater sums the Government sold bonds, war-savings stamps and certificates. It was wisely decided to sell bonds directly to the people, through popular subscription; and they were offered in denominations as low as fifty dollars. Three great Liberty Loans were made the first year of the war; a fourth was floated in 1918; and a Victory Loan in 1919 after the struggle was over. In Ann Arbor each of these loans was received with enthusiasm, and subscriptions were made so rapidly that the machinery for taking care of them was taxed to its capacity. Much of the credit for the successful subscription campaigns made here was due to the Washtenaw County Patriotic Association, which was formed at a luncheon held at noon on November 1, 1917, in the 'Y. M. C. A. It was the principal business of the association to float the Government's loans everywhere in the county. The work was in charge of George W. Millen, president; Fred Gallup, vice-president; Frank L. Pack, secretary, and "Tom" Lowry, treasurer. Too much praise cannot be given to these four men and to the work of those immediately associated with them. They gave freely of their time and effort, and it can truthfully be said that no group of local men did more than these in seeing to it that Ann Arbor did her full share in helping to win the war. Early in the fall of 1918 it became evident that the war -would not last very much longer. When the signing of the armistice came most people were ready for it, but that did not keep them from staging the wildest demonstration ever put on in the city. That day everyone was the friend of everyone else, and our people indulged iii a veritable riot of joy. The noises of all the glorious Fourths ever celebrated in the city, if all were heard at the same time, would not make a racket half as deafening as the din heard here that memorable eleventh of November. The streets were thronged with people, a huge parade was held, explosives set off, bells rung, whistles blown, aeroplanes scooped over the city,-but what is the use in attempting to portray the scene; one never could do descriptive justice to the demonstration were he to use a dozen adjectives to every noun in the attempt. It will live long in the memories of those who heard, and saw, and took part in it, but future generations will have to depend upon MILITARY MATTERS 173 MARSHALL FOCH IN ANN ARBOR The City's Distinguished Guest Descending to his Special Train from the Platform where He was Qreeted by the Representatives of the City and the University 174 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS their imaginations if they are to get even the faintest idea of the thing as it really was. There were two outstanding events of the years succeeding the last year of the World War that deserve special mention here. One of them was the visit to our city made by the famous Cardinal Mercier of Belgium. The venerable prelate spoke to a great assembly of students and citizens in Hill Auditorium at five o'clock on the afternoon of October 20, 1919. He briefly described the heroic stand made by the people of Belgium against the Germans when their little country was invaded at the beginning of the war. As a fitting close to the program of the afternoon the University conferred upon the great Cardinal the degree of Doctor of Laws. A visit which caused an even greater stir was made by General Ferdinand Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied armies in the latter months of the war. lie arrived in Ann Arbor on the morning of November 7, 1921, stopping only five minutes on his way from Battle Creek to Detroit. Before a crowd of 15,000 people he was presented with a hand-illuminated parchment expressing to him the greeting of the people of the city. Immediately after this his train moved out, but his uniformed figure could be seen for a long way, waving farewell to the multitude which watched him out of sight. In looking back over the military history of Ann Arbor one sees much of which our citizens can be proud. All the way along, whenever an urgent call has come, they have shown a readiness to respond equal in every respect to the best traditions of American patriotism, and their achievements rank well up with those of others who have had a share in the military service of the nation. CHAPTER XII Politics and Public Buildings HE history of military affairs in Ann Arbor is not immediately connected with matters having to do with politics and public buildings, but there are quite as many things of interest in the latter topic as in the former. The growth of any city always brings the necessity for public buildings, and the steps taken to provide those buildings, as well as the actual work of construction, always calls forth a certain amount of political discussion. Our city is no exception to the rule. From time to time the necessity for public buildings has come, and in each case men have been found taking sides on this matter or that having to do with location, costs, and design. For the first six or seven years of Ann Arbor's history such political arguments as came up were settled by the Allens and their in-laws, the Welshes. Other than the meager political news furnished by the Emigrant, there were few questions of such local importance during those years as to cause the citizens to take sides. But with the alarming growth of the lower village a sharp rivalry developed between the people there and those of the "older part of town." The natural advantages of the lower village were championed by Anson Brown, but in the upper village, besides the founder of the town and his relatives, several men argued the superiority of the higher ground. When Anson Brown came to this region his claim to distinction lay principally in the fact that he had "served seven years on the Erie Canal." But he had not been in Lower Town long before his natural abilities brought him to the front as that settlement's leading citizen. Brown owned several pieces of property there and entertained high hopes that it would rapidly increase in value. This explains why, in 1833-34, he made such determined efforts to secure a congressional appropriation for the purpose of building a great territorial road from Detroit to Chicago to run through the sec 176 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ond tier of counties and compete with the Chicago road farther south. Brown saw that such a road would greatly increase the business of the local post office, and that it would profit him nuch if he could secure the office for his side of the Huron. He did succeed in getting the office located there, much to the annoyance of the people on the hill. During this time the latter refused to go there for their mail, little boys being hired to fetch it for them. But to understand how all this came about we must go back a little in our history. It will be remembered that the original survey, made by Allen and Rumsey, was bounded by Allen Creek on the west, by Lawrence street on the north, and that Division street separated the farms of the two men. The farm of Allen was to the west, and that of Rumsey was east of Division street. When Ann Arbor was incorporated as a village, June 25, 1832, these lands made up its area; but the plat of the lower village, surveyed by J. F. Stratton for Anson Brown and Edward Fuller, was not included within the corporate limits of the village across the river. It was not until June 29, 1832, that the boundaries of the upper village was extended so far as to include the area north of the Huron. At that time it was enacted by the Legislative Council of the Territory of Michigan, "That the plat lately surveyed by J. F. Stratton, adjoining the north line of the village of Ann Arbor, and acknowledged before John Allen, a Justice of the Peace for Washtenaw County, on the 21st day of June, A. D. 1832, by Anson Brown for himself, and Edward Fuller, by his attorney, Anson Brown, to have been executed by them, for the purposes therein expressed, and recorded in the Register's office, in the county of Washtenaw, on the twenty-first day of June, A. D. 1832, be and the same is hereby annexed to, and shall hereafter be a part of the village of Ann Arbor, to all intents and purposes, any law to the contrary notwithstanding." When this law was approved the lower village was growing more rapidly than the upper, and Brown and Fuller believed that within a few years their village would have more inhabitants, more business, and a far greater prosperity than the village of their business and political rivals on the hill. Brown pointed to this growth as an argument in favor of permanently locating the post office on his side of the river. POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 177 In a letter of December 8, 1833, to Lucius Lyon, who at that time was in Washington, Brown wrote: "their has been but two buildings put up in the old part of the Village in three years that cost over 500-Dollars, & those are Col. Thayer's & Goodridgrees (Goodrich's) Tavern. He only built an addition to that. Their has been some 8 or 10 little 7 by 9, or say buildings that cost 2 to 400 $ built within that time. That is all the improvement has been made there." Brown's spelling and English were no better than his morals; he confesses in this same letter to an attempt to influence Governor Porter in favor of his schemes during "the consumption of a few bottles of champaign at the Washtenaw Coffee House." To accomplish his purpose, Brown had already entered into correspondence with Lucius Lyon, Territorial Representative at Washington. On December 3, 1833, he went to Detroit to meet Lyon and to interview members of the Territorial Council concerning his plans. About the same time several representatives from the upper village made the same journey, it being their intention to neutralize the influence of Brown. The latter met some reverses in Detroit but, undaunted, he continued his efforts by letter. The intensity of the rivalry between Brown and the political leaders of the upper village is evident from Brown's correspondence. "Since Welsh came back after seeing you," he wrote Lyon, "he seems crazy. The fact is Welsh is the worst off: he has actually paid Allen 200 dollars to resign the Office in his favor, & he loosing the money of course feels bad. He said & with emphasis that you saw me in Detroit & told me that if I removed the Office to the River I was a fool." Brown moved the office, having no fear that the men in the upper village would be able to influence the Postmaster General so far as to cause that dignitary to order its removal to the hill. Brown stated that "If the Postmaster General Directs me to accommodate the persons in the old part of the Village in preference to the Yeomanry of the Country I will do so although very inconvenient as the business must be mostly done by Deputy. However I have not the least fears of their getting it back, if they State the facts as they exist. It is not likely that they will do that." Brown went through all of the outgoing as well as all of the in-coming mail that he might keep 178 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS himself informed of the course of events. The information acq uired in this questionable manner was immediately sent on to Lyon, but all of his campaigning suddenly came to an end. in 1834 Brown died of cholera, and Charles Thayer, who believed that the University would be located in the upper village, became postmaster and the office was definitely located among the "Hill-toppers" as Brown derisively dubbed them. It is possible that, had Brown's life been spared, the post office would have been located among the "Yeomanry" of Lower Town, and the people there would have enjoyed their share of the expansion of the city which has only begun to come in very recent years. The growth of the post office has kept pace with the growth of the upper part of town. In 1831 the total amount of money received for postage was but $300; but ten years later the amount was more than eight times as great. During these years several persons had been receiving credit for postage, but the practice was stopped in May, 1842. The postmaster here was informed by the Postmaster General that he was "not authorized in any case to give CREDIT for postage, or to receive any thing but SPECIE or its equivalent." Thereafter postage was "to be rated according to the distance on the route by the which letters and papers are usually sent." That the mail service might not be interrupted, "Post Masters, Clerks, and Assistants, are by law exempt from Militia duty, or from serving on Juries, or from any fine or penalty for neglect thereof." During the winter of 1840-41, Mark Howard put up a little frame building which still stands on the northeast corner of Fourth avenue and Ann street, the fourth home of the Ann Arbor post office. The first home was in "Bloody Corners; the second was in the block built in 1833 by Edward L. Fuller and Anson Brown on the southwest side of Broadway in Lower Town. In September, 1834, Thayer moved the office to the general merchandise store of Brown and Mundy on the southwest corner of Main and Ann streets. From this store the office was moved in 1841 to the room later occupied by the old Woodward restaurant where it remained only a few months. When Howard's building was finished the office moved to that structure. In 1853 this building was refitted, 500 new boxes and thirty new drawers being added. Soon it POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 179 THE OLD POST OFFICE BUILDING Built in 1840. Used as Post Office for Fifteen Years. Still Standing at the Corner of Fourth Avenue and Ann Street went to the Franklin Block, where the Ann Arbor Savings Bank Building now stands. When the Gregory House was built the office occupied space in the southwest corner where Mr. Frank Painter conducts a restaurant. On Monday, March 24, 1865, the doors were first thrown open. A news item in the Argus, under date of March 31, said "it drew like a circus or a star actor on benefit night." Many "Misses" anxiously engaged in selecting boxes, "indicating," the item observed, "that 'army correspondents' have struck a lead." This paper boasted, in its issue of March 24, 1865, that this was the best post office in Michigan west of Detroit. It occupied two of the stores fronting on Huron street and had 1,600 plain and sixty lock boxes. It was in front of this office that many a two-fisted battle was fought: those living on the west side of town waging war against those living on the east; citizens of Lower Town fighting the haughty inhabitants of "the hill," and the Irish fighting everyone on general principles. The office remained in this location for twenty-four years, until 1882, when it took up quarters in the court rooms long occupied by Judge John D. Thomas on the northeast corner of Main and Ann streets. With the completion of the modern post office building in 1909 the last move of the office was made. 180 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS On September 17, 1902, a sub-station was opened in Calkins' Drug Store, on State street, and in 1904 a sub-station was established in Mack's store. In 1916, through the efforts of Post Master Horatio Abbott, the sub-station in Calkins' drug store was moved to the south corner of the Maynard street end of Nickels Arcade. Elmer E. Beal was put in charge of the new office. The improvement of the mail service to and from Ann Arbor, as well as that within its limits, was greatly advanced by the improvement in the condition of the roads and in the means of travel. One of the last to carry the mail on foot was a man named Hiram Thompson, and perhaps the first to use a horse was Bethuel Farrand. After a few years the mail was transported by stage, but with the opening of the Central Railroad in 1839 this method was given up. The first regular stage lines here were operated by one John Chamberlain, "in connection with Saltmarsh, Gillis & Co," the line connecting with the Central Railroad at Ypsilanti. A handbill, distributed by the company on June 19, 1838, advised that passengers "leaving Detroit in the morning will be c:onveyed from the Depot at Ypsilanti, by Saltmarsh, Gillis & Co., direct to Ann Arbor, where a stage will at all times be in readiness to convey them through from Ann Arbor to Dexter. Passengers returning from Dexter will be conveyed to Ann Arbor so as to connect with the Morning or Evening Stages or Cars. Horses and Carriages will be furnished at all times, by the subscriber, to carry passengers to any point of the country." Before the stage line was continued westward from Dexter to Jackson, Hiram Thompson made the distance on foot, fording the creeks where necessary, and sometimes making several trips a week. In Ann Arbor, the old custom of renting boxes in the post office was continued until January 1, 1886. At that time the first special deliveries began, and during that year 506 such deliveries were made. Each year the number was larger, and in 1890 it had mounted to 740. In anticipation of free delivery the council, in March, 1886, ordered that all the houses be renumbered, a thing that had been done in 1866 and again in 1870. The free delivery and collection of the mail began in July, 1887. This was considered of such importance to the POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 181 town that one of the local papers, the Argus, for March 18, gave precious front page space to the news. Post office inspector Newberger was here two days during the middle of March looking over the situation, and making ready for the delivery. He found that many of the houses would have to be renumbered and announced that no deliveries would be made on streets having no sidewalks. This had the effect of inaugurating a high fever of sidewalk building in many of the residential sections. It was a signal also for a form of student activity which had both its good and its evil consequences. Many University students engaged in the mischievous practice of tearing up old and rotten planks and forcing property owners either to lay new ones or more durable ones made of a composition of sand and tar. At first the mail was delivered only on the business streets, but gradually as the walks were improved and the five carriers became more familiar with their routes the mail was delivered to the residential sections. Two deliveries were made each day; and a special delivery was made in the business part of town at six-forty in the evening. The day the first delivery was made the collection of the mail was begun. Forty-three boxes for this purpose were placed at strategic points, from Number 1, at "Broadway and gristmill" to "43, Catherine and Twelfth." In 1890 the agitation for a new post office began, and with each passing year it became louder and more insistent. On February 28, 1903, a bill providing for a new building for Ann Arbor passed both the House and the Senate, but it was not until June, 1906, that Representative Charles Townsend succeeded in getting the necessary funds. He made an effort to secure $100,000, but was able to get no more than $80,000. Building operations began almost at once, but it was not until 1909 that the office was opened for use. Since that time the business of the office has increased tremendously. This is explained partly by the parcels post system, which began in 1913, and partly by the greatly increased enrollment of the University. During these years H. J. Prettyman, Horatio Abbott, and Ambrose C. Pack have held the office of postmaster. Some years before the free delivery system started certain street and bridge improvements were carried forward which made easier the carrying of the mail once it was begun. In 182 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS the spring of 1872 three street commissioners and a street committee of six were placed in charge of improving the condition of the streets of the city. Some complained, and justly, that too much work was done one year and not half enough the next. So far as the public could see, ditches were dug and gravel dumped without regard to needs, "save to assist some man in digging a cellar or to give persistent applicants for work a summer's job." At that time no street levels had been taken, no topographical survey existed, and there was no engineer in the employ of the city. In 1883 a street scraper was purchased for the sum of $150 in the belief that it would "do the work of a gang of men in better shape and much quicker." In August of 1881, the first stone sidewalk was put down in front of Mack's store, and within a few years most of the other stores in the business section had followed Mack's example. In 1879 the three bridges over the Huron were improved or rebuilt, and two years later the Smith Bridge Company of Toledo was awarded a contract to build two new ones. The contract price for the lower one was $1,515; while that for the one "at the mills" was $5,608. The city agreed to build the abutments and piers, making the total cost for both bridges about $9,000. The cheaper bridge was constructed partly of wood; but the upper one was made entirely of iron and steel. In March, 1886, the Council took steps to close a contract with the Michigan Central Railroad to build the present bridge over the tracks just west of the depot. The city agreed to help in the cost to the amount of $5,000. The bridge was opened in 1887, and on June 6 of that year the city paid the sum according to the contract. Though the location of the post office, the growth of the mail service and the improvement of the streets all called forth a good deal of discussion this is not to be compared with the controversy which raged over the proposal to build the present Court House. Through the efforts of John Allen and E. W. Rumsey, Ann Arbor was chosen as the prospective county seat even before the first dwellings were finished. When Allen became first village president, in 1833, he saw in the building of Washtenaw's first Court House the realization of one of his numerous dreams. It was erected on the site Allen himself had given for such a purpose. In 1833 the contract for the POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 183 building was let to one John Bryan. In compliance with the terms of this contract Bryan received $5,350, of which $2,000 was paid before April 1, a like sum the following winter, and the remainder in 1836. The contract called for a two-story building of brick, to be painted brown, forty-two by sixty feet on the ground, all to be completed in 1834. The corner stone was laid June 19, 1833, and the structure was all finished and ready for occupancy several weeks before the contract time had expired. The building faced south and it stood close to the Ann street line, thus leaving the rest of the square for public purposes. There were three doors in the front of the building, the middle one opening into a hall which ran lengthwise through the center. On either side of this hall were rooms which were rented to lawyers for offices. The court room was on the second floor, and there it was that the county's trials were heard, public gatherings met and entertainments of all sorts were presented. On the south peak of the roof was a small hexagonal cupola. On either side of the main building was a one-story brick building for county offices, the one on the east for the register of deeds and the one on the west for the county clerk. Wood piles stood here and there about the square, and in the hall of the main building was a long dry pile which was ever replenished from the wood outside and which was ever being eaten into as the old iron stoves about the building called for more. During the summer of 1834 gravel diagonal walks were laid across the square. At the end of each were gates which formed small parts of the fence which was erected entirely around the square. As these gates wore out turnstiles were put in their places. Outside the fence a board walk was put down, and next to this on Huron street and Fourth avenue a hitching-rail was placed. Both fences and hitching-rail long served the purposes for which they were erected and in addition they often served to support numerous raw hides. When court was in session the hides were shoved along and suitors at court balanced themselves there and whittled while waiting for their cases to be called. With the increase of crime, which came after the railroad was extended to Jackson, and the greater lawlessness which developed during the days of the Civil War, together with the 184 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS growing bulk of legal documents consequent upon the growth of the population of the county, came a demand for a new and more spacious building. The matter was voted upon at a special election held in the county December 3, 1866. By a vote of 2,966 to 1,431, the question of issuing bonds to the amount of $85,000 for a new Court House was defeated. Of the 1,431 who voted for the loan, 1,264 were citizens of Ann Arbor. This showed a local paper "conclusively that poor Mr. Loan was a friendless individual as soon as he got out of sight of the Court House." The principal part of the opposition came from Ypsilanti and Dexter. In the latter village the citizens subscribed $40,000 for a Court Ilouse, and they petitioned the Board of Supervisors to have the county seat removed to their community. If the news of these proceedings ever reached "the other side of the Jordan," John Allen must have stirred uneasily there. The failure of the plan for a new structure meant that the old building would have to be repaired. Early in the spring of 1869 this work was undertaken "By order of the Court." The trial room was done over, new planks were laid about the square, shrubbery was set out and the snake-line of the hitching-rails was straightened. It was seven years before the agitation for a new county building bore fruit. Even then the full amount for the building might not have been voted had not a fire scare showed the necessity for favorable action. On November 20, 1876, the city council instructed the mayor to call a citizens taxpayers' meeting for Tuesday, December 5, to consider and vote on a proposition to raise and appropriate $20,000 for a new Court House. This vote passed favorably, but the next spring when $40,000 was asked of the county the people wavered. Just before the votes were cast a fire broke out in the office of the sheriff. Prompt action saved the old building with little loss aside from blackened walls and ceiling. For a large number of people that settled the matter, the loss of all the county's legal papers from fire was a calamity too serious to contemplate. When the ballots were counted it was found that 4,477 had voted for the project and only 2,049 had voted against it, thus giving a comfortable majority of 2,428, and causing citizens of the city to experience a great amount of joy. POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 185 THE COURT HOUSE Erected in x878 The vote on raising the money to build a new Court House having passed favorably, events moved rapidly. Almost immediately the Board of Supervisors resolved to have the building erected in the middle of the square, and they called upon their building committee to procure and adopt plans. On March 22, Luther James gave his bond for $1,000 for a clock for the new Court House, the money to be paid if the $40,000 issue should go through and a building to cost $60,000 be erected within the next three years. On May 25 the Supervisors, by a vote of sixteen to six, recommended for use the plans furnished by G. W. Bunting of Indianapolis, Indiana. A week later the Board required that Ann Arbor's $20,000 be 186 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS deposited in the treasury of the county in cash. They also insisted that, since the county had obligated itself for $40,000, an amount twice as great as that coming from the city, only $1,000 of the city's money could be expended for each $2,009 drawn from the county fund. It was required, also, that the county should pay interest to the city on unexpended balances at the rate of seven and three-tenths per cent. This meant that the county had to pay an additional tax equal to this per cent, since the money was lying idle. In the middle of June, David Preston of Detroit gave $20,000 and a premium of $525 for the city's bonds, thus making the cash immediately available for construction work. On the second of July the contract for the building was awarded to McCormick and Sweeney for $56,900, and four weeks later the contract for the brickwork was let to Joseph Audet of Ann Arbor. This latter contract called for a total of 1,165,000 bricks of which 65,000 were to be pressed brick for face work, uniform in color and quality. The contract price for the brick was $4.25 per thousand. Some additional money was raised for the clock, and the Board of Supervisors appointed Professor Watson of the University, and three of its own members, Messrs. Harper, Krapf, and Shurtleff, to investigate the matter of clocks and the prices asked for them. In April, 1878, these gentlemen awarded the contract for the great timepiece to the American Clock Company. This contract called for a Number 12, Seth Thomas, eight-day clock with a six and a half foot, illuminated, French plate dial, three-eights of an inch thick, and a 2,000-pound Menee]y and Kimberly (Troy) bell. The price named was $1,507. The firm of McCormick and Sweeney, for the sum of $325, agreed, in May, to remove entirely the old Court House from its site on the eastern side of the square. They began with the old bell which was taken to the third ward school. The little cupola came down next, and within a few weeks there was nothing left of either the main building or the two smaller ones. Meanwhile the work of building went steadily on in the center of the square and before the year was out the structure was practically completed. The clock tolled off the hour on Tuesday, October 29, for the first time, and the next month POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 187 on the 20th the great dials were illuminated. The contract for the furniture was awarded, September 30, to Haynes, Spencer and Company, of Richmond, Indiana, for the sum of $1,795. This furniture did not arrive for many weeks, but the building began to be used as soon as possible. The books, legal documents, and such office equipment as was useful and worth saving, were brought over from the old court house and the business of the county began to be carried forward in the new quarters. In some respects the history of Ann Arbor's jail runs parallel to that of the Court House. The old building on Jail Square was not often used for the purposes for which it was constructed, and when it was no one could be sure that a prisoner who had been placed within its confines on any particular night would be found there the next morning. The escape of two or three desperate characters in 1834 and 1835 made it apparent that a bastile more strong and more commodious would have to be built. January 21, 1836, the grand jury of the county, through its foreman, Bethuel Farrand, reported that they had examined the jail and found it "entirely insufficient for the permanent security and comfortable accommodation of the prisoners." The jury recommended that the building be repaired and "that as soon as possible, a good and sufficient building be erected by this county." The result was that the very next year, a two and a half story building was erected by John L. and Robert Davison at 627 North Main street, about four blocks from the present Court House, at a cost of $17,000. The front part of this building was used for the jailor and the back part for cells. The building, now occupied by Morris Kraizman, is still in good condition after a lapse of eighty-eight years. With the abandonment of the old jail that structure was torn down and the Square was sold off into lots. In 1885 the last one was sold by a Mr. DeForest to Arthur Covert of Lima for $1,400. Soon after the Court House was finished, the question of a new and modern jail was raised, but no definite steps were taken in the direction of providing for one until 1883. In November of that year the supervisors decided to lay the matter before the people. It was their plan that the sum of 188 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS $20,000 should be raised by the county, and $5,000 by the city of Ann Arbor. In April, 1884, the proposition was voted down, 2,225 to 1,655, though the city went 1,090 for it and only eighty-six against. Soon after this the old jail was sold to J. J. Robinson for $1,500, and the site on the southeast corner of West Ann and North Ashley streets was purchased with the money. An appropriation of $12,000 had passed a favorable vote for a site and a building, so the entire $12,000 was now available for a building. However, the structure proper did not cost more than $5,000. The iron and steel work was done by P. J. Pauley and Brothers, of St. Louis, Missouri, at a cost of $9,000, and the carpenter work was done by Dow and Walker of Ann Arbor. A bath tub was installed, but it was seldom used, seeming to have held out certain terrors for a large majority of the inmates. As soon as the building was ready Sheriff Walsh moved in, but the committee of the Board of Supervisors did not close up their work until February 2, 1886. The committee appointed to oversee the building of the jail was made up of HI. D. Bennett, of Ann Arbor, J. L. Gilbert, of Chelsea, and M. F. Case, of Pittsfield. In 1908, by a vote of 1,050 to 566, the county approved the building of an annex. Since that time a few minor improvements have been made, but it is high time that a new, modern building was erected. At the same time that the proposition for a new jail was first considered, the question of a city hall was discussed. On March 2, 1882, the council passed a resolution according to which the people of the city were asked to raise and appropriate $20,000 for such a building, but nothing came of the request. It was nearly two decades before the matter took on a more promising outlook. In 1900 the legislature passed an act authorizing our city to raise $25,000 by bonds for a city hall providing the citizens supported the proposition in their votes. January 21, 1902, the legislature passed the necessary enabling act, specifying that the building was not to cost more than $30,000. The bill was approved by the Governor and thus became law February 25 of that same year. In September the citizens, by a vote of 514 to fifty-three, passed the issue favorably, and in a short time the sixty-six foot lot on the southwest corner of Huron street and Fifth avenue was purchased POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 189 of William Rhode. The plans for the building were drawn by alderman Herman Pipp and the contract was let to C. A. Sauer for $24,185.50. The total cost, however, was $27,341.15. The work of the building went along rather slowly and it was not until the night of December 16, 1907, that the structure was formally opened. Three nights later the Council moved from the rooms they had been occupying in the Court House and held their first meeting in the council rooms of the new hall. The offices of the city were soon housed there and the principal business of the city has been carried on there ever since. Many of the actions described above were carried on under authority granted in the various charters by which the city has been governed. Ann Arbor's first charter was printed in 1833. It provided for a simple governmental arrangement, the majority of the powers being in the hands of the village president and his council. The actual organization of the village took place July 7, 1833, with John Allen president, and David Page, Edward Mundy, Chauncey S. Goodrich, Anson Brown, E. W. Morgan, and Chandler Carter, trustees. The election was held at the inn of Mr. Goodrich on Fourth avenue, where the City Y. M. C. A. now stands. Their first meeting was held the next day and J. E. Field was elected recorder, James Kingsley treasurer, Dwight Kellogg assessor, and David Carrier, marshall. The business of the village was neither great in amount nor did it call for any very large amount of attention. In fact, by 1840, the members of the Council felt free to attend when they chose, often several remaining away for weeks at a time. To make sure of more regular attendance it was "Resolved, that any member of the Board of Town Council, who shall be absent from any meeting of the Board shall be liable to pay a fine of one dollar unless an excuse can be rendered for such absence to the satisfaction of the president, recorder, and trustee or a majority of them." After Allen's term of office as president of the village was over he went back to his law and real estate practice. With the help of John N. Gott a set of books and maps was prepared at great labor and expense "exhibiting in a collected and condensed form, the title of every piece of real estate in the County. They are now prepared to make out abstracts of 190 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS title, on short notice, and at moderate expense." While Allen was engaged in this work he and George Sedgwick were working in the interests of a new charter for the village and at the same time laying plans which, if they worked out to suit Allen, would put him in a higher office than his fellow townsmen had ever honored him with. The New York Express of May 30, 1845, stated that "John Allen of Washtenaw County is likely to be the Locofo candidate for Governor of Michigan." When George Corselius read this he commented editorially in the Michigan State Journal: "This, we think, will not be the case, he is too honest a man; John Allen does not profess to be opposed to banks and then go for them, and this will not suit the locofos; they must have banks." Whatever notions Allen may have had of running for the gubernatorial office must have been given up since the campaign he made was for a seat in the Michigan Senate. He was twice chosen for a seat in that body, serving with distinction as chairman of the committee on Banks and Incorporations. It was as members of the State Legislature that Allen and Sedgwick undertook to obtain a city charter for Ann Arbor. The charter Allen worked for in the Senate was adopted by the Legislature May 7, 1846. The Ann Arbor True Democrat published the full text of this document in its issue of June 9, 1847. This charter, like each of its successors, provided for a simple form of municipal machinery, and it served very well from the time it went into operation in 1851 until 1867 when a new one was adopted. This third charter had a longer life than the second, lasting for a period of twenty-two years. According to the charter of 1851 Ann Arbor was divided into four wards, the first aldermen being William C. Voorhees, W. S. Maynard, Alonzo Healey, and Elijah W. Morgan. It was in 1888, during the administration of Hon. S. W. Beakes as mayor, that the movement for the fourth charter took definite form. Mr. Beakes, L. D. Wines, and G. Frank Allmendinger were appointed to draft this document. They gave a great deal of careful study to the problems involved, both for the purposes of overcoming the weaknesses of the old charter and for giving clearness and strength to the new. In December the draft was ready, those examining it giving POLITICS AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS 191 it praise almost without reserve. The Ann Arbor Register was especially commendatory, giving much valuable space to explaining its provisions. According to these the new mayor was to have appointing, removing and veto power, but was to have no seat or vote in the common council. He was, therefore, to be something more than an "enlarged alderman," as his position was described under the third charter. There was to be a city clerk instead of a recorder, his office to extend over a period of two years. In addition to the regular duties of such an officer, he was to be clerk of all committees, commissions and boards, and he was to have a vote in the common council with a salary equivalent to $900 per year. The aldermen were to have none but legislative powers, and there was to be one supervisor in each ward. The president of the council and city assessor were to be elected by the people. There was to be a board of public works, which would have full charge of all street work, but which would have no control over the disposition of any funds. Five members of this board were to have the power to appoint a street commissioner and to have power of removing him at will. Another entirely new feature provided for the appointment, by the mayor, of three men to act as a fire board whose business it would be to appoint a chief and make rules for the administration of the fire department. This charter went into effect in the spring of 1889 with Samuel W. Beakes as mayor and Fred H. Belser president of what was popularly called the "Kid Council," made up of the following men: Fred Barker, W. G. Dieterle, Christian Martin, A. F. Martin, G. F. Allmendinger, John O'Mara, Oscar S. Spafford, W. G. Snow, Reginald Spokes, William J. Miller, William Herz, Earl Ware, and J. R. Bach, clerk. The government of the city under the machinery, set up by the charter of 1889, was much more efficient and business-like than any the city had had up to that time. That this is true is due to the able mayors and councilmen the city had after that date. (See list of mayors in Appendix). But even this charter proved unsatisfactory, and after the passing of a quarter of a century an attempt was made to have adopted a charter which provided for a commission-manager form of government. In 1913 the Civic Association appointed a com 192 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS mittee to make an investigation of different forms of commission government for municipalities and to recommend a suitable plan for Ann Arbor. The committee went to work, finally recommending a plan similar to the one at that time in operation in Dayton, Ohio. On the night of October 24, Erwin Schmid described the plan to the Council and argued strongly for its adoption. But it was nearly three years before the citizens did much about it. In April, 1916, the voters elected eleven men to prepare a new charter for the city as follows: D. W. Springer, B. Frank Savery, Fred E. Hutzel, Jr., C. John Walz, Ottmar Eberbach, Ernest Schaeberle, Herman E. Graf, George IH. Rinsey, Fremont P. Ward, Julius Trojanowski, and George J. Burke. With the exception of Mr. Burke, who soon resigned, these men worked long and faithfully over the problem. In June, 1917, the new charter was submitted to the voters and was defeated. But on April 5, 1920, the citizens voted, 1,958 to 994, in favor of a charter revision, the full text of the revised instrument being published in the Times-News for February 7, 1921. On April 4 of the same year revision was supported by a vote of 3,457 to 2,450. Many voters hoped to see an entirely new charter which would provide for a smaller council, but the majority was opposed to an instrument of this type. The amendments and revisions had to do, mostly, with bond issues and with extending the limits of the city, a new ward being added early in the year 1924. The city is still operating under the amended charter of 1889 and the prospects for any very radical changes in its form are still quite remote. CHAPTER XIII The Lighter Side LIKE other Americans, the people of Ann Arbor always have shown great interest in amusements and in social affairs. During the first two or three years of the city's history, no one came to the settlement, either to interest or entertain, other than the ministers or the emigrants. Such amusements as the people had they originated among themselves. The inauguration of the Masonic fraternity offered some diversion for the men, but for the women, their chief amusement was derived from the little gatherings about the community oven John Allen built on Ashley street, and which a few years later was covered by a shed at the back of the Clark School. Here the women sat and visited while their bread was baking, or, on Saturday evenings after they had placed their crocks of beans in the oven to cook during the night. Sunday morning the pioneers would gather in this cabin or that, and a hot bean breakfast would be served. These breakfasts often were followed by religious services or by quiet social hours where simple matters of local interest were discussed. The arrival of new settlers was ever a topic for gossip, but of all social events a wedding was the most interesting. If we may take as reliable the description given in the History of Washtenaw County (page 139), the wedding was an attractive feature of pioneer life. When Ann Arbor was young there were no distinctions based either upon social standing or wealth. The love-making was not confined to members of a particular "set," and a prospective wedding invited the interest of all alike. The ceremony was celebrated at the home of the bride, the choice of the clergyman usually being left to her. On the morning of the wedding day the groom and his close associates gathered at the paternal cabin. After due preparation they marched to the "mansion" of the bride, their steps often being unsteady since, in those pre-motor car days, lifting the bottle did not make traffic on the highway especially dangerous. After the ceremony a substantial break 194 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS fast was served and the merriment grew boisterous. The dancing usually lasted until the "wee sma hours." The figures of the dance were three and four-handed reels, or square sets and jigs. The movements began with a "square four." This was followed by what the pioneers called "jigging," that is, two of a party of four would single out for a jig, and they were soon followed by the remaining couple. The jigs were often followed by what was called "cutting out," that is, when either of the parties became tired of the dance, on intimation, his place was supplied by some one of the company without any interruption of the dance. In this way the reel might continue until the exhaustion of the dancers or musicians would bring it to an end. About ten o'clock in the evening a deputation of the young ladies would take the bride away to the loft and put her to bed. This done, a deputation of young men escorted the groom up the ladder the ladies had just descended, and he would be snugly tucked in by the side of his bride. Then the young men would join the ladies below, and the dance would go on. When some of the couples "sat out" a reel the scarcity of seats made it necessary for the young women to sit on the laps of the young men. Much liquor was used though seldom to excess. A second dance was usually held the night succeeding the wedding and on that night the decorum was not always of the best. With the opening of the Erie Canal in the fall of 1825, and the improvement of communication eastward, more news from the outside world reached Ann Arbor. By 1829 there seemed to be enough of interest to people here to justify beginning a newspaper. On November 18 of that year the first local publication came into being. It was variously called the Western Emigrant, the Emigrant, the Michigan Emigrant, and sometimes, the Ann Arbor Emigrant. It is from the files of this old newspaper, and other papers published later, that we learn something of the amusements and social life of our people. One item of interest described how, in 1833, nearly 3,000 Indians spent a night near Ann Arbor on their way east to obtain their annuities. A large body halted on or near the Hiscock farm; one just south of where the old brickyard used to be, and a third somewhere to the east. They did not molest the settlers, but some mischievous boys gave the latter a real THE LIGHTER SIDE 195 scare. With the connivance of their mothers, the boys, bedaubed and dressed as Indians, rode into the village warwhooping and uttering savage, blood-chilling yells. For a brief space the uninformed were terrified, many scurrying for safety. B3ut the joke was soon discovered, and had it not been for the protection given by the mothers and the good nature of the victims, the boys would have received harsh treatment. The Emigrant, Ann Arbor's first newspaper, was a humble sheet indeed. Its columns were filled with advertisements of local firms, an occasional item of local news, medicine advertisements, editorials, and "Foreign Intelligence." Its successor, however, was one of the best news sheets ever published here, -ably edited, well done mechanically, and attractive in appearance. In 1836, Harriet Martineau, a well known Englishwoman traveling through the United States, reached Detroit about the middle of June. On her way west from there she stopped at Ypsilanti and at the now famous Walker's Tavern, about thirty miles southwest of Ann Arbor. She states that all along her route the roads were thronged with Indians. "At Ypsilanti," she wrote, "I picked up an Ann Arbor newspaper. It was printed badly, but the contents were pretty good. It could happen nowhere out of America that so raw a settlement as Ann Arbor, where there is difficulty in procuring decent accommodations, should have a newspaper." If newness and poverty make a settlement raw, Ann Arbor was "raw," it is true; but where in America would you then have found a settlement containing a greater per cent of refined and cultured people! In those days it was a matter of "regret and mortification" that a Mrs. Cummings was under the necessity of going in public to the postoffice; but it was many years before rowdies gathered about that building making nuisances of themselves and lowering the moral tone of the village. If Harriet Martineau had remained in this region a year she would have had an even greater respect for it than she had in 1836. It was in that year that the University was located in Ann Arbor, and it was in that year than one of Ann Arbor's greatest Fourth of July celebrations was held, the occasion being the admittance of Michigan into the Union as a State. The first event is described in another place in this 196 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS A BUSINESS STREET IN 1860 The Southwest Corner of Main and Huron volume. The celebration was patriotic and inspirational in character. James T. Allen and a Miss Thompson sang a duet, "The Brave Old Oak;" and in response to a call for a toast, S. K. Jones offered the following: "The State of Michigan, the youngest of the twenty-six daughters of Uncle Sam; may she never forsake her nurse, nor desert the cradle in which she was rocked." Eloquent addresses were given, and more enthuisiasm developed than on any other Independence Day up to the close of the Civil War. In our degenerate days too many other attractions come on the "Glorious Fourth" to make possible a celebration in which most of the city could have a part. Moreover, in modern times, when motor transportation makes distances short and riding comforts easy, many thousands visit nearby cities or give way to the liquid lure of the lakes. The age of this "lure" is now something like eighty-four years, though it is far less "liquid" than it was once upon a time. In a letter to the editor of the Michigan State Journal, printed in the issue for June 22, THE LIGHTER SIDE 197 WHITMORE LAKE A Sketch by Professor Emil Lorch 1841, one of our citizens sets forth the beauties of Whitmore Lake, and suggests reasons for a visit to that placid sheet of water. "Have you ever been to Whitmore Lake?" the letter asks. "If not, throw down your quill instanter, and prepare for a trip thither. It is about ten miles north of Ann Arbor, and is decidedly the most beautiful lake in Michigan.... The Tremont House, kept by Mr. Stevens, on the western shore of the lake.... is supplied during the summer season with the choicest varieties of game, and in his bar may be found liquors and wines which do great credit to his taste and to his desire to add to the enjoyment of his guests,... and a lover 198 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of a 'julep' or a 'cobbler' can be gratified here to his heart's content." Since there was plenty of gamie in the immediate neighborhood of Ann Arbor, and since alcoholic beverages were common in most of the homes, neither the editor nor many of his subscribers acted upon the suggestion of this letter-writer, and it was a quarter of a century before Whitmore Lake drew any very considerable number of vacationists. There is one form of amusement which is almost certain to keep many people in the city now just as it did when, August 3, 1842, it made its first appearance here. I am speaking of the circus. "June, Titus & Co., Proprietors of the Bowery Amphitheatre, New York," presented their "Circus and Caravan" on this day to the wonder of the villagers and inhabitants of the surrounding farms. These gentlemen featured "the only living Giraffe or Came-Leopard in the United States, it measures 17 feet in height and weighs 1,780 pounds, and Mr. Lipman, the Vaulting Phenomenon, who has actually thrown 71 Somersetts at one trial, the greatest feat on record." The schedule of prices called for a general admission of "50c to the boxes and 25c to the pit." Children were admitted to the boxes for half price but there were "No half prices to the pit." It was three years before another large circus came to Ann Arbor. In June of 1845, G. R. Spaulding, "Manager and Proprietor," brought here the "North American Circus, comprising 120 men, women and horses." The Argus ran an advertisement on June 18 describing the wonders of the show which would be held on the 20th, using half a column to set forth the abilities of the jugglers, contortionists, riders, strong man, clowns, vaulters, tight rope walkers, and other performers. Since these early days circuses have been coining almost annually to Ann Arbor, but, if we may believe the advance notices, there are no performers even now more skilled or daring than those who entertained our grandfathers in the days when our city was young. The first theatricals ever presented here were given in the old Goodrich House on Fourth Avenue. Most of the exhibitions of this kind were offered by home talent, though occasionally a traveling troupe would make a short stand here. When Hangsterfer's Hall was built, during the Civil War, theatricals, fairs and many other entertainments were held in THE LIGHTER SIDE 199 that building. By 1870, local citizens felt the need of a regular opera house. G. D. Hill took advantage of this need and the three-story Athens opera house was the result. On the eighth of August, 1871, a local paper carried the announcement of the program for the opening performance to be given that night. There was to be a showing by amateurs of "The Grand Military Allegory of the SPY OF SHILOH!" The name of Frank Howard was given as "Author and Proprietor." Other officers were the treasurer, S. M. Webster, and the executive committee, composed of Messrs. Taylor, Walker, Revenaugh, Miller and Bliss. The thrilling performance was given for the benefit of the "Porter Zouaves and the Ladies Library Association," showings being made on the four nights following August 8. The local papers described the opening as a "grand success." Those who saw the play, so the papers stated, lived over again the excitements of the war. "The stormy debate in the Senate, the great uprising of the people consequent upon the attack on Fort Sumter, the pathos and drolleries of recruiting and drilling of the first troops, the night scene in the camp of the Union soldiers, the fight of the skirmishers, the dreadful spectacle of the field of Shiloh after the battle, the horrors of Andersonville, and the final joy of the people on the surrender of Lee... held the close attention of the great audience." The music for the occasion was furnished by the Porter Zouave Band, and it was received with many enthusiastic bursts of applause. For many years the old Athens theater was the city's chief amusement center, but with the opening of University Hall in the fall of 1873, the programs sponsored by the Student's Lecture Association, along with other attractions, for a while offered a degree of competition too great for the Athens amusements to overcome. The patronage of the theater steadily declined, especially after the May Festivals began in 1894. When the property came into the hands of B. C. Whitney, he thought to revive the hotel and theater popularity by remodeling the building and putting on a higher class of entertainment. During 1906 and 1907, at a cost of about $60,000, the work of remlodeling went on. Two stories were added and the structure was modernized in every way. The building was thrown 200 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS open the night of January 15, 1908, when a packed house enjoyed the play "A Knight for a Day." After the Central Railroad was opened in 1839, it was easier for entertainers to reach Ann Arbor than it had been up to that time. Probably the first of this class to come was an elocutionist who arrived early in September, 1842. Beginning on the night of the seventh and continuing each night through the tenth, he gave a series of performances in the Court House. Among the numbers offered were: "The Female Maniac," "Othello's Apology for His Marriage," "Eliza and Her Lover," "The Horrors of Intemperance," and "A Humorous and Diverting Law Case." Advance notice of the entertainer's powers reached Ann Arbor through the Albany Evening Journal, which stated that his rendition of " 'The Female Maniac' searched every thread and fibre of the human heart." But the prize attraction came in May of the following year. Ann Arbor did not escape the craze of mesmerism which swept over the country at that time, and the town's leading citizens, patronizing the performances, gaped at its wonders. Mr. Franklin Sawyer, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Samuel Denton, and the town's five physicians, spoke well of mesmerism and of the merits and good intentions of "Professor de Bonneville." One of the newspapers threw out some dark hints about the character of the "Professor," but at the same time joined in expressions of astonishment at his exhibitions. It was hinted that the performer, "de Bonneville," "knew much about the inside architecture of the Vermont state prison," but the paper agreed that those who heard and saw him were a "large and highly intelligent meeting of citizens." During the progress of the demonstration, he caused one of those whom he mesmerized to hear the lowest whisper, spoken at a distance of many feet, though every precaution had been made to stop his ears. By request, he was asked by what part of the body he heard. On a sound being made again, "It is plainest here," he said, putting his hand on the pit of his stomach. Dr. Denton, Mitchell Baker, Rev. Guy Beckley, W. S. Maynard, Dr. M. H. Cowles, and Rev. F. H. Cuming, of the Episcopal church, gave solemn approval to this demonstration, though Professors Whiting and Williams refused to give unqualified commendation. THE LIGHTER SIDE 201 During de Bonneville's stay in town he performed many miraculous feats, two of which must be mentioned lest a charge of superficial writing be made against me. "From the swollen gums of a young lady the entertainer extracted a number of perfectly sound teeth, though ordinarily she feared even to have a dentist look in her mouth." On another subject the painful operation of pencilling an inflamed inner surface of the eyelid with lunar costic "was performed several times without experiencing any pain on the part of the patient." The sharp criticisms directed at de Bonneville and his feats, only served to advertise his entertainments. On learning of his powers, several leading citizens of Ypsilanti respectfully invited him to their city. He was assured that the people of that village would take a lively interest in the "science of Magnetism." Their invitation closed with the spiteful statement that "We do so the more readily, as we have reason to think that the recent attacks made upon you by certain citizens of a neighboring town as unjust, uncivil and unwarrantable." The appeal made by de Bonneville was no stronger than that made by 0. S. Fowler, who began lecturing here, January 16, 1850. On successive evenings he spoke on "Scientific Love, Selection, Courtship, and Married Life; Self-Perfection and the Management of Children; Memory and Education; Female Phrenology and Improvement, and on Hereditary Descent." On Tuesday evening he said "test examinations" would be given, and on Wednesday evening he agreed to lecture to men on "Manhood, its improvement and perfection, Seats to men, twelve and one-half cents; or a man and two women, twenty-five cents. Commencing at 7 o'clock, and closing with Public Examinations. Professional examinations with written opinions and advice as to health, faults, self-perfection, management of children, &c., at Cook's Hotel, daily." About the time of Fowler's departure from the city a local woman, Sarah Ann Raub, opened a thriving business in the telling of fortunes. A great many people called upon Mrs. Raub, seeking to "raise the veil of futurity," the extent of the patronage being explained, no doubt, by the fact that she invariably prophesied fair weather. As far as the evidence goes, no children came to her door, the time of most of the young girls being taken up with domestic duties, daily lessons and 202 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS sewing of mottoes or verses from the Scriptures on perfectly useless samplers. Handbills advised the public of Mrs. Raub's marvelous powers, one of them reading as follows: FORTUNE TELLING Sarah Ann Raub Offers her services to all who would enquire into the mysteries of the future. She possesses rare skill in her art, and will raise the veil of futurity to all who will call upon her. Gentlemen 50 cents Ladies 25 cents Residence in Lower Town, first door north of Squire Chase's, on Northfield Road. No visitors received on Sunday. Ann Arbor April 22, 1856 Some years before Sarah Ann Raub began the fortune-telling business, a pronounced desire for self-improvement swept over the village. One of the clearest evidences of this movement is seen in the organization, in 1845, of the Ann Arbor Literary Association. The charter members adopted a constitution and elected as the first officers: Rev. M(oses?) Allen, president; Benjamin King, vice-president; B. F. Millerd, secretary; and S. Abel, treasurer. The executive committee was composed of S. II. Douglas, J. E. Platt, Mark Howard, Charles Clark, and D(aniel?) Webb. The first 'Reading Committee" was composed of Dr. Samuel Denton, E. W. Morgan, J. C. Smith, F. J. B. Crane, and George Sedgwick. As the name of the Association implies, the business of the organization was improvement along literary lines. Reports on books of various kinds were made, debates held, practice given in public speaking, and numerous literary contests were encouraged. But this was not the only kind of organization which sprang into existence in those early days. In December, 1857, one of a different character made its appearance. This was the "New England Society." Several men who originally had come from New England met that month and annually for several years thereafter. At each meeting an elaborate dinner was served, toasts offered and a happy social time enjoyed. In looking over the lists of those who came to these meetings some distinguished names are found. Among others there were Professors H. S. Frieze, W. H. Pettee, M. L. D'Ooge, J. W. Lang THE LIGHTER SIDE 203 ley, and C. K. Adams, Reverend F. T. Brown, R. B. Pope, J. T. Sutherland, Hon. Alpheus Felch, Hon. T. W. Palmer (of Detroit), Ioon. Isaac Marston, Hon. James A. Randall, Hon. C. I. Walker, Hon. (Ex-Governor) J. J. Bagley, President James B. Angell, Judge W. D. Harriman, H. W. Rogers, Judge T. M. Cooley, Dr. E. S. Dunster, and Frank B. Bower. Not to be outdone by the men in literary attainments and in social life, the ladies of the town decided to form an organization of their own. On March 19, 1866, thirty-five members of the gentler sex met in the lecture room of the Presbyterian church and organized the "Ladies Library Association." For their later meetings they secured a room in the HIangsterfer Block, upstairs, over what later became Reule, Conlin, and Fiegel's store and which has recently given way to the new store of S. S. Kresge. During the first year the sum of $780.79 was raised, and with it 346 books were purchased. These were placed in the care of Miss Sarah Barry, the first librarian of the society. The other officers of the organization were: Mrs. A. E. Kellogg, president; Mrs. Emanuel Henriques, vice-president; Mrs. Alfred A. Hunt, secretary; and Miss Kate Hale, treasurer. On the Board of Directors appear the names of the following women: Mesdames A. E. Kellogg, Samuel Denton, Emanuel Henriques, Sibyl Lawrence, Silas II. Douglas, E. B. Pond, J. F. Miller, C. It. Richmond, Dr. Charles B. Porter, S. N. Itenion, G. D. Hill, - Gilmore, Thomas M. Cooley, A. II. Hunt, and Miss Kate Hale. The certificate of membership now in the possession of Miss Kate Douglas, shows that she had "paid THREE DOLLARS to the Treasurer of this ASSOCIATION and will be entitled to Membership from date hereof, by presenting this Certificate to the Librarian, at the rooms of the Association for Registry, and signing the Constitution." The old rooms in the Hangsterfer Block were soon outgrown and, in 1868, the large rooms over the First National Bank were secured. The change in location brought greater vigor to the Association, many new members adding their names to the list of subscribers. The increased interest in the Association and the larger quarters brought on the problem of more library equipment. As time went on entertainments were given by the ladies to 204 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS raise money for their needs, including the purchase of a site for a library building of their own. In 1880 they purchased the lot just east of the present Ford Motor Car Sales and Service building between Fifth avenue and Division street on the south side of Huron street. In 1885 the ladies put up an attractive little building, designed by Pond Brothers, of Chicago, the lot and building together costing $4,268.68. In 1908 the Association had about 4,600 books and an endowment of $4,500. Their new building, besides housing these books, contained a pleasant nook where a small library belonging to the Daughters of the American Revolution was located. Soon after the Ladies Library Association was formed an offshoot of the society came into being. At first this was known as the Reading Club, but later, when some of the members lost interest, the offshoot was revived under the name of the Tuesday Club. This was the first strictly literary club of women in Ann Arbor. In their meetings choice selections were read, leading authors discussed, debates held and original poems and papers presented. The entertainments of the club were in the nature of recitations, tableaux, pantomimeIIs, and kirmesses. In 1887 they presented a kirmess which was the event of the season. It took the form of a series of three entertainments. These were given in the opera house, on behalf of the Association, by one hundred of the city's leading young ladies. The program consisted of an elaborate kirmess, or dances and songs of all nations. National costumes enlivened the color scheme and added to the picturesqueness of the scenes. An orchestra composed of University students, known as the Chequamagons, furnished the music. The crowded condition of the house each night testified to the attractiveness of the entertainments, the general verdict being that they were the best put on by any local talent in many years. Many of the ladies who belonged to the Library Association also were members of the Ann Arbor Randolph Rogers Art Association, organized in 1843 under the name of the Cosmopolitan Art Association. As far back as the days before the Civil War this Association gave annual art exhibitions in the rooms of the Presbyterian church, and, after the war, in the rooms of the Library Association. During the summer of THE LIGHTER SIDE 205 1862, as a result of efforts put forth by the Art Association, the citizens purchased Roger's finest single piece of sculpture, his Nydia, and presented it to the University. In an exhibition given in 1888 the work of a large number of prominent local ladies was on display, especially those who had been receiving instruction in drawing and painting from Miss Alice Hunt: Mrs. S. S. Schoff, Miss Kate Douglas, Miss Mertie L. Goodell, Mrs. W. S. Perry, Miss Berdie Whedon, Mrs. Alfred Hunt, Miss Clara A. I)oty, Miss Mamie Hill, Miss Mary Chapin, Mrs. James A. Randall, and Miss Jessie Wood. A small fee was charged for the privilege of looking at the exhibits, hot or iced tea was served and a social time was enjoyed. Just after the war a German Working Men's Society was formed in Ann Arbor which was the means of doing much good in the city. October 27, 1866, the organization was perfected, and on January 12, 1869, it was incorporated by legislative action. At the end of that year it was found that the membership numbered 120 and that.$923.97 had been paid out in sick benefits. At that time, also, $280 had been paid out in cases of death, $88 towards the support of widows of deceased members and there still remained a balance of $1,442.13 in the society's treasury. The fate of this organization is not clear, but it lived for several years and rendered a real service in a large number of cases. A somewhat different organization from either the Art Association or the Workingmen's Society was one formed in Cook's Hotel in July, 1872, and known as the Old Settlers' Society. In August 13, in the office of J. N. Gott, under the temporary chairmanship of General Edward Clark, the following officers were chosen: E. W. Morgan, president; Joshua G. Leland, vice-president; L. Davis, recording secretary; and M. H. Goodrich, corresponding secretary. On August 16 of the next year a new organization supplanted the old under the name of the Washtenaw County Pioneer Society. According to the records the object of the society was "to cultivate the social relations, collect and preserve biographical sketches and historical facts and reminiscences, and to transmit the same to future generations." Many fine papers of a historical character were given at the meetings of this society, a number 206 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of them later finding their way to the rare book room of the University Library, where they are carefully preserved. For several years a large log cabin stood in the old Burns Park, on the fair grounds, where numerous relics and objects of historical interest were housed. After the old cabin had fallen into decay and the pioneers had ceased to meet, some of the relics were reclaimed by those who had given them, or their relatives, and others were taken to the attic of the Court House. Many of the articles still repose there, covered with dust and rapidly being eaten by moths. Materials of this kind should find space in the new University Museum where they could be properly cared for and where they would always be mute reminders of a worth while past. But we were speaking of amusements and diversions and it is time we returned to the subject or one related to it. The people of Ann Arbor did not confine their attention entirely to amusements of the indoor variety. In the early days "Duck on a Rock," foot races, and wrestling had their share of enthusiasts. But early in 1860 a new form of outdoor sport caught the attention of the public. On April 14, of that year, a meeting was held in the old Court House for the purpose of organizing a baseball and wicket club. A committee of five was appointed to draw up a constitution and by-laws, and before many days games were being played. between local clubs. Two years later, games with outside teams were played, the first to receive local newspaper comment having been played at Jackson, Monday, June 23, of that year. According to the news item, the "Monitor" baseball club of Ann Arbor played the "Daybreak" club of the Prison City, and "broke" their opponents 28 to 14. In the box score the total number of outs for each team is given as well as the number made by each player on "bound" and on "fly" balls. The fielding positions then were the same as at present. Judging by news-paper accounts, the first team from out of town ever to play here was the "Brother Jonathan Club" of Detroit. The Argus for July 4, 1862, stated that this team would, that same day, play the Monitor club on "University Square." Though many championships have come to Ann Arbor, largely through the ability of students in the University, none ever came which called out enthusiasm more wild than that THE LIGHTER SIDE 207 brought here in 1867 by our world's champion baseball team. On the evening of August 21 of that year the local team arrived home from the baseball "World's Tournament" at Detroit. They were "in full feather, the victors in the second class list, and the winners of $200 in greenbacks and a gold-mounted rosewood bat valued at $75. The club played three games during the week of sports: the first against the Tecumseh Club, winning by a score of 50 to 11; the second against the Battle Creek Club, winning by a score of 46 to 37; the third against the Athletics of Detroit, winning by a score of 66 to 27." The band and numerous admirers of the "noble game" greeted the victorious boys on their arrival at the depot "and made a jolly evening of it." Baseball continued to enjoy a warm popularity here throughout all the succeeding years, but the players had no regular diamond until 1912. On October 31, 1911, the diamond in West Park was laid out, but it was not ready for use until May of the next year. On the sixth of that month the grounds were used for the first time, and ever since that day, the weather permitting, baseball, tennis, and other players have been cavorting there. Baseball was not the only form of outdoor amusement that came here to stay in the days just after the Civil War. In February, 1869, a local writer noted that "Messrs. Topliff & Ely, of Elyria, Ohio, have introduced the Velocipede-the genuine bicycle breed to our citizens." The animals, he said, "are now stabled at the hall over Besimer's Saloon, where the sporting gentry can have an opportunity to try their metal and speed. Quite a number of the boys-old and younghave commenced practicing, and we expect to see a street race at no distant day." The coming of these high-wheeled bicycles started a craze which outdid Mesmerism entirely. Sober pleasure riding soon gave way to riding through necessity, but at first fancy riding, races, distance and endurance trips were made, clubs organized, hill-climbing feats performed, and pleasure trips taken. Whitmore Lake soon experienced a popularity it never before had known, and other lakes, at an even greater distance from Ann Arbor, came in for their share of attention. Among the winners of races held in nearby towns and at local fairs, the names of George Keck and 208 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Harvey Stofflet appear often. The bicycles lost much of their popularity when, in the early years of the present century, automobiles came into their own, and now they are used chiefly for purposes of business and by children as a means of conveyance to school. On Main street in the last of the 'sixties, there were three places where the members of our citizenry sought relief from the summer's heat. Jacob Hangsterfer, on the southwest corner of Main and Liberty streets, sold confections and ice cream which for quality could not be beaten anywhere. July 31, 1868, Ann Arbor's first soda fountain, the "Arctic Soda Fount," was opened in the drug store of R. W. Ellis & Co., at Number 2, South Main Street. An oasis more frequently visited, however, was the famous beer garden surrounding the old W. S. Maynard property (Elks Home). Here many business men, more often than not of German descent, would go once or twice a day for a pretzel and a foaming glass of lager beer. The Ann Arbor Total Abstinence Society looked upon this garden as an iniquitious area, in their meetings casting many horrified glances in its direction. Long before the days of "Joe's and the Orient" students gathered here, sang their songs, told their stories and settled the weightiest problems of the day. Our records are dark as to when athletic contests of the students first drew crowds from the ranks of the regular citizens, but it is a safe conjecture that the time is far back in our history. Field days have been held for more than half a century, but one of the greatest ever carried out was held on Saturday, May 12, 1883. The Courier, for Friday, May 18, described the event as the most successful ever held up to that time. A review of the records made, together with names of the winners, sheds light on just how successful the field day really was: "Ten mile walk, Hyde, 1 hr. 52 min.; Hop, skip, jump, Blackburn, 41 ft., two and one-half inches; Baseball throw, McGuire, 274 ft.; Standing broad jump, Stalker, 11 ft., eight and three-fourths inches; One-mile run, Hare, 6 min., 22 seconds; 100-yard dash, Moore, 12 seconds; One-fourth mile run, Moore, 48 one-half seconds; Three mile walk, Hartman, 30 min., 15 seconds." Some of these records are very THE LIGHTER SIDE 209 good, even in our day, but most of them have been beaten. The year this meet was held roller skating became popular here. In the spring of 1884 J. E. Wyman, of Detroit, built a rink on the northeast corner of West Huron and Ashley streets. This building was later used for a sales and service station for Buick automobiles, and more recently for auto busses. Some years later a rink was built on Maynard street between William and Liberty. In 1907, C. A. Sauer & Co. converted this building into a theater, and it is now known as the "Majestic." Oni the evening of December 23, 1907, this amusement house was thrown open to the public, and then, as now, it was used both for "movies" and for vaudeville performances. It was in the 'eighties, also, that two forms of winter sport attracted many devotees. The low ground back of the Dental College building, commonly known as the Cat Hole, was the scene of one of these. A slide 600 feet long was made there, with a sixty-foot fall and a width of eighteen feet. It was divided into three smooth chutes, and it had a dragway of two feet next to a stairway somewhat wider. High railings protected the sides and electric lights illuminated the slide throughout its length. It was opened for use December 28, 1886, and the crowds were so great that the police were called upon to preserve order. While the coasting was in progress older people gathered along South University Avenue to watch the cutter races held there. With the coming of the automobile, cutters and fast horses became a thing of the past and South University avenue no longer witnessed the sight of flying hoofs. In fact, horse racing for several years was confined almost entirely to the race track at Burns Park, and when that area gave way to the Lincoln School and to home sites for a time it ceased altogether.* When the new fair ground was opened about a year ago races and county fairs again came into their own and in connection with these the good times of other days were revived. In 1837, Amon West, David Knowland, - Bilbie, David Morrison, Leon Sawyer, and others started to operate the first fair grounds in the city. It was located northwest of where the Bach School is now on an area which was all commons. In 1839 the fair was held on grounds just south of State street between Hill street and South University avenue. In 1860 the "Old Fair Grounds" on Hill street were used for the first time, 210 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS During the last twenty-five years life has so greatly speeded up and the drain on human energies has become so exhausting that the people have cast about for relief from the strain. This has been especially true of those whose vocations have been indoors and sedentary. Workers of this type have found that, in order to keep going, some kind of out door exercise was necessary. The game of basketball is a bit too strenuous, though many of the younger business men have resorted to it. Volley ball has appealed to many, especially young merchants of the city's business sections, and they have forgotten their worries playing the games in the gymnasium of the Y. M. C. A. Swimming, too, has had its devotees, but none of these activities has had anywhere near the appeal which has been made by the game of golf. At the beginning of the century men and women of the more vigorous type scoffed at the game as one suited to men in their declining years. Today, however, it is realized that it is possible to tire out the most hearty in eighteen holes and the great Scotch pastime is played by old and young of both sexes and it is proving to be just the kind of activity for those whose work is more mental than manual. Since the year 1900, when the first local golf club was formed, the popularity of the game has steadily increased. The members of the first team organized here were: W. IIT. Faust, Thomas C. Trueblood, Louis P. Jocelyn, Harry De Pont, Daniel F. Zimmerman, Mortimer E. Cooley, and a young man named Richards. At a dinner in the Catalpa Inn, given March 13, 1917, a group of business men organized the Ann Arbor Country Club, or, as it soon came to be called, the Barton Hills Country Club. The Detroit Edison Company gave the new club 125 acres of land, plans for an eighteen-hole course were made and the building of a club house was discussed. The committee to finance the proposition was composed of Messrs. H. W. Douglas, A. E. Greene, Louis P. Hall, W. E. Underdown, Daniel F. Zimmerman, and R. B. Canfield. The organization was perfected April 9, under the name of the Barton Hills Country Club, but the working out of plans was held back by the entrance of the United States into the World War. There were twenty in the original list of members, fourteen besides the six gentlemen last named: George W. THE LIGHTER SIDE 211 BARTON HILLS GOLF CLUB Built in 1919 Millen, W. W. Wadhams, Dean W. Myers, I. D. Loree, H. E. Riggs, B. F. Schumacher, J. F. Breakey, J. E. Beal, H. H. Johnson, Fred T. McOmber, Waldo Abbot, Walter C. Mack, John R. Allen, and Frank Cornwell. Soon after the Barton Hills club came into being other clubs of the same character were formed so that by 1925 there were five such organizations within the city: The Barton Hills, the Ann Arbor, the University, the Huron, and the Washtenaw clubs. The Barton Hills club was the first to build a club house. At a meeting of the members, held in the Michigan Union the evening of May 22, 1919, the matter was definitely decided upon and within a short time thereafter building operations were begun. Boating on the river fell off as a form of recreation as the popularity of golf increased. Back in 1901, when Paul Tessimer built his first boat livery on the south bank of the Huron out North Main street, boating found many devotees. For several years after that time canoeing was a romantic sport, and the gleam of camp fires along the shores told of happy, carefree hours. But tastes in outdoor life changed when golf became popular and automobiles became common. In 1914, when the first municipal bathing beach was built just north of the present boat livery, bathing was a great attraction, especially among those of school age, many boys and girls learning to swim there who otherwise perhaps would never have had the opportunity. On March 9, 1917, W. E. Underdown, of the Huron 21.2 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Farms Company, made known the company's offer to improve the beach and build a modern bath house. The City Park Commissioners, Levi D. Wines, Henry Douglas, Michael Fritz, E. A. Schaeberle, C. W. Gill, and Ottmar Eberbach, and the city forester, Ray E. Bassett, accepted the proposals and the company went ahead with its plans. A bath house to accommodate 150 was put up, lockers installed, and a great quantity of beach sand was put along the shore and on the bottom of the river. In all nearly $3,000 was spent on the project. After the work was completed the Huron Farms Company, for the sum of one dollar, leased the beach to the city for a term of fifteen years, and the beach was opened for use. It was exceedingly popular until the city Y. M. C. A. and Michigan Union swimming pools were opened, but in the last few years the number of bathers in the river has not been so great. It is clear, from what has been said in this chapter, that Ann Arbor people have had their share of good times. More and more they are learning the value of life out of doors and more and more coming to appreciate the philosophy bound up in the saying that all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Business must come first with most of us, but we are coming to discover the truth that business is better, days are brighter and life is sweeter when we give due attention to the lighter side of life. CHAPTER XIV Business Life ATE in 1824, when John Hereford opened his general store, business life may be said to have begun in Ann Arbor. It became more active when Cyrus Beckwith served his first customers, and it continued to grow when John Allen and others made their bids for shares of local trade. Prominent among those who opened stores during the city's history were J. C. Mundy, Hleathcot Mowey, Judge Edward Mundy, 0. H. Thompson, General Edward Clark, Daniel B. Brown, William S. Maynard, Anson Brown, and Alvan De Forest.* The latter carried drugs in stock and also a line of agricultural implements. The jewelry store opened in 1834 by Calvin Bliss was the first store in Ann Arbor to carry a single line of merchandise and it was the first store of the kind in the Territory west of Detroit. His wares seem to have had an especially strong appeal for the pioneers, the business was profitable from the very beginning and it continued so for the more than half century of its existence. During the second decade specialization in business developed rapidly, some of the commodities offered for sale being brought from the East and others being manufactured in Ann Arbor. A local paper in 1842 boasted that the village had twenty-three groceries, twenty drygoods stores, two hardware stores, one tannery, two extensive tin manufactories, two chair factories, two wagon and coach shops, one soap and candle factory, one pottery, three printing establishments, three newspapers, five hotels, "and every branch of mechanical business that you usually find in a New England village." In many cases, when a new business was begun, a new building was erected to house it, but it was not until just before the Civil War that the first great building boom struck the city. In 1860 three large buildings were put up which, with some modifications, still stand. The Hangsterfer Block, since given way to a new S. S. Kresge "twenty-five to a dollar" * See Appendix for advertisers of 1830. 214 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS CHARLES A. CHAPIN For Years One of Ann Arbor's Leading Business Men store, was built on the southwest corner of Main and Washington streets; the Christian Mack block on the northwest corner of Liberty and Main streets, and the Binder block two doors to the north. In 1861 the Henry Krause building on Main street was built, and the year following saw the erection of the Donnelly building on Huron street. These buildings and several others which found standing room in the business district were characterized by very tall windows crowned by arches of either the Gothic or the Norman type. In these buildings were located forms of business enterprise which progress and time have taken away and the names of which in our day sound strange indeed. In one place John Haarer displayed his ability as a "Daguerrean Artist," while not many doors distant Benjamin F. Hale administered to the I31JSINESS LIFE 25 ailing in the capacity of a "Botanic Physician;" Albert W. Ames, on Ann street, described his activities as "Agent of the American Express Company and Periodicals," thus, in at least one phase of his work, antedating Hlarvey Stofflet by more than sixty years. James W. Aray carried a card in one of the papers describing himself as a barber, the first of the colored race in the village. In Lower Town, the firm composed of Volney Chapin, Charles Chapin, Norman Chapin, and A. B. Wood manufactured many kinds of paper, while in the same locality W. B. Grennan and Son earned a living as manufacturers of sulphur matches. Nearby, Hiram Storms served the public both as a grocer and as a woolen manufacturer. David Henning conducted a cooper's shop at the corner of Detroit street and Fifth avenue, and Gottlieb Hauser brewed lager beer at his "City Brewery" on First street. At the time of which we write, Ann Arbor was chiefly an agricultural city, the part of Michigan in which it was located at one time being looked upon as the finest wheat area in the United States.* Farmers coming in from the surrounding country spent some of their money in the stores of the business section or bartered the produce for the goods they sought. The destination of most of those who came to town, however, was the old Exchange Building, which stood where the Whitney Hotel now stands. The Exchange was a combination of hotel and market for the exchange of goods. The building was put up many years before the great conflict between the North and South began, and it stood until 1870 when one of the largest fires in the history of the city up to the time leveled it to the ground. George D. Hill, who owned the building, collected $10,000 insurance as a result of the fire. To this he added several thousand dollars which he obtained as a loan, and immediately began building the Athens Theater. This theater was a three-story building, two more stories being added when the structure was remodeled by B. C. Whitney in 1906-07. * Amon West, second son of Ebenezer and Elizabeth West, who came to Ann Arbor in 1832, owned and operated one of the first horse power threshing machines in the State. Ebener West in the 'thirties operated an inn at the top of the Broadway street hill on the north side of the street. 216 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS NORTHWEST CORNER OF FOURTH AVE. AND ANN STREET About (I865?) Three years before the Exchange burned Philip Bach built a large store on the northwest corner of Main and Washington streets, and the year of the fire the John Schumacher stores on Main street were put up. In the year 1875 the appearance of these stores was radically changed by the installation of plate glass front windows. Messrs. Eberbach and Company were first to put them in, but the advantages of attractive window displays were so apparent that, within a few years, practically every store in the business section had followed the hardware company's example. Choicest wares were exhibited in the windows, according to the season, and window shopping soon became a habit with rich and poor alike. By the late 'seventies Ann Arbor was the most thriving business center west of Detroit. In 1878, for example, in ad BUSINESS LIFE 217 dition to some of the places of business already mentioned, there were four stores where groceries and crockery were sold: those of Hall and Smith, Kearney and Cropsey, Rinsey and Seabolt, and J. Donnelly. Engaged in the boot and shoe business were A. M. Doty, L. Gruner, William Alaby, Cyrus A. Lewis, and A. Syler. In the dry goods business were C. H. Millen and Son, Wines and Worden, Mack and Schmid, and Bach and Abel. Hardware stores were operated by G. J. Pease, Jacob Schuh, and Christian Eberbach. It was in this year that our fellow-townsman, Mr. Titus Hutzel, began the plumbing business in Ann Arbor, which with his son he still carries on after forty-seven years! During thirty of these years Mr. Hutzel was Superintendent of the Water Works and for more than half of his life he has served the city, much of the time as member of the Board of Public Works. In 1878, also, there were three printing offices, those of the Courier, the Register, and the Argus; two grist mills, one woolen factory, two sash factories where, besides sash, doors and blinds were made; one agricultural machine shop employing from thirty to sixty men; four planing mills; two wholesale and retail furniture stores and three large hotels, the Leonard, Cook's and the Gregory.* Most of Ann Arbor's industries have turned out products of wood, metal, or cloth or products made up of a combination of these materials. Many food products have been manufactured as well, and Ann Arbor has also put on the market a great many other articles which have been made of a wide variety of materials. In the earlier years of the city's history, however, most of the products were made of wood. In the summer of 1824, Robert Fleming built a sawmill on Fleming Creek in the southeast quarter of section twenty-five in the township of Ann Arbor. This was the first sawmill in Washtenaw County. It commenced running in the fall of that year, and some of the first boards used by Asa L. Smith in the houses he built here came from that mill. The extensive use of salt pork called for the cutting of hoops and staves for barrels and kegs. This need caused more than one person to start a cooperage business, but the names of those who operated the first shops have not survived. As early * See business advertisers in 1880, Appendix. 218 8THEi FIRST HUNDRED YEARS as 1835, however, the advertisement of J. B. liulbert and Company, of Lower Town, appeared in local papers calling attention to their skill as cabinet makers. Some wood was used, also, by Volney Chapin in the manufacture of mill machinery at the foundry hlie purchased from Samuel A. Sperry in 1833. Ten years later Ann Arbor is described as having several cooper shops and by that time, on Main street, under the firm name of Hawkins and Martin, cabinet making was carried on and all kinds of furniture manufactured. In 1850 -a rifle factory, which lasted four years, was started by one John Sutherland. It is said that the quality of the guns hlie miade was very high, some of the finest black walnut wood having been used for the stocks. The largest users of wood, in the building of implements, were the proprietors of the Agricultural Works. The works were founded in 1860 when Lewis Moore and son began the manufacture of plows, wheat drills, etc., in their building on the north bank of the Huron river at Broadway, the business was carried on by them until 1870 when a new company was formed by John Finnegan, E. W. Moore, and Frank Howard. Under their management the factory turned out plows, feed cutters, cultivators, and corn shellers. Their foundry was a busy place, 105 by fifty feet in size, close to the bank of the river. In 1879 the company was reorganized with a capital stock of $75,000, the plant was enlarged and new machinery installed. The output of the factory then included mowing machines, hay tedders, rakes, straw cutters and smaller agricultural farm machines. For about ten years after the reorganization of the Agricultural Works its business flourished, but after that time the profits decreased to such an extent that the factory was compelled to close its doors. A business quite as important as that carried on in the Agricultural Works was established by D. F. Allmendinger in 1872 for the manufacture of organs. The business rapidly increased, the payroll soon reaching $100 weekly, a large sum for those days. A few pianos were made, but the main activities of the industry were centered in the manufacture of fine organs. Orders poured in as fast as they could be filled, until from eighty to a hundred instruments were turned out each year. The prosperity of the business led to the organi BUSINESS LIFE 219 zation, in April, 1888, of the Allmendinger Piano and Organ Company, with a capital stock of $25,000. The officers of the new company were: Frederick Schmid, president; Herman Illutzel, vice-president; Fred HI. Belser, treasurer and secretary; and DI). F. Allmendinger, superintendent of the works. On the board of directors, besides these officers, were G. Frank Allimendinger, Joseph Greve, and Gottlob Luick. All of these men were stockholders in the company as also were Titus Hutzel, (Gustave Brehm, Dr. Knapp, Henry Mann, and Justice Freuauff. Under the new organization the plant was greatly enlarged and a larger volume of business was handled. The next important change in the history of this company came in 1913 when the name was changed to the Ann Arbor Piano Company. The old plant was again enlarged and a reorganization of the company effected. Frederick Schmid continued as president, but G. Frank Allmendinger became vicepresident, D. F. Allmendinger secretary, and Gottlob Stark treasurer. Sid Millard and Moses Seabolt became stockholders, the capital stock was increased to $110,000 and a determined effort was made to regenerate the business. The conpany gave more attention to the manufacture of pianos, which, in view of the growing popularity of phonographs, was a serious mistake. The crest of the wave of prosperity in the piano and organ business had passed and at the end of a few years of struggling the company was forced to dissolve. For some time the great building on the northwest corner of West Washington and First streets stood unused. During the war and for a short period thereafter the building housed a branch of the Motor Products Company, but after that concern left the city most of the space in the huge structure has been empty. Up to a quarter of a century ago Ann Arbor used much wood in the manufacture of wagons, carriages, and carts. One of the largest firms organized for the manufacture of wooden vehicles was that started in 1867 by the Walker brothers. In 1871 they erected a three-story brick building on West Liberty street, where nineteen men were employed. In 1887 they were making from fifteen to twenty carriages a week. Before the close of the century the company dissolved and the Superior Manufacturing Company took quarters in 220 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS the building and manufactured gasolene lamps there. The original capital of the Superior Company was $16,000, but this was increased to $26,000 in 1903. Enlarging the business proved unwise, since electric lights more and more were coming into use, and the Superior Company was compelled to go out of business. In 1904 the Motor Products Company occupied the building, remaining in it for twenty years. Another industry using much wood was that occupied by A. P. Ferguson in the old red frame Arksey property at the corner of Division and Detroit streets. This factory opened in the spring of 1887 for the purpose of manufacturing road carts. By January, 1888, they had made more than 2,000 carts, some of them being sent as far away as Australia. In the eighties and nineties the people of the United States were greatly interested in horse racing, and road carts had a ready sale. Demands on Ferguson's plant were so heavy that, in the mid-summer of 1889, he employed fifty-three men, paying them over $1,500 in wages each month. The output of carts that year was approximately 8,000, shipments being made to nearly every state in the Union and to nearly a dozen foreign lands. As the interest in horse racing fell off the business of making road carts declined until the industry had to be given up. The only other business begun in the 'seventies in which much wood was used was that started in 1878 by Thomas Rauschenberger and Company for the manufacture of furniture. Their factory was located on Wines street in the second ward. They confined their efforts chiefly to the manufacture of made-to-order furniture, specializing in bookcases and sideboards. Their payroll for eight men per week, in the summer of 1887, was eighty dollars. In 1880 the Michigan Furniture Company was begun by John Keck at the corner of West William and Fourth streets. The business was operated under his name until 1886 when the name of the Michigan Furniture Company was given to the organization. In 1881 the Economy Hay and Baler Company was started here and in 1883 Kuebler and Grune began the manufacture of bedroom sets at the corner of Fourth avenue and Madison street. When they went out of business C. A. Sauer and BUSINESS LIFE 22t Company started their mill for the manufacture of millwork and materials for interior finish. The buildings fronting on Hill street, just east of the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks, have had an interesting history. They were erected in August and September, 1890. The Advance Refrigerator Company began business there as soon as the buildings were ready, but their venture was never a success. In a few years the Weis Book Case Company took quarters there and they in turn, in 1908, gave way to the International Manufacturing Company, the Weis company moving to Monroe. The International Company installed new wood-working machinery and made "knock-down" furniture, supplying a new want in the furniture business. This company was followed by the Peninsular Manufacturing Company, but it enjoyed no greater measure of success than any of the companies which had been housed in the same buildings. In 1914 the property was sold at auction and, after a time, the Come-Pact Furniture Company tried its fortunes there. In 1919 the Westgate Manufacturing Company occupied the site, and at this writing- are still in business. They make a specialty of floor lamps and sell directly to the consumers. They handle all sorts of furniture, most of which is shipped in from factories outside of the city. While these business changes were going on several other enterprises were begun in which wood was extensively used. In 1902, for example, the Michigan Ladder Company located in Ann Arbor in a large building along the Ann Arbor railroad tracks and just across from the southwest corner of Ferry Field. The principal shareholders in this concern were Edgar S. Geer, Melvin J. Lewis, and Alfred G. Huson. The capital stock of this company was $6,000. Careful management made the business a success and at this writing it is still in operation. Late in the year 1906 the Ann Arbor Hay Press Company was organized for the purpose of manufacturing a patent hay press, the invention of John Christensen, for a long time in the employ of the Ann Arbor Machine Company. Judge Kinne permitted Christensen the use of the above name for the firm in spite of protests by the Ann Arbor Machine Company, who claimed that the Hay Press Company would alienate business 222 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS which rightfully belonged to them. They argued that people would believe that the two companies were one and the same, but the judge could not see it that way, the Machine Company losing their suit. One of the illstarred ventures in which much local money was lost was that of the Huron River Manufacturing Company which was organized in 1910 for the purpose of manufacturing automobiles. A huge building, 256 feet in length by forty feet in width and one story high, was erected along the Ann Arbor railroad tracks just north of Summit street on Wildt. The building was begun in October, 1911, and was completed December 2nd following. Within the structure was manufactured a combination of a light delivery wagon and passenger car. The construction of the vehicle was unique in that the motor hung beneath the flooring of the front seat. The officers and directors of this establishment were: E. D. Hiscock, president; Gottlob Luick, vice-president; W. H. L. Rhode, treasurer; and D. C. Chipman, secretary; Charles Hiscock, George Seabolt, and G. L. Coffinberry, the latter of Cleveland, Ohio. Early in the winter, beginning in December, 1904, the stockholders of the Huron River Company exchanged their holdings for stock in the Star Motor Company of Augusta, Maine, capitalized at $500,000. This company was brought to Ann Arbor, Gottlob Luick became its president, and under his direction the firm began to assemble the parts for a farmer's utility car and light truck. The fate of this new company remains a gloomy memory in the minds of all those whose money was invested in it. It was a failure almost from the first, and what with a certain amount of unfair dealing in winding up the company's business, several respectable citizens lost money in the venture to the extent of thousands of dollars. All of the manufacturing concerns which used wood in their products had lives which were comparatively short. This was due in part to the increasing cost of the particular kind of wood needed, to high freight rates and to changing tastes. Wood suitable for use in the manufacture of certain kinds of products grew more and more scarce as the timber lands of Michigan were cleared causing prices to reach prohibitive heights. The steady increase in the freight charges on the BUSINESS LIFE 223 railroads and the march of progress doomed most of these concerns to an early failure. It became apparent from the dismal end of these various enterprises that trying to manufacture anything in Ann Arbor which calls for the use of great quantities of wood involved a very serious risk. The same reasoning applies to products manufactured here involving the use of different kinds of metal. Ann Arbor, in the last third of a century, has found it difficult to compete on even terms with factories similarly employed which, like those of Detroit, are closer to the sources of the raw materials, the supply of labor and the facilities for shipping. Ann Arbor business ventures which have used copper, iron, aluminum, etc., have found the going rough, and, though the history of these ventures begins early, it is not, generally speaking, a brilliant one from the standpoint of prosperity and the realization of cherished business dreams. Probably the first business devoted to turning out products of iron in Ann Arbor was the foundry business established by Samuel A. Sperry in the spring of 1833. It was located on West Huron street near Allen's Creek. Volney Chapin took over the business soon after it was begun and continued the manufacture of plows, stoves and mill machinery. On July 20, 1835, Chapin formed a partnership with Jonathan Hussey, of Moravia, New York, but the organization operated under the name of Chapin and Company with a capital stock of $4,000, each of the men holding the same amount of stock. Chapin was to run the business for a period of three years at an annual salary of $400. At the end of that time, so it was declared in the articles of agreement, the partnership could be dissolved by either one of the parties. In 1839 William Loomis was taken into the firm, Chapin finding it quite impossible to attend wholly to business and at the same time to serve as Treasurer of Washtenaw County. He was elected to this office in November, 1838, for the term extending from January 1, 1839, to January 1, 1841. Of the later history of this business we cannot be sure, no reliable records having survived the lapse of time. It is possible that Chapin was no longer interested in the concern beyond the spring of 1851 since in May of that year he entered into a partnership with Jonathan Lund to manufacture paper in a mill already .224 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS built for the purpose and operated by Lund. The latter agreed to sell Chapin half the stock and materials on hand in and about the mill. Then each put in $1,500 to carry on the business, and there began a partnership that was at once happy and prosperous while it lasted. In the mill several kinds of paper were made: print, book, tobacco, colored mediums, wrapping paper, etc. After a few years the firm was reorganized under the name of Chapin, Wood and Company, and it continued to operate until 1865 when fire destroyed the property. Some time during the last of the '30s or early '40s a machine shop and a "furnace plow factory" came into existence where a great variety of castings were made. About that time, also, a carding machine shop was opened "where most of the machinery used in woolen factories" was made. Not far from the old Chapin foundry on West Huron street was one begun in 1846 by an expert machinist, Charles Tripp. Tripp kept his control of the foundry until his death, January 16, 1878. This is quite remarkable since, during all those years, he was exceedingly active along several lines, at different times serving as alderman, supervisor, member of the school board, State Senate (1854), president of the Mozart Watch Company, president of Gas Company, director of the First National Bank, and trustee of the Congregational Church. Doubtless the most interesting business ever begun in Ann Arbor in which metals were used was that known as the Mozart Watch Company, organized by Don J. Mozart in the summer of 1868 with a capital stock of $200,000. In March, 1869, officers and members of the board of directors of the company were chosen as follows: president, Charles Tripp; secretary, W. W. Whedon; treasurer, C. T. Wilmot; superintendent, D. J. Mozart; directors, Harvey Cornwell, W. A. Benedict, R. W. Hemphill, and the company's officers. In February, 1869, the company moved into the south store of the Dr. Chase block where they occupied all three floors. The machinery for manufacturing the watches was ready by the end of the month and the manufacture of fine watches begun. For two years work went forward in this factory, but as early as May of 1870 there was talk about the possibility of the concern leaving the city. In September of the next year BUSINESS LIFE 225 all the men were discharged, the company suspended operations, and about three years later moved to Rock Island, Illinois. At this point Mozart as an active force in the company fades out of the picture. THe had been experiencing some difficulty in keeping his control over the affairs of the company and this fact, together with the fact that he had spent too much time in the study of the delicate mechanism of the marvelous watch escapement he had invented caused him to lose his mind. IHe was taken to the state hospital at Kalamazoo in December, 1874, but six months later was returned to Ann Arbor as incurable and lodged in the county Poor House. After the company moved to Rock Island, Mozart invented a remarikable timepiece which showed quarter seconds, seconds, minutes, hours, days of the week, days of the month, tand month of the year. Upon opening the case five times a day the watch wound itself. During September of the year 187-1 he took the watch to pieces, but afterwards, his mind becoming more clouded, he was unable to replace the parts. This seemed to make him worse and it was then that he was taken to Kalamazoo where his reason became permanently lost. Aside from the industries already mentioned no other con(ern of imlportlace which turned out a product of metal came to Ann Ar\bor until 1910. One day in 1910, as a result of efforts put forth by the Chamber of Commerce, an agreement vwas made with representatives of the Climax Specialty Company which resulted in bringing that organization to Ann Arbor from Seneca Falls, New York. So sure was the company that their business would succeed that they entered into an agreement which, had they known the history of Ann Arbor ventures, would have been far less extravagant. They agreed to maintain a payroll of $50,000 the first year after January 1, 1911, a payroll of $75,000 the second year, and one of $150,000 for each succeeding year of a five-year period or forfeit the sum of $10,000. The Chamber of Commerce, on its part, agreed to furnish a site of between four and five acres, pay $7,500 of the moving expenses from Seneca Falls to Ann Arbor and to sell $75,000 worth of the company's stock. Within the course of a few months the company, located out North Main street near the Ann Arbor tracks, was running 226 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE HOOVER PLANT Just South of the City. The Old Ferry Field Stands Showing Beyond full blast. They made plumbers supplies, bathroom fixtures, etc., enjoying a prosperous business for a few months. By the middle of October, 1910, the payroll amounted to $85,000, but the goals those in charge had set for themselves with representatives of the Chamber of Commerce proved to be far too ambitious and the company began to run behind. In fact things went from bad to worse and in the late spring of 1912 bankruptcy came bringing disaster to a large number of local investors. Within a few months after the failure of the Climax Specialty Company talk was heard about the possibility of bringing to the city the Hoover Steel Ball Company. The first practical steps taken in the direction of bringing the steel ball business here were made by Leander J. Hoover on February 24, 1913, when, between the hours of four and seventhirty in the evening he sold $20,000 worth of stock. Hoover succeeded in purchasing the steel ball department of the Flanders Automobile Company of Chelsea, and the news of the purchase helped him to sell more than $15,000 worth of stock February 26. To insure the coming of the steel ball company, the responsibility for paying $75,000 to the Flanders owners was assumed by the following ten men: M. J. Fritz, William Arnold, Walter Mack, R. T. Dobson, E. W. Groves, H. L. Douglas, Dr. Louis P. Hall, Dr. R. B. Canfield, Frank A. Stivers, and Daniel Zimmerman. These men, March 1, incor BUSINESS LIFE 227 porated in the sum of $25,000, and with Hoover, became the first Board of Directors of the firm which has since borne the name of the Hoover Steel Ball Company. Property for a factory site was purchased south of Hill street along the west side of the Ann Arbor railroad and buildings were erected. The floor space quadrupled within three years, -employees part of the time working both day and night. The prosperity which came to the business within the first three years of its life continued throughout 1916 and for some years thereafter. During 1916 the capital was increased from $500,000 to $1,800,000 and orders kept pouring in. The unprecedented prosperity of this concern had its basis in the war situation in Europe. The company in the fore part of 1914 was scarcely on its feet and those who had put their money into the business were not sure in their own minds whether it would be a success or not. L. J. Hoover never lost his enthusiasm; he was that kind, but the outbreak of the war in Europe insured an immediate era of prosperity for this company. Orders for steel balls came in from far and near, most of them to be used in machines that were directly or indirectly engaged in the manufacture of munitions for the countries at war in Europe. With the entrance of the United States into the war in 1917, a tremendous impetus was given to the business, its stock went soaring, reaching heights of which the staunchest backers of the company had never dared to hope. A number of fortunes were quickly made, several hav. ing the foresight to sell when the stock was well on its way to 200. Others, however, held on believing that the sky was the limit. The armistice brought the advance in the stock to a sudden stop, then its value suffered a sharp and rapid decline. The result was that a large number of people lost heavily, and their loss appears to be permanent. After the World War was over the fortunes of the company for a time were at a Jow ebb, but partial recovery came and just now the outlook for better days has a rosier hue. In the meantime L. J. Hoover died and control of the business passed into other hands. Several months before the illness came upon L. J. Hoover which resulted in his death, he, Norman C. Parker, and Michael Fritz organized the Parker Manufacturing Company 228 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS to manufacture drill chucks. The company was incorporated for $75,000, the plant of the Star Motor Company purchased and business begun. From the very beginning the success of the enterprise was uncertain, and it became more so when the failing strength of Mr. Hoover and the demands upon his time, caused by the rush of orders to the Hoover Steel Ball Company, made it impossible for him to give the Parker Manufacturing Company the attention it needed. In 1922 bankruptcy was declared and the property passed into the hands of A. E. Jennings as receiver. The shares held by Mr. Hoover passed into the hands of his estate upon his death September 22, 1918. A much more successful undertaking than that of the Parker Manufacturing Company came to Ann Arbor in 1918 under the able presidency of Mr. J. F. Lapointe, and operating under the name of the American Broach and Machine Company. A substantial modern factory building was erected along West Huron street, just west of Allen's Creek, the Chamber of Commerce being partly responsible for obtaining the site. The chief products of the concern are broaching machines such as are used by manufacturers of machine guns and b)y automobile manufacturers, the local factory site being strategically situated with reference to many of the motor car factories it serves -those in Flint, Pontiac, Detroit, Toledo, Jackson, and Lansing. Soon after the factory was opened for business the demand for certain of the broaching machines was so great as to make necessary doubling the output and greatly enlarging the plant. Some of the machines are remarkable in that they have reduced the time formerly necessary in performing particular types of work on machine guns from eighty hours to a little over an hour. At present the company is experimenting with a new design of oil burner for furnaces which promises to have advantages which will guarantee for it a ready market. Three years after Mr. Lapointe's company was established in Ann Arbor, the Automotive Utilities Corporation was located here. They purchased the site of the old Agricultural Works just north of the Huron River bridge in the Fifth Ward and ran their factory only for a few months when they shut down for good. The Detroit Edison Company took over BUSINESS LIFE 229 the plro)perty for warehouse purposes and as a garage for their trucks, beautified the grounds and gave an attractive appearance to the whole. The manufacture of articles to wear was begun here in 1835 when A. Munson and A. W. Kellogg started a hat factory and when Jacob Vanderwarker anld his partner, a man named Schoolleck, began(- tle mllanufalcture of boots and shoes. In 18:8 iMr. Betllnel tllFarrnllld secured from the Legislature an;approlriatioll of t$8()( which he exlpended in the p)rchase of nmachinery for the nianufacture of silk. According to an old manuscript in the handwriting of Elizabeth Farrand, Bethuel devoted several years to the planting of mulberry trees and the culture of silkworms, but from a financial standpoint his efforts resulted in failure, the climate being unsuitable to the business. Conditions were far more suitable for the raising of sheep and for many years a woolen mill was in operation in Ann Arbor, but no evidence has come to light to fix the period of its existence. Within a few years after the coming of the Germans, a brewery was set up by A (dolph?) Kern, who announced in the Argus of February 8, 1838, that he had started one in the "Upper Village" from which he would supply "STRONG and TABLE BEER." The success of this brewery encouraged several others to enter the business of brewing, so that by the first of the 'seventies there were six large breweries in the city, each working full time. These industries continued to flourish until the Eighteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution and the Volstead Act spelled their doom. The closing of the breweries meant an increase of business for the soda fountains and ice cream parlors. The Preketes Brothers at Number 109 South Main street enjoyed a much larger patronage than formerly; and several drug stores put in fountain and ice cream equipment. A branch of Connor's Ice Cream Company was opened in the old brewery building on the west side of Fourth street, between West Jefferson and West William streets, and it carried on an extensive business from the first. The Kleis Beverage Company, at Number 331 South Ashley street, came in for a large share of business, and there was a greater consumption of soft drinks which 230 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS were shipped from other cities than ever had been known before. Soon after Kern opened his brewery in 1838, Jonathan Henry Mann began to operate a tannery. In 1845 he installed a steam engine in their plant which was used to run the bark mill, the exhaust steam being used to heat the vats. Every part of this engine was built in Tripp's Foundry and machine shop. In 1839 another tannery was begun by Henry Krause on Second street, on the east side of the street, some two hundred feet south of West Liberty. He remained in business for forty years, annually putting out over 7,000 hides of leather. That same year, 1839, he built for his home the huge dwelling still standing on the northeast corner of West Liberty and Third streets. The flour mills in Ann Arbor have had an even longer history than the tanneries. The first flour mill to go into operation was built in 1833 on the site of the Argo Electric Power plant on Broadway in Lower Town. In 1839 William M. Sinclair purchased the property, repaired the mill and installed new machinery, at a total cost of $25,000. After this the five run of stone turned out weekly 800 barrels of flour. During the grinding season immediately following the harvest of 1841, Sinclair shipped to New York, via the Erie Canal, 8,112 barrels of flour, receiving in payment an average price of $6.11 per barrel. This was the largest amount of flour ever exported from Ann Arbor up to that time. In 1860 the Sinclair mill was destroyed by fire, but it was rebuilt in time to help care for the harvest of that same year. In 1868 Franklin Swift purchased the Sinclair mill, but his death came before the year closed and the mill property passed to his son, John Marvin Swift. The elder Swift had come from Waterford, several years before, and had purchased the old mill which stood on the site of the City Mills on North Main street, near the tracks of both the Ann Arbor and Michigan Central railroads. Soon Swift took into partnership his brother-in-law, William Deubel, who also had come from Waterford. Within a short time after the Sinclair mill was purchased the elder Swift ran a tunnel under Broadway to furnish water power to the Agricultural Works across the street to the south. About this time, also, he sold his share of BUSINESS LIFE 231 the North Main street mill to Deubel and sold him an interest in the Sinclair mill as well. When John Marvin Swift came into possession of his father's share of the Sinclair mill he purchased Deubel's holdings in that mill and thereafter ran it alone. Denbel supplied his sons, William, Frank, and James, with money to purchase the larger of the two mills then in operation in Ypsilanti. This move gave the Deubel brothers control of all the milling business in Ypsilanti, since, two years before, they had purchased the smaller mill there. For several years the Sinclair mill and other mills here continued to return comfortable profits to their owners. In 1869 the mills received more wheat than they could possibly take care of, 144,385 bushels being sent from the city at an average price of $1.95 per bushel. Things had gone well with the Sinclair mill until 1885 when the Cornwell Manufacturing Company, to get power for their pulp mill, constructed a dam across the Huron 170 feet long, twelve feet high, and furnishing over 500 horsepower. The mill itself cost $40,000 and employed about a dozen men. The Cornwell mill was built on a site just north and west of the present viaduct over the Michigan Central Railroad tracks on the Whitmore Lake road, a mile or so north of the city. The new dam held back so much water that the race to the Sinclair mill was practically dry and the business of the mill was ruined, and that of the Agricultural Works fared little better. On March 1, 1892, a judgment of the State Supreme Court forced the Cornwell Manufacturing Company to relinquish their dam to the Agricultural company. On Monday afternoon, March 29, of that year, a representative of the latter company began removing the dam. As soon as the great lake of backwater went down, the extensive ice business carried on there by the Michigan Central Railroad came to an end as also did the boating and skating enjoyed there so long. In the ten-year period just before the Cornwell dam was built, wheat-raising became exceedingly profitable here. This was due, in part at least, to the more extensive use of farm machinery. July 19, 1875, George E. Oakes, traveling representative of the Champion Reaper and Mower Company, of Springfield, Ohio, set up and put into operation for Gottlieb Ilutzel, on the farm of Judge Lawrence, a new reaper. '12 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Among the many persons present was the Judge's mother-inlaw, Mrs. Rhoda Fuller, a lady about eighty-five years of age. Oakes delighted his audience by his deimonstration, none being more pleased than Mrs. Fuller. She asked the privilege of driving the team, that she might judge more perfectly of the merits of the machine. The request was granted, ald beilng assisted to the driver's seat, she took the reins and guided the team around the field in a manner that would have done credit to an experienced horseman. It was not long after this deimonstration that mowing machines and reapers were a common sight on the farms around Ann Arbor. Greater acreages of wheat were raised than ever before, but for a number of years after 1885 it was ground in other mills than the Sinclair. In 1892 the Sinclair mill property passed into the hands of Major W. C. Stevenson, Colonel H. S. Dean, Sedgwick Dean, Gottlob Schneider, and G. Frank Allmendinger. These men organized the Ann Arbor Milling Company, Major W. C. Stevens holding 1,200 shares of the capital stock, and each of the others 600 shares. In 1902 these men organized the Michigan Milling Company and began to operate the old Sinclair mill under the name of the Argo Milling Company. The next year they greatly improved the mill and built a new dam near the Ann Arbor Railroad tracks, at a cost of $2,000. Almost immediately (Feb. 1.903) the mill burned and, under the direction of Nelson J. Kyer, the firm built for the Detroit Edison Company on the old site, the Argo Power House to supply power for the Central and the City Mills. In March, 1904, Mr. Allmendinger, representing the Michigan Milling Company, proposed furnishing electricity to the city for light and power. On April 12, the proposition passed the Council, but it was vetoed by the mayor, and his veto was sustained by a vote of seven to six. In 1905 the Argo Power Plant was sold to the Eastern Michigan Edison Company. Soon the old plant was dismantled and a new station built on the site. In 1908 the Eastern Michigan Edison Company turned the station over to the Washtenaw Light and Power Company to operate. The elevation of the old dam was raised and enlarged under the superintendence of I. L. Sherk, and in 1912 the property was turned back to the Edison Company to operate and since that time it has been in their hands. BUSINESS LIFE 233 THE EDISON POWER PLANT AND DAM At Barton Pond The ol Ieublel mill on North Main street changed hands several times, finally coIing into the possession of Swathel, Kyer, Ieter,ad Ie ad thlen into tle halds of the Michigan Milling (Company I 18. I 1882, G. rank Allmendinger, secretary of this latter comnlpaly, became affiliated with R. K. Ailes and (Coll)pay, who condctedl tlhe Central Flouring Mills. Within a few years (ottlol Schneider entered tile firm, and he and Mr. Allmnendinger bouglt out the holdings of Ailes. In 1902 this coInmpany, along with the other flour mills in the city, was taken over by the Michigan Milling Company, but the Ann Arbor Fruit anld Vinegar Comlipany which Mr. Allmendinger anld Mr. Schneider had organized as a separate company about fifteeln years before, remained as an independent concern. Throughout most of the years during which flour mills have operated in Ann Arbor their business has been good, but since the last year of the World War the mills generally have operated at a loss. At this time, however, things are beginning to brighten, and those best qualified to speak predict an early return of prosperity to the milling business here. In the earlier years of Ann Arbor's business history such industries as came into being were started to supply needs that were purely local. In 1828 the community bake oven was not used nearly so much as it had been the first year after it was built. A man named Daniel Bliss saw an opportunity to establish a bakery business which would bring him a com 234 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS fortable living. In that year he started his shop and was assisted by Randolph Rogers, who later became famous as a sculptor. Rogers was then a small boy, and he officiated in the bakery as general helper and supernumerary. A few years after Bliss opened his bakery Sidney Denton began to operate an "Ashery and Soap Factory." His business was going very well until the spring of 1842 when a fire destroyed everything he owned. One E. T. Williams had been conducting a similar business a short distance from the Chapin foundry. When Denton's factory burned Williams was left with a clear monopoly of the local business. The value of his establishment immediately went up. Then he sold out to one H. Bower, who began an advertising campaign to get all the business there was. In the Michigan State Journal for April 10, 1842, Bower agreed to pay ten cents per bushel for all clean ashes delivered at the ashery, the actual cash could be had, or, if the customer preferred, payment would be made in "goods." Factories of this character continued to operate in Ann Arbor throughout the rest of the century, some of them shipping large quanties of soap to nearby cities. Not many blocks away from one of the soap factories the Luick brothers, Emanuel and Gottlob, in 1873, started a planing mill and lumber yard which has had one of the longest periods of life of any of Ann Arbor's industries. Beginning in a small brick building on the corner of Fifth avenue and Kingsley street the business grew steadily until now the concern occupies the greater part of a city block. From 1867 to 1873 Emanuel and Gottlob conducted a carpenter and contracting business, but after that date practically all of their time was devoted to building up the business of the mill and lumber yard. Their slogan "Luick for Lumber" is known all over southeastern Michigan, and it stands for more than fifty years of honorable service. Emanuel died February 20, 1898, but Gottlob, hale and hearty, is still active though nearly eighty years have passed over his head. Another planing mill which had a long and successful history was that operating under the name of the Detroit Planing Mill, and owned by Herman Krapf. It was opened for business in 1878, employed from four to ten men, paying them the BUSINESS LIFE 235 usual wages for those days of ten dollars per week. This mill ran without interruption until 1910 when Mr. Krapf retired from active business. The John Armstrong mill, located on Detroit street, was begun in 1884 and employed a somewhat larger number of men than the Krapf mill, their payroll running from sixty to more than a hundred dollars a week. For many years these three mills furnished a good share of the lumber and interior materials used for building purposes in Ann Arbor. In 1912 the J. A. Sauer Lumber Company was organized, and it was not long before it was getting its share of the business. The mill on the southwest corner of Fourth avenue and Madison street was built by the three Sauer brothers that year and has been in almost continuous operation ever since. The C. A. Sauer Company, organized in 1916, enjoys a good business, and shows every evidence of a long and prosperous life. Several other kinds of business were begun in Ann Arbor in the early '80s. Colonel J. D. Lyman ran a pottery at the west end of Madison street on property now owned by Professor Stacy R. Guild, where he made earthenware jars from a vein of clay near the kiln. Some of these jars were of marvelous beauty both as to design and coloring. Certain pieces found their way to remote corners of the earth, some of them bringing sums running into hundreds of dollars. After a time this pottery passed into the hands of a man named Markhaui. He continued to turn out a very high quality of pottery and perhaps would have done so several years longer had not the whole plant burned, August 23, 1911. Over a thousand pieces were destroyed in that fire, some of which were valued as high as fifty dollars. In 1881 there was organized here the first large confectionery company to carry on business in Ann Arbor. It took the name of the Hangsterfer Confectionery Company and began its business Tuesday, May 9, 1882. The first steam laundry was opened in 1887 as was also a capsule factory. The latter burned soon after it began to manufacture capsules with a loss of about $12,000 with insurance of $7,500. Two years after this building burned, 1890, the Ann Arbor Brick and Tile Company was doing a thriving business and three years later the Eberbach Drug Company enlarged their TIlE FIRST HU-NDRED YEARS THE NORTH END INDUSTRIAL SECTION Along the Whitmore Lake Road quarters for the manufacture of scientific apparatus. In 1909 their present fine building was erected and there the drug business and the manufacturing has continued. In the same year the old Artificial Ice Plant was built, and, late in 1911, the Home Industrial Rug Company was organized, under the management of George P. Schlemmer. The affairs of this firm got in bad shape in 1914 and the company was succeeded by another under the name of the Fluff Rug Company with Henry J. Schlemmer in the role of manager. The large frame building on West Huron street which housed this concern was partially destroyed by fire the night of February 16, 1914. Within fourteen months all the damage was repaired and the business was again in operation. The property was purchased by the American Broach and Machine Company and some of the equipment was taken to Lower Town where the firm of Cobb & Schlemmer (sister-in-law of Henry J.) is still in the rug business. Other businesses which had short lives here were the Drugcraft Company, the Trolley Supply Company, the Stalker Furnace Company, and the King Trailer Company, manufacturers of trailers for automobiles. CHAPTER XV The University-Part I T HE interest of the citizens of Ann Arbor in the Univers'ty of Michigan dates as far back as the spring of 1831 when Judge James Kingsley was appointed a trustee of the University by General Lewis Cass. From that time to the present the great institution has been the chief object of pride of the city. The circumstances surrounding the location of the University in Ann Arbor will, perhaps, never be entirely clear. In the Territorial legislature in 1835, Orrin White lobbied most determinedly on behalf of Ann Arbor as the most attractive site, and his brother-in-law, Charles Thayer, exercised his influence there and in Detroit to the same end. Thayer was a member of the Ann Arbor Land Company, organized September 15, 1836. Associated with him were William S. Maynard, E. W. Morgan, and Samuel Denton, the four each holding one-fifth of the stock, and Augustus Garrett and I)aniel B. Brown each one-tenth of the stock. All except Garrett were directors of the company, any three of them making a quorum for carrying on business. According to the articles of agreement the object of the company was to sell land. One thousand shares were offered for sale, with the understanding that shareholders were to have a voice in the annual election of officers, and that they were to share in the profits in proportion to the amount of shares held. The interest of Brown and Garrett in Ann Arbor real estate, and in having the University located there, seems to date from earlier in the year 1836. One of the first acts of the State Legislature, after Michigan was admitted to the Union, was to appropriate money to erect buildings and to establish a university. At that time Daniel B. Brown and his brother, in company with Augustus Garrett, formerly of New York, were running a commission store in Chicago. Daniel B. Brown bought goods in New York, had some of it put in his store in Ann Arbor and some of it he took on to Chicago to be sold there. It was while he was on a trip to Ann Arbor from 238 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Chicago that he chanced upon an issue of a local paper in which appeared an item dealing with the act the Legislature had just passed. He took the paper back to Chicago and pinned it up in the window of his store. There Garrett saw it. He told Brown to go back to Ann Arbor and buy all the land he could in and around the village, organize a joint stock company, issue script, and then take out forty acres from the heart of the investment and donate it to the State on condition that the University be located in Ann Arbor. Acting upon this advice, Brown hurried back and organized the above mentioned company. In all two hundred acres of land were purchased, and script was issued to the amount of $200,000. Immediately $25,000 was taken to Detroit by Thayer, a prominent lobbyist, who did what he could towards having the University located on the forty acres set apart and surveyed by Brown and his associates. This original forty was a part of the farm of Henry Rumsey, brother of Elisha Walker Rumsey, who had purchased eighty acres of land in the eastern part of the village.* But the one who did most in the legislature both to locate the University in Ann Arbor and the prison in Jackson was none other than James Kingsley. The Nowland farm, situated on either side of North State street near the Huron River, was the original choice of the Regents at their first meeting, but before they adjourned they decided on the less beautiful acres of the Rumsey farm. In spite of all the land company could do, however, the real estate boom failed to materialize, lots near the "forty" selling no higher than $200 each, and many as low as $50. When the affairs of the company were finally closed up, it was found that no one had made or lost a dollar and that the five men had in reality donated the land to the State, their investments and expenditures, except for the forty acres, just striking a balance. The "forty" in those days was a dreary site. A small part of it had been under cultivation and to one side stood a * Henry Rumsey was later known as Judge. His daughter, Minerva, later became known as Mrs. Clarkson Mundy. She was the heaviest contributor to the St. Andrews rectory. Judge Rumsey was the first Washtenaw representative to the Territorial Legislature and the first State senator from Washtenaw County. THE UNIVERSITY-PART I 239 diminutive house, later occupied by the "ubiquitous Pat Kelly, whose freedom of the agricultural privileges of the Campus made him quite as important a financial factor of the commnunity as the members of the Faculty he served." (Shaw, p. 272.) Tlhe MJ ichigall. Al'gus, issue of February 14, 1839, contained a notice of the first meeting of the Board of Regents as follows: "June ), 1837, in pursuance of a notice given by the Governor of the State, a quorum of the Board of Regents, who had been appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, met at Ann Arbor and organized under the provisions of the twenty-second section of the act approved March 18, 1837. A secretary, treasurer, and librarian were then appointed." They then selected a site for the university buildings and obtained a satisfactory title to the forty acres of land, given by the land company, together with the right to the water of adjacent springs and the right of way for the conveyance of water to the University buildings. Their next business was to resolve that branches of the university be established as soon as convenient "with due regard to the public interest." One branch was to be located in the first senatorial district, one in the second, two in the third, one in the fourth, and three in the fifth, thus making eight in all. Pontiac, Monroe, Kalamazoo, Detroit, and Niles were agreed li)uon for sites of the first schools and $8,000 was voted for employing teachers. In December, 1841, these branches, together with ones which had been established at White Pigeon and Tecumseh, had a total enrollment of 210 students. While some of these events were taking place many of the same energetic citizens who were interested in land values about the proposed site of the University, as well as many who had little or no interest in such matters, were planning even bigger things for Ann Arbor. On March 6, 1839, a petition signed by fifty-three citizens and directed to the Washtenaw County Commissioners asked that body to have the Legislature moved from Detroit to the Court House in Ann Arbor. Though the signers pledged that the Court House would be fitted up suitable to the taste of the law-makers, the movement came to nothing.* It is said that the location at Lansing, * Burton, M. S., Public Library, Detroit. bo Li I, 0 - THE UNIVERSITY-PART I 241 MASON HALL TABLET The Tablet commemorating the Erection of Mason Hall, the first University Building then consisting of half a dozen houses in a wooded wilderness, was suggested in derision after the proposal from Ann Arbor was made. It was more than a year after the first meeting of the Regents was held before the first bids for building were asked for. Advertisements for proposals appeared in the Argus, and soon after contracts were let for a million feet of lumber and great quantities of brick. Local sawmills furnished most of this lumber and the brick-yard down near Allen's Creek furnished most of the brick. The plans as finally accepted called for six buildings: two dormitories and four houses for professors. The first building to be finished was the north boys' dormitory completed in the fall of 1841. It is now referred to as the north wing of old University Hall, but its real name is Mason Hall, named in honor of Governor Stevens T. Mason, 242 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS whose veto message of April, 1839, saved to the University its lands. The dormitory was completed at a cost of $16,000, and the four professorial residences were completed apparently at a cost of $32,550. The name of Mason Hall lapsed until 1912 when it was revived by the Daughters of the American Revolution and a bronze tablet was placed on the front-of the structure bearing the inscription: MASON HALL 1842 This Tablet Erected by the Sarah Caswell Angell Chapter D. A. R. With the completion of the first boys' dormitory school could open. On November 30, 1841, it was announced that "The Sophomore and Freshmen classes.. are now organized, and students can be admitted any time during the terms, on passing a satisfactory examination. Candidates for admission to the Freshman class at the beginning of the term are examined in Geography, Arithmetic, Elements of Algebra, Sallust, Cicero's Orations, Virgil, Jacob's Greek Reader, the Four Gospels, Latin and Greek Prosody. Testimonials of good moral character are required in all classes." When registration was complete the total enrollment of students was nine, and, since there were but two professors, the ratio of pupils to teachers was four and one-half to one! The two members of the Faculty were George P. Williams, professor of mathematics, and Joseph Whiting, professor of Latin and Greek languages. It was further announced that "a Preparatory Department is also established in which those studies are pursued which are requisite for admission to the Freshman class. Admittance at any time during the term." The tuition in the preparatory department was $6 per term, with an additional incidental fee of fifty cents. Students who occupied rooms in a dormitory were to pay $1 room rent per term. The studies of the freshmen were Livy, Horace, Diloway's Roman Antiquities, Thucydides, Xenophon, Lysias, Isocrates, Demosthenes, Cleveland's Antiquities, Exercises in Latin and Greek Composition, Latin and Greek Prosody, DeSacy's General Grammar, Jameson's Rhetoric, Written translations from Latin and Greek authors, Natural History, Bourdon's Algebra, and Legendre's Geometry. The sophomore studies were: "Tac THE UNIVERSITY-PART I 243 itus, viz; Historia, Germania, Vita Agricolae, Terence, Suetonious, Greek Philosophers, Homer's Odyssey, Latin and Greek Composition, Whateley's Logic, English Composition and Translations, Tyler's History, Applications of Algebra in Geometry, Trigonometry, Mensuration, Analytical Geometry, Descriptive Geometry, Surveying, and Natural History." (Michigan State Journal, Nov. 30, 1841.) On December 20, 1841, an attempt was made to determine how much of this highly classical dose had been assimilated when the first exaininations in the history of the University were given. Franklin Sawyer, in the Journal for December 28, stated that "The first examination of the student in the Branch at this place commenced on Monday and closed on Friday of last week. Pressing engagement prevented us from being present throughout; but we attended the first day and, after hearing several recitations in Latin and Algebra, came away convinced that, in all the requisites of good teaching and good discipline, no two persons could be found superior to Professors Williams and Whiting. Many of the young men had studied Latin but a few weeks, and yet their rapid and real improvement was plainly to be seen. We regret that necessity kept us away on Thursday as we are advised that the Greek recitations indicated on the part of the teachers the same admirable kind and degree of mental training. The principle on which both Professors teach is the only right one —that of exercising and disciplining and gradually developing the minds of their pupils...." The interest of the editor of the Journal in University affairs was shared by the people of the village generally. They were interested in the vacation periods, extending from August 13 to September 25, from December 24 to January 2, and from April 9 to May 1; but they were even more interested in the appointment of each new professor. In June, 1842, Dr. Abram Sager, who had been for three years employed by the State as a geological surveyor, was appointed to a professorship in Zoology and Botany. He built up a large medical practice in the village and became more widely acquainted than any of his colleagues. The friendships he made developed in the citizens a keener interest in affairs of the University than they had known before. 244 TIlE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS In 1842, when plans were made for diverting University and Primary school funds for the general expenses of the State, the citizens held the first of a long series of meetings of protest. The leaders in these meetings were W. R. Thompson, J. (. Mundy, E. M. organ, C. N. Ormsby, Charles Kellogg, M. Eaker, Samuel Denton, George Sedgwick, F. J. B. Crane, George T. Allen, George Danforth, and Mark Howard. Resolutions were adopted condemning the use of funds for any other purposes than those for which they had been intended, public education in Michigan. The first protest of the citizens against an action of the Regents came in connection with their expressed desire that the library books belonging to the University be allowed to circulate. One irate citizen said that the purpose of the Regents in adopting the rule against tle practice was "to exclude the library from all contact with the mind of man as far as practicable to do so." In indignant tone he asked: "Can the Regents read... facts respecting European Libraries, and not feel ashamed of their own illiberal and barbarous regulations? Are Americans alone, of all civilized people, such a swinish herd, as cannot be trusted to approach a public Library?" (Journal, February 28, 1842.) Local citizens seem to have looked upon the University as belonging, not so much to the people of the State, as to the citizens of Ann Arbor. They were far more interested in the activities of the professors and the students because of how these activities might affect the village than they were in the effect they might have on the public at large. The business of the University was their business, they criticized freely the things they liked and as freely criticized the things they did not. It was "our Branch" and "our University," and why should they not take great interest in what they looked upon as their own? This feeling may be explained, in part, at least, to the large proportion of students drawn either from the village itself or from surrounding townships. The sophomore class, on March 1, 1843, for example, was made up of the following: Judson Collins, of Lyndon; Thomas B. Cuming, of Ann Arbor; Edwin Lawrence, of Monroe; Merchant TH. Goodrich, of Ann Arbor; Fletcher Marsh, of Kalamazoo; L. Decatur Norris, of Ypsilanti; George E. 'armelee, of Ann Arbor; George W. Pray, TIlE UNIVERSITY-PART I 245 of Superior; Charles T. Southworth, of Mlonroe; and Platt S. Titus, of Jackson. In the freshman class were: George P. Andrus, of Ann Arbor; George W. Collins, of Pittsfield; Samuel J. Drew, of Mackinac; William Garwood, of Monroe; William P. Glover, of Ann Arbor; Henry D. Goodrich, of Ann Arbor; Giles Heath, of Niles; Satterlee Hoffman, of Niles; Charles J. Hunt, of Waterford; Julius S. Kingsley, of Plymouth; Henry Lawrence, of Monroe; William W. Perry, of Ann Arbor; William W. Phelps, of Pontiac; Homer F. Schoff and Savillon S. Schoff, of Portland. MIost of these boys roomed in Mason Hall, though a few made daily trips from and to their homes. One of those who kept an eye on the Campus described it at this time as little more than a farm with a few buildings on it, and another pictured it later as being "enclosed with a neat fence. Four splendid buildings, intended as residences of the professors, and one large edifice for students' room, have been erected at great expense. In the latter the University library, already consisting of nearly four thousand volumes, purchased in Europe by Professor Gray at a cost of some five thousand dollars, and embracing works on history, classics, philosophy, science, art, jurisprudence, &c. In that building, too, is the magnificent Cabinet of the University, consisting of minerals purchased from Baron Liederer for four thousand dollars, and pronounced by Professor Houghton, and others capable of judging, to be equal to, if not to excel, any collection of foreign minerals in the United States, being a richer cabinet than that of Yale which originally cost twenty thousand dollars: also extensive collections of rock specimens, fossils, native minerals, and zoological specimens-mostly the result of the indefatigable exertions of the State Geologist." The zoological specimens in the University's scientific collection, including mammalia, birds, fishes and shells, numbered, in February, 1843, 5,500; the plant specimens about 15,000; specimens of minerals, 8,000; and there were besides, 10,000 specimens classed as geological, making a total of about 38,000. Of this number Dr. Houghton had arranged and classified scientifically 4,500 minerals, 150 birds, 500 geological specimens, 400 shells-in all 5,500. In their leisure hours many people visited the "Cabinet" and 246 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS From a dry point etching by W. B. Shaw THE CAMPUS IN i850, FROM THE EAST stared at its wonders just as people now stare at the strange things to be seen in the various museums today. Some of the citizens wandered about the halls, peered into the students' room and asked questions about their lives. One of the subjects of interest then, as now, was that of the cost of living. The standards of living in 1843 were not as high as they were in 1925, eighty-two years later, and the purchasing power of money was far greater than than it is now. Good THE UNIVERSITY —PART I 247 board could be procured then at rates varying from $1.25 to $2.00 per week; and a student's incidental expenses, including rent, firewood, etc., were about $2.50 a term, or $7.50 per year. One of the villagers, who was fond of statistics, estimated that the average total expenses of a student in the University for four years was $378. This same citizen estimated the average total expenses of nineteen other universities, finding it to be $601.96, or a difference of $223.96 in favor of the University of Michigan. Besides following the courses of study, and watching the growth of the University the people of the village were interested in the various exercises of the school. The first exercises ever given were largely attended by inhabitants of the village, and the various numbers on the program offered subjects for conversation for many weeks. These first exercises were given at the end of the week of August 7, 1843. As was the custom after this time, the examinations were attended by members of the board of regents, the members of the "Board of Visitors," and by numerous other persons, some from the farthest corners of the state. During the exercises, or "exhibition," as it was called, thirteen students delivered original speeches, the Presbyterian church being crowded to its capac ity. This is the program as given: Vocal Music Prayer 1. Oration-Peculiarity of the American Rept 2. Essay-Eloquence, C 3. Instability of Governments, 4. Dissertation-Nature and Art, Music 5. Dissertation-American Indians, 6. Essay-Virtue the Basis of Liberty, 7. Oration-Responsibility of Superior Talent, Music S. Dissertation-Choice of Pursuit in Life, 9. Essay-Change, 10. Poem-Blessed are the Pure, iblic, L. D. Norris 'harles T. Southworth Merchant H. Goodrich Thomas B. Cuming J. D. Collins Edwin Lawrence Charles A. Clark George W. Pray George E. Parmelee Edmund Fish 11. Oration-Influence of the Intellectual Culture on Morals, Fletcher Marsh 12. Party Spirit, A. M. Campau 13. Oration-Influence of the Fine Arts, P. W. H. Rawls Music (Journal, Aug. 16, 1843.) 248 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS This exhibition, and those which followed it at the end of each term, were in the nature of demonstrations of what the University had accomplished in educating her sons. Often the exercises were continued throughout most of the day, the Junior Exhibition for the year 1845 consisting of twenty-three separate numbers, and designed, apparently, to test the endurance of those who appeared on the program as well as those who sat through until the exercises were over. While the townspeople and the University people were rubbing elbows at these exhibitions the former found an opportunity to familiarize themselves on facts having to do with student enrollment and on the University's finances. While the above sums seem small as compared with what it now costs a student to attend the University, they were thought of as large nearly three generations ago when the money resources of most of the students was small. The financial condition of the University was no better until 1844 when a new era of prosperity was opened to the struggling institution. The Journal for January 8, 1845, stated that the revenue of the University for the year 1843-44 was $9,703.52, and it was paying $6,000 per year on a debt of $100,000. In the spring of 1844 the legislature authorized the purchase by the State of a female seminary building and lot in Detroit, and the conversion of its unproductive lands into State warrants sufficient to cancel the University's debt. When this had been accomplished it became possible to employ two new professors, and the regents felt warranted in borrowing from twelve to fifteen thousand dollars for a new building. The plan had been worked out so as to reduce the debt, by January, 1845, to $60,787.59. The Reverend Edward Thompson had just closed a year of service with the University, in 1844, when the brighter financial outlook came. He was succeeded by Andrew Ten Brook who soon became the librarian of the University and who later employed a part of his leisure hours in writing a brief account of early Ann Arbor. In 1844, also, Silas H. Douglas, later the organizer of the Chemical Laboratory, came to join the faculty in the place of Dr. Houghton, who was absent from the staff. Commencement Day, 1845, Rev. Daniel D. Whedon was appointed to fill the chair of Logic, Rhetoric, THE UNIVERSITY-PAIRT I 249 and History, and on the death of Professor Joseph Whiting, July 2, Rev. John H. Agnew was chosen to fill the vacant chair of Latin and Greek. In 1846 Professor Louis Fasquelle was appointed to the chair of Modern Languages, and he soon became one of the most distinguished members of the faculty. Though the University was supposed to be non-sectarian in character, the faculty, for the first few years, was made up almost entirely of "Reverends," chiefly Episcopal, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist. The choice of regents was also governed by a narrow denominational spirit, but as the years wore on people became more liberal in their views and the University and the State profited accordingly. But whatever animosities may have developed during any one year on account of religious belief, on Commencement Day they were not in evidence. The first Commencement was held August 6, 1845.* The exercises were saddened by the death of Professor Whiting, but the attendance was perhaps even larger than it otherwise would have been since many visitors came for the purpose of having some small part in the exercises held to honor his memory. The various meetings were held in the Presbyterian church, Professor George Palmer Williams presiding. According to the published accounts the program was divided into two parts and was as follows: PART I 1. Sacred Music. 2. Prayer. 3. Salutatory Address, Edmund Fish, Bloomfield. 4. Romance, Edwin Lawrence, Monroe. 5. The Power and Province of Rational Philosophy, Judson Collins, Lyndon. 6. Music.~ 7. The Ideal, Thomas B. Cuming, Grand Rapids. 8. Intellectual Sovereignty, Merchant H. Goodrich, Ann Arbor. 9. Perfection of Philosophy, P. W. H. Rawls, Kalamazoo. 10. Music. 11. Claims of Agriculture on Science, George W. Pray, Superior. 12. Lamech-A Fragment, J. D. Collins, Lyndon. CHARACTERS: Lamech, J. D. Collins; Jarah, C. A. Clark; Naphel, P. W. H. Rawls; Sons of Lamech, T. B. Cuming, Edwin Lawrence. 13. The Hire of Intellect, Edmund Fish, Bloomfield. 14. Music. PART II 15. Greek Poem, Thomas B. Cuming, Grand Rapids. 16. The Proper Direction of Intellectual Effort, George E. Parmelee, Ann Arbor. 17. Physics and Metaphysics-Their Laws Equally Determinable, * See reproduction of Michigan State Journal for August 23, 1845, on page 348. 250 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS John Mackay, Calais, Me. 18. Music. 19. Poem, The Nazarine, P. W. H. Rawls, Kalamazoo. 20. Connection between Faith and Knowledge, Charles A. Clark, Monroe. 21. Influence of the Crusades, Fletcher 0. Marsh, Kalamazoo. 22. Music. 23. Degrees Conferred. 24. Address to the Class. 25. Prayer. Among those present at the exercises was the editor of the Detroit Advertiser. He loudly praised the "pieces" spoken by the graduates. In commenting on the address to the class given by Professor Ten Brook at the end of the program, the editor of the Advertiser stated that it was "exceedingly beautiful and impressive. It struck a chord in the hearts of his pupils that answered through the fruitful river of the eye." Soon after these exercises were over, Reverend George Duffield of Detroit delivered an address before the literary societies, and following that the first alumni meeting ever to be held in the village assembled, graduates of many collegiate institutions being present. Honorable Austin Wing of Williams College was called to the chair, and Mr. J. M. Howard was chosen secretary. The meeting was then addressed by George V. N. Lothrop and George E. Hand touching the objects in view. After the second address, upon motion of Mr. Hand, it was "Resolved, That an executive committee of seven be appointed by the chair, with instructions to prepare and report at the next meeting of the alumni, to be held in Ann Arbor at the next annual Commencement of the University of Michigan, a plan of organization of the Society of the Alumni in the State of Michigan and to procure an orator and a poet for the occasion." The chair appointed for the committee Rev. Duffield of the University of Pennsylvania, J. M. Howard, of Williams College, George V. N. Lothrop, of Brown University, George E. Hand, of Yale, Andrew Ten Brook, P. W. H. Rawls and Edmund Fish of the University of Michigan. It was then "Resolved, That graduates of all other colleges, residing in this State, desirous of becoming members of this society, are requested to send in their names to any member of the executive committee with the name of the institution at which they were graduated and the degree and date of their graduation." With the adoption of this regulation the meeting adjourned. Most of those who were present at this meeting met again THE UNIVERSITY-PART I 251 that same evening as dinner guests of certain prominent ladies of the village. A local paper described the event in the usual extravagant way. "Among the various manifestations of hospitality, kindness, and good will, shown by the citizens of Ann Arbor on that eventful period for future history-the first Commencement of the State University, none appeared so conspicuous as the public-spirited generosity and maternal interest shown by some the first ladies in the town-of whom were the lady of Hon. S. Denton, M. D., lion. O. Hawkins, and David Page, Esq., in the formation and arrangements of a large and splendidly entertained party, expressly in honor of the graduates of the University-'First-born of their Alma Mater.' Long may they be held in grateful remembrance!Long may they live to enjoy the blessings of life, with the honor, reputation, and filial regard, of their youthful guests." At this point the writer seems to have lost sight of the party he set out to describe. Addressing another group who were present he said: "Alumni, from the first example, shall not their names go down with yours to future ages, on the records of the University? Gentlemen of the University, undergraduates, will you not, in all your deportment, in thought, word, and deed, strive to merit the ready-flowing interest and benevolence shown to your predecessors?" Of the graduating class it was said: "There has been not the least approach towards those bickerings and hositilities between citizens and students, so common in most other colleges. There has not, we believe, been an idler or a rowdy amongst them, but all have evinced the serious purpose of acquiring useful knowledge and preparing themselves for the duties of life." When the exercises were over everyone had had his full share of praise, feelings of good-will pervaded and those who had attended went home well satisfied with themselves. As the number of students grew larger, some bickerings and hostilities made their appearance. The enrollment of nine in 1841 climbed to 154 in 1851. Even before the enrollment had reached a hundred little cliques began to develop, Greek letter secret societies being formed about Commencement time, 1846. The Puritanical spirit of certain of the townspeople made itself felt in opposition to the "iniquitous institutions." Local papers strongly attacked the societies, one 252 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE FIRST FR ATERNITY HOUSE IN ANN ARBOR The old Psi Upsilon House which stood on the site of the Lawyers Club, State street and South University Avenue. It was Built in i879-80 especially virulent article finding important space in the Michigan Argus of January 30, 1850. The fight continued for a number of years, offering at times a serious administrative problem to those in charge of University affairs. But in spite of the opposition the fraternities lived on, gradually increasing in numbers and strength until they came to occupy a favorable place in the general scheme of University life. In the course of time sororities made their appearance, and they too, grew in numbers and in influence until now they have a well recognized position, akin in most respects to the organizations of their brothers. The most rapid increase in the number of the Greek-letter societies has come in the last twenty-five years. At present there are about twenty-six organizations among the girls and more than three times that number among the boys. Many Ann Arbor citizens look upon THE UNIVERSITY-PART I 253 the societies with favor, pointing with pride to the records their members make in school, to their social life, to their wholesome influence, and to the many beautiful homes where they are housed. With the larger enrollment there came, also, a fair share of carefree jollity, some lawlessness and a moiety of intemperance. In those days temperate drinking was common among the best citizens of the village and a few of the students were known to have imbibed a little. Many good people living here were horrified at what they termed the evils of strong drink, feeling it their business to do all they could to discourage the practice of drinking among the students. Early in March, 1845, a big temperance meeting was held in the Court House at which P. W. H. Rawls, then a senior in the UniversIty, was the principal speaker. His tirade against the use of spirituous liquors for beverage purposes was not stimulated by any first-hand experiences hlie had had, but seems to have been inspired by what he had heard, read or seen. He succeeded in greatly stirring his hearers on this occasion, moving them to resolve that: "Whereas, the prosperity of the village of Ann Arbor is closely connected with that of the University of Michigan, and, "Whereas, the prosperity of the latter depends materially on the good name of the former, established throughout the length and breadth of the State; therefore, "Resolved, that it is the duty of every inhabitant of the village to exert an influence in favor of order and strict morality; and that to do this efficiently, they should neither make, use, nor vend intoxicating liquors." But the making of speeches and adopting of resolutions seems to have done little lasting good. A certain per cent of the townspeople and an even smaller per cent of the students continued on their alcoholic and, on occasion, unsteady ways, and it was more than three-quarters of a century before the number of those who drank appreciably increased. More serious troubles came upon the University in these early years than those occasioned by the faculty struggle against infant fraternities and those having their origin in 254 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS student levity and inebriation. Had there been on the campus, at the head of the institution, a strong executive to determine policies and to see that they were carried out, the history of the first fifteen years of the University's life would have been more peaceful and the influence of the school far greater. The first members of the Board of Regents were bent on exercising a paternal supervision over the infant school, but their benevolent watchfulness was received with distinct disfavor on the part of many townspeople, all members of the faculty and most of the students. The practice of rotating the different professors in the office of president did not provide a very happy solution to the problem of a central authority, and jealousy cropped out among the teachers. While Professor John H. Agnew was filling his term as President he labored under a burden doubly heavy. As Professor of Greek and Latin most of the teaching done in the University, since the subjects studied were chiefly classical, fell upon his shoulders. The request that the other professors share a just proportion of the classroom work was strongly resented, Professor Ten Brook foolishly giving up his position when pressure became too great. Since a new Board of Regents would soon be elected in accordance with the terms of the new State Constitution, the Regents believed it would be wise to ask the three other professors involved in the dispute to resign. This, it was thought, would clear the way for the incoming Regents to appoint members of a new faculty. Professors Williams, Whedon, and Agnew therefore withdrew, though the first named was reappointed. These events were discussed locally and throughout the State, most people looking upon them as decidedly unfortunate. They did have the merit, however, of showing the need for a strong executive, and such a person was not long in coming. The University Act, passed about this time, laid upon the Regents the duty of immediately choosing a President, or Chancellor, as he was more often called. When the choice was made it fell upon Henry Philip Tappan, LL. D., and with his term of office there begins a new era in the history of the University. CHAPTER XVI The University-Part II PRESIDENT, or Chancellor, Tappan was inaugurated December 22, 1852. He was a remarkable man, combining in his makeup the determination and strength of character of his Dutch ancestry on the one side, and the enthusiasm and originality of his Huguenot ancestry on the other. Three years on the sunny side of fifty, his commanding carriage, great physical energy, natural endowments as an orator, keen mind and splendid educational equipment eminently fitted him for the difficult position he came to fill. Though he was of a democratic turn and easy to approach, yet he was not familiar nor did he invite familiarity. His study in American and in European schools fixed in his mind definite concepts of what a good school should be. He came to the West with the avowed purpose of making of the University of Michigan the best institution it was possible to make under the circumstances, but before he had been here long he found that the sailing was not altogether smooth. In little more than a year the citizens of the State, and especially the inhabitants of Ann Arbor, were taking sides, some favoring his ideas and some not even remaining to pray. A number were unstinted in their praise, while others expressed great fear that the expenditure of such vast sums as President Tappan's "building program" called for was wholly unnecessary. An editorial in the Washtenaw Whig for January 4, 1854, defended the plan for expansion in words which have a singularly modern ring. "Another source of complaint is that the (Chancellor's) Report recommends the building up of a great and magnificent institution, and the idea is conveyed (by editorials in other papers of the State) that this is to be done immediately, and as soon as brick and mortar can be put together, and the fear is prominently held up that the President has designs on the State Treasury by which he expects to accomplish it! While we give him credit for a laudable ambition to have the former part of the proposition 256 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS HENRY PHILIP TAPPAN, D. D., LL. D. The First President of the University, 1852-1863 realized, we venture to say that the latter is far from his expectation as a voyage to the moon. To build up a college is the work of centuries instead of decades, and the idea that President Tappan would try to do it in ten or in fifty years, is a bugbear to frighten crows. That he desires to lay the foundation for a great institution, is evident enough, but if any direct aid is ever asked of the State, it will not be for this or succeeding generations to pay." Unfortunately, Chancellor Tappan was not permitted to remain in office long enough to work out his policies, though his administration is notable for a number of well-made beginnings. It was in this administration that the foundation was laid for the University as it is today. As a part of his plan President Tappan hoped to have introduced courses in such numbers and offering studies of such a varied character as to enable every student to study that which pleased him most THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 257 and to any extent he desired. Moreover, he proposed to begin a graduate school in which work of a higher order would be done. These and other plans necessarily meant more buildings, a larger faculty and additional equipment. He had not been in office many months before he took steps to improve conditions wherever they were in need of it. As a result of his attempt to secure subscriptions to the library fund, the Regents voted the sum of $,300 and the citizens of the town the sum of $1,515. About the same time that these sums were procured, $22,000 was procured for the Observatory, of which the Regents gave $7,000 and citizens of Detroit $15,000. In his inaugural speech, April 18, 1856, the mayor of Ann Arbor suggested that a new road to the Observatory be laid out, and it was but a little while before the suggestion was acted upon. It was during the administration of President Tappan also, that the professional departments came into their own. The Medical School was organized in 1849 when, at a cost of about $'.9,000, the first medical building was completed. Most of the surgi(cal instruments and books first used in this building were willed by Dr. Cyril Nichols, a graduate of the medical school in Detroit managed by Professors Whiting and Hurd. (liancellor Tappl)an gave to this new School every encouragemuent lie could, and its enrollment soon exceeded that of the Literary Department. In 1855 the course in civil engineering was estal)lished in connection with the Department of Physics, and four years later saw the opening of the Law School where a quality of work has been maintained which has done much to set the standards of work in the other schools and colleges. It is true, to be sure, that the level of requirements was not always high, but Dr. Tappan knew time would take care of that, and he deserves great credit for introducing the new courses and giving them so good a start. Much enthusiasm was in evidence in Ann Arbor and in University circles when it became known that a Law Building was to be built. The contract for the structure was let in the spring of 1862. It called for a building 70 by 96 feet, one portion to be two, and the other three stories in height. Besides the usual distribution of class and lecture rooms a room for meetings of the Regents was provided for. The contract was let to Thomas Fairburn, of Detroit, for $19,012.90, ex 2 5 8 THE FIRST HUN DRED YEARS 7770 00 coo THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 259 'D.I: I '. i~ ~i:::i:;;; t ~:~::_:::.; _:iii ERASTUS 0. HAVEN, D.D. The University's Second Executive, I863-1869 elusive of the heating apparatus. When, in 1863, the building was finished, the Law School had a home of its own and from that time students belonging to that School looked upon themselves as a group apart. In 1860, Amon West and David Knowland brought to the Campus the huge stone which stands at the corner of State street and North University avenue. The stone was found on Beakes street, near Summit. It took two days to haul the stone to the Campus on a stone-boat. As the ground was bare much of the distance, the men had to gather snow all along the way and lay icy tracks for the runners to glide upon. It was in 1863 that the strong administration of Dr. Tappan came to an end. He was forced out of office partly because of certain personal habits and mannerisms which were 260 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS distasteful to some, partly because of the liberalism of his political and religious views and partly because the lines of authority between himself as executive head of the University and a mediocre Board of Regents had never been sharply drawn. In the nature of things the next President would be more subject to the dictates of the Board whether that Board was strong or not; and it would not be possible for the one who should fill the office of President to manage things with a masterful hand. The choice of the Board for Michigan's second President fell upon Dr. Erastus O. Haven, a member of the faculty. He was a man of genial disposition, inclined to give way under pressure and averse to stirring up strife. He was already popular, and he continued to be as well liked after he became Iresident as he was before. Nevertheless, he proved to be a satisfactory administrator during a critical period in the University's history, interesting 'himself more in matters of the moment than in the future development of the institution. Though Dr. Haven took care not to give himself the name of an innovator, at the same time he fully appreciated the worth of the policies of Dr. Tappan, and he continued to follow them much as if they had been his own. Like Dr. Tappan he was much interested in any movement which would help to make of the institution a university in fact as well as in name. To this end he used his influence to further the introduction of new courses, the putting up of new buildings and to enlarging the faculty. The demands growing out of the situation at the time of the Civil War made things easier for him just as similar conditions did for Presidents Hutchins and Burton at the time of and just after the World War. In 1864 a School of Mines was established, but it was soon absorbed by a new department, that of Mining Engineering, which in turn failed to survive. In 1867-68 a Latin and Scientific course was begun, and in 1868 the first course in pharmacy was given. During the administration of both Dr. Tappan and Dr. Haven the citizens of the city kept up their interest in University affairs. They were ever on the alert for opportunities to help and were quick to respond whenever an appeal to them was made. In 1859 many citizens met in the office of the mayor where steps were taken to raise funds with which to T1HE UNIVERSITY-PART II 261 THE UNIVERSITY OBSERVATORY IN 1855 From an old Painting by Cropsey, presented to the University by Dr. Andrew D. White purchase works for the "Art Hall" on the Campus. Back of this movement was the Randolph Rogers Art Association, an organization composed of those interested in art as such, and those who were admirers of Randolph Rogers, the famous sculptor, who had spent some of his boyhood days in Ann Arbor. A neat sum of money was subscribed and it was later spent for the purpose for which it had been raised. Four years after this meeting was held, the citizens were called upon again. The Regents proposed that they subscribe $10,000 for a much needed addition to the Medical Building. The matter was thoroughly discussed in public meetings where most of the private wealth of the community was represented. 262 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Resolutions were adopted and the credit of the city pledged for the desired amount. The Council was authorized to issue bonds to cover it, payable in one and two years after legislative legalization of the action of the city was given. (Argus, February 26, 1864). The editor of the Argus, speaking in favor of the resolutions of the citizens, sets forth their attitude very well: "The University," he wrote, "has done and is doing much for Ann Arbor, and Ann Arbor can afford to do liberally by the University. Though a State institution we reap its local benefits. Its large income is used in our midst, its students pay largely to the support of our business interests, and while the State at large may feel a just pride in its success and good name, we of Ann Arbor have a special interest in its upbuilding. And, besides, we can cite to this liberal donation when jealous citizens of other towns clamor in favor of a perversion of its funds, or seek by narrow policy to prevent its growth, because its benefits are locally ours and not theirs.... It is $10,000 well appropriated and will bring rich returns to our city." The next year the citizens voted a second $10,000, to improve the condition of the Observatory, but before the money was raised, certain short-sighted objectors succeeded in reducing the amount to $3,000. Detroit citizens responded to an appeal for help and the plans for renovating and remodeling the building were carried out. While these events were taking place a movement was in progress in which the people of the city showed a very great interest. When Professor Andrew D. White arrived here in 1857 the Campus was in a decidedly run down condition, an eyesore to everyone resident in the city, though ten years before various shade and ornamental trees were planted. The young professor took it upon himself to put the grounds through a process of beautification and he was given every encourageinent in his effort. In fact the work was carried so far, by the summer of 1864, the year Professor White left the University, that one coming back after an absence of seven years would scarcely have recognized the place. The report of the Steward showed on the Campus, 1,370 shade and ornamental trees, of which 582 were evergreens, 350 maples, 270 elms, 46 native oaks, 35 horse chestnut, six poplar, 26 ash, six hickory, six catalpa, six butternut, five burr oak, two dog THE UNIVERSITY —PART II 263 wood, and six locust. The list includes the trees planted as a memorial by the class of '58. These were set out in concentric rings about a native oak in the center of the Campus. It is now known as Tappan Oak, and is marked by a boulder and tablet which were put there years later by surviving members of the class. In 1865 a Norway spruce hedge was set out along the entire front of the Campus and in succeeding years other professors followed the tree-planting activities of Professor White, and other classes followed the example set by the class of '58. In 1870 the hedge and fence were both removed and a few more trees were set out. The boulevard system was begun in 1888 and it has not been completed even yet. Professor White was one of the most delightful characters and had one of the keenest minds of any of the members of the faculty. Though still in his twenties he was a leading thinker along several lines and was often called upon for public addresses. During the days just before the outbreak of the Civil War, the subject of the tariff was second in interest to that of abolition itself. Many local people took issue with him on the subject of the tariff, the editor of one of the Ann Arbor papers attacking not only his views but the youthful teacher himself. In the words of Professor White this "thin, vociferous lawyer, past his prime" was not without ideas and force. For many years he had been a department subordinate at Washington, but having accumulated some money, he had donned what was then known as senatorial costume-namely, a blue swallow-tailed coat, and a buff vest, with brass buttons-and coming to this little Michigan town, lie had established a Whig paper, which afterward became Republican. He was generally credited, no doubt justly, with a determination to push himself into the United States Senate; but his determination was so obvious that people made light of it, and lie never received the honor of a nomination to that or any other position. The main burden of his editorials was the greatness of Henry Clay and the beauties of a protective tariff, his material being largely drawn from a book he had published some years before; and, on account of the usual form of his argument, he was generally referred to, in the offhand western way, as "Old Statistics." 4 4THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ANDREW D. WHITE, LL. D. Who as a Young Man was the First Professor of History in the University. He Planted Many of the Trees on the University Campus "In a public lecture based on my Russian experiences, I had incidentally attacked paternal government, and especially such developments of it as tariffs for protection. The immediate result of it was a broadside from this gentleman's paper, and this I answered in an article which was extensively copied throughout the State. At this he evidently determined to crush this intruder upon his domain. That an 'upstart'-a 'mere school-teacher'-should presume to reply to a man like himself, who had sat at the feet of Henry Clay, and was old enough to be my father, was monstrous presumption; but that a professor in the State university of a commonwealth largely Republican should avow free-trade opinions was akin to treason, and through twelve successive issues of his paper he lashed me in all the moods and tenses. As these attacks be THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 265 came scurrilous, I made no reply to any after the first,. and it became clear that my opponent's attacks simply advertised me. The following year I had my revenge. From time to time debates on current topics were held in the city hall, the participants being generally young professional men; but, the subject of a tariff for protection having been announced, my old enemy declared, several weeks beforehand, his intention of taking part in the discussion. Among my students that winter was one of the most gifted young scholars and speakers I have ever known. Not long after his graduation he was sent to the United States Senate from one of the western States, and nothing but his early death prevented his attaining a national reputation. Ile was a man of convictions, strong and skillful in impressing them upon his hearers, of fine personal appearance, with a pleasing voice, and in every way fitted to capItivate an aulience. Him I selected as the David who was to punish the protectionist Goliath. IIe had been himself a protectionist... but lhe became a convert to my views, and day aftel day dl( week after week I kept him in training on the becst exlpositions of free trade, and, above all, on Bastiat's 'Solphisms of 'Protection.' On the app}ointed evening, the city hall was crowded, and my young David having modestly taken a back seat, the great Goliath appeared at the front in full senatorial costume, furbished up for the occasion, with an enormous collection of books and documents; and, the subject being announced, he arose, assumed his most imposing senatorial attitude, and began a dry statistical oration. His manner was harsh, his matter wearisome; but he plodded through an hour-and then my David arose. He was at his best. In five minutes he had his audience fully with him. Every point told. From time to time the house shook with applause; and at the close of the debate, a vote of the meeting being taken after the usual fashion in such assemblies, my old enemy was left in a ridiculous minority. Not only free-traders, but even protectionists voted against him. As he took himself very seriously, he was intensely mortified, and all the more so when he learned from one of my students that I now considered that we were 'even'." During the Civil War debates on controversial subjects ceased, but the interest in matters connected with the life of 266 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS the University was as keen as ever. Ann Arbor citizens and other friends of the University were greatly concerned over the financial outlook of the institution. This was due to the rapid rise in prices during the war. The income of the University, even before the conflict came to an end, was hopelessly inadequate. President Tappan, therefore, had found it necessary to appeal to the Legislature for assistance. That body, after several heated discussions, came to the rescue in noble fashion, and subsequent legislatures have followed its example. The principle was recognized that the institution is entitled to support by a general tax, thus making it in truth the University of the people. The administration of Dr. Haven came to an end in 1869, his resignation giving him an opportunity to accept the Presidency of Northwestern University. The Regents again experienced a delay in finding a suitable successor. At last Professor Henry S. Frieze, who held the chair of Latin, was appointed Acting President, a position he filled during the years 1869-71, and again during the years 1880-1882 when President Angell was in the diplomatic service of his country. There are three principal events in the Frieze administration, each one of which has a special interest in a work of this kind. One of these centers in the admittance of the first woman to the University as a student; one has to do with the practice of inspecting Iigh Schools of the State by faculty members; and a third concerns the construction of University Hall. The first "coming woman," so the Argus announced in its issue of January 28, 1870, had come to the University, "filed her application, passed the examinations, and been admitted to the Sophomore class. Kalamazoo has the honor of sending her." A few days later, February 2, to be specific, Miss Madelon Stockwell was formally enrolled and her attendance on classes begun. Of her first recitation she later wrote: "The first recitation I ever made in the University was to translate from the Antigone of Sophocles: 'It behooves us in the first place to consider this, that we are by nature women, so not able to contend with men; and in the next place since we are governed by those stronger than we, it behooves us to submit to these things and things still more grevious than these."' TIlE UNIVERSITY-PART II 267 We catch another glimpse of her experiences from her statement that "The young men of my class were, without exception, very kind to me throughout the course. But this I can hardly say of the young women of Ann Arbor during the first few months after I entered. I once attended a senior party of about 200, and not a woman except the hostess spoke to me during the whole evening." (Courier, October 28, 1882). Other women students suffered in the same way, but co-education had come to stay and in our day it is taken pretty much as a matter of course. Local citizens began to accept the situation with better grace as soon as girls from the city enrolled in University classes, several openly expressing their pride when the first Ann Arbor lady, Josephine A. Day, graduated from the great institution in January, 1875. The growing belief in better education for the masses and the decline of the private schools was accomplished by the building of High Schools throughout the State. Immediately after the Civil War graduates of these schools began to come to the University in much larger numbers than had been the case previously, and the increase has climbed steadily ever since. Acting President Frieze saw the need of tying up more closely with the University the work of these schools and the interests of their administrators. To this end members of the faculty began to make visits to the different High Schools where friendly suggestions on the improvement of conditions were made and where those in charge were encouraged to continue'their own studies in the University. Since the year 1889 when he came to the University, Dean Allan S. Whitney, of the School of Education, has been behind this work and he has found able lieutenants in Professors C. 0. Davis, J. B. Edmonson, and other members of the faculty of the School. The result has been to raise educational standards throughout the State and to insure a more uniform and higher degree of preparation on the part of the teachers in the High Schools as well as on the part of the pupils. It is impossible even to estimate remotely the importance of the relationships established in this way, but it is safe to say that they are, of tremenemdous value in the educational history of the State. The increasing enrollment had raised again and again the question of an auditorium large enough to accommodate all 268 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS who wished to make use of it. The True Democrat for March 30, 1847, stated that the whole number of students in the University was ninety-two, of which eleven were seniors, eighteen juniors, thirty-two sophomores, eleven freshmen, and twenty were in the preparatory department. The enrollment grew to 154 in 1851, to 533 in 1861 and a decade later it had reached 1,113, fifty-eight of whom were women. To provide auditorium accommodations and additional class rooms, the Legislature, in 1869, voted the sum of $75,000 for the erection of the main section of University Iall. The work of building went forward slowly, many delays holding back the progress of the workmen. It was not until November 5, 1873, that the structure was ready for a formal opening. An impressive program was presented on this occasion, the great room of the auditorium being crowded to the limit at the time. After Hill Auditorium was completed in 1913, the old auditorium in University Hall was no longer used for large gatherings, nor was it safe to do so any more. After the World War parts of the room farthest from the stage were separated off for class rooms and the stage itself found few uses other than those of the classes in public speaking and dramatics. It was upon the advice of Dr. Frieze that an offer of the Presidency was made to Dr. James 1. Angell. The tribute paid by Mr. Shaw to President Angell as a man and as an administrator is full and strong, though it would be extremely difficult for anyone to give his memory all the praise it deserves. He came here in 1871 when the student enrollment was only 1,110; but at the end of his active administration in 1909 the enrollment had reached a total of 5,343. The total income of the University the first year he was here was only $76,702.52; but for the last year it had mounted to approximately $1,290,000. The mill tax for the year 1873 was no more than $15,000, but in 1909 it had become $650,000. The value of the University properties, so said Dr. Angell at the opening ceremonies of University Hall, was at that time $443,000; in the fall a few months after his death, in 1916, the value was estimated at $7,227,898.91. It is evident from all these figures that the University had come upon prosperous times. The greater attendance and the material prosperity of the University were taken note of throughout the country, and THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 269 DR. JAMES BURRILL ANQELL For Thirty-eight Years, 1871-I909, President of the University and Ann Arbor's Leading Citizen Doctor Angell himself, by his writings and numerous speeches and by the power of his greater personality, caused many to turn their eyes to the flourishing institution at Ann Arbor. As the country passed more and more from an agricultural to an industrial and manufacturing nation the problem of how the University could best serve the public kept pressing for solution. In the attempt to solve it, new courses from time to time were introduced until it became possible to prepare for any one of a large number of professions. In fact, during President Angell's administration the institution passed from a college to a university in the fullest sense. The courses of study steadily became more difficult, those surviving their 270 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS rigors, on receiving their degrees, feeling a real pride in having achieved. It was during President Angell's term of office, also, that research work of a serious character was attempted by graduate students in considerable numbl)ers. Three years before Doctor Angell assumed his duties, there were but four students in the entire school who were doing work of this kind; twenty years after he came the number had reached fiftysix. In fact, the prospects for still larger numbers were so bright that a Graduate School in the Literary College was formally organized. Other schools and colleges were soon offering facilities for advanced work until now graduate students are to be found in every part of the Campus. In 1997 Mr. Junius E. Beal became a Regent of the University, receiving his commission from the Secretary of State the morning of April 26. Since that time he has been the principal link connecting the city and the University, especially in regard to the administrative affairs of the institution. President Angell's administration of thirty-eight years ended with his resignation, October 1, 1909. At that time he was eighty years of age. But even then he did not entirely give up his work in the University, continuing to teach until he became so feeble that climbing the stairs to meet his classes was a task too arduous for his failing strength. In his later years hlie appeared less and less in lpublic, finally finding it impossible to leave the old home he had occupied so long. On April 1, 1916, the spirit of the great man fled, but his memory will live long in the hearts of Michigan men and women for whom he had done so much. The best part of his life had been given to the University and to him more than to any other one man is the credit due for the place she occupies among the world's great institutions of learning. On every side of us now we see evidences of the loving regard in which his name is held. Two of the finest expressions of this regard may be seen at the main entrance to the Michigan Union. On the left side of the door appears a bronze tablet bearing the first of the inscriptions given below, and on the right side is a similar tablet on which the second inscription can be read. THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 271 THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN UNION For Michigan Men Everywhere Erected by Alumni, Students and Friends As a MEMORIAL To JAMES BURRILL ANGELL President of the University of Michigan 1871-1909 President Emeritus, 1909 to 1916 His Whole Life Was a:n Embodiment of Those Ideals of Democracy and Service Upon Which the University of Michigan IUnioln Was Founded and to Which It Is Dedicated JAMES BURRILL ANGELL Born, Scituate, Rhode Island January 7, 1829 Graduated, Brown University, 1849 Professor Modern Language and Literature Brown University, 1853 to 180() Editor, Providence Journal, 1860 to 1836 President, University of Vermont From 1866 to 1871 President, University of Michigaln From 1871 to 1909 United States Minister to China 1880 and 1881 Member of International Commission on Canadian Fisheries, 1887 Chairman, International Commission on Deep Water-Ways, 1896 United States Minister to the Ottoman Empire, 1897 and 1898 Died, Ann Arbor, April 1, 1916 For several months after Doctor Angell retired no effort was made to fill the office he had administered so well. When the choice was finally made it fell upon Dean Harry B. Hutchins of the Law School. IHe had had many years' experience in the capacity of a leader, especially during the absence of Doctor Angell in Turkey, acting as executive head of the University. Moreover, he was eminently fitted, both by tempera t:1 ttl '^ 3 -q t4 tJ I_~t tt d M THE LITERARY FACULTY IN 1876-77 Top Row: de Pont, Steere, Demmon, Jones, Wead. Center Row: Langley, Greene, Prescott, Hennequin Denison, Johnson, Spalding, Pettee. Bottom Row: D'Ooge, Adams, Frieze, Angell, Cocker, Olney THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 273 ment and character to fill the high office to which he had been chosen. He combined in his makeup rare qualities of leadership, straightforwardness, sincerity, caution, and kindness, qualities which enabled him to increase the respect he had already won and to draw more closely all those with whom he was associated. Honest in his motives, he was able to weld into a greater University all those who were still living who had ever attended classes in the institution. He succeeded in making all former students feel that it was still their University and that their college days would extend throughout the remainder of their lives. This was the most valuable single piece of work done by any of the Presidents of the University up to that time. A new interest was awakened in the institution which manifested itself in a rapidly increasing enrollment and in the form of large gifts by private individuals. Of all the property owned by the University at the end of President Hutchin's administration, approximately thirty-three per cent had been acquired during his term of office, and thirty per cent of this had been obtained by Doctor Hutchins from friends of the University as gifts. During the eleven years of his administration the enrollment climbed from 5,343, in 1909, to 9,041, in 1920. It was with feelings of satisfaction and pride that the citizens of Ann Arbor looked upon these golden years of growth. The University had come to be regarded as the city's main "industry," and the large gifts, increased enrollment, and plans for building spoke plainly enough of work to do, good wages and prosperous times. From the beginning of Dr. Hutchin's term of office until the present, a period of sixteen years, Ann Arbor has experienced such a fever of prosperity as was never experienced before in the history of the city. On the Campus, and on adjacent lands acquired by the University, one great building after another has gone up, and plans for further expansion have been carefully laid. Local real estate men have prospered, banks have kept busy, and money has moved rapidly in every direction. New sub-divisions have been opened, the limits of the city extended, new streets laid out, sewers put down and gas, water, light, and telephone lines installed. Along with these activities has gone the building of 274 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS HARRY BURNS HUTCHINS, LL. D. President of the University, 1909-1920 curbs, the graveling and paving of roads, and the building of homes and places of business. Much of the material that went into the buildings on the Campus was furnished by local firms, and Ann Arbor furnished much of the labor as well. Hill Auditorium, Martha Cook Building, Newberry Residence, Betsy Barbour Hall, and the magnificent Union Building are in large measure the products of local labor. Families from far and near came to the city and the heads of these families found plenty of work to do. All this meant a rapid increase in the city's population, passing from about 13,000 in 1909 to 19,600 in 1920 without the students. No one will ever be able accurately to measure what President Hutchin's administration meant to the city and to the University. That the citizens and alumni of the University appreciate the greatness of Mich THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 275 igan's fourth President no one will deny, and here, as elsewhere, lie is looked upon as one of the University's greatest executives. On the first of July, 1920, the fifth of Michigan's remarkable Presidents took up the reins of office. This was Marion LeRoy Burton, President of the University of Minnesota. Mr. Charles F. Thwing, writing in the American Review of Reviewvs, April, 1925, after President Burton's death, described his character in these words: "As it afterward became plain to all, that in Burton were found a well-balanced intellectual understanding, a heart easily kindled into enthusiasm, which kindled others unto like emotions, a will strong without any touch of obstinacy, a wealth of friendship, pure and beautiful, an unwearied power of labor, a sense of happiness which gave optimism to his associates, and also a manifest evidence of conquest which itself spelled victory in every undertaking." "His conception of education," Mr. Thwing goes on, "seen in each of his three presidencies, was of the more classical type, yet well adjusted to modern conditions. A teacher of Greek in Carleton Academy, yet he recognized fully the value of the scientific training. A student of philosophy and of theology, he appreciated the worth of an education for immediate ends. A well-balanced curriculum was his comprehensive ideal. His administration in three institutions was based on the fundamental principles of cooperation of the trustees or regents with the faculty, of personal sympathy with members of the teaching staff, and above all else, on the deep and broad desire to make the university, or college, of supreme worth to all the people. "A large body, of vigorous health, a radiant face, were the fitting exterior signs and tokens of the power of the inner man. His public speech-and in it he delighted-of a type of flowing eloquence, was composed of short sentences, in which psychological interpretation of human character and analysis of complex conditions gave understanding to a responsive audience. His speech nominating President Coolidge, last June, embodied the great elements of memory, of personal application, of the understanding of public conditions, and of eloquent sympathy." It was such a man as this who undertook to carry on the 276 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS work laid aside by President Hutchins. That he might do it the more worthily, he immediately set himself the task of becoming familiar with the history of the University, its purposes, traditions and ideals, and with all the manifold activities with which it was concerned. THe meant to find the place of the University's executive, as such, in the general scheme of things, and to find his own place among those of his predecessors. After a period of adjustment he would be able to determine upon such new policies as seemed wise as well as begin to follow out those already laid down by Doctor Hutchins. To do these things was a matter of a few months. At the end of that time he knew what his position was and he had settled upon lines of procedure which he lost no time in working out. Already everyone with whom he had come in contact had felt the electrification of his leadership and they were with him heart and soul in his determination to "carry on." Space forbids a detailed treatment of his plans and of the extent to which these plans were worked out during the few dynamic years of his administration, but there are some outstanding things which should be given a place in this book. After advising with the Regents, Doctor Hutchins, members of the faculties, and many others, a fifteen-year building program was adopted. Plans were made and money was procured from the State Legislature and through numerous private gifts. Additional land was purchased on every side of the Campus and houses torn down or moved to other parts of the city. All along the south side of South University avenue, and all along the east side of East University avenue, houses were taken away. Many of these, and several from the block now occupied by the new Medical Building, were put on new foundations on Observatory street and on Washington Heights. Others found lot room in other parts of the city and buildings began to appear in the places where the houses had stood. Through funds received from the State, these buildings were erected: the Physics Laboratory, the University High School, the new Engineering Shops and Laboratories, Medical Building, an addition to the Dental Building, an addition to the Heating Plant with new tunnels and other connections, Angell Hall, the New University Hospital, and TIHE UNIVERSITY-PART II 277 a section which completed Waterman Gymnasium. Yost Field House, naned in honor of Michigan's great coach and athletic lirector, Fielding 1I. Yost, was financed by funds provided by the University Athletic Association. Senator James Couzens of Detroit gave $600,000 to build the beautiful Nurses' Home which bears his name; Regent William L. Clemens gave the money for the wonderfully artistic library named in his honor, and William W. Cook, of the class of 1880, presented to the University the Lawyers' Club, the most beautiful university structure in America. The problems connected with locating some of these buildings, together with some arising from their construction, called for the closest cooperation between University administrators and citizens of the city. The members of the various councils, as representatives of the people, the presidents of the different councils, the mayors and the local judges have all shown a disposition to further the interests of the University. The council presidents who, since the beginning of President Hutchins' administration, have had a share in this work are: Dr. William S. Mills, E. E. Schmid, Ernst M. Wurster, Rudolph E. Reichert, George E. Lewis, and Mark B. Sugden. The mayors who have assisted in the expansion program of the University are: William L. Walz, Dr. R. G. McKenzie, Charles A. Sauer, Ernst M. Wurster, George E. Lewis, and Robert Campbell. The judges most active in promoting the interests of the institution, as far as it has been in their power to do so, have been: Judges George W. Sample, J. D. Thomas, and Andrew E. Gibson. On the side of the University, most of the principal negotiations have been carried on by the University President, Regents Junius E. Beal, and William L. Clements, Shirley W. Smith, Dean Mortimer E. Cooley, and Professors John Shepard and William C. Hoad. With the solution of some of the most important problems came complete changes in the appearance of the Campus. Property on all sides of the original forty acres had to be purchased, trees cut down or transplanted, corners rounded, streets closed, walks relaid, and old landmarks destroyed or moved away. On East University avenue nothing remained except the old Tappan School, and even that was taken over for use by University classes. On South University avenue 278 T1lE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS MARION LEROY BURTON CLARENCE COOK LITTLE Michigan's Fifth and Sixth Presidents the Cousins and Hall greenhouse property was cleared to make room for the University High School and the structure which some time will house the School of Education. The Church of Christ was removed from its old site just across the street from the rear end of Alumni Memorial Hall, and with a substantial addition it was rebuilt on the northwest corner of Tappan and Hill streets. Ground for the new church was broken June 21, 1923, but it was more than a year before the building was finished an ready for use. The old Psi U fraternity house, which stood on the corner next to the church, and THE UNIVERSITY-PART II 279 the Acacia House just south of the fraternity, on State street, were torn down and the Lawyers' Club rose in their place. On the west side of South State street on the site of Judge Cooley's old home, the Union Building was lbuilt, the Catholic Chapel property was purchased for an administration building and old West Hall, built in 1.862-63 as the First Ward school and purchased by the University in 1901, was torn down to make room for the Betsy Barbour dormitory for girls. On North University avenue some of the houses were destroyed, the greatest change in the appearance of that thoroughfare coming with the construction of Hill Auditorium. Thus the Campus is expanding in every direction, and what its final limits will be no one at this time can foresee. Some conception of the magnitude of the plans for expansion entertained by President Burton can be obtained from his annual reports, the details of which need not be chronicled here. It suffices to say that when the plans are worked out the University will be equipped to take care of at least 20,000 students and by that time it will be expedient, perhaps, to limit the number of those desiring admittance. It was in the midst of his plans that President Burton was taken ill. It was not at first known how serious his illness was, but as time went on those closest to him expressed grave fear for his recovery. After a few weeks the impression grew that the end of his days was near and on February' 18, 1925, he breathed his last. Opposite a picture of President Burton in his last Report this fine tribute to Michigan's fifth President may be found: "One must read these Reports to know the history of the University of Michigan in the past four years. The reader will perhaps sense something of the fine idealism, combined with the unusual practical gifts, which have been the University's inspiration and prime motive force during this critical period. May he also sense that unselfish graciousness and kindliness which made association with Dr. Burton an unforgettable privilege." THE UNIVERSITY BASEBALL TEAM IN 187'0 0. W. Ferdon, 77, 3d b W. R. Roberts, 77, s s G. H. Winslow, 70 '72, 170-'74 c. 0. H. Abbott, '75, p E. D. Root, 73e, c. f C. S. Burch, 75, 1st b. 0 P. Shepardson, '75, 1. f. F. K. Stearns, 73- 76, 2nd b W. C. Johnson, 78, r. f CHAPTER XVII The University-Part III T lHE citizens of Ann Arbor always have been interested in the activities of the students whether those activities have been in the nature of pranks, "exhibitions," entertainments, athletic contests, or whatever character they have assumed. Many of these activities are described by Mr. Shaw in his book, "The University of Michigan," but there are a few he has not taken note of which are described in old newspapers and which will have a special interest for Ann Arbor people today. Athletic activities, during the last sixty years, have had more attention, perhaps, than activities of any other kind. Before the year 1864 a part of the surplus physical energy of the students was worked off in games of cricket, wrestling matches, foot races, leap-frog, contests of hop, step and jump, horse shoe pitching contests, games of duck-on-a-rock, and other unorganized contests where nimbleness, speed, strength, and skill were tested. But in that year, 1864, the first baseball team was made up and a new interest in athletic contests developed. However, it was six years before the local papers took note of the sport. Baseball enthusiasts belonging to the Junior Class organized a baseball club and made arrangements for one of the first intercollegiate ball games ever played by a University team. Saturday, May 12, of that year, on the Campus grounds, the new club defeated a team representing Hillsdale College by the astonishing score of 29 to 28. The University boys had no grounds off the Campus on which to play their games until the spring of 1877. After this year reports of athletic contests became a regular part of the weekly news during the seasons of favorable weather. A diamond was laid out on the old Fair Grounds where, as the Argus of May 18 put it, 'admirers would have to pay to see the game." It was on these grounds that the first game was played by a team representing the University as such. On 282 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS the afternoon of Saturday, May 26, 1877, in this new ball park, the Mutuals of Jackson and the University team crossed bats before a large crowd who had been admitted for twentyfive cents each for the gentlemen, though the ladies were admitted free. A year after this game was played the Argqls, for May 31, announced that the University had won its first baseball championship by having defeated Hillsdale College 21 to 11. From this time on baseball was an established sport at the University, the interest in the games steadily increasing as the years went by. The growing interest in athletic games and the erection of new buildings on the Campus, which crowded the old playing field off the "forty," made necessary a field which would belong to the University. The Campus field lay just north of where the first medical building stood. But it was not until 1891 that such a field was acquired. In that year a ten-acre plot on the west side of South State street was procured and under the direct supervision of President Angell and some of his close associates the work of turning it into an athletic field was begun. An appropriation of $4,500 was voted to further the project and in the course of a few weeks the grounds were ready for use. When completed the field included a quarter-mile track with a 220-yard straight-away running along the north side, and inside the track a baseball diamond and football gridiron were marked off. Paralleling the straight-away a grandstand was built with a seating capacity of 1,500. Eleven years later, Mr. D. M. Ferry of Detroit gave twenty acres of land for a larger athletic field and club house, the present field being named in his honor. In 1904 the brick wall was raised along three sides of the field, and in 1905 the main entrance was constructed, a work made possible through a gift of $12,000 by Mr. Ferry. The plans for the entrance were drawn by architect Albert Kahn of Detroit and the carpenter work was done by Fred Weinberg and his men, all of Ann Arbor. Various additions to the original field have been made until now it is one of the most extensive areas in the world devoted to athletics. A large tract of land west of the Ann Arbor railroad tracks is soon to be purchased on which a new stadium will be erected with a seating capacity of about 80,000. THE UtTNIVERSITYt —L'AT r III 283 The history of baseball at the University finds a parallel in that of football. The first newspaper account of a game of football appeared in the Argus, issues of October 13 and 20, 1871. It seems from these accounts that much rivalry existed since the teams represented the Sophomore and Freshman classes. The game was played at nine o'clock on the morning of Saturday, October 14. Things were progressing very well for the Freshmen, the score standing 4 to 3 in their favor when suddenly hostilities had to cease-the ball had burst! The bursting of this football was in no sense taken as a bad omen. Other footballs were procured and the contests went merrily on. Within a few years a desire was expressed to try the mettle of the University boys with that of some other college team, and in 1875 when the Athletic Association was formed, the first intercollegiate challenge to be noted in a local paper was issued. The Argus for May 14 of that year stated that the student "footballists" at the University challenged the students of Amherst for a match game to be played at some future time to be agreed upon. At the same time the Football Association of Western Reserve University at Hudson, Ohio, challenged the University of Michigan Association to a game. A committee of eleven of the local Association made the arrangements as to time and place, but no record of the actual contests has been found. On November 25, 1897, the first telephone report of an outside football game came to Ann Arbor. It was a report of the Chicago-Michigan game and the news of the game was received at the School of Music. The interest in baseball, football, and in other athletic sports, both indoor and outdoor, brought on the desire for permanent quarters for lockers and gymnasium facilities. As early as 1876 the question of a gymnasium was being discussed by the students and by certain members of the faculty. The matter of a building was talked up persistently, though many doubted the value of a gymnasium. The agitation went so far as to bring plans into existence for a structure to cost $1,000, but nothing came of the project. In fact nothing definite was done in the direction of procuring a building until 1884. In that year lnore funds were solicited, chiefly 284 THE FIRST IHUNDRED YEARS froml alumni in Detroit, 'rofessor Alfred HIennequin leading in the work of procuring them. By the spring of 1892 enough money had been raised and plans so far worked out as to enable those in charge to award a contract for a structure to G. L. Gearing and Sons of Detroit, the building to cost $35,828. Joshua D. Waterman gave $20,000, which with other sums raised brought the total to $49,524.34. Later the students contributed. $6,000 and other sums were obtained which covered the total cost of the building. In 1894 when all bills were in, it was found that the structure had called for an expenditure of $61,876.49. In 1916 the building was lengthened by an addition of forty-eight feet and in 1924 offices and classrooms were added. For more than twenty years Waterman Gymnasium has been in charge of Dr. George A. May. HIis service has been so long and so faithful that he has coime to be looked upon as quite as much a part of the gymnasium as the apparatus with which he is so familiar and which he so well knows how to use. Thousands of young men have gone out from the University with stronger and more vigorous bodies as a result of the work done in the various gymnasium classes in his charge. It would be impossible for one to evaluate a contribution to student welfare such as Dr. May has made, but it is safe to say that it has been one of the most valuable in all the history of the University. The success the University has had in athletics has been chiefly due to its long line of remarkable coaches. Most notable of the men who had had a share in the coaching work in football have been Fielding II. Yost, Elton E. Weiman, George Little, Carl Lundgren, Derrill B. Pratt, Edwin J. Mather, Ray L. Fisher, Franklin Cappon, Harry G. Kipke, and Jack Blott. These men have been employed all the year around and they are all-around men, each an expert in three or more sports. Carl Lundgren, Derril Pratt, and Ray Fisher have been responsible for the success of the baseball teams during the last dozen years, and Elmer I). Mitchell and E(dwtin Mather have been responsible for the fortunes of the men in basketball, the latter assisted by Frank L. Hayes and Franklin Cappon. In track Michigan's teams for many years have been under the tutelage of Stephen J. Farrell, and during the past years he K.4 zI> FERRY FIELD Showing the old Football Gridiron, the Gates and Athletic Headquarters 286 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS FIELDING H. YOST Director of Intercollegiate Athletics has been ably assisted by Archie I-Hahn and Charles B. Hoyt. These coaches have turned out some truly remarkable teams, and their records against their principal opponents, the other universities of the Western Conference, are worthy of the best traditions of the great institution. Mr. Yost's football teams have been the wonder of the country, and the individual stars on some of his teams have won a renown almost world-wide. "The Old Man," as Director Yost is affectionately called by "his boys," besides his countless other successes has had fifteen of his football players placed on the mythical teams of All-Americans: William M. Heston, THE UNIVERSITY-PART III 287 Adolph G. Schultz, Albert, Benbrook, Stanfield M. Wells, Ralph C. Craig, John F. Maulbetsch, E. J. Allmendinger, Celric (. Smith, Frank Steketee, Henry A. Vick, HIarry (. Kipke, Jack L. Blott, Edliff R. Slaughter, lBlnie (osterbaIn,, and I ennie Friedima n. Iii b)aseball, track, andl in basketball, the other coaches have enjoyed a degree of success almost equal to that of Mr. Yost, some of the athletes carrying on so well in their particular::lpeialtics as to draw the attention of millions of people to their feats. Most famous among the baseball men have been (eorge Sisler, John Lavan, and Robert Knode; among the track men of the last few years, Reinke in the half-mile, Northrop in the javelin throw, J. K. Brooker in the pole vault, Ray W. Smnith in the high jump, and, most remarkable of all, De Hart Hubbard, the world-famous sprinter andl holder of the world's record in the running broad jump with a distance of twenty-five feet, ten and seven-eighths inches. Several of the men coached by Mr. Mather in basketball have made the AllWestern Conference basketlall fives and his teams have ranked with the best college and university teams in the United States. The following is a record made by the University against other teams belonging to the Western (ontference universities: Football Baseball Track Basketball Tennis O v a 0 a 0 Chicago 11- 7 31 1 19 17- 3 4 8 6 1 5 Illinois 8- 3 35 2 19 4 5 7- 5 3 1 -Indiana 5 - - - 1 — 2- 11 2 — Iowa 3 - 2 16- 1 -- 5- 2 2 --- Minnesota 12 1 3 9- 2 - -- 5- 3 3 — Northwestern 5- 3 22- 1 1 7 - 3 4 -- Ohio State 17 2 3 22 3 8 - 7- 9 7- 1 Purdue 5- 2 7 -- 1 - 3 2 Wisconsin 9 1 2 25 - 12 3 — 4 - 6 5 1 Totals 75 4 25 175 3 57 35- 8 44- 49 32 3 7 During the last eleven years, under the leadership, first of Floyd Rowe, and more recently under the direction of Professor Elmer D. Mitchell, participation in intramural athletics has greatly increased. During the year 1913-1914 the number of participants in sports of this kind was 2,058, but 288 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE YOST FIELD HOUSE ON FERRY FIELD during the year 1924-1925 no less than 10,356 students found an outlet for their energies in contests carried on under the direction of the Intramural I)epartment. Space forbids giving a detailed account of the other sports andl activities at the University. It is enough to say that in the Union Building, in the gymnasiums, and on the athletic fields every form of clean sport may be found alnd in each case the finest character elements are being developed. Mic(higan's program in athletics is one of which she need never 1e ashalmed. The accurate and, in some instances, amusing account of student life given in Mr. Wilfred Shaw's "The University of Michigan" (Chapter IX), can be supplemented by some taken from local newspapers. One of these describes the annual Ipractice of burning "Physics," a rite which later gave way to a similar celebration known as burning "Mechanics." For four years after 1868 the custom was dropped, but in 1873 it was revived by the class of '74 and continued in use for many years thereafter. The proceedings of this celebration in 1873 were similar to those of both former and later days. In the Detroit Post of February 15, 1873, the account describes the procession as "headed by the Grand Marshal on horseback, personifying King William of Germany. Then followed the dray bearing the culprit, who was presided over by a young 'devil,' one half black and the other red, who was provided with horns, tail, tripod, and all. After this came the junior THE UNIVERSITY-PART III 289 class... all arrayed in fantastic costumes, and armed with torches. The principal characters of note were the judges and lawyers, with their white wigs and ermine cloaks, a bishop with his tall hat and string of beads-potatoes-and the female delegation, who were truly ridiculous. Of the latter... an old Irishwoman, was very much concerned about her infant, which she bore in her arms with an immense placard on its back, bearing the word "TUTOR." A couple, one of whom was dressed in black and the other in white, represented Night and Day... In the course of the march they halted in front of the residence of the professor of Physics and greeted him with hearty cheers. On the Campus an immense crowd of students and townspeople awaited them, and they immediately proceeded to the stage and commenced the trial. The prosecuting attorney alluded to the fact that Physics had robbed them of much midnight oil and disturbed them in their dreams. His crime was great and justice demanded his life. The counsel for the defense pleaded mercy for his client and pictured the open grave and souls of all the departed who called for mercy on the accused. But all his eloquence had no weight with the relentless judge, who sentenced the culprit to immediate death, and he was hung by the neck. "The historian made it known that the class of '73, about eighty in all, had spent in Ann Arbor during the four years they were here a total of $144,531, averaging $446.07 a year, or $1,7784.30 for the course. lie stated that the largest amount spent by a single student was $4,500, or $1,125 per year; and the least $650, or $162 a year. The average age at graduation of members of the class was twenty-three years and one month. Thirty-nine were beardless; the tallest was six feet, two and three-quarters inches in height, and the shortest five feet, three and one-half inches. The largest weighed 195 pounds and the smallest 110, 148 1/4 being the average. Two intended to preach the Gospel-one as a Presbyterian, and the other, who was brought up a Baptist and then joined the Methodist church, intended to become an Episcopal clergyman. Fiftyfour members of the class had been suspended from college, one of these, the soberest, steadiest fellow in the class, had been suspended twice, and another fellow of somewhat dif 290 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS "Physics is dead, that mean old cuss, He'll never bore us more." -Our Poet in Rimbryo. CREMATIO PHYSICJE MECHANICE UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE CLASS OF '79. "Am 1 to be physicked and blistered by this vile wretch." — SHAKISPIAR.I XI. ANTE EAL. AP.., A. D. MDCCOLXXVIII. UNIVERSITAS MICHIGANIENSIS. A PROQRAM FOR A TIME HONORED STUDENT RITE The Burning of Mechanics ferent character had been suspended three times. Thirty-six used tobacco-twenty-nine of them were smokers and seven both chewed and smoked." Surely -that was a remarkable class; but the troubles of President Angell which began that year did not cease when the class of '73 received their diplomas. Succeeding classes THE UNIVERSITY- PART III 291 were not slow to seize upon pretexts for having-fun, at times nearly throwing people into a panic. This happened Commencement Day, 1878, when the first Ann Arbor Railroad passenger train came to the city. At the end of the train was a flat car on which a huge cannon was mounted. It boomed all the way up from Toledo, but at Ann Arbor it was unloaded by mischievous students and brought up State street and placed just back of the old Law Building. In the midst of the solemn dignity of the exercises in University Hall someone touched off the cannon and the report was thunderous. Windows shook, plaster fell, and President Angell was startled almost witless. He jumped into the air, spread out like a pair of scissors, and came down on one foot. He stood stark still a moment, but recovering his poise and sense of humor sent out a message to silence the frightful thing. Twice more, however, the voice of the cannon spoke and its echoes for several moments reverberated along the peaceful valley of the Huron. To restore the tranquility of the audience, President Angell made the statement that the: University had been tricked out of the ownership of the valuable land upon which the city of Toledo stands and that the folks outside were taking that means of announcing that they were bringing to him the deeds to the land. The people in the audience knew that this was a joke, but the story had the desired effect and the exercises were concluded without further disturbance. During the decade of the '80s many students, both as individuals and as groups, got their names in the papers as a result of participation in one prank or another, but during the '90s more regular though less harmful activities were planned. Early in the fall of 1892 the University Band was organized. It was a splendid organization from the very first, ably conducted by Gerald Collins, and giving numerous open air concerts on the Campus, especially in the spring and fall. Several other societies came into being during those years, but none, perhaps, were so much enjoyed as those devoted to music. This is explained, in a measure at least, to the great interest in the creation of the School of Music, which, though not strictly a part of the University, nevertheless has always been 292 1~ - THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS AN OUTLET FOR STUDENT RIVALRY The Freshman-Sophomore Tug-of-War across the Huron just below the City Park, known as "The Island" closely connected with it. Those most active in bringing the School into being were also members of the board of directors: Colonel H. S. Dean, Regent of the University; Ottmar Eberbach, E. F. Mills, Moses Seabolt, L. D. Wines, G. Frank Allmendinger, and the president of the board, A. L. Noble. All along these men were advised by Professor A. A. Stanley, who gave the best of his life to his duties as head of the School. Through his efforts and those of his associates, especially Mr. Charles Sink, Ann Arbor has come to be looked upon as one of the great musical centers of the nation where the greatest artists of the day may be heard, both those of national and those of international fame. Multiplied thousands of people have come here to listen to the various concerts and especially to enjoy the annual festivals in May. Early in 1893 steps were taken to procure a site for a building for the School and finally lot number seven, on Maynard street, belonging to the Latson heirs, was purchased. July 20, the contract for the structure was let to W. E. Howe of Ann Arbor for the sum of $7,250 and the building went up in accordance with plans drawn by George Scott. There was some talk towards the end of the year of purchasing the World's Columbian Exposition organ in Chicago, but the price, con TIHE UINIVERSITY- I'AR'T II 2)93 It. W9 I) THE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MUSIC On Maynard Street sidering the affairs of the School at that time, would not admit of it. However, the next year, 1894, as a memorial to Professor Henry S. Frieze, the University obtained it for the sum of $15,000, which represented about half of what it was worth. It was installed with great care in University Hall. On Friday night, December 14, it was used for a public concert for the first time. No fixed maximum admission charge was made, some paying as high as $200 for a ticket. There were over 2,000 present at the concert, the receipts almost wiping out the cost of the organ. When Hill Auditorium was built the wonderful instrument was placed there and given the 294 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS place it now occupies. There it has continued to thrill countless thousands of souls. (For a detailed History of the Organ see the Song Journal of Detroit). The bringing of this organ to the University enabled those attending Michigan's concerts to enjoy a far richer musical experience than could possibly have been the case without it. Moreover, the proportion of musical programs to other forms of entertainment provided by the University steadily increased, and the quality of programs always has been high. Several years before the Civil War most of the entertainers coming to the University were under the direction of the Students' Lecture Association, but with the coining to Ann Arbor of world famous artists to appear on the programs of the annual May Festivals, the Association no longer monopolized the talent. The character of the entertainments, of course, was not the same. The people brought here by the Association were, in the main, those of literary or forensic ability, but the Festival artists have displayed a wide variety of talent and people have paid high prices to hear them. Within the School itself, those who have served on the faculty for fifteen years or more and who, therefore, have done most to establish its reputation, have been: in Piano, Albert Lockwood, Mrs. G. B. Rhead, Maud Okkelberg, and Edith Koon; in Voice, Nora Crane Hunt and Grace Johnson-Konold; in Violin, Samuel P. Lockwood; and, in Theory, Otto Stahl. Ann Arbor is proud of this School of Music and her citizens recognize what a valuable asset the institution is to the city. CHAPTER XVIII Banks ANN Arbor banks and Ann Arbor lusiness have been mutually dependent and both have found an ally in the University. The early financial history of Ann Arbor is full of tragedies and it makes gloomy reading. It has its beginning in a hopeful spirit which men from the East brought with them to the West. But the hardships of frontier life, the ceaseless labor necessary to clear the land, build houses, barns, fences, and roads, and the insidious poison of the omnipresent malaria dampened the ardor of many and their hopefulness declined in strength. The decline was hastened by financial worries consequent upon over-speculation, debt, illness, and, sometimes, death. The years of greatest distress were few in number, not more than ten at the most, and the depth of suffering in Ann Arbor was never so great as it was in regions farther to the south. This was due to the character of the settlers who came here and to the improvement in means of communication with the East at the time the Erie Canal was opened and in the few years immediately following that great event. Though Ann Allen had no very high regard for some of "the sharp Yankees from New England," most of the New Englanders were good, honest business men who were bargain-drivers both by nature and by disposition. "Even more staid and prosperous," says Katharine Coman, in her "Industrial History of the United States," (page 206) "were the little German communities located with careful foresight on the most fertile soil and within easy reach of a good waterway. Here industry and contentment, a predilection for the German tongue and for a specie currency, reproduced the conditions of the fatherland. Travelers such as Weld, Timothy Flint, Michaux, father and son, and Harriet Martineau, all testify that the most promising of the pioneers were the Germans; next in capacity for transforming the forest into productive farmland came the AngloAmericans, then the Scotch-Irish, and then the English, and 296 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS that the least likely to succeed in the task of civilization were the men of French blood...." So Ann Arbor, with its peculiar racial make-up, throughout most of its life, was bound to have a financial history in which sound business methods would play the dominating part. It was the desire of those who organized the first bank in Ann Arbor to curb land speculation and promote stability in financial affairs, but a dozen years brought failure to their efforts and failure to their bank. During the winter of 1833 -34 the principal business men in the village got up a petition to the Legislature asking for authority to establish a bank. Prominent among those who signed the petition were Volney Chapin, John Allen, E. W. Morgan, James Kingsley, James Turner Allen, Edward Clark, Esek Pray, Solon Cook, Israel Branch, Chauncey S. Goodrich, William R. Thompson, Asa L. Smith, Cyrus Beckwith, Sylvester Knight, Henry Welch, Daniel Brown, and a number of others. On February 22, 1834, permission to establish the bank was given, the capital stock was fixed at $100,000 and shares were to be sold at $50 each. In the spring of 1835 the bank was formally organized with seven elected directors. At a meeting in the Court House, July 8, the banking rooms were located in the two west rooms of the old Chapin home on the northeast corner of Fourth avenue and Ann street, and the business of putting the rooms in order was begun. By June 1, all the stock had been purchased, nearly all of it having been taken by people living in or near the village, and the institution began business under the name of the Bank of Washtenaw. E. W. Morgan was the first cashier and most of the time handled all of the dealings of the bank. Soon the bulk of the stock was held by William S. Maynard, Julia G. Maynard, Samuel D. Dexter, Olney Hawkins, Samuel Denton, and a few of their friends. That first year an assessment of $5 a share on the capital stock was made, which had to be paid on or before September 28. The affairs of the bank went from bad to worse, insufficient security and too much paper money spelling its doom. It managed to keep open until the summer of 1846, when it was forced to close its doors. The downfall of the Bank of Washtenaw was due also to an over liberal policy in the matter of loans and collections. BANKS 297 From 1835 to 1845 it became increasingly difficult for the bank to back its notes with "hard money," and the time came when these notes would no longer pass. Under the circumstances there was nothing left to do but meet the crash. On May 25, 1846, therefore, notice was given "that by virtue of the Court of Chancery, the assets of the Bank of Washtenaw will le sold at public auction to the highest bidder, at the Court House in the village of Ann Arbor, on the eleventh day of July next at two o'clock P. 1M. on that day. James Kingsley, Receiver of Said Bank." It was in 1847 that the property came into Volney Chapin's possession. This same property, many years later, became known as the Arlington Hotel, and still later the Chamber of Commerce. For many years after the Bank of Washtenaw went out of existence Ann Arbor had no legally incorporated bank. Loaning money was carried on by individuals, interest charges were very high, and loans were extended only on the very best security. This may explain a thrust made by Ann Allen in a letter to her son, to the effect that "Michigan is chiefly settled by New England Yankees (cunning as foxes) and Northern Speculators." Taking advantage of the situation, Donald Mcintyre opened a private bank which he operated several years under the name of the Ann Arbor Savings Bank, Number One; and the firm of Miller and Davis conducted one which they called the Ann Arbor Savings Bank, Number Two. As the years wore along these banks found it increasingly difficult to keep above water, both finally being forced out of business some time before the opening of the Civil War. In those days banking laws had been but poorly worked out, specie was scarce and the country was flooded with all sorts of worthless paper. The result of the uncertainty growing out of these conditions was that loaning money came to be a hazardous venture, business expansion slowed up, and risking savings in new undertakings met with little encouragement. Moreover, the nation-wide panic of 1857 made people reluctant to place their funds in banks, and in Ann Arbor the establishment of a bank for a while was not even attempted. In the nation as a whole financial matters had gone fairly well up to the year 1853, but at that time a speculative mania took possession of the people. In describing the situation 298 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Katharine Coman wrote: "In the next four years the number of banking institutions was doubled, credit money was issued to the sum of $214,800,000, more than double the amount outstanding in 1847, and loans ran up to $684,500,000. On August 22, 1857, obligations of New York banks were $12,000,000 in excess of their available capital. The failure of the Ohio Life Insurance and Trust Company, on August 24, dragged down some of the leading New York firms. A run on the banks followed, and all but the most conservative were obliged to suspend, while thousands of the more speculative business ventures went to the wall. There were 4,932 failures in 1857, and 4,225 in 1858. The losses reached an unprecedented figure, $387,500,000, but they fell largely on bankers and investors. The rank and file of producers were little affected by the disaster, and no prolonged depression of business followed. (Coman, pp. 267-68.) Financial leaders in Ann Arbor, reading the accounts of these disturbances, could not be expected recklessly to pool their resources and establish a bank. Then there was no such thing as a safety deposit vault, people often going about with bills and government bonds sewed up in their clothing. Sundays much of the wealth of the community went to church, came home, and, with the garments which concealed it, was hidden away in wardrobes in upstairs closets. The demands for farm produce which came with the Civil War brought much of this wealth from its hiding places and it was employed to advantage in prosperous times. Money became easier in Ann Arbor, it changed hands more often and loaning became common. The financial outlook was so good before the war was a year old that establishing a bank was no longer looked upon as a gamble. By the early spring of 1863 preliminary arrangements were made in accordance with the national banking law and the solicitation of subscriptions for stock begun. The authorized capital was $200,000, of which $75,000 was subscribed and paid in by March 20. Issues of the bank were to be secured by a deposit of Government bonds at Washington and the Government was to be responsible for their redemption. The new institution was the twenty-second chartered under the National Bank Act and it was to be known as the BANKS 299 THE FIRST NATIONAL BANK Ann Arbor City Bank. The officers of the bank were: Volney Chapin, president; Ebenezer Wells, vice-president; and, besides these, the directors were to be C. H. Millen, Phillip Bach, James Clements, R. S. Smith, David Henning, William McCreery, and Hiram Arnold. These officers elected Charles H. Richmond, cashier, and J. W. Knight, assistant cashier. The original location of the bank was in the store occupied up to that time by Dean and Company, in the Hangsterfer Block. The confectionery shop was moved upstairs and Dean and Company went in where the confectionery shop had been. The bank opened for business July 1, 1863, many depositors visiting the office before the day was out. The institution has been in operation ever since that time and now is not only the oldest bank in Washtenaw County but it is the oldest National Bank in Michigan. After four years in the Hangsterfer Block the bank moved into the "stone front block" on Main street where, on the morning of February 28, 1867, the doors were again opened for business. The history of this institution is one of steady prosperity. Ten years after the bank was organized its resources were in the neighborhood of $450,000; thirty years after that (April, 1902) they had reached $513,197.96, and in 1925 they had climbed to approximately $2,700,000. In the spring of 1882, a new charter was obtained, the old officers keeping their positions. On the last Friday in May, the bank building was sold to Edward Treadwell for the sum of $13,950, the bank opening its doors under the new owner June 1. In 1906 the 300 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS erection of the present First National Bank BIuilding was begun, and it was completed in December, 1908, at a cost of about $175,000. About a month before the structure was finished it was sold for $67,000 to Mr. L. I). Carr, rel)resenting the Ann Arbor Savings Bank, but the court refused to confirm the sale. Later it was sold to satisfy the creditors of Frank P. Glazier, of Chelsea, whose financial operations had brought much trouble in their train. Finally the building calme into the possession of the Goodspeeds, of Grand Rapids, former residents of Ann Arbor. During all the years this bank has been in operation it has had only five presidents: Volney Chapin, 1863-68; Ebenezer Wells, 1868-82; Philip Bach, 1882-95; Edward I). Kinne, 1895-1921; and since 1921, George W. Patterson. The present officers of the bank include: George W. Iatterson, president; Daniel B. Sutton, vice-president; Robert F. Gauss, cashier; Charles F. Gruner and Hlarry 3M. Hawley, assistant cashliers. All but Mr. Gruner are directors, and, besides these the directors include: Waldo 3. Abbot, S. W. (larkson, AI. J. Fritz, Roy B. Hiscock, Walter C. Mack, Erwin E. Schmid, and Frank A. Stivers. Mr. Clarkson has been with the institution since 1883. He was cashier until 1919 when he resigned his office. At that time Mr. R. F. Gauss became cashier and he is still acting in that capacity. The Ann Arbor Savings Bank was the third bank to be established in Ann Arbor. An account of the organization appeared in the issue of the Times-News for September 16, 1918. Judge W. D. Harriman, the last survivor of the organizers of the bank wrote in that paper: "The last meeting for the organization of the bank was held in 1869 in Judge Cooley's office in the southwest corner of the old Law Building, then used for law lectures and the University library. There were present at the meeting, Judge T. M. Cooley, Dr. R. S. Smith, Harvey Cornwell, Christian Eberbach, William Deubel, E. W. Morgan, Daniel IHiscock, W. W. Wines, Christian Mack, and myself." At the request of his colleagues Judge Cooley prepared the articles of incorporation, and so well was the work done that no delay was experienced in getting them through the Legislature at Lansing. During the first ten years of the bank's life it was housed BANKS 301 THE ANN ARBOR SAVINjS BANK in rooms of the old frame building on the southeast corner of Main and Huron streets where the offices of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank are now located. The bank was opened for business May 11, 1869, a few days after the steel safe had been installed. This safe was an object of wonder. It had been purchased from I)iebold, Baham and Company at a cost of $2,000. It weighed 10,000 pounds, and it was looked upon as representing the last word in safe-construction. When the bank was opened its capital stock was but $50,000, but, in December of the same year, Cashier Schuyler Grant showed its resources to be $163,469.02, with deposits of $110,292.05, a very creditable showing for a financial institution so young. In January, 1901, the resources had reached $1,633,039; in April, 1902, they had climbed to $1,882,197.92; in 1916 they were nearly $4,000,000; and at present they are approximately $6,500,000. The deposits have increased about in proportion to the total resources of the bank. In January, 1901, they were $1,414,790; May 12, 1919, they were $3,384,559.67; and September 28, 1925, they had mounted to $5,445,577.20. In 1889 the stockholders filed articles of association, reorganizing for a period of thirty years, and in 1919 another reorganization took place. During these years through successive steps the capital stock grew from $50,000 to $400,000. In September, 1915, a branch bank was opened on North University avenue, near State street, with Carl F. Braun in charge. Under his direction the branch has experienced a healthy growth and it occupies an important place in the financial affairs of the city. 302 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS The growth and strength of the Ann Arbor Savings Bank has been due in no small measure to the character and conservatism of its principal officers. It has been especially fortunate, too, in having for its presidents men whose health and mental vigor have given them terms of office which have extended over many years. Dr. Ransom S. Smith was president during the years 1869 to 1876, with the exception of the year 1873-74, when the office was filled by Professor T. M. Cooley. Christian Mack was president from 1876 to 1901; Charles E. Hiscock from 1901 to 1917; and Michael J. Fritz from the latter year until the present. Mr. Hiscock entered the bank in 1869 and Mr. Fritz in 1873.- The present president, in 1879, after the post office vacated the space and after the rooms were remodeled, assisted in the work of moving the bank's offices to the home they now occupy, his continuous service to the institution covering a span of more than half a century. During the last few years the younger men about him have shouldered as much of his work as possible, Cashier William L. Walz especially carrying his full share of the burden. The present directors are, besides Mr. Fritz and Mr. Walz, Walter C. Mack, Carl F. Braun, John C. Fritz, John E. Swisher, and Dana E. Hiscock. Late in the year 1881, or early in 1882, Joseph T. Jacobs, who operated a tailor shop where Wadham's store now stands, conceived the idea of establishing another bank in the city. He talked over the project with Reuben Kempf, John Keck, and Harvey Cornwell, convincing them of the business possibilities of the proposed venture. These men fell in with his idea and plans for the sale of stock and for organizing the bank were made. Stock to the amount of $50,000 was sold and, on the last Monday in September, 1882, the organization of the bank was completed. The elected officers were: Reuben Kempf, president; Harvey Cornwell, vice-president; and William A. Tolchard, cashier. The new bank was to be known as the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank, its doors on the southeast corner of Main and Huron streets being opened for the first time, March 1, 1883. The financial activities of this bank were carried on in the old frame structure until January 30, 1901, when, the old frame building having given place to a new brick structure, BANKS 303 THE FARMERS AND MECHANICS BANK the offices were opened in the larger and more up-to-date quarters. During the winter of 1920-21, these offices were remodeled and enlarged in turn, the old Dawson drug store site just east having been purchased to give additional space to the extension of the building on Huron street. This final home of the bank was ready in March, 1921, the temporary offices of the bank, on the west side of Main street a little over two blocks to the south, were closed, and the new offices were entered. The principal business of the bank has been carried on in these offices since that time. The prosperity of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank has been greater than its organizers and patrons believed it would be. Between 1883 and 1895 the stock, surplus and undivided profits rose to $81,000; in 1905 it had mounted to $114,000; in 1915 it had reached $270,000; and by July 1, 1925, it had climbed to $360,000. In March, 1912, the capital was increased by a stock dividend to $100,000; July 1, 1915, it was increased to $150,000 by the sale of stock at $175 per share to ninety persons. The last increase was made in 1920 by means of a stock dividend, when the capitalization was raised to $200,000, at which figure it still remains. As is the case with some other banks in the city, the terms of office of this bank's presidents have been long. Upon the death of Mr. Kempf in 1912, Mr. Herbert A. Williams, who had 304 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS been connected with the institution for twenty years, succeeded to the presidency. His son, Max E. Williams, on June 1, 1925, was put in charge of the State street branch of the bank, which had been established in September, 1915. Mr. Fred Stowe has been connected with the down town bank for twenty-five years, he has been cashier of the bank since 1912, and a good deal of the success of the institution during the last few years has been due to his abilities. On January 1, 1916, the State Savings Bank came into existence as a result of the consolidation of two local banks, the State Savings Bank, organized in 1892, and the GermanAmerican Savings Bank, organized in 1905. The original State Savings Bank opened its doors for business April 1, 1893, on the site it now occupies, but formerly the property of the Eberbach Hardware Company. The first officers, were: Mr. A. L. Noble, president; Mr. William Arnold, vice-president; and Robert Philips, cashier. On May 18, 1894, Mr. Noble passed away, and June 5, following, Mr. William Jesse Booth, one of the originators of the lank, wras chosen president. Mr. Booth labored as the active head of the institution until 1918 when, because of advancing years, he decided to give up the office. Mr. Arnold then succeeded to the presidency, continuing in the work until January 1, 1925. Upon the acceptance of his resignation lie was succeeded by Mr. John C. Walz, who had served the bank for a period of thirtytwo years. Mr. Walz, in 1897, had been made assistant cashier upon the resignation of Mr. Phillips, and in 1903 was promoted to the position of cashier. He has been president of the bank since Mr. Arnold gave up the office, a position merited by his long and faithful service. The German-American Savings Bank opened for business on March 26, 1906, in the building now occupied by Charles J. IHutzel on the corner of Main and Liberty streets. In 1905 this site was occupied by the firm of Staebler and Company. The store was remodeled at a cost of more than $10,000 according to plans furnished by Malcomson and Higginbotham, architects, of Detroit. The officers of this new institution included: Mr. C. W. Gill, president; Mr. George Mann, vicepresident; and Mr. Edward L. Seyler, cashier. When the two banks were consolidated in 1916 the follow BANKS 305 THE STATE SAVINGS BANK ing officers were put in charge: Mr. C. W. Gill, chairman of the board of directors; William J. Booth, president; Messrs. William Arnold and George J. Mann, vice-presidents; Mr. C. John Walz, cashier; Mr. Edward L. Seyler, manager of the bonds and mortgage department; and Rice A. Beal and Rudolph E. Reichert, assistant cashiers. In 1919 Mr. Seyler resigned and went to California for his health, his death occurring there two years later. When Mr. Walz was elevated to the presidency in 1925, Mr. Reichert was promoted to the position of cashier. The present officers of the bank include: Mr. C. W. Gill, chairman of the board of directors; Mr. C. John Walz, president; Mr. Daniel F. Zimmerman, vice-president; Mr. George J. Mann, vice-president; Mr. Rudolph E. Reichert, cashier; and Messrs. Rice A. Beal, Herman F. Gross, and Dennis P. McAuliffe, assistant cashiers. The growth of the State Savings Bank has been little short of remarkable. According to the first published statement, that of May 4, 1893, the capital stock was but $50,000 and the total assets but $99,535.32. With the merger of the two banks in 1916, and the natural business growth, the capital stock has mounted to $300,000 and the total assets have come to be more than $5,000,000. The secret of this growth is revealed when the names of the officers of the bank are noted. Careful, straight dealing has won for this bank the full con 306 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS fidence of the public, and those in best position to know predict for the institution many years of further growth and prosperity. A number of other financial institutions have carried on business in Ann Arbor aside from the regularly incorporated banks, most of them taking the form of loan associations of one kind or another. In the spring of 1887 the Ann Arbor Cooperative Building and Loan Association was formed. It closed its first year's business April 5, 1888, with a membership of eighty-two persons. The success of this organization encouraged the creation of several others within the next decade, and some are even of more recent origin. The Huron Valley Building and Savings Association, organized toward the end of the year 1890, was similar in character to its predecessor, loaning money to those planning to build their own homes and otherwise giving financial encouragement to those whose building ventures are worthy. Both the loan associations and the banks have rendered a great service to the steady prosperity of the city and without their aid Ann Arbor's business life never could have grown as it has. CHAPTER XIX Fire and Water HE histories of Ann Arbor's Fire Department and water supply are closely interwoven. One of the chief reasons why the Fire Department has grown is because our people from time to time have seen that the water supply was totally inadequate for the proper fire protection. On the other hand one of the chief reasons why the water supply systems have been improved from time to time is seen in the property losses by fire which would not have been so large if a plentiful supply of water had been available. During the first dozen years of our city's history no regularly organized fire department was in existence. But by 1836 the need for one was keenly felt. The citizens were notified in the Argus of February 11, 1836, of a corporation meeting to be held at the Court House "to receive the resignation of the Corporation Officers, and at the same time to elect others in their place. It is resolved by the Citizens that they will not vote for any person who will not pledge to keep the Town Pump in as good repair as the citizens did before the village was incorporated. After the election, the old officers will be put up at auction to raise funds to buy a big pair of Tin Spurs, to be put on the first Corporation officer who refuses to do his best to keep the pump in good repair, and provide some means against fire." This was signed, "Ocomos," and was intended to be a sarcastic thrust against the system whereby, on the cry of "Fire!" the whole village came running with the family water-pails. Some time between the publication of this false alarm, and February, 1838, two voluntary fire companies were formed, and two small engine houses were built. These companies and these engine houses were all there was to the local fire department until 1845. On the afternoon of June 4, 1845, a fire broke out in the Michigan Central depot, which had recently been completed at a cost of $5,000. Besides destroying this building, the fire destroyed property belonging to Mrs. R. C. Fuller, V. H. 308 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE OLD ENQINE HOUSE Torn Down in i882 Powell, and to the firm of Page and Ormsby. Mrs. Fuller's loss included nearly 20,000 barrels of flour and the warehouse in which they were stored. After the fire the Argus called "the attention of our citizens to the importance of building reservoirs of water, and the organization of a Hook and Ladder Company." Just after this was printed several small fires broke out in Lowater Town and people decided some action would have to be taken. On Saturday, June 4, the citizens met in the Court House to discuss the question of better protection against fires. A committee of five was appointed to ascertain the condition of the finances of the corporation and also "to enquire what measures are necessary to preserve the public property from delapidation and decay and save the property of our citizens from destruction by fire." The committee appointed for these purposes was composed of Mark Howard, W. S. Maynard, Solon Cook, C. N. Ormsby, and E. Leseur. No record of the work of this committee seems to have survived, but it is probable that they recommended the purchase of a small fire engine. At least such an engine came to use about this time, though it was reported in 1850 as being completely worn out. This same year, 1850, uniforms were purchased and, June 27, "Eagle Fire Company No. 2," held its first annual meeting. The report of the out-going officers showed the company to be in a flourishing condition, bidding fair to be an ornament as well as a service to the village. The FIRE AND WATER 309 THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IN 1885 TOP ROW: Left to Right George Isabell, James Snow, Charles Ream Alec Schultz, Cunningberg Bros. MIDDLE ROW: Frank Eisele, John Sweet, W. H. McLaren. BOFTOM ROW: Elmer Jacobus, Ed. Jacobus, Herman Buchoiz, Geo. Allmendinger active membership in this company was then forty-six and was gradually increasing. The new "Foreman" was N. H. Eggleston, and the assistant foreman was J. Godfrey. C. N. Fox was chosen secretary; C. H. Millen, treasurer; E. Goodale, steward; W. P. Cook, E. Sellers, William Norton, and S. W. Shafer were chosen wardens, and H. M. Dean and G. M. Anderson were chosen axmen. Both Eagle Company No. 1 and Eagle Conmpany No. 2, had been organized six months earlier, the officers just named being the second set to be chosen for a six months' period. For the better support of these Fire Companies, in the matter of equipment, the firemen and many others signed a petition which resulted in causing the Board to levy on the village an extra tax of one-fourth of one per cent "for the special purpose of aid and efficiency to the Fire Department." That year the tax netted about $1,100 and made possible the purchase of ladders and equipment for three new companies, the "Deluge," the "Relief," 310 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS and, in Lower Town, the "Huron."* Early in 1865 still another company was organized. It took the name of the "May Flower" from the fact that the fire engine for their use bore that name. This company rendered heroic service at the burning of the Clark School, July 4, 1865, but in spite of every effort the school was destroyed largely because of an insufficient supply of water. It was urged that new reservoirs and cisterns be dug in every part of the city where they could be filled and for a time the digging amounted almost to an epidemic. The question of a better water supply was first taken up by the Council in January, 1868, a committee being appointed to devise ways and means "to procure a supply of water for the fire companies." No new ways or means were devised aside from the digging of more cisterns, and there the matter rested for over two years. During the progress of the digging the proposition came up of paying salaries to the firemen. It was suggested that $10 a year would be the fair amount, but when the matter was put before the citizens, by a vote of 546 to 37, decided to pay them but $5 a year. The particular thing which caused the Council to consider the question of better fire protection for the second time was a fire loss of $50,000 which was sustained in the first and third wards early in the morning of Sunday, April 10, 1870. The Council in May decided to ask the citizens for $1,500 for three new cisterns, $800 for a new hose tower, $750 for 500 feet of new hose, and $300 for a new bell. In August all these things were voted upon favorably. The next spring the bell was mounted, but it proved to be too heavy and was taken down. A lighter one, weighing 1,250 pounds, for the sum of $428, was purchased of Fulton and Son of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was soon hung in its place. A short time after the new hose arrived two of the fire companies engaged in a test of strength. Drawing water from a cistern at the intersection of Main and Washington streets, Relief company threw a stream of water 161 feet and seven inches. Protection company, organized some time before, with the old May Flower engine, succeeded in throwing * The Huron company did not last very long, but it was reorganized in the spring of 1873 and on May 9, of that year, the Council gave its approval to the organization. FIRE AND WATER 311 a stream 165 feet and four inches. The whole town turned out to witness these exhibitions, the consensus of opinion being that the firemen performed in masterly fashion. At this time and a little later demands were being made by the people of Lower Town for better equipment for their own protection. Their situation was discussed in Council in the fall of 1873 and a new engine house was ordered to be built. Though the building cost only $550 it was practically new when it took fire and burned, March 4, 1875, and 400 feet of new hose were destroyed. The building was reconstructed on a larger scale and it was dedicated with a "grand ball" May 4 of that year. No very important improvements were made in the equipment of the Fire Department until 1880. In the spring of that year a fine new steam fire engine was purchased, making necessary the selection of an engineer as fire chief. The first real use of this engine came one night the last of August when the large barn belonging to Michael Weinmann was burned. The following Monday night, September 4, the Council voted to pay each of the 190 firemen who attended the fire the sum of seventy-five cents. Distances had now become so great in Ann Arbor that it was a real hardship to be a fireman. The city was spread over a large area and the task of hauling the steam engine to a fire was more than the strength of a dozen men was equal to. So, also, the hook and ladder cart weighing 2,790 pounds was too heavy to draw. It was some such reasons as these that made necessary the purchase of horses in 1882. The companies threatened to disband when the Council wavered in the matter, so a team was purchased. At first it was put to work on the streets and even was used for the plowing of ground within the city. When a fire would break out the horses would tear away to one of the engine houses, hitch up to the engine and rush off to the fire. In May, 1882, however, the taxpayers voted $10,000 for the erection of the fireman's hall at the northwest corner of Huron street and Fifth avenue, and early in 1883, the building was completed. In the fall of this latter year the engine house in the Sixth Ward next to the old Tappan School was constructed at a cost of $1,000, but it was not until 1885 that 312 THiE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS an engine was purchased. This was obtained from the Button Engine Company of Waterford, New York, at a cost of $600. Perhaps the slowness with which the Council acted in the purchase of this engine may be explained by the fact that in 1884 the fire losses in the city were very small. In all that year the fire department was called out but thirteen times and the fire losses all told were but $3,000. The Department, at the beginning of 1885, was reported to be in the best condition in its history. Since few fires broke out in the city that year it was believed that it would be better to reduce the fire force to seventy-five, pay the men $10 a year instead of five, and thereby cut $50 a year from the expenses of the city. It became evident before many months had passed and before many more fires had terrified the populace that a far better financial arrangement would have to be made than that by which the firemen were to receive five dollars a year for their services. Fire Chief Albert Sorg went over the matter with some of his men and decided to take it up with the Council. On February 7, 1887, he presented that body with a communication supporting a paid department. In this communication he suggested that three men be employed at $45 per month, fifteen at $25 per year, and twenty-six at $15 per year. For feed for the horses and for repairs he said the department would need $575. To meet these expenses he suggested that the hand engines be sold and that $2,000 be appropriated in addition to what the engines would bring. The Council gave serious attention to Chief Sorg's communication and to the question of fire protection in general, but, more than anything else, the thing that made immediate action necessary was a fire loss on State street of $45,000 near the point where North University avenue ends. One of the leaders in the movement for a better department was G. Frank Allmendinger. It was the resolution he offered in the Council that called for the complete reorganization of the fire department. Mr. Allmendinger and some of the other members of the "Kid Council" talked the thing up so effectually that much worth while was accomplished. On February 4, for one day, the city was without a fire department, the old one having been abolished. The next day, Wednesday, Chris Mathews was employed as fireman under the condition that he was to remain in the hall FIRE AND WATER 313 both night and day. William Carroll was to be there nights, and both men were to receive regular salaries. A telephone was installed the second week in the month and other improvements were made. Before another year had passed five horses were owned by the department, and feed, salaries and other expenses raised the estimated cost of the department for the year 1889 to $6,177. From the year 1890 the Fire Department has steadily grown in value and importance. In May of that year the chief reported that property to the amount of $9,261 had been destroyed during the previous year, the insurance on the same being $7,648.45. In his opinion the loss by fire would have been even less if the department had had another hook and ladder truck. The Council, convinced of this logic, in 1891, for the sum of $1,000 purchased a hook and ladder truck of Seagraves and Company of Detroit. No considerable purchases of fire equipment were made after this until more than a dozen years had rolled around. Even then none would have been made had it not been for two serious fires which resulted in losses amounting to more than $100,000. The second of these fires was that which consumed the High School, December 31, 1904, and the first was that of the Argo Mills. The former fire is described in another place. Mr. G. Frank Allmendinger, secretary of the Argo Mills, just after the fire, on the afternoon of January 5, 1904, estimated the loss to be about $42,000, with $32,000 insurance. These mills had burned twice before in their history, and in both cases a well equipped fire department and plenty of water could have saved the property. In 1849 they were burned for the first time; ten years later they were again destroyed. Mr. Robert Ailes then built the mill which was destroyed in 1904. Much criticism was directed at the Water Works, but the people had only themselves to blame for not having kept up the efficiency of the Fire Department. After the High School burned the Council gave a good deal of serious consideration to better fire protection for the city.* As a result, in August, 1905, an addition to the Sixth Ward engine house was built and a new Nutt fire engine costing $5,000 was purchased from a Minneapolis firm. It was al* See pp. 154-157 (of copy) 314 THEI FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ready apparent as early as 1906 that, in a few years, the old faithful horses would no longer be used and that motor equipment would take their places. As late as November, 1914, by a vote of 1,429 to 1,650 the citizens went on record as against the motorization of the Department. If that vote had carried favorably a disastrous fire which soon came would have been checked, and the loss that time would not have been nearly so great. On the afternoon of February 3, 1915, a fire broke out in the basement of Koch and Henne's furniture establishment. Within a short time the entire building was gutted, only the bare walls being left. The loss was approximately $60,000 with an insurance of $32,000; and there was an additional loss of several thousand dollars due to damage done to stock in the small stores in the rear of the furniture store. During the summer of 1899 when Mack and Koch occupied this building, another fire broke out occasioning a loss nearly as great as it was sixteen years later. Once more, in September, 1915, the question of motorizing the Department came up, the people at that time voting $15,000 for the purpose. Early in October a contract for $13,750 worth of motorized fire apparatus was let to the American La France Fire Engine Company for a combination hose and engine and a motor service truck. The $1,250 which remained from the $15,000 voted was expended in improving the fire station on East University avenue across from the Campus. When Mr. Charles Andrews was made Chief of the Department, in 1907, he made a careful study of the equipment on hand and the needs of his department, comparing the local situation in these respects with those of other cities of the same size. He has received able advice and assistance from Henry W. McClaren, Charles Carroll, and Ralph R. Edwards, all of whom have been members of the Department for more than a quarter of a century. As a result of the chief's study he was able to make a number of worth while recommendations to the Council, several of which have met with favorable action. Nevertheless, the amount of money sp)enIt has not been much greater in any one year than it was in the year preceding, services of the department far outstripping the increasing costs. For the year ending March 31, 1919, the total cost of the Fire Department was $23,198.44; for the year ending March 31, 1924, FIRE AND WATER 315 five years later, it was but $37,655.88. During this same period the number of fires had increased from a total of 256 to 266, though the city's population, exclusive of University students, increased from 18,000 to nearly 25,000. Chief Andrews has done a great deal during the last decade to educate the public to the danger from fire, making frequent visits to the schools, especially Ann Arbor and University High Schools, where splendid instruction has been given. Moreover, he has used his influence in having passed various ordinances for protection against fire and he has been one of the leading advocates of more dependable supply of water for the city. The fire ordinances have forced people to be more careful in the matter of fires and the extension of the water system has done much to reduce the losses after the Fire Department has been called out. Even yet the city is not protected as it should be in the southeastern part of the city and a new fire station will have to be built there before many years. Ann Arbor had no water supply system until 1849. Up to that time the supply of water was drawn from wells located here and there at places of convenience. The exact places where all of these wells were put down cannot now be told, but it is certain that there was one on the south side of Court House Square; one on the corner of Main and Liberty streets; one at the corner of Huron and Fifth avenue; one on the corner of Jefferson and State streets; and one somewhere near the corner of Huron and First streets. After the two professors' houses were built on the Campus, a well was put down between them, and another well was put down on the other side of the Campus. In the issue of June 20, 1849, the TWashtenaw WVhig, one of Ann Arbor's numerous newspapers, it was stated "that it is contemplated by the Common Council to furnish Ann Arbor with water from a spring near Daniel B. Brown's residence," on South Main street. This was afterwards done, hollow tamarack logs being used for mains. This source was wholly inadequate for the needs of the community, and as the population grew it became even more so. That same year a well ninety feet deep was sunk at the southeast corner of Maynard and Liberty streets. It was walled high with stone, 316 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS and each of the fifty families it supplied was required to pay a small yearly sum to keep it in repair and for the privilege of drawing water from it. Ten years later a company was organized, $1,000 subscribed, and plans made for drilling an artesian well, but the project was not a success. Soon after the Civil War a few men got together and made arrangements for drawing water from local springs which they delivered to private residences and stores at the rate of "fifty cents a load." In 1866 a Dr. Hale built what lie called a mineral springs house here. After eight or nine years he retired as superintendent of the establishment and a Dr. Clelan d took over his work. On Tuesday evening of March 16, 1869. the water works committee of the Council reported in favor of erecting a pumping station and reservoir, but the matter was not submitted to the voters until December, 1872. The prol)osition for accepting a loan was then voted down, 574 to -(22. The reasons given for this defeat were: fear of taxation; distrust of the commissioners who had the matter in charge; personal opposition to Mayor Douglas; and an antipathy to water on general principles. In the meanwhile an "Artesian Well Company" was organized, and a contract given them by the city in the summer of 1870 which called for the drilling of a well on the west side of the Court House, about opposite the present location of Mr. George Wahr's Main Street bookstore. After a year of arduous toil the company succeeded in reaching a depth of 775 feet. At different levels various liquids had been pumped up: yellow water with a trace of petroleum; water with a strong alkaline taste, and even salty water. The cost to the city after twelve month's drilling had mounted to $3,500, and still there was no prospect of a supply of good water. The Council, therefore, ordered the work stopped. To satisfy the curious a sign was placed near the drilling which informed the public that the well was 775 feet deep. Some wag came along and wrote under the sign: "and $3,500 high!" The old well on the south side of the Court House had been closed up, but now, after a few years, it was reopened, a substantial iron pump put in and many a thirst was quenched there. But the water question would not down. It came up in 1873 and again in 1874. On August 17, of the latter year, the FIRE AND WATER 317 Council granted the application of a private company to lay water pipes in the streets, and, October 26, after much discussion as to whether to support a privately owned or city owned system, they went on record as favoring the former. The pipes, however, were not laid, and thus the way was left open for the work of another company organized the second week in May, 1885. According to the articles of incorporation of this company the name of the organization was to be the "Ann Arbor Water Works Company," and its membership included William Birnie, Charles S. Goodhue, Alexander W. Hamilton, Thomas N. Birnie, and Alfred Birnie. This firm contracted with the Council, May 6, to build a water works for the city. Within a month the work was begun, Professor C. E. Greene of the University faculty looking after the laying of the pipes. Progress on the system was rapid, some sixteen miles of pipe being in place by the first week in November and the pumps, engine, and boilers being on the ground. On the thirtieth of that month the new Knowles pump was set going, and the next day water was pumped into the reservoir and into the mains. The first test, made December 5, was satisfactory in every way, the whole city rejoicing over the outcome of the trials. Within seven months 5,000,000 gallons were being distributed to 615 "takers." Two fine springs were discovered near Foster's Station, a mile west of the pumping plant, and from these 200,000 gallons were daily conducted through tile pipes to a catch basin, and from there it was pumped to the city. In the latter part of the summer of 1887 a new boiler was put in at the pumping station, and in December of 1888 W. T. Angell, a brother of President James B. Angell, representing the Gordon Steam Pump Company of Hamilton, Ohio, sold to the company a new pump with a daily capacity of 2,000,000 gallons. In 1874 when the city began to consider the need for a central water supply system, the Board of Regents of the University considered a similar plant for the needs of the University. A legislative appropriation of $5,000 was secured, and the plans were carried out under the direction of Dr. Silas H. Douglas. According to these, pipes were run to a cistern near the foot of the State street hill, and other six-inch wooden and iron pipes were laid to a spring on the nearby farm of 318 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Emanuel Mann. A tank of 40,000 gallons capacity was built near the laboratory, but before it was finished a test of the pump was made. Water was drawn from the cistern at the foot of State street hill, and though the water had to come a distance of 4,000 feet, nevertheless the pump succeeded in throwing a stream of water a distance of 126 feet. During the summer of 1888 the old well on the south side of Court House Square was closed and sealed with masonry, after an almost continuous service of half a century. In its place was put an ornamental fountain and, as stated by the Ann Arbor Register, "warm, fishy water." In the summer of 1914 this fountain was removed to a site on the corner of North Main and Depot streets near the Michigan Milling Company's plant. A new fountain, called the Babcock Fountain, the gift to the city of Mr. J. J. Goodyear, was put in the place of the old one south of the Court House, and it stands there still. As early as 1886 complaints were heard about the quality of the water supplied to the city and about the lowness of the pressure, especially during fires. These complaints became so loud in 1888 that Dr. Breakey, then city Health Officer, made an investigation of the pumping facilities and the sources of water supply. He called attention to the fact that cows switched flies in one of the streams from which the water was drawn and that all sorts of filth were emptied into it. He recommended that the streams be properly protected and that they be thoroughly cleaned. Vigorous denials were made by the company then and at every subsequent charge against them. In August, 1893, when the service of the company was being sharply attacked the water pressure in the Fire Department gauge registered a maximum of sixty pounds, but at times it went down to zero. The Water Company tried to defend itself on the ground that they constantly experienced trouble with the reservoirs and pumps. They did bestir themselves a little from time to time and made a pretense of cleaning the filth from the catch basins. A good deal of time was wasted during the next few years in discussions over the value of the Company's holdings, many believing it would be of advantage to the city to buy the property outright. In mid-summer, 1911, the Company offered their plant to the FIRE AND WATER 319 city for a little over half a million dollars, but the city fathers thought the sum entirely too large. They countered by a decision to have the properties appraised, and at the same time decided to investigate the cost of a plant wholly new. Professor Gardner S. Williams of the University was employed for both these investigations. His report to the Council was made January 9, 1912. In this report Professor Williams gave it as his opinion that the physical properties of the Water Works Company were worth $531,934, and that the properties, business and franchise were worth all together, $600,000. The report, printed in the Times-News, January 10, 1912, gave these details concerning the equipment: A distribution of forty-five and a half miles; a reservoir of 2,000,000 gallons capacity; two pumping stations with machinery of 10,000,000 gallons daily capacity; 3,630 service connections; 310 meters, 252 fire hydrants, and four stand-pipes; a water supply capable of yielding about 1,600,000 gallons daily, exclusive of that passing through the purification plant. To the mains were also connected 157 flush tanks operated by the city for the benefit of its sewer system, and four hydrants belonging to the University. Professor Williams told in detail the things necessary to make the Water Works adequate and observed that the Huron River was the only adequate water supply source for the city. When the voters, in April, expressed themselves as averse to buying the Water Works properties, new sources of supply began to be considered. In January, 1913, City Engineer Osgood reported that if five wells were used on the Steere farm they would yield 742,900 gallons daily, a splendid supplement to the supply then available. In May of that year the voters again balloted on the proposition of purchasing the local plant. Of the 1,415 votes cast 773 voted in favor of buying and 596 voted against doing so. Thus, 177 votes decided the matter and the voting of a bond issue remained. In October of that year 163 votes more than the necessary three-fifths required for issuing the bonds carried a vote in favor of a loan of $450,000 for the holdings. The controversy was at an end, but in the several years immediately preceding the attempt to solve the water problem the investigations had cost the city approximately $20,000. 320 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Under the leadership of Dr. R. G. McKenzie, mayor, the Council chose its first Water Works Commission, composed of John Lindenschmitt and Joseph Wellman. Soon the latter resigned and his place was filled by George J. Mann. These men helped to make the preliminary arrangements for the transfer of the Water Works to the city, the formal handing over of the properties taking place in the City Hall the morning of January 31, 1914. Mayor McKenzie, Ross Granger, and Charles L. Miller, acted on behalf of the city, and Dr. A. K. Hale on behalf of the company. That night a big banquet was held in the Y. M. C. A. in celebration of the event, expressions of good will were passed and differences were forgotten. The Water Works Commissioners soon appointed George S. Vandawarker manager of the plant. He took over his duties immediately and is still in office. After the Commission began its work and after Mr. Vandawarker entered upon his duties the management of the city's water system ran a smoother course. At that time the supplies of water were drawn from the Huron River above Barton Dam and from artesian wells on West Washington street, near Eighth street. The station at Barton Dam was called Number 1, and that on West Washington street, Number 2. In 1915 the citizens voted $8,000 for the purpose of sinking a well on the Steere farm and since that time other large sums have been voted. Construction work on the Steere farm wells was completed in Jnly, 1919, and water began to be drawn from that source immediately, the new station being given the number 3. It was in that year, also, 1919, that meters were installed all over the city, hours for sprinkling the streets were fixed, and the pressure in the mains regulated to meet the needs of the moment. During the years from 1915 to 1920 the total amount of water pumped into the mains steadily mounted. It rose from 1,038,445.079 gallons for the year ending February 1, 1916, to 1,539,839,575 gallons for the year ending February 1, 1919. The introduction of the meters greatly reduced the quantity of water wasted, the total amount pumped for the year ending February 1, 1920, falling down to 1,169,305,000. The next year it dropped to 929,109,000 and since then it has gone slowly upward, the total pumped for the year ending February 1, 1924, being 1,069,906,000. The rapid falling off 9 EH pq E-i A p;,r THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN 1908 TOP ROW: Left to Right, Thomas J. Blackburn (colored), Michael J. Martin, Zenas Sweet, BOTTOM ROW: Mathew J. Max. Thomas O'Brien, Chief Theodore Apfel, George Schantz, and Sergeant John O' Mara THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS after 1919 was not entirely due to the installation of the meters; slack times in manufacturing and business came after the close of the World War and much less water was used than had been the case when local factories were running night and day. The problem of an adequate supply of water to take care of the growth of the city still remains to be solved, but what that solution will offer only the future can tell. Though this chapter has had to do principally with the city's water supply, and with the responsibility of protecting property and lives from fire, a closing paragraph on the Police Department will not be out of place. During the last quarter of a century the number of men in this department has been multiplied by seven, and in the matter of numbers the end is not yet in sight. In 1900 there were but four men in the organization, including the Chief, whereas at present, with the introduction of the eight-hour shift, there are twenty-eight, including the Chief. In 1907 Mayor Henderson added two men as did both Mayors Walz and McKenzie. The number was increased to fifteen by Mayor Wurster and Mr. Thomas O'Brien, who had come into the department in 1907 and who was then Acting Chief, was made Chief. Mayors Lewis and Campbell added enough to bring the Department up to twentyone, and now there is one member of the force to every one thousand of the city's population, from two to three additional men being necessary on account of the student population. After the World War the responsibilities of the Department increased. This was due to three things: the slight increase of crime in the city; widening residence areas; and the more general use of automobiles. It became necessary to have two motorcycle police spend most of their time in riding, and, at night, to properly police the residence sections, a scout car manned by two policemen became necessary. Every night of the year this scout car holds up for investigation from five to twenty or more automobiles. The men in the Department as now constituted are of splendid quality, they are giving the city a degree of protection second to none, and their activities are such as, to cause the citizens to feel an honest pride in their work. CHAPTER XX Gas and Light A NTN Arbor's first homes were lighted by the flames from the fireplace and from the feeble glow of the lard lamps. For many years lamps of this description were advertised in local stores, though today they are not remembered even by the oldest inhabitant. The idea of lighting homes by gas was much in the minds of people in the early 'fifties; but it was not until April 1, 1858 that Dr. Silas H. Douglas organized the Ann Arbor Gas Company. The organization was partially perfected in 1861, no further change coming until 1889 when the franchise was renewed for another thirty years. The original capital was but $60,000. In 1889, however, this was increased to $100,000, in 1912 to $200,000, and some time later to $500,000. Such records as are available fail to reveal the exact date when the manufacture of gas commenced, but we do know that in 1873 the cost to manufacture per thousand feet was $3.56. About the time of the Civil War oil lamps began to be used here, both in private homes and for lighting the streets. The oil for the street lamps was purchased by the city and a man was hired to go about and light the lamps. In 1878 the number of street lights had grown until the city boasted a total of ninety-nine. That year a change came in the method of caring for the lamps. A Mr. E. Duffy was awarded a contract for $950 for which he agreed to furnish supplies and light the lamps. According to this arrangement the city hoped to save fifty-three cents per lamp each year, but the way was left open for any improvements which might come. Tuesday night, April 13, 1880, the Council awarded a contract to Charles K. Leonard and Charles Wheeler, of Ypsilanti, for substituting the Belden gas vapor lights for the oil lamps used in the city streets. These men agreed to take all the street lamps previously used for oil, put on the new attachments, furnish gasolene, light and extinguish the gas, keep 324 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS SILAS H. DOUGLAS Who Organized the Ann Arbor Gas Company in 1858. Appointed Professor of Chemistry in 1842 he was one of the First Members of the University Faculty all lights in perfect order, and furnish light on an average of six or seven hours each night during seventeen nights of each month. For all of this the men were to receive $1.10 per post. The contract was to run for one or three years at the option of the city. 1: It was while this contract was running that the city introduced for street lighting the gas manufactured by the Ann Arbor Gas Company. In January, 1887, however, the Gas Company received a blow which would have been severe had GAS AND LIGHT 325 not a modern cooking device come into general use. On the tenth of that month the Council decided to notify the Gas Company that on and after that date the city would cease to use gas for street lighting purposes. It was decided that thereafter electricity would be used. Fortunately for the gas company, gas stoves for cooking purposes began to be used widely, and in many cases gas was used for fuel. The business of the company fell off somewhat for a few months, but with a reduction in the price to subscribers in the fall of 1887 an even larger number of gas stoves were purchased and business flourished once more. The introduction of the use of electricity spelled the doom of both gas and gasolene for street lighting purposes. What to do with the old gasolene posts remained a problem for a time, but some shrewd citizen finally disposed of them to Milan on behalf of the city for the sum of $53.15. Early in the fall of 1889 the thirty-year franchise of the Gas Company was reduced by the Council to ten years. At the end of that time, 1898, the Company purchased a plot of ground on the south side of the Huron River and began the erection of the plant which stands there now. It was to secure funds for this project that, in February, 1899, the capital stock was increased to $100,000. It was planned that the new plant would cost about $30,000, of which $15,000 was to go for a new tank. In the fall of 1905, the capacity of the Gas Works was greatly increased. New retorts then put in increased the capacity of the works by 200,000 cubic feet per day. This action became necessary as a result of the great increase in the use of gas. In the ten-year period from 1895 to 1905 the consumption mounted from 20,000,000 cubic feet a year to 90,000,000 cubic feet, or four and a half times. Besides the ever increasing use of gas stoves the greater number of uses for gas, such as laundry work, and the growth of the city account for this remarkable increase. The old Gas Company passed out of existence in February, 1913, when the present Washtenaw Gas Company was organized. Local business men were given permission through the articles of incorporation, filed with the Secretary of State, to form the present company through a reorganization of the Ann Arbor Gas Company. They were also given permission 326 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS to issue $300,000 worth of stock and $550,000 worth of bonds. The fifty thousand dollar difference between the new and the old capital stock was to be expended on extending the suburban service of the new company. The new company was to be controlled by practically the same men who were interested in the old organization. Mr. Harry Douglas continued as manager and served in that capacity until his death in 1924. On Saturday, May 31, 1884, the Ann Arbor Van De Poele Light and Power Company was organized for a term of thirty years with a capital of $35,000. A building was erected and machinery installed on the southwest side of Washington street where it crosses the Ann Arbor railroad tracks. Within ten weeks electric lights to the number of thirty-six were in use in stores and homes in the center part of the city. So many houses were wired during that summer and early in the fall that the Gas Company became frightened lest people generally would no longer use gas for lighting, and the price of gas to subscribers was sharply reduced. In November, 1886, the name of the firm was changed to the Thompson-Houston Electric Company, and the plant was enlarged. Early in the winter of 1884 this latter company was organized with C. B. Davison as superintendent. The Courier Printing Office was the first printing office in the State to be supplied with electric lights and the Ann Arbor post office the first office of that character. Early in July, 1905, it became known that the Washtenaw Light and Power Company, R. W. Hempbill, Manager, was behind a scheme to use the water power of the Huron River to furnish light and power to the city. When it was seen that the project would go through, the Council awarded the conmpany a contract to run for five years starting December 31, by which 150 arc street lights were to be furnished to the city. Many citizens along South Fifth avenue and Division street wanted to retain gas for the streets, but the petition was not supl)ported by Council action except in so far as it was agreed that gas lights might be used on dark corners where there were no electric lights. In October, a committee went along these streets and located these "dark spots," and there gas lamps were placed. In the fall of that same year, 1905, the Detroit Edison Conm GAS AND LIGHT STATE STREET'S LIGHTING SYSTEM ABOUT i870 pany purchased the various power sites on the Iuron belonging to the Michigan Milling Company, at Ann Arbor, Delhi, and Osborne's, together wit h such other river rights as the Milling Company owned. The latter company, however, planned to use electricity to operate their mills. The news that a large dam would be built by this electric company caused much joy here, people visioning a great boating course along the river and attractive suburbaln home sites along its banks. In 1911 plans for the new power plant and dam were ready. They had been furnished by Professor Emil Lorch, who had looked out for beauty of design as well as utility. Most of the engeeineeng work was carried forward under the supervision of lProfessor Gardner S. Williams. The dam then built is twenty-six feet high and it is on the same location as one built by Eri Higby in 1830 and afterwards owned by James Mahon. The name of the dam is "Barton," so called from the name of a village which in 1837 was situated where the powerhouse was erected. An investment of something like $250,000 made in 1911 is now worth several times that sum. CHAPTER XXI Transportation and Communication T HE history of transportation and communication in Ann Arbor for the first few years of the city's life is no more romantic than one might expect of a settlement at a distance from a railroad too great for the whistles of a locomotive to be heard. When people moved about at all they went on foot, on horseback, or by wagon drawn either by oxen or horses. Generally speaking, travel of any kind was looked upon as a hardship, people doing as little of it as was consistent with carrying the mail, taking their produce to market and doing such other necessary errands as business or pleasure required. Such thoughts as were communicated passed by word of mouth, by private letters, or through the medium of a magazine or a newspaper. Travel was slow, and communication was scarcely less rapid. John Allen realized the importance of good roads and means of sure and rapid communication as few others of the village did. He was always talking about the subject, so it is not surprising that as soon as the keen-minded James Kingsley made his appearance in the village, John Alien sought his ear. Better than any one else, John Allen knew how tedious and painful a trip from Detroit was, whether on foot or horseback, and he knew how slowly supplies for his store came crawling to the frontier. Allen pointed out the advantages of a canal or railroad which would connect Lake Erie and the Detroit River with the headwaters of the St. Joseph River. In fact, he helped to get made a survey of a canal route, and as late as January, 1838, was instrumental in calling a meeting of citizens to discuss the matter. Out of that meeting came a petition for a canal which was presented to the Legislature and Allen and other prominent citizens boosted the project in the principal settlements all along the proposed route. That nothing came of the project was due to the fact that the plan for a railroad went through. No person deserves greater credit for the projecting of a TRANSPORT'ATION AND COMMUNICATION 329 railroad westward from Detroit through the second tier of counties than the far-seeing James Kingsley. In his mind the venture was of vast importance, and he left no stone unturned in his determination to see it through. In 1830 the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory, at the instance of Kingsley, adopted a memorial to the Government at Washington in favor of the establishment of a railroad or canal route from Detroit to the south of the St. Joseph River upon Lake Michigan. To all those with whom Kingsley talked he pointed to the stream of emigrants going west, the need for the economic development of the vast regions the emigrants were bent on settling and the further need of tying up those people to the East in political affairs. In 1832 he pursued his purpose with such persistence and vigor that he procured the passage and approval, without a single amendment, of a bill providing for the incorporation of an organization to be known as the "Detroit and St. Joseph Railway Company." Twenty-one commissioners were named in the Act to open books and receive the subscriptions for stock, which was fixed at one and one-half millions of dollars, in shares of fifty dollars each. The charter required the construction of the road to be commenced in two years, but in 1834 the time was extended two years more. In 1834, Major Biddle, one of the commissioners, having been appointed to represent the others as their chairman, solicited the War Department to cause the route of the road to be surveyed. Under the authority of this department of the National Government the work was done by Lieutenant Berrien, and on the 24th of December of that year Berrien made a report of his survey to a convention held that day in the territorial capital at Detroit, the delegates to the convention being friendly to the undertaking throughout the Michigan Territory. The route surveyed commenced at the Campus Martius in Detroit and ran west through the center of the counties of Wayne, Washtenaw, Jackson, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, and Van Buren to the mouth of the St. Joseph River. The convention adopted a "memorial to be forwarded to Congress praying for an appropriation of public lands to be granted to the Territory for the purpose of constructing a Railroad across the Peninsula of Michigan upon the route 330 THIE FIRST IIUNDRED YEARS surveyed under the authority of the War Department, with a lateral branch terminating at Monroe." With the adjournment of this convention there was no further effort on the part of the citizens of Detroit to construct the road. Such support as I)etroiters had given the project had been inspired by a belief that the chief benefit from its construction would accrue to them. Kingsley was of different mold; his was a broader view. While he was intensely interested in the future of his home village, he was even more interested in a greater Michigan and in the development of the interior of the country. Ite was swept along by the spirit of progress that moved the country in the dozen years immediately following the opening of the Erie Canal. lte visioned an empire of new states in the West which, for wealth and power, would make the older East seem puny in comparison. The building of a railroad through Michigan was in his mind one of the steps which would hasten this empire-building, and in that building he meant to have a part. He succeeded in procuring a charter for the road, the first of the kind in Michigan, and in due time actual construction was begun. At one time officials of the proposed road talked of running the line through Ypsilanti and in a southwesterly direction from there to Niles. The persuasive powers of Kingsley caused them to change their minds and adopt a route through the Huron Valley instead. Then Ann Arbor came into its own. In June, 1835, one of our citizens wrote: "This place improves very fast; it is astonishing, the emigration to the West is so great they expect to start the railroad from Detroit to pass through here in the Spring. It is thought the capital will be removed from Detroit here, as this is the most central place and the inhabitants are enterprising and intelligent." In 1837 the road had been constructed as far as Ypsilanti at an expenditure of $117,000. At that time the road had four engines, five passenger cars, and ten cars for freight. The first trip made by the cars to Ypsilanti was taken the third of February, 1838. A detailed description of this epoch-making event appeared in the Michigan Argus, issue of February 8 of that year. The cars were described, the train in its entirety, the passengers, and especial note was taken of the TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 331 fact that the most distinguished guest of the occasion was Governor Stevens T. Mason. On the train too, was Daniel B. Brown of Ann Arbor, the first superintendent of the road. Brown held this state office for three years under an appointment by Governor Mason, retiring to his farm in 1842. But of more interest to Ann Arbor's citizens was the advertisement of the "Central" appearing in the Argus for May 24, 1838, in which sealed proposals were asked to be presented to the chief engineer at Ann Arbor "for clearing, grubbing, grading, bridges, and culverts." The successful contractor was John Monroe. He built the railroad in sections from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor, and also, in the years following, from Ann Arbor to Jackson. A number of the engineers he employed boarded in the home long occupied by the Misses Breed, but in 1838 owned and occupied by George Corselius and faniilv and located on the north side of Ann street between Fifth avenue and Division street. On October 15, 1839, the last bit of work on the road was done, and on the seventeenth the first passenger train puffed its way into Ann Arbor. All the school children in the village and most of the adult citizens were on hand to welcome the thousand who had come from Detroit and a tremendous ovation was given them. A banquet was spread on the Court House Square, toasts were offered, responses made, and a general good time was enjoyed. Ann Arbor did not long remain a "Tracks-End." On July 4, 1841, the road was completed to Dexter, and it was immediately pushed on to Jackson. In 1845 it was extended as far as Kalamazoo, making its total length from Detroit 143 miles. In 1846 the Legislature chartered the Michigan Central Railroad Comlany, and sold this 143 miles of flat bar right-of-way, with the franchises of the Company, for $2,000,000, or a trifle less than $14,000 per mile. In 1848 the line was projected as far as Paw Paw, sixteen miles west of Kalamazoo; the next year to New Buffalo, and April 21, 1852, to Chicago, thus bringing into realization another of the cherished dreams of John Allen and his energetic friend, James Kingsley. When the railroad reached Jackson in December, 1841, trains immediately began to run. According to the schedule then in use, trains left Jackson at nine o'clock in the morning 332 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS and reached Detroit about four o'clock in the afternoon. They left Detroit for Jackson at eight in the morning, arriving in Jackson about three o'clock in the afternoon, passing the eastbound train at Ann Arbor. The engines were left outside the city of Detroit in the evening and during the night were repaired so as to be in condition for use the next day, a practice which was often followed at the other end of the line. Five cars were hauled from Detroit and from Dexter, but between Dexter and Jackson no more than four were thought necessary. The journey the length of the line usually consumed about seven hours, but that was considered remarkably fast in those days, and perhaps there were fewer complaints of the service, than there are now, three generations later. The coming of the Central Railroad to Ann Arbor kept the village from suffering from the effects of one of the worst financial panics in our nation's history. The panic of 1837 and the money depression of the succeeding five years was not much felt here, certainly not nearly so much as it was in places where there was no railroad building in progress. Within the years 1837 to 1842 approximately $4,000,000 was spent in Washtenaw County alone. This was no small item in the finances of a frontier county, and it created a circulation of a large amount of money. As a result it was easy to borrow, interest rates were low, and the outlay for local improvement was extensive. This brought to Ann Arbor an era of prosperity which would never have been possible had the railroad not come and many a bank account was swelled thereby. The rolling stock and other equipment of the railroad gradually increased in the years to come. The Civil War brought to it a great deal of business, some of which continued after the war was over. In fact, traffic grew to such proportions that, in the summer of 1871, there were fifteen through freight trains here each way and double tracking became imperative. This work was carried on during the fall and winter of that year, coming to an end before crops began to move the next summer. During all those years the passenger service kept growing. In 1846, when the Legislature sold the road, the entire equipment consisted of seven locomotives, ninety-seven freight cars, TRANSPORTATO~N ANT) CO~MMNICATJON 333 CX 0iI ~i 334 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS and only seven miserable cars for passengers. By 1875 all of these numbers had multiplied several times, the number of passengers carried out of Ann Arbor during the year ending May 31 of that year being 39,780, and the number of tons of freight reaching the total of 5,769. The growth in the freight and passenger business necessitated building, in 1886 and 1887, a new depot and new facilities for taking care of freight. The contract for the depot was let in May, 1886, to Geering and Sons of Detroit. The plans called for a stone structure 100 by sixty feet. According to a description to be found in the Argus under date of March 18, 1887, when the building was completed, the original cost was to have been $25,000, but the actual cost proved to be $33,000. The stones were obtained from Foster's Station and "no two stones in the building are exactly alike. The two towers are trimmed with Lake Superior Red Stone, Ohio Blue stone, and Ionia stone. The open iron signboard cost $100." In the opinion of. the Ann Arbor Register of March 10, 1887, the new depot was the finest on the line between Buffalo and Chicago. It is impossible to estimate the importance of the Michigan Central Railroad in the history of Ann Arbor's progress. Certainly a large part of the city's prosperity is directly due to the splendid freight and passenger facilities offered by this company. One wonders what Ann Arbor ever would have been as a place of business or residence, or even as an educational center, had it not been for this and other transportation lines which have contributed so much to its well-being. While the Ann Arbor Railroad has not played such an important part in the drama of our city's development, still our people owe much to the younger line. As early as 1845 there was talk of the possibility of projecting a, railroad northward through Ann Arbor from Toledo, Ohio. This talk seems to have grown out of the belief that a road competing with the Central would keep freight rates low. The newspapers of the time were full of complaints about the excessive freight rates, some of the publications strongly advocating the use of flatboats on the Huron. It was argued, also, that it would not be long before the Central Railroad would not be able to handle all the freight and passenger business if other towns TRANSPORTATION AN) COMMUNICATION 335 along the route made as much use of the company's facilities as Ann Arbor did. In 1843 citizens here paid in freight rates, $7,995.76, and in passenger fares, $5,409.02, while in 1844 the first item took $13,459.87 and the second item, $8,682.94 of their money, or a total of $13,404.78 in one case and $22,142.81 in the other. When the first telegraph line was extended from Detroit to Ann Arbor in 1847 the matter of the north and south railroad came up again, some holding the opinion that the rapid means of communication furnished by the telegraph would more than offset any delays which might be experienced in shipping goods by railroad from Toledo. No concerted action was taken locally until August 16, 1855. That day at a meeting of the citizens a committee was appointed which was to investigate the matter and to report on it August 30. The report was so favorable that another committee was appointed to make a preliminary survey of a route from Toledo through Ann Arbor and Howell to Corunna and thence to some point in the Saginaw Valley. A few weeks later the citizens appointed several other committees, one for each of the principal towns along the route, to solicit subscribers for the stock. These committees met with such poor success that, for a few years, the whole idea of a north and south railroad through Ann Arbor was abandoned. It was not until the latter days of the Civil War, however, that further significant talk about a second railroad for Ann Arbor was heard. During the summer and fall of 1865 several meetings of local citizens were held in which the project was discussed, and in one of these stock was actually subscribed. Four years later, February 6, 1869, little having been accomplished in the way of procuring a line from Toledo through the city, a big meeting was held in the Court House which was attended l)y representatives from Manchester. There the discussion supported a short line from Manchester through Ann Arbor northward as a "feeder" to the Michigan Central. News of this action reached Toledo where interested parties were made to see the advantages of such a road and the value of obtaining the support of the people living along the proposed route. Further evidence of the willingness in this direction was shown at a meeting held in the Court House August 23 of that same year. The citizens enthusiastically 336 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS agreed to aid in the construction of the proposed road to the amount of $125,000. The principal leaders at this meeting were: E. M. Gregory, E. B. Pond, J. A. Scott, Captain Beahan, Dr. A. W. Chase, A. Widenmann, R. E. Frazer, James B. Gott, Charles IT. Richmond, D. Kramer, E. W. Morgan, A. H. Partridge, James McMahon, and a man named Clancy. Another meeting was held October 29 of that year and plans for the road promoted still further. Before many months had passed, however, the company which grew out of these meetings went into liquidation and it was succeeded by another company called the Toledo, Ann Arbor, and Northern Railroad, with E. W. Morgan of Ann Arbor as president. Before the year 1869 had closed Ann Arbor people were convinced of the desirability of the road and a "Railroad Election" was held to give it support. By a vote of 895 to 10 in the city, and a vote of 135 to 20 in the town of Ann Arbor, the citizens agreed to back the project to the extent of $100,000 for the city and $15,000 for the town. The vote authorized the issue of bonds to raise the money, a procedure followed in every other town and village along the proposed route. By August 6, $190,000 had been obtained and the right-of-way to the State line had been secured. The right-of-way was then considered to be worth but $50,000. On December 9, the stockholders elected as a board of directors, E. W. Morgan, Silas IT. Douglas, Thomas M. Cooley, Charles Tripp, David Henning, Ebenezer Wells, Jamles Clement, R. A. Beal, Christian Eberbach, H. G. Williams, and Joseph Wilcox. Douglas soon supplanted Morgan as president, and the latter accepted the position of secretary while Charles Tripp was chosen vicepresident. It was several months before any work in Ann Arbor was actually done, financial difficulties holding things up. Finally, in the spring of 1872, grading commenced, and, in spite of delays occasioned by condemnation proceedings in the Circuit Court, it continued throughout the summer. But the business side of the project went from bad to worse, bankruptcy finally coming near the end of May, 1874. In August of the next year the whole property was offered for sale. Two years later, in June, 1877, new life came to the almost dead project. Governor Ashley of Ohio, then resident in Toledo, acting in TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 337 The Poster Announcing the Completion of the Ann Arbor Railroad in i878 connection with prominent Boston capitalists, contracted for all the rights and franchises of the Toledo and Ann Arbor Railroad. These parties gave assurance that they would advance two-thirds of the money necessary to put the road in good running order if the people in the towns along the route would donate the remainder. Ann Arbor's share amounted to $25,000. June 15, Governor Ashley came up to Ann Arbor from Toledo and made an address to the citizens gathered in the Court House in the interests of his scheme. While he was gracefully received, he did not get the support for his cherished project. Nevertheless, a simple event did what his oratory had failed to do. The subscriptions were coming in very slowly when, July 25, a strike of trainmen on the Michigan Central between Ann Arbor and Jackson was called. Trains 338 TIHE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS continued to Detroit from Ann Arbor and back, but for two days car wheels west of our city did not revolve. For the first time Ann Arbor people were made to realize how dep)enldent they were on the services of the Michigan Central Railroad. It was during those two days that Governor Ashley's subscription list was comfortably filled, the final sumi being added within a short time. November 30, the Argus reported that the company was organized, that the old franchises and assets had been purchased and articles of association filed with the Secretary of State. The capital stock was fixed at $75,000. The officers chosen were as follows: Governor James M. Ashley, president; Alexander W. Hamilton, secretary; and, directors, besides Governor Ashley, James M. Ashley, Jr., Henry W. Ashley, Joseph T. Jacobs, and Joseph A. Stowell. With the reorganization of this new company things moved rapidly the progress of track-laying proceeding steadily northward. LAt noon, May 16, 1878, it was laid across south State street, and at night it was within the city limits. At half past three that afternoon the workmen were escorted by a band and procession of citizens to the opera house where the Reform Club served them a temperance supper. In the procession was a huge wagon drawn by six horses. In the wagon were tracks, track-laying equipment, etc., and flags and shouts made a gala occasion of the event. Main street was a riot of color, a band played, and smiling faces plainly showed the pleasure of the p)eople. Five weeks later, June 21, the first train of freight cars rolled into the city. It was received with an enthusiasm quite as great as that in evidence when the first steel rails entered the city from the south. Commencement day, 1878, the first passenger train reached the city, bringing a large number of people from Toledo, and by the end of the first week in July a regular schedule of one train a day each way between Ann Arbor and Toledo was running under the direction supervision of Henry W. Ashley^ This new railroad had a hard time to keep alive during the first two years of its life, but the extension of the line northward from Ann Arbor during the years 1879 and 1880 brought to it enough new business to assure a profit to its owners. The fact that it connected with the Grand Trunk line at l)Durand soon gave the road the name the Toledo, Ann Arbor and (Grand TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUINICATION 339 Trunk Railroad, but in June, 1884, the name was definitely changed to the Toledo, Ann Arbor, and Northern Railroad. Il 1886 the line was projected to Mt. Pleasant and il succeeding years was extended in a northwesterly direction across the State, terminating at Frankfort on Lake Michigan. In 1887 property belonging to Luther James was applraised at $340 and he was allowed that amount for a site for a depot. The next year the company decided to spend $3,500 in the construction of a depot, and Second street was opened so the structure could be reached from the business section of the city. The actual building did not commence until September, 1889. and when the work was finished the structure had cost a total of $4,400. In 1891, under the direction of Henry Riggs, civil engineer, a new bridge was built over the Huron north of the city, and that same year the grade near the bridge was changed. In 1895 the road changed hands and it became known as the Ann Arbor Railroad, and in 1925 it became the property of the Wabash Railroad. During the years from 1898 to 1902 many citizens living on the west side of the Ann Arbor tracks, as well as several living on the east side, bent their efforts toward procuring grade separations where the streets and the tracks crossed. The leaders in this movement were Titus Hutzel, G. F. Allmendinger, Col. II. S. Dean, Charles Hiscock, A. J. Sawyer, George J. Mann, and Sam Burchfield. When the matter was brought up in the city council Wednesday, October 1, 1902, all the members voted in favor of the separations but one. It was decided that the work should be completed within two years. As a result of work done before and after this date the tracks were made to pass well above several of the principal streets. In 1911 the Ann Arbor Railroad Company l)nt passenger cars on its tracks that were propelled by gasolene motors. The first car of this type ran into the city fr om Owosso the morning of May 6 of that year. These cars continued to operate until 1925 when they were abandoned as uneconomical. The Ann Arbor Railroad, like the Michigan Central, has been of inestimable value to the city's growth. A large part of the city's coke and coal used comes through the Toledo gateway, direct from the mines. It is an artery over which many of the products used in the manufacture of automobiles go from 340 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Ann Arbor and it helps to give the city a strategic position for such firms as the Hoover Steel Ball Company, the American Broach and Machine Company, and other companies which cater to the automobile industry as carried on in Jackson, Flint, Pontiac, Detroit, and Toledo. It offers comfortable and easy connections north and south in much the same way as the Michigan Central does east and west. Transportation for pay may be said to have begun in the early '50s when J. A. Speechly, grandfather of the Speechly sisters, Misses Susie A. and Cary B. and Mrs. M. S. Elliott, went with his son to Detroit and bought a hack to drive on Ann Arbor streets. He usually stationed himself on Main street in front of where the Farmers and Mechanics Bank now stands and waited for his fares. These usually were bound for the Michigan Central depot. At the latter place Speechly met the trains and for "two shillin'" each, gave his patrons a ride up town. During the Civil War when railroad connections with Toledo were talked of, the necessity for street cars in the city came up. The suggestion for such a mode of transportation came from the Argus of Friday, October 13, 1865. The editor, after making his suggestion, concluded by saying street cars would he a much needed improvement. He was thinking, of course, of horse-drawn cars, since there were no electrically operated cars in the country at that time. Nothing definite came of this editorial, and it was more than two years before enterprising citizens succeeded in getting the matter before the public. On December 20, 1867, a large number of interested persons gathered in the Court House to see what might be done about a line. It was reported that the operating costs of a road two miles long would be $23 per day, but that the income for the same length of time would be $30, and the total cost of laying the track, grading and procuring necessary equipment would be $26,000. Among those present, G. D. Hill, A. J. Sutherland, and Philip Bach were appointed a committee to procure su)scriptions for the amount needed. A cool reception met the attempts of these men to raise the needed money, and though the matter was allowed to lapse it would not down. The proposition came up again in 1875 at a meeting presided over by Governor Alpheus Felch. Active in this meeting were the TRANSPORTATION AND COMM1UNICATION 341 editor, E. B. Pond, Professor Andrew Ten Brook, C. H. Millen, Professor Thomas M. Cooley, W. D. Smith, H. W. Rogers, and Engineer Fuller. At one time it seemed as if the discussion would bear fruit, but when the meeting came to an end nothing had been accomplished and it was thirteen years before the subject received another public hearing. In 1888 a number of moneyed men proposed to the Council that a belt line for horse drawn cars should be laid on certain streets of the city. This proposal was made on July 26, and oin August 6, J. F. Lawrence brought up the matter in the Council once more. Mr. Lawrence represented certain Ithaca, Michligan, capitalists, chief among whom was a banker Mr. Lawrence referred to as General Church. A week later, on motion of G. Frank Allmendinger, the Council passed an ordinance unanimously granting a franchise and thus the line became assured. As soon as the necessary arrangements were made and contracts let, the laying of track in the city began. Most of the work of construction was done during the summer of 1890, and the night of September 28 saw everything in readiness for a trial. Some months before, however, it was decided to abandon the project of having the cars drawn by horses and electrical power had been substituted. The night of September 29, without the knowledge of the public, officials went over the line n a car and the next morning the first regular trip open to the public was made. From that time cars ran regularly until January 24, 1894, when fire destroyed the car barn and all but one of the cars. It was September before the service was again established. The first interurban line to run from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor was organized during the summer of 1890. It was projected b)y the firm of Haines Brothers, of New York. They came to Ypsilanti and secured a charter for the road from that city to Ann Arbor, the right-of-way following the south Ypsilanti road. After this the brothers came to Ann Arbor and intersted a number of prominent business men in their venture, some of whom were members of the Council. On the fifteenth of August the Council passed an ordinance giving the company permission to enter the city. It was specified, however, that entrance should be by way of Packard street, and that 342 TIlE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS lines were to be run on Hill, Wells, Lincoln, Williams, Washtenaw, and Main streets. The work at the Ypsilanti end began Wedneisday, October 22, as soon as the survey had been completed. According to this contract, the Donovan, Morgan and Company of St. Louis, Missouri, were to build the line and equip it with cars powered with Parter Steam Motors for the sum of $140,000. The stockholders chose as their officers the following men: Junius E. Beal, Ann Arbor, president; Henry P. Glover, Ypsilanti, vice-president; Joseph T. Jacobs, Ann Arbor, secretary; Daniel L. Quirk, Ypsilanti, treasurer; and directors, besides these officers, Charles E. Hiscock, Dr. John Waltling, and C. D. Haines, of Buffalo, New York. Other stockholders in the company were G. F. Allmendinger, F. A. Howlett, W. B. Smith, T. J. Keech, J. L. Rose, A. L. Noble, M. J. Fritz, W. D. Harriman, J. 13. Wade, B. E. Thompson, and C. G. Taylor. At the opening of the year, 1891, the line was ready for service and its operations began. From the first the motor power was unsatisfactory and it was not long before the problem of electrical power was being considered. In September, 1896, a contract was entered into with the Michigan Electrical Company for complete electrical equipment of the road to be installed and ready for purposes of operation by December, and to cost about $30,000. The contract was carried out without great difficulty and the steam motors passed to make room for progress just as the horses had as power for thl- street cars in Ann Arbor. While the negotiations were pending which resulted in powering the Ypsilanti road with electricity, an electric line began to push westward from Detroit. This work went on with few interruptions until there was a continuous track from Michigan's first city to the Michigan Central Depot in Ann Arbor. June 11, 1898, the first car went over this line from Ann Arbor, and by the second week in August cars were running in both directions between our city and Detroit on ani hourly schedule. In 1900 and 1901 the line was projected westward from Ann Arbor but it was not until April 22, 1902, that cars could run straight through from Detroit to the Prison City. On that day an interlocker on the intersection of the Ann Arbor Railroad and the Detroit, Ypsilanti, Ann TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 383 Arbor, an1.Jackson Railwaily was completed thus opening the electric route throughout its length. The Jackson line was originally known as the "1Hawkes and Angus Line," from the names of its promoters, but within a few years it was given the long name just used, and in January, 1907, it came to be called the Detroit, Jackson and Chicago Electric Railway from the fact that it was then possible to go from Detroit to Iol!land, Michigan, by interurban, from which point a Graham and Morton steamship could be taken to Chicago. The business of the local street cars was never very great. In fact, on March 9, 1913, "Pay-as-you-enter" cars began to operate in the city, thus cutting in two the number of men employed in running the cars. The increasing use and ownership of automobiles finally quite ruined the street car patronage, and at the end of 1924 they were taken from the streets. In their places came the unwieldy motor busses. January 30, 1925, these huge, ungainly vehicles paraded the streets, and the next day they began to operate on certain streets according to a regular schedule. From time to time, in the interests of a greater income and a larger patronage, the routes of these busses have been changed, but so far they have not proved an entire success as a means of local transportation. With the coming of the first automobile to Ann Arbor in 1901 there began a new era in local transportation. The first automobile owned here was the property of Charles K. McGee. It:;s now in Ypsilanti, where a few months ago it ran in a parade under its own power. So popular, indeed, did the automobile become that some sort of regulations governing their use soon became necessary. Until 1910 our citizens were protected in this respect by the laws of the State, but with the increasing mnumbers of the gasolene motors traffic rules for the city became imperative. The first rules governing the driving and parking of automobiles were issued in Julne, 1910, by Mayor William Walz. No information is at hand as to the number of machines owned here at that time, but, two years earlier (June 24, 1908) there were forty of them in the city, and they were said to be valued at $55,000. The Ann Arbor Garage was put up during the latter part of 1907 and cared for all kinds of service work on automobiles. This building was the first concrete building in the city. It proved t344 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE BUSSES CAME IN 1925 Goodbye to Ann Arbor's Street Cars to be so easy to build and so sturdy once it was built that many other concrete structures were soon in process of construction. The sales of automobiles in the city have mounted year by year until now it is said that one out of every five persons in the city is the owner of a car. The history of transportation in Ann Arbor is closely associated with that of communication. As has already been said, the first telegraph line came to our city in 1847. The True Democrat for June 23 and July 21 of that year carried stories describing this line. According to those accounts an agent of the telephone company came here June 16, 1847, and stated that a line was to be constructed from Detroit to Milwaukee and that it would pass through Ann Arbor by October 1 of that year. His statements were supported by the facts and the line was run just as he said it would be. Years later this line became a part of the Western Union Telegraph system, with a local office in the business section of the city and another office at the depot. The up town office has made several moves, but in each case the location has been within half a block of the Court House and, with one exception, on either the west side of Main street or the south side of Huron between Main street and Fourth avenue. At one time it was located in the Ann Arbor Savings Bank building on the north side of Huron street. TRANSPORTATION AND COMMUNICATION 345 The Postal Telegraph office has also made several moves. Until a little less than a decade ago the office was no more than desk space in the window of the old Dawson drug store on East Huron street, the site of which is now occupied by the latest addition to the Farmers and Mechanics Bank. From there they moved to the corner where Cornwell's coal office is now, on the northeast corner of Huron street and Fourth avenue. Their next quarters were where the corridor of the Whitney Hotel is now, and their last location was made at 112 East Huron street. These telegraph lines have rendered very valuable services to Ann Arbor people. They have played a part in the speeding up of business, have enabled citizens to send messages at great distances with convenience and dispatch and have brought the news of the world to their doors. The first telephone in Ann Arbor was strictly a local line. It was operated by batteries and was set up between the drug store of Eberbach and Company, at 112 South Main street, and Herman Hutzel's clothing store at 123 South Main street, where the Federal Bakery is now. The second telephone was brought here by Clark Cornwell, manager of the Cornwell Paper Company, and was set up to connect his office with the paper mills at Lowell and Geddes, a distance of five miles. The third line was built for the firm of Swathel, Kyer, and Peterson to connect them with the lumber office of T. J. Keetch, and it extended from the flour mill on North Main street to the corner of Fourth avenue and Depot street. These lines were so successful that Cornwell and Keetch decided to construct exchanges both in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. In the fall of 1880, W. A. Jackson, then general manager of the Telephone and Telegraph Construction Company, in the office of Zina P. King, induced a number of citizens to solicit enough subscriptions to make possible an exchange in Ann Arbor. There were but seven telephones in the city and seventeen more were necessary before the exchange could be put in. After persistent canvassing the seventeen contracts were obtained, the exchange was organized, and W. D. Green was put in charge of this and of the Ypsilanti exchange. The installation of the equipment progressed rapidly and by January 1, 1881, was ready for use. 346 THLE FIRST IHUNDRED YEARS The first home of the local exchange was over Reinhardt's shoe store at 218 South Main street, but it was soon moved to rooms over HIaller's jewelry store. In a short time a larger suite became necessary, one being found over Schaller's book store at 116 South Main street. From there it went to quarters above the offices of the State Savings Bank, and in 1925 it went to its splendid new home on the north side of Washington street between Fifth avenue and Division street. It was not until 1887 that telephones came into common use in Ann Arbor. Issue after issue of the Ann Arbor Courier added to the list of new subscribers, in each case the number of "rings" being given. Ten years later, in 1897, a new company called the State Telephone Company, began to install connections here and at lower rates than those charged by the Bell Company, but the business of the latter company was not greatly injured by the competition. In February, 1912, a merger of the two companies was consummated, and, on July 9 of the same year, an announcement appeared in the TimesNews to the effect that the defunct Washtenaw Home Phone Company, which had been organized a few years before, was to be purchased by the Bell Telephone Company. The deal was completed in August following, the stockholders in the "Home" conpany receiving less than fifty cents on the dollar for their stock. After this there was no competitor of the Bell Company and such energies as had formerly been expended in business competition were now devoted to improving their services and increasing the number of their subscribers. Generally speaking the telephone service in Ann Arbor has been good, such exceptions as the public has experienced usually coming from the natural growing pains of a healthy organization. The number of connections has steadily increased autil now practically every business place in the city has from one to a dozen, or more, and lphones are to be found in three out of every four homes in the city. The first wireless outfit was I)ilt alld set up in 1900 by Oscar Eberbach and was used by him to connect his store at 112 South Main street and his shop) just back of Hutzel's clothing store. At present radios are as common as phonographs once were and everyone is neighbor to everyone else regardless of distance. CHAPTER XXII Ann Arbor Publications T HE history of Ann Arbor's newspapers is nearly as old as the history of the city itself. It begins with the successful attempt of Thomas Simpson in 1829 to publish the Western Emigrant, the first issue of which came off the press on November 18 of that year. Simpson seems to have had great faith in the future of the little frontier village where he began to employ his talents, but the probable prosperity of his paper was not the only motive behind his efforts. His paper, a weekly, upheld, almost from the first, claims of the AntiMasonic party. Besides the editorials directed against the great fraternity, the paper gave much space to "foreign intelligence," remedies, and various advertisements, though the items of local interest were exceedingly scarce. From the first few issues it is clear that late in 1829 John Allen and his brother, James T. Allen, were conducting a general store in the old block house belonging to the former which stood on the northwest corner of Main and Huron streets. Their partnership was dissolved on December 15, the store for a time being operated under the name of James T. Allen and Company. John Allen and his friend, Samuel Dexter, had been strongly influenced by the Anti-Masonic movement, and the missionLry spirit of both induced them to take over the Western Emnigrat and continue the attacks on the secret order. The repetition of certain phrases in the Emigrant, which one can also find in several of Allen's letters, indicates that the Virginian was the author of some of the editorials contained in Ann Arbor's first newspaper. Allen's interests were so scattered, however, that he soon lost interest in the paper and (George (orselius took over most of the work of getting out the paper. lie was aided by Dexter and to some extent by Mark Howard, the first man to learn the printer's trade in the village. Corselius had real genius. IHe had been employed on the Advertiser in Detroit and had had an excellent training in journalistic work. Added to this, he was a clear THE MICHIGAN STATE JOURNAL FOR AUGUST 13, 1845 Giving an Account of the First University Commencement and Alumni Meeting ANN ARBOR PUBLICATIONS 349 thinker, a man of great energy, breadth of vision and sincerity. Dexter, Allen, and Corselius had boundless faith in the future greatness of the western country, believing that its opening would be hastened through the development of inland waterways. The opening of the Erie canal meant much to Michigan Territory, and these men were of the opinion that other great canals would do for the country even farther west what the Erie canal had done for western New York, Ohio, and the regions where their own fortunes had been cast. The triumvirate of pioneer journalists, in the early issues of the Emigrant, set forth a scheme for connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans by a series of water-ways and railways. Mr. Corselius elaborated the scheme in several able articles, thus bringing the credit to a locally published newspaper for first clearly setting forth the plan of linking the oceans by highways of water and steel. The Western Emigrant was published during the years 1831 -32 under that name, but during the next two years it was known simply as the Emigrant. In 1833-34 it was called the?Michigan Immigrant, and in 1834-45 the Michigan Whig. In 1835 it became the Michigan WVhig and TWashtenaw Democrat. In 1837 the paper's name was changed to the Michigan State Jolrnal, though it was popularly called the Journal, or the State Journal. Early in 1839 the publication was purchased by Thomas IT. Ladd and Company and the editions were issued from their printing office in Allen's block house corner at the subscription rate of $2.00 a year in advance; $3.00 if not paid in advance." On September 1, 1845, Ladd sold the Jeurnal to George Corselius and S. B. McCracKen. The new proprietors immediately lowered the subscription price to $1.50 in advance or $2.00 if paid "within the year." The office of the paper was in the Mundy block "at the head of the second flight of stairs." After a few years the Journal was moved to Lansing and its place locally was taken by the Washtenawo WThig published in the Crane and Jewett Block every Wednesday by S. S. Schoff. The Journal was a Whig paper, at first ably edited by Franklin Sawyer, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and a little later by Edwin Lawrence. The first Democratic paper to be published in Ann Arbor 350 THIE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS was the A. Arbor Argus. In a sense it was really the successor of the Michigan Whig and Washtenalw Democrat. Its first issue came out February 1, 1835, the result of the labors of General Edward Clark and E. P'. Gardner. In those days Gardner was not the sober man he was later in life, but indulged in occasional sprees. I)uring these General (lark would write the editorials and furnish the money to get out the paper. In the issue of Decelmber 20, 1838, the editors got down on their knees and begged for help in the matter of money for subscriptions. "If our subscribers and advertising patrons have any mercy on us," ran their plea, "they will remember that it is impossible for us to live without we receive some remuneration for our labors. We are forced from necessity to call upon every one who is in debt to us, to settle. No man should take a paper without he can pay for it, and we believe there is no one in this county but what can." "The man who takes no paper, Or, taking, pays not when they're readl Would sell his corn to buy a horn, And live on borrowed bread." Little success came as a result of this cry for help, the financial troubles of the publication ending in an execution sale by the Mechanics' Bank, of Detroit, for one dollar due them. The paper was bid in by General Clark and Abraham Vandemark, as friends of Gardner, and the latter continued'to run the paper and make it lively for his political opponents. In the course of time the paper fell into the hands of a stock company, with Gardner as president, the issues of the publication coming from the press in regular weekly fashion. General Clark finally withdrew his connection with the publication, but not without a loss of about $125. As a rule Gardner was as partisan a Democrat as the most ardent advocate of democratic principles could wish, but at one time, when he did not espouse loudly enough the cause of "judicial reform," some members of his own party decided -to start an opposition paper. The True Democrat found its support in the homes of nearly a hundred local Democrats, most of them voting against Alpheus Felch, who, at that time, was the Democratic candidate for Governor. However, Governor Felch and the Argus, in a few years, were fully vind ANN ARBOR PUBLICATIONS 351 icated in the stand they had taken. "Judicial reform" went through, but in two years the people of the State were so sick of it that they were glad to go back to the old court system, which has since been in vogue. The name of the Argus in 1847 was changed to the True Denmocrat and Michigan Argus, the excuse for the existence of the True Democrat as a separate paper having passed away. John Allen was responsible for this change, his position that one year being that of managing editor of the paper. After a few years the name True Democrat was dropped, and the original title, the Michigan Argus, was resumed. This name appeared at the head of the paper for several years and was then changed to the Ann Arbor Argus. In 1878 the Ann Arbor Democrat was started by J. L. Burleigh. It was combined with the Argus in 1898, the new publication appearing under the name, the Ann Arbor Argus-Democrat. Soon after these papers were combined a new paper, the A nn Arbor Daily Argus, appeared, the first issue coming from the press November 16, 1898. This paper ceased pu)blication in 1907. Except for the year that Allen managed the Argus the paper was in Gardner's hands until 1854 when Elihu B. Pond became editor and publisher. Pond was one of the most capable newspaper men the city ever had. He was a member of the State Constitutional Convention of 1850 and was actively interested in every movement for the public good until the day of his death. He was editor of the Argus until Tuesday, December 31, 1878, when the paper was sold to John N. Bailey. Under Pond and Bailey, as under Clark and Gardner, the paper kept its position as the leading democratic paper in the State outside of Detroit, and it continued to hold this position until 1898 when its publication as a separate paper ceased. For two decades, at least, after the Argus first came out, its financial worries, like those of its competitors, were very great. In the issue of December 11, 1844, this amusing advertisement appeared: "POTATOES! POTATOES!-We are in want of twenty-five or thirty bushels of Potatoes for use. Will not some of our subscribers who have expressed a wish to pay us in Potatoes do so immediately?" Again in the issue of December 4, 1863, the same wail is heard. It sheds some light on the state of prices during the Civil War and it also gives 352 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS some idea of the difficulties a newspaper man met in trying to publish a newspaper in Ann Arbor. "The expenses of carrying on business have increased so enormously within the last two years, that we find it absolutely necessary to make a change in our terms... articles of food and clothing have attained such prices that it is impossible for us to... support our family. We have tried the utmost economy, but have failed to make the two ends meet." It was E. B. Pond who was writing. He went on to say that faim products of all kinds, fuel and clothing had increased so much in price that the income from the paper was insufficient to keep going in the state of things as they were then, "so that while we have been keeping our paper at the old rate the expense of living has fully doubled." Even wood, the Argus complained, was almost prohibitive as a fuel because its price was so high. On counting the sticks of one load that was sold it was found that the purchaser had paid eight cents for each stick, "and the sticks were small too." These statements give an amusing view of earlier days in Ann Arbor, but the advertisements appearing in Pond's paper and those finding space in other publications, both before and after the days of the Argus, give pictures even more amusing and at the same time more colorful than those arising in the mind as a result of reading such complaints. The issue of the Argus for October 3, 1836, contained a warning of "A ROGUE!" William R. Thompson, Solon Cook, and "Deacon" Lorrin Mills cautioned the public "against a person calling himself Harmon P. Beers as he has proved himself to be a notorious scoundrel... Beers... contracted for building two churches (the Presbyterian and the Methodist Episcopal) to the amount of sixteen thousand dollars in the village of Ann Arbor... having employed a number of industrious mechanics.. after receiving a great share of his pay. and running largely into debt to different individuals of this place, decamped with his wife, leaving his workmen to solace themselves... He drove away a fine span of sorrel horses...had a new harness and a new lumber wagon." As far as our evidence goes, the workmen were never paid, the church societies never recovered their money, and the owner of the sorrel horses never saw his span again. ANN ARBOR PUBLICATIONS 35)3 It is barely possible that some of those who had put their trust in Beers found relief in a wonderful remedy advertised in the Michigan State Journal in 1841. According to this if "You have a pain in the side, weak back, or distress in the back (it particular times, rheumatism or weak stomachs, hard tumers, or king's evil, should use the Jew David's or Hebrew Plaster, for it will give relief in every instance." W. S. and J. WV. Maynard informed their fellow citizens of the efficacy of Dr. Spohn's Ague Pill, and their advertisement stated also that Dr. Bartholomew's Pink Expectorant Syrup was not only a good remedy for consumption but that it often cured that dread disease. With the spread of modern medical knowledge it would be hard to believe in the virtues of this marvelous syrup, but it would be even harder to believe with George Grenville, old time druggist, that "TONIC VERMIFUGE" was "a sure cure for all kinds of corns." There was little reason why Ann Arbor people should suffer from ailments of the feet on any account. They were advised that if they were "afflicted with loss of appetite, nausea, biliary derangement, and feverish symptoms you may safely conjecture that you have gout. Rub therefore forthwith thoroughly with Salvation Oil, the great pain-destroyer. Price twenty-five cents a bottle." The circus troupe of June, Titus & Co., which showed here in 1842, came back for a one day stand three years later under the name of June and Turner's Circus. Their advance man advertised that the whole performance would be "conducted with the most strict regard to chasitity, morality and virtue," a pledge which the owners must have found hard to live up to, since the show had come from the "Bowery Amphitheater," New York. One of the little "liners" William W. Douglas and Company put in the Argus stated that men could "Get a pair of those all wool pants for $2." Nearly all of the advertisements other than those setting forth the merits of various medicines were directed in their appeal to the men, but the medical advertisements, almost without exception, were directed to the readers of the opposite sex. One large advertisement, which ran in the Argus for many years, pictured two emaciated and weary-looking women sipping from bowls while a third declaimed to them on the magic powers of the 354 TIHE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS cure for consumption they were consuming: "Gooch's Mexican Syrup of Wild Cherry, Tar, Glycerin, etc." The papers containing the advertisements were quite as interesting as the advertisements themselves. During the political campaign of 1840 Mark Howard published a German paper which contained articles he had written but which Emanuel Mann had translated into German. Howard purchased some German type, set up the paper in that language and ran it all through the campaign. About the same time the Lancet and the Collector appeared in Lower Town and in 1844 The Mill-Boy of the Slashes came out. This was a Whig paper of four pages and with four columns to a page. It did not contain any advertisements, but devoted most of its space to extravagant praises of Henry Clay. In Lower Town a little later, the Signal of Liberty canme out. This was an antislavery paper, published by Reverend Guy Beckley and a Mr. Foster, on the east side of Broadway. From an office across the street the Gem of Science was issued each week by Sanford and Sanford, and not far away the Primitive Expounder, a semi-monthly, was printed by Thornton and Billings, two Universalist ministers. The Alphadelphic Tocsin was published in the interests of the Alphadelphian Association located in Kalamazoo. Other papers of the early days were the Peninsular Courier and Family Visitant, the Coon Hunter, the Local News, TVashtenaw Whig, Palladium, and the Oracle. The Washtenaw Whig was started in 1847 by S. B. McCracken, and for many years he continued to run it both as manager and editor. In 1857 the Local News and Advertiser began a short life of three years and one month, its issues ceasing August 21, 1860, for lack of support. The Ann Arbor Courier was started June 18, 1861, by C. G. Clark and W. D. Wiltsie, and the Ann Arbor Register made its appearance in 1874. In 1890 these two papers were combined as the Courier-Register, the new paper after that time being a regular visitor to Ann Arbor homes until 1907. In 1869 the Courier was purchased by Dr. A. W. Chase as a means of boosting the revised edition of his famous book of medical receipts of which more than a million copies were sold. On September 3, of the same year, he sold to Rice A. Beal his interest in the first receipt book together with the building he ANN ARBOR PUBLICATIONS 355 had erected during the years 1865-66. Doctor Chase agreed not to resume business in Michigan as long as Mr. Beal continued to handle the sales of the book. But the doctor got up a second book, transferring his publishing activities to Toledo, Ohio. He then decided to get out the Register and use it as he had the Courier to help advertise the latest edition of his book. For two years, as a result of a court injunction, the Register suspended publication, and after that time it was not supported as well as it had been before. When Mr. Junius E. Beal became editor of the combined papers, in 1899, the publication took on new life and for eight years it was looked upon as one of the best newspapers in this section of the State. In 1889, the immediate predecessor of the Ann Arbor TimesNews, the Ann Arbor Evening Times, made its appearance. Passing through several changes of name it was continued in 1905 as the Ann Arbor Daily Times. On January 1, 1906, a new paper came out under the name of the Ann Arbor News. In May, 1908, this was combined with the Daily Times under the old name, the Ann Arbor Daily Times. The next year, when the paper came into the hands of Mr. R. T. Dobson, the name was changed to the Ann Arbor Daily Times-News, but after a few years the word Daily was dropped and for a decade the publication has greeted the public under its present name, the Ann Arbor Times-News. Within the last ten years several important events have happened in connection with the history of the paper. On Labor Day, 1916, the presses and offices of the publication were moved from Number 303 North Main street to their new home on Ann street, some seventy-five feet east of Main street and just north of the Court House. The new building was designed by Rupert Koch, and his father, John Koch, had charge of the building operations. The issue of September 2 was the last printed in the old quarters and the issue of September 5 was the first to be printed in the new. September 16 appeared the largest issue any Ann Arbor newspaper ever sent out from their offices. It contained 176 pages of historical material, advertisements, personal sketches, illustrations, and other material in sufficient quantity and variety to give one a comprehensive knowledge of the activities of the city and of the history back of many of them. On October 1, 1919, Mr. Dob .56 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE ANN ARBOR TIMES.NEWS BUILDINQ son sold the paper to the Booth Publishing Company, whose hands have held it since that date. The next years the managership of the paper was put in charge of Clare H. McKinley, and under his efficient direction the Times-News has experienced a healthy prosperity. On November 19, 1923, R. Ray Baker succeeded C. N. Church (now of the Pontiac Press) as editor, and several new additions to the force were made. At present the paper's force numbers about seventy-five, its paid circulation averages approximately 10,000, and it receives 100,000 words daily by telegraph, only about one-tenth of which it is possible to use. Two leased wires run into the offices of the paper, one a Morse, or "human" wire, and the other automatic, which is unusual equipment for a paper the size of the Times-News. In 1924, through a plan worked out by Mr. McKinley and Mr. Baker, one of the most unique ex ANN ARBOR lPUBLICATIONS 357 amples of public service ever to be carried out by a newspaper was accomplished here. According to this an alphabetical registration of all voters in the city was made, which resulted in a registration of more than one hundred per cent, more people putting their names on the poll book than there were voters within the corporation as a previous canvass had shown! j On September 29, 1890, the University of Michigan Daily greeted the public for the first time. It was gotten out by "Independents," students who did not belong to any fraternity and who nursed a grievance which arose from the fact that the fraternities shut them out of most of the important Campus offices. Wilfred Shaw, in his book, "The University of Michigan," gives a full account of the Daily, so that here it is only necessary to observe that during the twenty-five years of its life it has seen its subscription list grow from an original 300 to several thousand, and today it is the greatest college daily in the world. Late in the last century two papers in the German language began to be published here: the Haus-freund Post and the Neue Washtenaw Post, the latter edited by Eugene K. Helber. The initial appearance of Mr. Hlelber's paper was made March 9, 1894, and it has continued to come from the press regularly since that time. Mr. Helber died December 12, 1922, and his son, James E. Helber, took up the work laid down by his father. Like the Michigan Daily, the paper had small beginnings, but at present it is putting out 5,000 copies each week, the print now being in English. Between 1900 and 1903 two other papers came out, but their existence in both cases was limited. The first, the Washtenaw Republican, left the press for the first time, September 1, 1900, and other issues followed until March, 1902. It was succeeded by the Ann Arbor Record, under the editorship of Horatio J. Abbott, and ran until April, 1903, when it was discontinued. A number of other newspapers have been printed in Ann Arbor, but their lives were of short duration and it cannot be said that they greatly affected the history of the city. Most of the papers which did not survive long were starved out, several finding the local competition too great to overcome. 358 THiE FIRST HUNDRED) YEARS A number of interesting and important changes have come in the contents and makeup of the papers published here. The character of the type used in the first numbers of the Western Emigrant indicates that it came from the foundry which Benjamin Franklin started in Philadelphia in 1.785. This foundry passed into the hands of his grandson in 1790 and six years later into the hands of the famous firm of Binny and Donaldson. At the time that the Emigrant was begun in Ann Arbor, this firm was distributing type all over the United States, much of it finding its way to Michigan Territory. In time the old Philadelphia foundry property was taken over by the. American Type Founders Company of which Mr. Frank Glass is the Ann Arbor representative. The first issue of the Emigrant was about thirteen inches wide by eighteen and a half inches long, containing four columns of news material, editorials, letters, foreign news, advertisements, and a Thanksgiving proclamation. Within a few years it had nearly doubled in size and was running six columns to the page. The Emigrant and all of its successors for many years devoted most of their space to "Foreign Intelligence," syndicated poems and stories, jokes, lengthy letters and advertisements. About the time the Central Railroad came to Ann Arbor more local news was put in, usually being hidden on one of the inside pages or on the last page of the different issues. Usually the front pages were devoted to political articles, most of them discussing affairs of national moment, to foreign news, cooking recipes, verses, stories, and to a business directory. After the Civil War when the farm market had greatly expanded, prices of provisions and farm products were given a place and much more space was given to local progress, court cases, and to opinions of prominent persons. In 1895 news of nearby towns and villages was included in the columns of the different papers, and in 1897 appeared the first real photograph. It was a picture of William N. Lister, who at that time was a candidate for the office of School Conmmissioner on the Republican ticket. In 1900 the first large black head-lines were used and in 11903 dispatches were printed together with the place from which they were sent and the date of sending. Since then no radical changes have come in the makeup or in the contents of the papers. At ANN ARBOR PUBLICATIONS 359 present the Times-News is an eight-column daily, modern in every respect, and it has the appearance of a metropolitan publication. The Washtenaw Post, also, is attractive in appearance, progressive in its policies, and fills a real need in the newspaper life of the city. CHAPTER XXIII Health and Sanitation JOHN Allen, in 1824, realized that a site for a town must be designed by nature for conditions of healthful living. He was quick to perceive that the location he had chosen for his town satisfied these conditions in at least three respects: a porous soil; a rolling landscape, and a rapidly flowing river. If the people who came here in the early days, and even those who settled here at a later time, had known more about preserving their health and more about sanitation, Ann Arbor would have continued to be one of the most healthful communities anywhere to be found. But even without a knowledge of these things most of her people have suffered little from disease and local physicians in some cases have not always been as busy caring for the sick as in some communities less happily situated. Ann Arbor, however, owes much to those of the medical profession who have made the city their home. From the early days, nearly a hundred years ago when a Doctor Brigham came along on his decrepit horse, bringing in his saddle bags blue ague pills and cologne for chills, until the present when there are to be found in the city persons of the profession who have world-wide fame, Ann Arbor people have been well served by those who have looked after and cared for their bodily ills. One of the first physicians to settle in Ann Arbor was Doctor Samuel Denton. His office was a little one-story white frame house with green blinds, which stood near the front of the lot just south of where the Whitney Hotel now stands. In his office he kept a small stock of drugs, his library, and a few simple instruments. On April 2, 1835, he announced that he had "removed his Office to the Court House in the South Room on the East side of the Hall. Those who call after bedtime will please knock at the window if the door is fastened." Nearly a year later one Doctor R. P. Chase announced in the Argus that he had opened an office on Main street, his notice running in the paper for several months. There were enough HEALTH AND SANITATION 361 physicians in the county at the end of thirty years (1866) to organize the Washtenaw Medical Society, but no record of their work is at hand and little has come down to us concerning the activities of the individual members of the organization other than the fact that some of them regularly inserted their business cards in the first column of the front pages of local papers. One of the first activities related to the problem of health in the village, was that having to do with the disposal of garbage. As early as 1840 a Mr. Irving, who lived back of the Clark School, on Ashley (then Second) street, made it his business to collect the garbage for his pigs. But it was not until many years had passed before the city came to look upon the disposal of garbage as a regular part of the business of the corporation. In May of 1878, John Kittredge was awarded a contract by the Council for the removal of garbage from the streets of the business district during the summer for $38. It was 1905 before the modern system of garbage disposal was introduced. On March 14, of that year, the Council adopted a resolution of Alderman Markley providing for a request to the Legislature to pass an enabling act permitting the city to bond itself to an amount not to exceed $10,000 for the purpose of installing a garbage crematory. In July the Council again considered the project of a crematory, but the majority of the members believed it would be better to buy a small farm, raise hogs and feed them the garbage collected in the city. At that tinme the cost of collecting was $2,230, and it was feared the hog farm might not be a profitable venture. It was at last decided that nothing should be done until the matter could be given a thorough investigation. The incinerator project and that of the hog-farm failed to materialize, the garbage after being collected being dumped on the soil just outside of the limits of the city. In July of 1917, Mr. H. H. Wagoner was empowered by the Council to contract for an incinerator and the work of cremating was soon in progress. In 1921 the contract for collecting the garbage was awarded to Edward Besch and John Gutekunst for $15,280 per year for three years. The present system is not wholly satisfac tory, but improvements will come as time goes on. For half a century and more Ann Arbor physicians have 362 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS taken a leading part in advocating better sanitary conditions here. Those on the medical staff of the University have had a share in this work, but down town Dr. Conrad Georg, Drs. W. F. Breakey, W. 13. Hinsdale, and J. A. Wessinger have been most conspicuous in the movement for better sanitation. Dr. Georg did most of his work in this connection through his addresses and through his letters to the newspapers, but Drs. Breakey, Hinsdale, and Wessinger, as city health officers, labored in wider fields. One of the first steps taken by a health officer in the direction of making the city clean was taken by Dr. Breakey at the meeting of the Council, August 6, 1888. He recommended the appointment of an inspector to examine the houses and yards of the city for the purpose of finding out the sanitary condition of things, the work to be done under the direction of the Board of Health. After a short debate the Council gave its authorization for the work and voted the sum of $100 for carrying it out. There followed a succession of clean-up days such as the city had never experienced up to that time. Dr. Breakey interested himself after this time in every phase of sanitation and the city owes much to his persistent efforts to make it clean and healthful. In 1901 when Mayor Copeland appointed Dr. IHinsdale as health office, greater vigor than ever was evident in the department and in consequence the general health of the city improved. In 1904 Dr. Hinsdale was succeeded by Dr. Thomas Cooley, who did all he could to carry forward the policies his able predecessors had followed. In September, 1905, Dr. Wessinger was appointed by Mayor Hamilton to succeed Dr. Thomas Cooley as Health Officer, and since that time he has had more to do with health conditions in the city than any other man. One of the first matters to attract his attention was that of clearing the last of the slaughter houses from the city. As far back as 1869, the year that the Council passed an ordinance levying a fine of $100 for riding velocipedes on the sidewalk, they took up the question of killing animals within the city limits. It was not until six years later, however, that more vigorous action was taken. During the fall of 1875 the issue came up in the Council again and an ordinance was passed to rid the city HEALTH AND SANITATION of them, but it was not obeyed, and in May and June following, further resolutions for immediate removal were made. It was pointed out that the state in which the slaughter houses were kept was bad for the health of the citizens, and especially for the school children. Some of the more objectionable were driven from the city, but others persisted until in 1900 and later. They were declared a public nuisance and those which were operated openly were forced out of the city. Nevertheless, the practice of killing beef animals and pigs within the corporate limits did not cease, many still being slaughtered in the basement of a meat market on State street. At one time, about twenty years ago, students and professors, as well as townspeople along North University avenue, were astonished to see a citizen, Mr. Herbert French, hanging desperately to one end of a rope while a young steer at the other end was making for State street at a rate calculated to ruin all the speed ordinances of the city. Finally the fractious animal was subdued and its doom sealed within the confines of the cellar above mentioned. The principal reason why pigs were not killed within the city after 1905 was the ordinance of September 18, of that year. It was decreed that no pig stys should remain within the city after January 1, 1906. Necessarily, it was more convenient for any one owner to do all of the killing in one building and it soon came about that the abattoirs were removed from the city. Dr. Wessinger had a hand in getting rid of these nuisances, but he did even greater service in connection with Ann Arbor's milk supply. Largely as a result of his recommendations, made in the spring of 1913, rigorous inspection of milk was begun, both as to butter fat and to bacteria count. Following up his program the Council, in February, 1914, passed an ordinance against the practice of carryilig large containers from which milk was distributed to customers. It was decided that thereafter milk bottles should be used exclusively and that they should be clean and sanitary in every way. The final victory came in 1916 in December, wllen, through the efforts of Dr. Victor C. Vaughan and Dr. Wessinger, the Council passed an ordinance which was to go into effect May 1, 1917. According to this, a person selling milk after that time would be required to hold a license, and 364~ THEE FIRST iHUNDRED YEARS so It0 only milk and cream of grade "A" or pasteurized milk could be sold in the city. The quality of milk and other dairy products was to measure up to certain standards and dairies were to be kept clean and wholesome. Dr. Wessinger has had a hand in providing the city with good water, in extending the sewers of the city, and in seeing to it that alleys and streets have been kept clean. Since 1910, when Mayor Walz made the first plea for a safe and sane Fourth of July, he gave his full support to the idea. He helped to popularize the first "Swat the Fly" campaign, that of 1911, and he furnished data to the papers on the diseases carried by flies. In 1916 he made a careful study of the various cases of infantile paralysis within the city and of the cases of typhoid fever and gave assurance that there was no real cause for widespread alarm. In 1917-18 he worked almost day and night to keep in control the influenza epidemic and since that time has always been on the alert to check any recurrance of the disease. Health conditions were much better in the city after 1893 than they had been up to that time. In 1889 and 1890 a general sewer system for the city was planned and the Board of Public Works, which began to grow in importance, undertook to direct the work of laying the pipes. On October 5, 1891, the Council voted to raise $20,000 by taxation, but February 29 of the next year the tax was defeated by a vote of 803 to 597. Notwithstanding this reverse, advocates of a general sewer system continued to work for the project, and about a year later money was voted for the work. By 1897 more than $100,000 had been spent and the system covered half of the city. In succeeding years additional funds were spent and today Ann Arbor's sewer system is equal to any in the country and far better than most systems to be found in cities of this size. Between 1905 and 1917 a number of other important steps were taken to improve health and sanitation here. Medical inspection in the public schools was begun under the direction of Dr. Herdman in 1905, the first inspection of the kind in the State. In 1911 the Camp Lookout Tuberculosis Sanitarium was established here and the next day, May 1, the Council passed ordinances providing for the inspection of plumbing and wiring of buildings in accordance with rules HEALTH AND SANITATION 365 approved by the Board of Health, and for getting rid of noxious weeds within the city. The vote on wire inspection was killed in the Council, June 5, and it was not passed favorably until fourteen years later. On August 27, 1912, the citizens voted, 931 to 398, in favor of a detention hospital, giving $2,5,000 towards it, and in 1914 the Federation of Charities established a dental clinic for Ann Arbor children. In 1917 motor driven street cleaning equipment was decided upon by the Council. The purchases made in 1918 and since that date have given the city a number of machines designed for keeping the streets clean and further equipment will be added as needs demand. The attention the citizens have given to the care of their health and the interest shown by her physicians in regard to it and in connection with the sanitary conditions in the community have made Ann Arbor a healthful place in which to live. If John Allen could see it today in all its attractiveness and beauty he would realize as no other that his attempt to found a town was not made in vain. The A nn Arbor Times and Advertiser for Thursday, July 4, 1878, described an iron and sulphur well in Lower Town. It was located on the premises of Dr. Kellogg and was said to 1)e 800 feet deep. Chemical analysis proved "it possesses wonderful healing properties. There is also a Mineral Springs House for the accommodation of diseased persons. It affords great inducements to try its virtues, and the resort has been found recuperative and delightful." CHAPTER XXIV The Serious Side A STRANGER coming into our city at any time would be struck with the high moral tone and strong religious character of our citizens. From the earliest times a great majority of our people have been interested in uplift movements and active in the work of the churches. The first settlers here were a sober and industrious lot, but the increase in population brought with it a few who spent their time in riotous living. Before the settlement was five years old those of the stricter sort were setting themselves strongly against lawlessness of every kind, and especially against the habitual use of alcoholic drinks. One evidence of this attitude is seen in the advertisements of Solon Cook, who came here and set up a tavern in the early 'thirties. When Cook first came, in 1830, he opened a harness shop, but within a short timhe he purchased the tavern Ira W. Bird had erected on the southwest corner of Main and Huron streets. Later he purchased the premises on the southwest corner of Fourth avenue and huron streets, where he continued in business for thirty-seven years. During these years the building was twice remodeled, and two large additions were made to it. The building was removed in 1871 and the present hotel, now known as the Allenel, was put up. Cook's Hotel was usually spoken of as a temperance house, though it was not always strictly so. One night the front of this hotel, and that of the harness shop of an advocate of temperance named Robinson, "were made the targets of the drink demon's spleen, by being thoroughly besmirched with some foul smedum, because Cook had closed his bar to the habitual tippler, though it was generally understood that liquor could be had when needed for the accommodation of travelers." For several years the protest against the manufacture, sale, and use of alcoholic beverages was feeble, but for several years it grew in strength. The Emiqrant carried advertisements of the breweries, and nearly all the newspapers issued THE SERIOUS SIDE 367 locally followed its example until the 18th amendment was put into force. These advertisements were objects of attack in most of the temperance meetings held for the purpose of taking action against the saloons. In the Michigan Argus for July 6, 1837, the citizens were "requested to meet at the Court House tomorrow, at 6 P. M., to take into consideration the propriety of adopting means for suppressing the grog shops and their attendant evils, and enforcing the observance of the ordinances of the village. BPy order of the Council, W. S. Maynard, President; E. W. Morgan, Recorder." As a result of this and other meetings a temperance society was formed which lasted until June, 1841, when a new organization came into existence, the Total Abstinence Society. According to the second article of this society, any person could become a member by signing the following pledge: "The undersigned hereby agree and promise to abstain entirely from the manufacture, sale, and use as a beverage, of all intoxicating liquors, and to endeavor in all suitable ways to induce others to do the same." In January of the next year, the Washtenaw Tee Total Society came to Ann Arbor as the guests of the local society and helped them conduct a series of temperance revival meetings. These meetings were held in the older 'rotestant churches in different parts of the village. During the meetings, within a few weeks, more than 400 signed the pledge land enlisted in the army arrayed against King Alcohol. A new, permalnent society was organized at this time, which for eighty years carried on a campaign against what the abstainers called the hosts of intemperance. On July 4, 1843, a big temperance celebration and jubilee was held at which the question of granting liquor licenses was discussed. A near victory at this time gave encouragement to the pledge-signers in 1844. In the election of that year the vote stood 114 to 106 against the granting of licenses, and in 1845 the temperance people woy by a vote of 125 to eighty-eight. After that, however, the Germans and Irish combined with many of the English residents and a vote was cast which permitted the saloons to return. In spite of every effort of the old foes of the saloons, and in spite of all the white-ribboned members of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union could do, the saloons 368 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH On Huron Street remained open until the 18th constitutional amendment forced them to close their doors. The questions of temperance and the saloon were discussed innumerable times in the later history of the churches, but the first religious services were entirely given over to spiritual experiences and religious teachings common in the Protestant churches of the times. At first all the religious services were held in the little log school building John Allen built on the northwest corner of Main (then Third) and Ann streets. As time went on the Presbyterians began to take seats apart, and a little later they held meetings there at a different time of day from the others. Soon the Methodists followed their example, but in cold weather the services were held in private homes, all of the Protestant denominations adopting this practice. On August 21, 1826, the Presbyterian Society was formally organized in John Allen's schoolhouse. Reverend Noah M. Wells, a minister resident in Detroit, officiated at the organization. The original members of this society were: Ann Isabella Allen, Elizabeth Allen, James Allen, Orville Barnes, Israel Branch, Mary Branch, Mrs. Fannie Camp, Deborah Farrand, Richard Lord, Roswell Parsons, Temperance Roberts, and Phoebe Whitmore. All of these joined by letter except Mrs. Camp, who became a member on profession of faith, and who was the first person to be baptized in Ann Arbor. Israel Branch was elder, deacon, and sexton, and Bethuel Farrand at this time began his twenty-one-year service as an elder. THE SERIOUS SIDE 369 In 1827 the Presbyterians began to use the ballroom of the tavern owned by Ira W. Bird, but in a few months the society moved into the ballroom of the Mansion House, which James T. Allen had recently purchased of John Allen for the sum of $300. The passing of a year or two saw them housed in a small frame structure Asa L. Smith built on the northeast corner of Washington street and Fifth avenue (then called street). In 1829 a small church, thirty-five by twentyfive feet, was erected on the site of the present church, the first building of its kind in the village. Ere long a twenty-foot addition was put on, but the whole was outgrown within a few years. In 1837, a larger frame building was put on the same site, the old frame structure being torn down to make room for the new. When the present church was built, in 1860, this large frame building was moved to the site it still occupies, about a hundred feet west of the corner of Washington and Fifth avenue on the north side of the street. During 1925 a brick front was put on one of the three stores which were made out of the old building. Up to the year 1829 religious services were called by private notice, but that year the Presbyterians brought a bell into use. For a time it was suspended between forked branches of a huge oak which stood in front of the old Kinne residence opposite the offices of the Police Department in the City Hall. Later it was transferred to the top of a square derrick erected for the purpose at the north end of the church building near the corner of Huron and Division streets. In 1838 it was taken to the belfry of the Court House, where, for many years, it called together the guardians of justice and struck terror to those confined in the local bastile. In 1841, or thereabouts, the bell was taken down and offered for sale. In the Michigan State Journal for January 22, 1842, one can read this advertisement: "A fine toned Church Bell, worth $125.00, for sale by W. S. Maynard." No buyer came forward in answer to this offer, so the bell was again mounted in its place, where it remained until 1877. At that time it was purchased by the Board of Education and was hung in the belfry of the schoolhouse in the Third Ward. During the earliest years of the history of the Protestant churches in Ann Arbor the struggle of the various denomina 370 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS tions to get along was a hard one. Transportation through the woods was difficult in the extreme, so that coming here to administer to the spiritual wants of the villagers was possible only as a result of great personal hardship and sacrifice. Moreover, the people living here could not afford to pay much to any minister who might come, so the charges were only casually sul)plied. With the Plresbyterians, Ann Arbor was not a regular charge until 1832. Up to that year the local pulpit was occupied by "supplies."' One of these, William Page, bought a few acres just outside the village and there built a home. He gave regular attention to the society as did also his successor, Ira Pettibone. In 1832 Reverend John Beach was installed as pastor, remaining here until February, 1838. From then until 1843 the church was without a regular pastor, but it was supplied by Reverend E. T. Richards, Reverend E. E. Gregory, Reverend J. P1. Cleveland, and Reverend Ira M. Weed. The next regular pastorate lasted from 1843 to 1855, Reverend William S. Curtis occupying the pulpit. On Washington's birthday, in 1844, the ladies of the church gave an elaborate fair. The $205 realized from this was used to purchase a new organ for the church. Doctor Curtis resigned in 1855 to accept a p)rofessorship in Hamilton College. There was no pastor until 1857, when Reverend Lucius D. Chapin took up the work. By this time the membership had grown so much as to make necessary a new building. This was erected at an approximate cost of $35,000. The corner stone was laid August 8, 1860. In the stone a number of interesting and precious articles were placed. Among the more important of these were: a copy of the Bible; the articles of faith and covenants of the church; a brief history of the church since its organization in 1826, with a list of the supply and regular pastors; a list of members and trustees in 1860, the names of the building committee and other officers; catalogues of the University and public schools; a copy of each of the city papers and of each of the Detroit dailies; a directory of Ann Arbor, and a number of other important articles. The church was designed and the plans were drawn by a Mr. Heard, an architect of Cleveland, Ohio, and the building was erected under the superintendence of James Morwick, of Syracuse, THE SERIOUS SIDE 371 New York. Reverend Chapin became a professor in the University in 1863, and the fourth pastor, William J. Erdman, did not arrive until 1867. His incumbency lasted three years. Reverend S. W. Duffield came in 1871, and the next year the church was completed. The tower was carried up, the inside was somewhat remodeled and the ceiling was frescoed. In October a grand opening was held, and from that time services were conducted as usual. During the latter part of November a new bell was put in place, bearing the inscription: "First Presbyterian Church of Ann Arbor. Ring Out the Darkness of the Land. Ring in the Christ that Is to Be." Reverend Duffield went to Chicago in 1874, and was followed by Reverend F. T. Brown. Two years later the greatest celebration the church had ever known was held, the semi-centennial. The usual order of things was carried out, with sermons by former pastors, stirring speeches and songs, and feasting. At this time four of the original members of the church were still living: Simeon Mills and Clarissa, his wife; Mrs. Deborah Farrand, and Mrs. Fannie Camp. Mills was present at the celebration. Other persons connected with the pioneer d(lays who were present were Mrs. William Mead, Lorrin Mills, Charles Thayer, Reverend WV. S. Curtis, and Reverend Lucius 1). Chapin. J. Q. A. Sessions was in charge of the program, fittingly introducing the speakers. In his talk, Reverend Chapin told how he had dropped off the train at midnight twenty years before, in mid-winter, and how, after wandering about dark streets, he found no home in which to enter until dawn. After the Civil War an ever increasing number of students began to affiliate with the churches. In 1886 the enrollment of the University included students of almost every denomination. Like members of other churches, the Presbyterians believed it would be better for themselves, and better for their students belonging to their church, if the two groups could be brought into closer union. One of those who held such an opinion was Mrs. H. Louise Sackett. She donated the lots and the old Seaman home for the use of the Tappan Presbyterian Hall Association as a permanent memorial to he'r only son, Walter A. Sackett. The Association had been formed "to bring the Presbyterian students of the University into closer 372 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS acquaintance and more intimate union with each other, to confirm their faith, and to promote their welfare and their Christianity." The hall, which was erected on one of the Sackett lots, was made possible through a gift of $15,000 made by Senator James McMillan. In June, 1909, the l'resbyterian properties were increased by the purchase of the old Zimmerman home, more recently that of Dr. George Dock. This purchase was mlade possible through a gift of $13,000 by Mrs. Tracy McGregor of Detroit. In late years all of these properties have come into the hands of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1892 a new organ was installed in the Presbyterian church, at a cost of approximately $4,000, and the building was thoroughly cleaned. In 1920 plans were made for building a new church on the site of the old Cousins and Hall greenhouse property on the southeast corner of Haven street and South University avenue. The property was taken over by the new building of the School of Education of the University and the Presbyterians were compelled to find a new site. One was located on the west side of Washtenaw between Hill street and South University avenue and plans are being drawn for a church edifice which will be erected within the next two or three years. The Presbyterian Society has been fortunate in the character of its pastors and in the character of its members. A family spirit seems to pervade the whole organization which is kept strong by numerous suppers and other social gatherings. At present the membership numbers approximately 600, the financial condition of the body is good, and the society is one of the strongest in the city in every respect. The Methodist Church had its origin in a regular system of itineracy. Reverend John A. Baughman was the first circuit rider of the Detroit District who reached this, at that time the extreme western settlement. In November, 1825, he visited here, was entertained by John Allen and wife, and preached each of the successive evenings of his stay. In the spring of 1826, Reverend William Simmons, who was stationed at Detroit and had charge of the Detroit District, visited this place and preached. The following year, Reverend Z. H. Costen, Presiding Elder of the Monroe District, acting upon a request of Hannah and Rebecca Brown, directed Mr. Baughman, at THE SERIOUS SIDE 373 THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH On State and Washington Streets that time on the Monroe Circuit, again to visit Ann Arbor. The Brown sisters had been prompted to address Reverend Costen by chancing upon a notice in a newspaper which they found when they were on their way with their father to settle in the village. The notice gave information of a camp meeting to be held near Detroit, and it was signed by Reverend Costen. Reverend Baughman came here and organized a society July 29, consisting of the Brown sisters, Eber White, Harvey Kinney, and Calvin Smith. Mr. Smith was a transient person and never met with these people after that day. Ann Arbor was in the Monroe Circuit till May, 1828, and George W. Walker was the preacher up to that date. John Jones then took up the work, occupying the local pulpit until September when Ann Arbor, along with the Monroe Circuit, came to be included in the Detroit Circuit. This same year 374 THE FIRST HUINDRED YEARS the Huron Circuit was organized, and Ann Arbor soon became part of that, Reverend Benjamin Cooper serving the charge. The membership rapidly grew, and especially so as a result of the first revival service held in the village. The meetings were conducted by the first resident pastor, Reverend L. B. Gurley, during the winter of 1828-29. He was an old-time evangelist belonging to the conference of northern Ohio, and his appeal was made on the basis of a fear of the hereafter in case of sin as well as a promise of a rich reward for those who lived in righteousness. At the conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1830, Ann Arbor was made a regular appointment and Henry Colclazer and Elijah H. Pilcher, two mere boys, were appointed to it. They were strong in their convictions, of great zeal, and had all the enthusiasm of youth. As a result of their earnest efforts, the little church continued to grow, and foundations were laid for the great organization the Methodist Episcopal church has now. During the time these young men served the local church, it was made the head of a new district with Mr. Colclazer in charge. In 1836 land for a church and parsonage was purchased and a large frame church was put up. In 1837, and more especially in 1838, extensive accessions to the church were made, and it enjoyed one of the most prosperous periods in its history. During this time 118 persons became members of the society. Up to 1838, the meetings were held wherever a place offered. At that time a movement reached fruition which had been in progress for some time, and a large frame building was erected. It still stands on the southwest corner of Ann street and Fifth avenue, is used by several families for apartment purposes, and is known by older residents as the "Unity Block." The basement was ready for use in 1837, but the upper part of the edifice was not ready until the next year. An amusing anecdote connected with the dedication ceremonies illustrates the character of a violent controversy which raged from Maine to Georgia and which spread itself outward with the progress of the westward movement. When William Colclazer informed Bishop Soule that the choir had been at pains to make suitable preparations for the services and that two musical instruments had been obtained for the occasion, the THE SERIOUS SIDE 375 bishop refused to preach the dedication sermon. He turned on his heel saying, "Go on, brethren, and dedicate your church; I will have nothing to do with it." The Reverend Jonathan A. Chaplin came to the rescue and preached instead. The whole controversy revolving about the use of instrumental music gave rise to innumerable jokes and reminds one of the minister who announced the song and added, "The choir will please sing and fiddle the forty-first hymn." Another controversy which stirred the Methodist Church and all the other churches was that which developed in 1846 -47 over the abolition of slavery. There was some bitterness in all the churches, and a shifting about of membership resulted from the differences in views. But practically all the Methodists remained with their church, and the membership steadily increased. Before the Civil War was over the present church was being erected. The architect was W. H. Mallory, and the stonework for the foundation was done by M. V. K. Jones. The edifice is 129 feet by eighty-one feet on the ground, and the spire rises to a height of 175 feet. The basement is above ground, and this gives additional height to the main body of the building. The audience room is sixty-two by 103 feet in size. The ceiling is of chestnut wood of a very fine quality. The structure is Gothic in style, has a seating capacity of 1,200, and the whole building cost about $40,000. The corner stone was laid in May, 1866, materials similar to those placed in the corner stone of the Presbyterian church being put in it. As soon as the basement was finished far enough to admit of it, the services of the church were held there. A reunion of the members took place in that room January 23, 1867, but the first regular services were not held until the twentyseventh of that month. It was during the summer of this latter year that the first serious efforts to raise money were taken to pay for the new bl)ilding. On the evening of August 21, a dedication subscription netted $3,300, the sermon for the occasion being preached by Doctor Haven, of the University. Nearly three years later, January 23, 1870, when an attempt to wipe out the debt was made, $22,000 was raised. No very heavy expenses were incurred until a bell was purchased two years later. It was put 376 'THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE NORTH SIDE UNION CHURCH The First Church Building on the North Side in place during the week of April 21, 1872, and was rung for the first time the twenty-eighth of that month. In 1883 the old parsonage was sold for $3,000, and on May 14 of that year a committee was appointed by the trustees and stewards to purchase a lot and arrange for building a new pastor's home. This committee consisted of Messrs. Jacobs, Breakey, and Nichols. Late in the summer and fall of 1886 the church was given a thorough cleaning and the whole interior was redecorated. The next summer electric lights were installed and these, with the new decorations, cost a total of nearly $4,000. There were no other repairs or improvements of consequence until 1906. In May of that year the steeple was struck by lightning and was burned. Architect Albert Kahn, of Detroit, designed a new one and before the year was out it was towering to the sky. It is now one of the distinguishing features of Ann Arbor's sky line and is one of the first objects to attract the eye as one approaches the city from a distance. In 1920 the interior of the church was entirely done over, giving it a much more modern appearance. In the year 1905 the Wesleyan Guild House was built at an approximate cost of $50,000. In December, 1921, the Wesleyan Guild entered into contract with the Presbyterians for the purchase of Sackett and McMillan Halls and, also, for Westminster House. The Guild took possession of the two halls at once. The building will be known as Wesley Hall, the whole to be entirely paid for by the spring of 1927. The buildings THE SERIOUS SIDE 377 answer the same purpose as other similar halls in the city, and they are a valuable asset to the property of the church. The North Side Union church was started in 1893, but it was not completed for several years. The dedication was imiade Sunday, June 27, 1909, Doctor Carl S. Patton, of the First Congregational church, preaching the sermon. At that time the building had cost $4,000 and it was clear of indebtedness. In 1916 a Methodist Episcopal congregation of about eighty members was organized for the purpose of carrying on much the same kind of work as that carried on by the Baptist Mission, also housed in this Community Chapel located near the point where Plymouth Road meets Broadway in the Fifth Ward. Reverend 0. F. Winton was in charge of this congregation until 1924 when he was succeeded by Reverend E. H. Edwards. During these years the membership of both church and Sunday School have grown steadily and the finances of the church are in good condition. Soon the church will receive the income from approximately $100,000 provided for by the terms of the will of Payson M. Doty. The First M. E. church is to be trustee of the money and, in case the will is not broken, they are to spend the income from the principal for the support of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School in the neighborhood of the church. The origin of St. Andrew's Church is found in the invitation to the pioneer missionary, Reverend Richard F. Cadle, to come to Ann Arbor in 1825 or 1826. He had taken up work in Detroit after the death of Reverend Alanson Welton who, in 1821, had come to Detroit as the only representative in Michigan Territory of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. Reverend Cadle merely visited here for the purpose of surveying the field to determine whether it could support a regular church. As a result of his findings, an Episcopal mission was organized here in the fall of 1827, and on April 19, 1828, the by-laws of the organization were adopted. It is probable that this organization took place in the parlor of Ann Arbor's oldest house, that mentioned before as still standing on the northwest corner of Liberty and Ashley streets, and in 1827 occupied by Mrs. Hannah Gibbs Clark, mother of General Edward Clark and Mrs. James Kingsley. Among those present and taking part in the organization were 378 THlE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Elisha Belcher, Edward Clark, Andrew Cornish, Samuel Denton, Marcus Lane, and Henry Rumsey. During the first nine years meetings were held in private homes, schools, and in the Court House and in the Goodrich Tavern. Among the missionaries who conducted services here during that period were Reverends William N. Lyster, of Tecumseh, Silas B. Freeman, of Ypsilanti, John P. Bausman, Samuel Mark, John O'Brien, of Monroe, and Francis H. Cuming. Among the vestrymen who helped these men lay the foundations of the church were Edward Clark, James Kingsley, Henry Rumsey, George W. Jewett, and Andrew Cornish. Kingsley was an ardent believer in the value of religion to the individual and of churches to a community, helping the Presbyterians as well as the Episcopalians to get on their feet. Among his papers a statement is found which reflects his attitude in these respects and at the same time gives a suggestion of his breadth of view: "I was lay leader for the Episcopalians and Presbyterians," he wrote, "inculcating hightoned Calvinism in the forenoon and very different doctrine in the afternoon, from the same desk, as the two congregations worshiped in the same house." The number of communicants grew slowly, but more came to the meetings than the dozen or fifteen members of the society. In fact, the strength of the little group seemed great enough, in 1834, to solicit subscriptions for a church. In that year Reverend Bausnman succeeded in raising $1,500 for the purpose, George Corselius gave an acre of land where the rectory now stands, and a little later the site of the present church was purchased. Building operations were begun in 1835, on the site of the present rectory, but the building was not completely finished and furnished until the late fall of 1838, and on November 18 of that year consecration services were held. Even before that; time, however, the basement was variously used for church, Sunday School, and common school purposes. In 1840 the fifty-four communicants, not having been able to meet their obligations in regard to the debt on the church, the sheriff sold the edifice for $494.45 on a mortgage foreclosure; but Volney Chapin and James Kingsley came to the rescue and paid up the indebtedness. That same year a parsonage costing $600 was built on the northwest THE SERIOUS SIDE 379 corner of Catherine and Thayer streets and soon after the church was damaged by fire. The damage was quickly repaired and at the end of that year the financial condition was about as good as it ever had been up to that time. During the next twenty-odd years the membership gradually grew, various additions and improvements were made to the church property, a great consecration service was held May 18, 1856, and from time to time thereafter movements for a new building were begun. It was not until 1865, however, that the plans for the present structure were worked out. In 1865 Reverend George D. Gilespie, the rector, urged a new church because of "the age of the parish, the character of the place, and the size of the congregation." lHe called attention to the fact, also, that "other congregations of the city are providing themselves with new and large churches." The movement gathered strength within the next two years and before the summer of 1867 had drawn to a close approximately $25,000 had been subscribed towards the cost of a new church. Plans were soon adopted which had been prepared by architect Gordon W. Lloyd of Detroit, and the contract was awarded to Walker Brothers of Ann Arbor. The corner stone was laid Monday, June 15, 1868, and the consecration services were held November 10, the same year. A good deal of the material that went into the building was procured from the region about Ann Arbor. The stones, taken from fields in the neighborhood of the city, were handsomely faced, coursed, and put in place under the direction of Messrs. Horn and Brothers, and the wood was worked under the direction of James Morwick. The interior was artistically finished in native woods and the ceilings frescoed in superior style. The seating capacity is about 700, and the seat cushions are filled with sponge. At first the building was lighted with gas, and it was only a few years ago that it was wired throughout and electric lights installed. The total cost of the building, including furniture, interest, and insurance, was a little over $30,000, and the total value of the Episcopal church property in April, 1870, was $40,000. In 1878 the entire indebtedness of the church was cleared away. The society was in a position to build a much needed chapel, a new rectory, and to make such other improvements 380 THE FIRST HUNDRIEID YEARS ST. ANDREWS EPISCOPAL CHURCH On Division Street as the future should demand. On September 16, 1880, the first stone of the rectory was laid and six days later the corner stone of the chapel was put in place. Six years later Hobart Hall, or Harris Hall as it was renamed later in honor of Bishop Samuel S. Harris whose efforts had made it possible, was built at a cost of $25,000 and it was formally opened April 19, 1887. In 1890 the main part of the church was repaired, the recess chancel built and the old organ moved from the gallery in the west to the position the new organ (purchased in 1906) now occupies. In 1903 the tower was added to the church, its construction having been made possible through the terms of the will of Mrs. Love M. Palmer, who set aside $10,000 that the tower might be erected as a lasting memorial to her husband, Dr. Alonzo B. Palmer, for many years a distinguished member of the Medical Faculty of the University. The present value of the church property is about $200,000, the number of communicants 850, and the Sunlday School membership about 130. The communion tankard* used in the early days of the * See the illustration on page 43. The spoon wvas made from the cover of the tankard. THE SERIOUS SIDE 381 Episcopal church is an object of much archaeological interest. As it stands today its cover is gone, tradition having it that one of those through whose hands it passed had it made into spoons. According to the story, the tankard originally belonged to one John llerpin, of the ancestral line, who, in the glalol(rous days of Louis XIV, was p1laced on board a ship ill a, port of Frallce to l)e educated at sea. lie was told that lie could never come nback to the country of the Grand Monarch, but that, on attaining his majority, lie was to go ashore whereever he might choose to make a home. In the course of time he appears as a physician in Connecticut, from which state the Clark family migrated, bringing the tankard with them. Years later it passed into the hands of Miss Lucy Chapin, a direct descendant of John Herpin. In her home the quaint object may still be seen. The first religious services of the Catholics held in Ann Arbor were conducted under the leadership of a priest who came out from Detroit for the purpose, the meeting place being in an old wooden building on the southwest corner of Fifth avenue and Washington street. These services and those begun by Reverend Father Kelley were held in the home of a Mrs. HIorrigan. But Reverend Kelley was more particularly interested in ministering to the scattered families of Northfield, visiting themi with more or less regularity until 1835. At that time Reverend Father Morrissey took up the work, including Ann Arbor in his labors. From the very first he was interested in building a church here. In the Michigan Argus for July 16, 1835, appeared the following item: "The Catholics in Ann Arbor, and its adjoining congregations, are deeply impressed with the benefits that would result to them, from having a Catholic church built in the village of Ann Arbor. They are most ardently zealous, indefatigably industrious, and unanimously united, in making arrangements to raise funds for its erection." "The respectable and affluent citizens of Ann Arbor, who are eminent for their integrity and honesty, as they are remarkable for their liberality and generosity; and who may differ from us in a religious point of view, agree to contribute liberally towards the erection of so laudable and praiseworthy a work-the building of the House of God,-which is His house 382 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS of prayer, and the key that unlocks the treasures of heaven, and gives us free access to the Throne of grace." No information is available which would tell us the extent to which these highsounding phrases were acted upon; but we do know that after the arrival of Father Thomas Cullen, in 1840, the Catholics here were grouped in a definite organization. Between that time and 1843 they met at such places as were available or convenient, a building on Washington street and b1etween Fourth and Fifth avenues being most frequently used. In 1843 Father Cullen succeeded in having a small brick church edifice erected on the south side of Kingsley street between State and Division streets. Father Cullen remained in charge of the work until his death in 1862. ITe was buried in a lead coffin 1beneath the little church which had been built under his direction; but in July, 1892, Reverend Father E. D. Kelley had the remains moved to St. Thomas cemetery west of the city. In the Catholic church, as in those of the Protestant faiths, the ladies did much to raise money for various expenses connected with the religious work. The greatest effort of this kind put forth during the first forty years of the city's history was made by the Catholic ladies the first week in December, 1863. They held what in those days was described as a "Fair," and when the books were balanced the last night it was found that over $1,000 had been cleared. Several similar fairs were held during the next few years, the money usually being spent for something at the time of special value to the church. In 1874 an era of prosperity began which has not closed even to this day, all the interests of the church coming in for their share of the development. During the summer of 1874 an improvement of the Catholic cemetery began which when completed made it one of the beauty spots of this region. Up to that time the old cemetery was the most lonely and neglected spot anywhere, but that fall $1,000 was spent on improvements, the money coming from the sale of lots. In June of 1875 Messrs. David Rinsey, Anthony Eisele, and John Finnegan, who made up the Board of Trustees, purchased four acres of land and, after adding them to the old grounds, laid them out in lots and fenced the entire plot. Then a vault costing $600 was erected, and a systematic care of the lawns begun. THE SERIOUS SIDE 383 During that same spring and summer new seats were put in the church, the ceiling was frescoed and new windows, the gift of private persons, were put in. It was not until May, 1876, that the church was entirely refinished and ready for use. In November of 1883, lots formerly owned by Mrs. J. T. Swathel were purchased for the sum of $2,950. This ground was bounded lby Elizabeth, North, and State streets, and it still )elongs to the church. The old school was disposed of and the one which now stands there was built in 1884 at an approximate cost of $10,000. The greatest achievement in the history of the local Catholic church was the building of St. Thomas church. The corner stone was laid May 13, 1897, by the Right Reverend Bishop Rademacher of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, and the ceremony sermon was preached by Reverend Father Morrissy of Notre Dame University. The dedication services were held Sunday, November 26, 1899, Archbishop Ireland preaching a powerful sermon. No verbal picture of this beautiful building is necessary here —in silent eloquence the great edifice speaks for itself and for those who made it possible. In the fall of 1903 the project of purchasing ground on which to erect a hospital wOas considered. The property desi(red was part of the flarml of Alexander McDonald, a plot of about four acres, and worth $5,000. After brief negotiations the puirchlase was made, but the property was later sold to the University and the site of the present Sanitarium was purchased. i! A On December 22, 1910, a great crowd assembled in St. Thomas church to honor Father Kelly on account of his election to the high office of Bishop. A few weeks later, January 26, to be specific, the most impressive celebration in the history of the local church was held when the venerable Cardinal Gibbons officiated at the consecration of Reverend Kelly as "Bishop of Cestra." But Father Kelly always found greater joy in the results of his labors than in honors which these services brought to him. It is probable, therefore, that he experienced untold pleasure in the opening of St. Joseph's Sanitarium, December 19, 1911, and in the solemn dedicatory services held two days later. Bishop Kelly, assisted by Father Goldrick and others, performed the sacred 384 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE ST. THOMAS CATHOLIC CHURCH Kingsley and North State Streets ceremony of blessing the sanitarium, St. Thomas Conservatory and the Sisters' Home. The opening of the sanitarium and the part taken by Bishop Kelly in the ceremonies which followed were the realization of a twenty-year dream. October 14, 1914, similar services were held when the new St. Joseph's Sanitarium was opened, and again Bishop Kelly had the leading part. During 1924 the sanitarium was greatly enlarged and today it stands as one of the finest institutions of the kind in the State. The history of the Baptist church, in its main outlines, runs parallel to that of other churches started nearly a century ago. After the last visits of Moses Clark were made other ministers of the denomination came here, services being held in the little log school house which stood on the northwest corner of Main and Ann streets. But it was not until May 10, 1828, that an organization of members was effected. On that day Moses Clark, members of his family, and a few others, eight in all, gathered in a farm house three miles down the river and formed themselves into a church society. In 1832 regular meetings began to be held in the school on Jail Square, Baptists from all the surrounding country being present. Daniel B. Brown and some of his friends from the lower village prevailed upon the worshipers to hold their meetings in their section of the village. Accordingly, before the year was out, the society moved across the river, taking up quarters in the loft of the store owned by Daniel B. Brown and his brother, An THE SERIOUS SIDE 385 son. There a reorganization of the society was perfected, Daniel B. Brown was baptized and then elected deacon and a new era for the denomination was opened. During the next year and a half the growing membership made it appear that a larger and more permanent church home would be necessary. Definite steps in this direction were taken in 1834, after the society had moved to a carpenter's shop on Wall street for the sake of more space, and to comply with an ejection notice served upon them by the partners of Anson Brown after the latter's death that same year. Before Brown passed away he drew up a subscription paper which he proposed to circulate to get funds for a church building, subscribing $200 towards the project and designating a lot he intended to give upon which to erect the church. However, Brown did not own the lot alone, and the partners in the holding refused to deed the property to the church society. Daniel B. Brown now forced their hand. He was the endorser of a note for $5,000 issued in their favor by a Detroit bank and when the refractory partners of his deceased brother asked for a renewal of the note he informed them that he would again indorse it if they would deed the lot over to the church. This being done the old subscription paper was circulated, money obtained, and a church completed in 1835 at a cost of about $500. The seating capacity was but 100, but in 1841 when the church was enlarged, room for 100 more was made. During these first years, and until 1849, the little Baptist society had a hard struggle. When the post office was finally fixed in the upper village, and when the site of the University was located there, it became more apparent than ever that the lower village would never get very large. The bright prospects of the first six years grew dimmer with each passing year and the struggle to keep going was a hard one. Church collections were small and the first pastors lived on almost nothing. After Moses Clark came Reverends John Mitchell, J. S. Twiss, Harvey Miller, W. L. Brown, A. A. Guernsey, C. C. Comstock, M (oses?) Allen, Professor Andrew Ten Brook, and the two supplies, C. Deland and E. D. Dunham. During a part of the time that Professor Ten Brook and the two supplies were filling the pulpit the activities of the church and Sunday School were carried forward in the old Academy on Fourth 386 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS avenue (then street) just north of William. But the rentals there were greater than the society could meet so they went back to Lower Town and laid plans for a new structure in the upper village. With the more rapid growth of the upper village the majority of the members of the Baptist society came to live on that side of the river. The organization secured a lot on Catherine street and there erected a church of brick, completed in 1849 at a cost of about $4,000. When the building was opened for use a debt of $500 remained, but this was cleared in 1851 as a result of subscriptions by the members and a gift by Professor Ten Brook of $100. The church on Catherine street was used until 1881 when the present edifice was finished. In June of that year the old building was sold to the Langley Electric Light Company for the sum of $1,500, the money going towards the cost of the new church, begun two years before. For many years the old church was known as Professor Ten Brook's Church, and it might have been called St. Andrew's Church in honor of the Apostle and of the professor, whose first name was Andrew, had it not been for the fact that the Episcopal Church a few rods away already had been given that name. The present church was made possible only after great sacrifices had been made. Some of the older members used to think of the building as St. Edward's Church, a name given to it because of the extraordinary efforts of Professor Edward Olney to raise money for the building. He went so far as to mortgage his home for its completion, though the members in the end paid off the mortgage. Detroit Baptists raised about $2,000 for the building and, besides the local members, several non-resident members made contributions. During the latter part of March, 1883, the splendid new pipe organ was installed at a cost of $23,000. It was made by G. Wood and Son of Detroit, is twenty-one and a half feet in height, fourteen feet wide, nearly ten feet deep, has nearly 800 pipes and twenty-two stops. The Baptist Church has had a larger number of pastors than most of the other old Protestant churches in the city, a dozen or more having served since the church on Catherine street was opened. Nevertheless, the membership has grown steadily, THE SERIOUS SIDE 387 THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH On Huron Street and the life of the society has been serene. From the small beginning of eight, back in 1828, the numbers have increased so that now there are about 450 communicants. The finances of the church are in good condition, the attendance is large, and the present pastor, Reverend R. E. Sayles, enjoys a popularity quite as enthusiastic as that enjoyed by any other pastor in the city. In the early 'thirties the Universalists worshiped in a small building which stood in a beautiful grove of native oaks east of Divison street and north of Ann street. Afterwards the building took a journey, and became the carriage repository of a Mr. Arksey. In the spring of 1835 a new meeting house was erected, the Argus for May 20 carrying an announcement of the dedication services in these words: "The Universalist Meeting House in the village of Ann Arbor, will be dedicated... on Wednesday, 20th inst.-Clergymen of all denominations, as well as Laymen are respectfully invited to attend.-Services, by Rev. Pitt Morse, to commence at 10 o'clock A. M. E. L. Fuller, Clerk, May 13, 1835." In February, 1867, the property of the old Methodist Church on the corner of Ann street and Fifth avenue was purchased and the building repaired. 388 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH Corner of State and William Streets This work was carried out under the direction of the pastor, Reverend Charles H. Brigham, who remained with the society ten years, failing health necessitating his resignation. For a year and a half before the purchase of the old Methodist church the Unitarians had worshiped in the Court House. In 1878, Rev. J. T. Sunderland entered on the pastorate of the Unitarian church. Able and progressive, he soon hlad measures under way looking to the building of the present church edifice. Some of the funds used for carrying on the work of his congregation were raised by a library club which provided for the town in an annual lecture course. During the spring and summer of 1880 money was raised in large amounts towards the erection of the present building. The Unitarian Conference at Saratoga, New York, pledged $10,000 on condition that the local society should raise $4,000. Needless to say, this was quickly subscribed. In the fall the present site of the home of Dr. Victor C. Vaughan was purchased for $2,500, the intention being to build there; but in March, 1881, a change in plans resulted in the purchase, for $2,900, of the property at the corner of Huron and State streets, and Dr. Vaughan purchased the site at the head of Liberty street. The plans for the church were drawn by Donaldson and Meier. In August the contract for the stone work was let to Walker Brothers for $3,965, and this, together with the cost of the structure above the stone work, brought the total cost of the THE SERIOUS SIDE 389 building up to about $20,000. The dedication services were held Tuesday, November 21, 1882. In 1865 the church society seems to have experienced a reorganization, and on April 30, 1915, a reunion of the members celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of that event.* During the winter of 1846-47, while Reverend W. S. Curtis was pastor of the Presbyterian church, much dissention developed among the members over the slavery question. Some of the more radical abolitionists were convinced that those holding milder views were a godless lot, and bitter charges against them were made. The result was that the ranks of the church were broken, forty-eight taking their letters and forming the Congregational Church. Two other reasons strongly moved these insurgents to action: they believed in the congregational form of church government and, in the second place, their views respecting revivals did not harmonize with those of Reverend Curtis. Services of the original members of the Congregational church at first were held in the Court Iouse, but it was not long before their own church home was erected on the northeast corner of Fifth avenue and Washington street. In June, of 1863, a fine new bell which had been cast in Troy, New York, was hung in the steeple and in the next few years several other improvements were made. On March 3, 1870, the society voted to build a new and larger edifice. The trustees were instructed to close the bargain for the lots, at the corner of William and State streets, and nearly $3,000 was subscribed that day which, with a sum already on hand, was to be used in making the purchase. In the spring of 1872 work was begun on the building and by June the basement was ready for use. On the twenty-third of that month the corner stone was laid with the usual ceremonies in such cases, interesting articles being deposited in the hollow of the stone itself. The dedication of the church was held Wednesday, May 10, 1876, the sermon being preached by Doctor Eddy, of Detroit, at the invitation of the local pastor, Reverend H. L. Hubbell. The total cost of the church, including the organ, was about $35,000. Tuesday night, before the dedicatory services were * The list of pastors who have served the church is given in the Times-News for September 16, 1918. 390 3THEE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS held, a fine organ concert was given in the church, local papers highly praising the various numbers of the program. In 1882 over $6,000 was raised on the church indebtedness, and by 1906 the amount of the liabilities had been reduced to a figure of such insignificant proportions as to justify the expenditure of $10,000 to enlarge the building. Since that time the growth of the church has been steady and rapid, so much so in fact that, today, plans are being made for the erection of a new and larger church building. This edifice will doubtless be in one of the city's best residential sections and will take care of the growth of the congregation for many years to come. There were a number of members of the Disciples of Christ church in Ann Arbor before 1887, but plans for building a church home for themselves were not completed until that summer. Up to that time their services had been held in the parlors of the Congregational church, but when Mrs. Sarah lHawley Scott, of Detroit, made the society a gift of a large sum of money for a church it was decided to build. The State organization of the church contributed $2,200 to buy a lot on South University avenue, about 130 feet east of State street, and building operations were begun, the plans calling for a structure to cost approximately $20,000. On Sunday, October 11, 1891, the dedicatory services were held, Reverend Tyler of New York preaching the sermon. Reverend Charles Young was the regular pastor, but he spent most of his time in collecting funds for the endowment of several Bible chairs in the city, an incumbent of one of these chairs usually supplying in his pulpit. The new location of the church on the corner of Hill and Tappan streets is, in many respects, better than the old one, now occupied by a part of the Lawyers' Club, and the church property as a whole is now more valuable than it was before the old site was taken over by the University. Between 1891 and 1895 the two churches of the people in Ann Arbor of African descent were established. The Baptist church was built in 1891 at a cost of about $3,500, the colored people paying for the lot and the white people of the city subscribing most of the funds for the building. The work of construction moved along rapidly, nearly all the labor being donated by the members themselves, and the building was dedicated before the year was out. 4 * THE SERIOUS SIDE 391 The African Methodist Episcopal church was begun early in 1892 and by the middle of May it was practically finished. As in the case of the Negro Baptist church, the labor was furnished free by the members of the society, of whom there were about fifty, though most of the funds for the building were contributed by business men of the city. Most active in the early days of this church was the pastor, Reverend Collins, and the leader among the members of the other church of colored people was their pastor, Reverend Moore. The First Church of Christ, Scientist, was built during the fore part of 1913, on South Division street, just south of William. The building was designed by S. S. Beaman, of Chicago, and Koch Brothers of Ann Arbor put up the building. The grand opening of the church was held June 29 and the auditorium was crowded. Services have been carried on there for a dozen years and the society has progressed steadily since that time. * * * * The idea of starting a Rotary Club in Ann Arbor had its inception in the mind of Theron S. Langford. In the spring of 1916 he became enthusiastic over the possibilities of such an organization here as a result of conversations with C. C. Banting, a Rotarian of Toledo, Ohio. From him Mr. Langford obtained literature descriptive of the character and purposes of the society, and he was put in touch with the district governor, C. F. Laughlin, of Cleveland, Ohio. Contacts made while traveling through the South further increased the favorable impression the merits of the club had made upon him, and he became convinced that Ann Arbor could ill afford to be without one. On returning to our city, Mr. Langford laid the matter before Messrs. Lloyd C. Douglas, Henry W. Douglas, and Lewis M. Ellis, and a little later Harlan H. Johnson, Horatio J. Abbott, Daniel F. Zimmerman, Shirley W. Smith, and Halstead 11. Seeley were interested in the movement. Within a few weeks, as a result of planning by these men, the local Rotary actually came into being. In July the new organization chose six new members, each representing a different occupation, as follows: Arthur Brown, abstractor; George J. Burke, lawyer; Herbert A. Williams, banker; William E. Underdown, farmer; THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 392 George W. Milileu, insurance, and Charles A. Sink, manager of the School of Music. On July 7, at the Catalpa Inn, further steps were taken in the direction of a permanent organization, and the following officers were chosen to work out the details: Theron S. Langford, chairman; II. H. Johnson, secretary, and Messrs. Horatio J. Abbott and Daniel F. Zimmerman. During a recess details of the permanent organization were discussed, the committee finally reporting in favor of adopting the scheme of government provided for by the constitution and bylaws of the International Association of Rotary Clubs. The members accepted their committee's report and thus the local Rotary Club came into being. The membership of this society has rapidly increased. By August, 1917, the active membership had risen to forty-four, and, besides, there were two honorary and two non-resident members; by June, 1925, the active membership was ninety, and the honorary membership was five. It was not long after the club was organized that it found plenty of worth while work to do. Its members were alive to the needs of the Government when the World War came upon us and, like every other energetic organization in the city, the Rotary helped wherever it could. Along humanitarian lines, it has helped crippled children both in the hospitals and out, looked out for the welfare of aged and infirm, orphans and others in need wherever they have been discovered. In connection with these activities food, clothing, and shelter often have been provided, and many times entertainment has been provided for those in the hospitals and for those in the Washtenaw County Home. The Kiwanis Club of Ann Arbor was organized by Fred J. Heusel, Jr., in 1922, with a membership of about sixty, a number which grew to eighty-five by 1925. Like the Rotary and Exchange Clubs (the latter also organized in 1922), most of its meetings are held in the Chamber of Commerce building, and their activities and interests are similar to those of the other clubs. Most of their attention, however, has been given to the children of the city, their annual budget running to two or three thousand dollars. This money is all raised by more or less regularly established annual activities, such as the sale of newspapers on the streets one afternoon each year, a gaso THE SERIOUS SIDE 39,: lene sale lasting two days and other activities of lesser moment. The original membership of the Exchange Club was largely composed of members of the Canopus Club, a luncheon club similar in character but lacking national affiliations. The Canopus Club was organized in 1920 with Mr. Frank Devine as president. Dean E. H. Kraus was the successor to Mr. Devine and Herbert Silvester followed Professor Kraus. It was during Mr. Silvester's term that the Exchange Club came into being. Mr. Silvester remained as president, and the other first officers were: Professor Alex G. Ruthven, vice-president; Carl F. Braun, treasurer; and Professor J. H. Cissel, secretary. The membership of Ann Arbor's three fellowship organizations is made up of her best male citizens, and they are setting a fine example to the citizens of the future. CHAPTER XXV Y.M. and Y.W.C.A. T HE first Young Men's Christian Association to be organized in Ann Arbor, and the first in the State for that matter, was organized among students in the University in 1858. The first "Y" to be organized in the city was brought into being ten years later. The first meeting to consider the organization of an association was called by a man named K. A. Burnell, a visitor to the city, the meeting being held in the Court House, January 24, 1868. Preliminary steps were taken, but it was not until February 17, of the same year, that the organization was perfected. It was estimated that the expenses for the first year's work would be about $1,000 and a movement was set afoot to raise that amount. To this end meetings were held in the Court House and in Lower Town, as well as in some of the Protestant churches of the city. The new organization was greatly assisted by the Ladies Christian Union, a forerunner of the Y. W. C. A., and by the union church services which from time to time were conducted under the auspices of the Y. C.. A. At the end of the first year's work it was found that the receipts had been $739.95, and since the expenses had been the same the treasury was empty. The report then made showed that of the unpaid bills, amounting in all to $153.74, all but $73.74 had been provided for. The list of officers, patrons, and of other interested persons is given in the Michigan Argus, issue of February 26, 1869. According to this item and one given in the Argus for June 26, the "Y" at first had no regular rooms, but June 20, 1868, a reading room was opened in the third story of the "new block" over the store of Wines and Worden. The room rent was donated by this firm, a fact which explains why the first year's expenses were more than two hundred dollars less than was estimated they would be. Under the leadership of the Secretary, George M. Reed, and the Board of Managers, several public meetings were held in these rooms as well as in the open air on the "square." Y. M. AND Y. W. C. A. 395 From the earliest days of its existence the Y. M. C. A. had a struggle for life. The interest in the organization was never strong, and as year after year went by and other attractions came into the lives of the boys and young men such strength as it had was gradually weakened. Finally the association went out of existence from lack of support, and it was not revived until the winter of 1892. In December of that year the present "Y" was organized, the leaders in the movement being G. Frank Allmendinger, H. N. Chute, F. G. Schleicher, C. W. Wagner, Nate Stanger, E. V. Seyler, Selby A. Moran, E. E. Calkins, M. W. Blake, Ed Storms, Paul Snauble, and Professor J. A. C. Hildner. The members of the Association had no home of their own until 1904, when the brick building across from the Court House on Fourth avenue was completed. A movement for a new building began soon after the organization in 1892, but it was seen that it could not be carried through successfully at that time. In fact, it was not until the fall of 1901 that those most interested felt that a building campaign could be begun. Sentiment in favor of the project continued to grow during the following winter and by the first of April definite action was decided upon. On the evening of that day a big boosters' meeting was held in the Y. M. C. A. rooms and a proposal was adopted to build a "Y," home to cost $30,000. The principal boosters at this meeting and those who had most- to do with adopting this program were: E. F. Gilmore, W. H. Butler, Dr. George Blair, Hon. W. W. Wedemneyer, D. F. Schairer, Moses Seabolt, H. W. Newkirk, G. F. Allmendinger, J. E. Beal, and H. S. Dean. After the big banquet was over no one doubted that the subscription campaign would succeed. But the funds did not come in as rapidly as was expected and the operation of the organization proved more costly than anyone dreamed. The indebtedness piled up so rapidly that in February, 1910, it amounted to approximately $25,000. Funds had been subscribed, however, which not only were sufficient to clear this debt, but to leave a surplus of about $1,600. It was hoped that dues, room rent, and gifts would be enough to keep away debts in the future, but returns from these and other sources never proved sufficient, and soon another money 396 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS raising campaign was necessary. The principal reason for raising additional funds was to pay for the improvements in the building, especially the new swimming pool which was opened for use that year. During February and March more than $30,000 was raised by subscription, the leading spirits in the work being W. E. Underdown, Fred C. Weinberg, Charles L. Brooks, J. Karl Malcolm, E. B. Stewart, Dr. D. W. Myers, Charles Schroen, Horatio J. Abbott, William Purfield, and W. F. Letts. These men were the captains of teams which had in charge the work of raising the money, but their work was splendidly supplemented by younger members of the "Y." On the night of January 1, 1919, the mortgage on the building was burned. The work of putting the Y. M. C. A. on a sound financial footing and the more important work of character-building which the organization has been doing in recent years goes to the credit of its secretaries. In 1916 Harold Westerman was chosen as general secretary of the "Y," and from the day he came the organization took on new life. Mr. Westerman was one of those secretaries who worked at his job during all of his waking hours, displaying boundless energy, faithfulness to his trust, and enthusiasm for every phase of his duties. His spirit was infectious, his associates catching something of his fervor and everyone with whom he came in contact being influenced by his ideals. After Mr. Westerman resigned in August, 1919, he left to take up farming in the West, and Louis Reimann occupied the secretaryship for a year. He carried on the work along lines much like those followed by his predecessor, and the same may be said of C. C. Martin, who held the office for a year after Mr. Reimann's term had closed. Mr. Viggo Nelson was chosen Secretary of the "Y" to succeed Mr. Martin, and he is holding the office as this volume goes to press. Under Mr. Nelson's guidance the organization has prospered, its membership has enjoyed a healthy growth, and much genuine good has been done. One reason why the last four secretaries have been successful in their work is found in the great interest they have shown in the junior members of the "Y.1" Until 1920 these boys had no permanent summer camp of their own, but on June 20 of that year a deed was recorded in the Court House Y. M. AND Y. W. C. A. 397 which gave the boys a permanent camp on Big Silver Lake. Thomas Birket of Dexter deeded to the Y. M. C. A. fifteen acres of land in a secluded spot of great beauty on the peaceful shore of that lake. As guests of Mr. Birket the boys had c(ll(lncted their (lcam) o(n this ground in 1912 andd 1913. lie visited the boys a nu11m11er of times, saw their needs, and turned (,v{er ill his llmind tie matter of providing them with a permanellt (lca1) at lat st dleciding to ldeed the proiperty to the Y. A1. (I. A. Every summer large numbers of boys go to this camp, where they engaged in all manner of wholesome activities (lesigned to build up the body, the mind, and the spirit. The good done by the "Y" at this camp and in its many other activities does much toward the building of worthy characters in Ann Arbor. Scarcely less important is the work of the Y. W. C. A. Like the "Y," it was organized with the idea of building up the girls and young women in a three-fold way, spiritually, mentally, and physically. Back in the early nineties many homes did not provide either proper mental or physical diversion from the activities of the vocations dozens of young business girls in the city followed. Moreover, the churches in those days often failed to reach the spiritual side of their lives and as a consequence it sometimes happened that that side of their natures was starved. The ten-hour day was the usual thing, and, when released from work, there were few or no congenial places of recreation open to the self-respecting women. From one day to the next there was little in sight but hard work with little hope of relief or variation. One day an Ann Arbor lady, in passing through one of the stores, heard a girl remark to another girl: "I wish we could have some fun." Being a woman of imagination, and having some knowledge of the deadening conditions in which the working girls lived at that time, she decided to make it her business to improve those conditions. To that end she gathered about her a group of women who were concerned over the problem of fun for Ann Arbor girls and the Y. W. C. A. was the result. When the officers were chosen Miss Hattie A. Crippen was made the first president, and an able one she proved to be. The new Association became affiliated with the State Y. W. 398 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS THE Y.W.C.A. BUILDINQ Formerly the Old Mack Home, Corner of Fourth and William Street C. A. in 1895, and in 1906 it became a charter member of the National Y. W. C. A. Board. The first home of the "Y. W." was in some small rooms over the First National Bank, but after a short time it was removed to more commodious quarters. It continued to be in the down town business section until its membership had become large and more commodious quarters had become necessary. One of the principal reasons for larger quarters was found in the varied and extensive character of the work the "Y. W." had entered into. During the first few years of its life the activities of the organization consisted largely of evening classes in the three R's, religious work, and work of a charitable nature. Occasional social gatherings were held, and sometimes a person of note would be brought in to address the members. But as life here and elsewhere became more complex and more highly specialized new demands upon the "Y. W." were made, new interests awakened, and new forms of activity adopted. Dressmaking, household arts, and handicrafts took the place of English and mathematics, and classes in physical education met a growing appeal. Bible classes peculiarly adapted to the young woman's point of view were organized, able leaders procured and splendid religious instruction was given. At present Mrs. F. H. Clapp has this work in charge and under her direction, work of a high character Y. M. AND Y. W. C. A. 399 is promoted. These changes attracted the attention of many young women in the city and the membership steadily grew. During the winter-of 1912-13 the membership iwas greatly augmented by the addition of 440 names. The larger quarters were fllnd in the old Christian Mack residence, 343 Soulth Folrth lavelue. The ilnco(ne from dues of meml)ers and from othler so()uces was insufficient to pay for this so a sull)sc(ription c(amipaign was opened in April, 1914. At the close of tie canvass, at noon on April 10, $17,791 had been subscribed, Ann Arbor people responding with their usual generosity to the appeal of the "Y. W." for help. In this home are centered all of the activities of the Y. W. C. A. A boarding home for transients is kept, clubs and classes of various kinds meet here, an employment bureau is in operation, reading rooms are open, and office work is done. The Association is affiliated with the Traveler's Aid Society, and occasionally it assists women who are traveling alone either by meeting them at stations and finding their friends for them, or by arranging to have them looked after in other cities. Above all, the Association at all times offers a friendly place for girls and women where they will receive a welcome and where they can make congenial and helpful acquaintances. There are a number of other activities which are carried on by the "Y. W." which help Ann Arbor girls and women to round out their lives. Through the summer a girls' camp at Cavanaugh Lake is conducted and the cottage life there is greatly enjoyed. Special programs are sometimes given, classes in current events are held, and in one way or another an appeal is made to a large number of girls and women. The Y. W. C. A. holds a high place in the opinion of Ann Arbor people and it is richly deserving of the many evidences of support those people have given to it. CHAPTER XXVI Of General Interest REVIEW of the pages in this book up to this point will bring back to the mind a number of things connected with the city's history which have aroused general interest. Some of these things have had to do with events transpiring within the city itself, while others have had to do chiefly with events which took place outside of the city but which, nevertheless, more or less affected its life. There are many interesting events noted in this chapter, but we are loath to say that any of them have played a very important part in making the city what it is. Moreover, most of them are not in any way related and the only justification in giving them a place lies in the fact that they give some idea of the times in which the happenings came to pass and that they shed some light on the kind of news our papers have given space to in other days. One exception can be made to this statement: military history will be given a chapter by itself, since Ann Arbor's part in events of that character has been a notable one, and the events themselves have had a marked effect on the history of the city. After the coming of the Central Railroad to Ann Arbor in 1839, the first period of general interest and excitement came as a result of widespread local acceptance of the doctrines of the famous French socialist, Francois Charles Marie Fournier. To understand how profoundly his views were regarded here we must give a brief sketch of his theories. Though Fournier traveled much in Europe a large part of his life was spent in the land of his birth. His span of years extended from 1772 to 1837, and his very death seemed to arouse greaterd interest in his teachings. According to these, he had discovered that a mathematical basis exists for social organization. It was his belief that the universe is governed by laws that man, by means of reason, can discover and apply to the organization of society. When this shall be done, he argued, social harmony will reign and misery will be OF GENERAL INTEREST 401 unknown. He held that groups of people, to the number of about 2,000 in each case, properly organized, could, by following out his theories, live in supreme contentment together. Each group, or phalanx, should occupy a single building and provide itself with all necessary things and amusements if desired. The large group was to be divided into special smaller groups for each branch of industry. Individuals were to work at occupations they were familiar with and for which they were peculiarly qualified either by experience or by nature. Such a scheme of things, Fournier believed, would economize expenditure and effort to such an extent that a man would need to work only ten years of his life. There would be no salaries, but every kind of goods produced would be distributed according to the amount of labor, capital, and skill contributed -five parts to labor, four to capital and three to talent. Surplus products were to be exchanged between phalanxes and needs satisfied all around. Industrial armies were to be sent out to prepare new lands for occupation. The government of each phalanx was to be in the hands of elected officers, thus insuring a republican administration of things; but, since there would be no discord, there would be no criminals and no need for either soldiers or police. In 1842 Fournierism spread like an epidemic in the United States, and in Ann Arbor was formed one of the thirty-four associations established in the new Northwest. During the latter part of April, 1843, in the "Mechanics' Lyceum Room," a "Domestic and Industrial Association" called the "Washtenaw Phalanx" was formed. A constitution was adopted April 25, the second section of Article I setting forth that the business of the organization was to be "the prosecution of Agriculture, Manufactures, Arts and Sciences, Education and Domestic Industry, according to the Association system of Charles Fournier." It was to be a stock company, with its board of directors, and a "Domain" was to be established where the various kinds of labor were to be performed. At the semiannual meeting, the first Monday in December, the total product of the Association for the year was to be ascertained and a general settlement of accounts made. In Article VI, it was provided that "Out of the total product shall first be deducted the taxes, insurance and repairs, and the balance shall then 402 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS be divided as follows: one quarter shall be paid a dividend upon the capital stock to the stockholders, and the remaining three quarters shall be divided among those who perform the labor, according to the system laid down by Charles Fournier for the distribution of products, with such modifications and exceptions as circumstances may, in the opinion of the Pres-;deut and Board of Directors, require." It must not be supposed that this movement was sponsored by the lowly and ignorant of the town. On the contrary many wealthy, intelligent and well educated citizens were behind it. Prominent among these were L. C. Goodale, C. J. Garland, A. Hickcox, George Corselius, T. N. Caulkins, Sabin Felch, and William Jones. They believed that the Phalanx would create a harmony of interests, and that among the members temptations to fraud and duplicity woud be removed, "or the consequent extirpation of law-suits, jealousies, quarrels, and conflicts of apparent interests which are daily increasing among us and rendering the earth a little better than Pandemonium." It was quite generally accepted here that Fournier's system was founded on Divine order where each individual would receive three or four times the benefit from his labor than could be realized in the present state of discord and weakness. "Consequently, all his wants will be abundantly supplied; and he can only promote his own interest by advancing that of the association." After the organization of the association, members of the Phalanx went about seeking additional members and soliciting subscriptions for stock. But there the Washtenaw Phalanx came to grief. Though most of those approached showed great interest in the scheme, they were not convinced of either its desirability or practicability, and the subscriptions fell far short of the required number. Gradually interest in the enterprise declined, and in the course of a few months it was given up. l Two years after the passing of the Phalanx, Ann Arbor people became greatly excited over an accident which might have meant death to a large number of citizens. One Sunday, in the spring of 1845, several people were to be baptized by immersion in the Huron River just below the Broadway street bridge. Curiosity seekers together with friends, relatives, and OF GENERAL INTEREST 403 other interested spectators, thronged on the bridge to witness the baptism. While in the midst of the solemn ceremonies the bridge suddenly gave way, precipitating several hundred people, men, women, and children, into the swollen stream. A similar screaming, tossing about, and crying perhaps never has been heard in Ann Arbor's history. Indescribable confusion reigned for the better part of half an hour, but the remarkable part is that not one person was killed and not one serious injury resulted. Several parasols, bonnets, and hats were lost or ruined and much damage to clothing was done, but otherwise the losses were slight. Of course, the unlooked for crashing of the bridge ended the day's exercises-many had been ducked if not baptized. In the spring of 1847 many Ann Arbor citizens of English descent and practically all those of Irish parentage, became worked up over the situation in Ireland. During the years 1845-46 there came to the inhabitants of the Emerald Isle a domestic calamity of appalling violence-the dreadful famine caused by the ruin of the crop of potatoes. In our own country the complete destruction of the potato crop by blight would cause nothing more than a serious inconvenience. But in Ireland half the nation depended on the root. The population had been multiplying with the greatest rapidity; in thirty years it had risen from five to eight millions, and this not owing to flourishing trade or manufacture, or to any notable increase in the amount of land cultivated. The landlords had been permitting their tenants to cut up their farms into smaller and smaller patches, till an average holding did not suffice to support its occupier, who perforce, found it necessary to do harvest work in England during the summer to make up the deficit. Several millions of people were living on these wretched patches of thin soil, always on the edge of starvation, and sustained only by their potatoes. On such an indigent population two years of blight brought absolute famine. Before the disaster was fully realized, thousands and thousands had perished from actual hunger, or from fevers and dysentery resulting from eating unwholesome and insufficient food and drinking polluted water. The workhouses were crammed till they could hold no more, and had it not been for heroic measures taken by the British government the 404 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS catastrophe would have been even more heartrending. Soup kitchens were established all over the afflicted country, and enormous quantities of food were shipped in and distributed freely. But it was long before relief could penetrate to out-ofthe-way districts, and famine was prolonged many months. The news of these terrible times reached Ann Arbor, sympathy was aroused, meetings held, and measures taken for the relief of the suffering Irish. Agencies were set up whose business it was to collect food, clothing, and money. Leaders in this work of mercy were: Franklin Sawyer, Jr., N. R. Ramsdell, Guy Beckley, John Sinclair, John King, Samuel Denton, Daniel McIntyre, George Sedgwick, General Edward Clark, C. Clark, William O'Hara, Daniel Scully, John Howard, John Kane, and the janitor at the University, Patrick Kelly. These and others succeeded in gathering together large quantities of clothing and food and the gifts of money were both numerous and large. These things were sent to the stricken country where, it is hoped, they were used to help relieve the suffering. From time to time, after this expression of sympathy, Irish people living in Ann Arbor took a hand in trying to improve conditions in Ireland. Several times subscriptions of money were taken and large sums were sent there in the interests of those in need. One of the effects of this interest was to broaden the sympathies of our citizens and given an international scope to their reading. But perhaps a movement within our own country of the year 1849 more directly interested and excited our grandsires than the famine in Ireland. We refer to the discovery of gold in California in 1848 and the rush to that State in quest of the precious metal. Several prominent local people joined in the rush, among them John Allen, who understood far better what was good for others than he did for himself. John S. Knowland and the West brothers, Orange, Miles, and Bates, were the first to go, and they were soon followed by Nelson Imus, wagon and carriage maker; L. R. Slawson and James Colman, stone masons; Marlow Goodale, druggist clerk; D. T. McCollum, and a man named Cornell who was engaged in some sort of manufacturing here. Two of these men, John Allen. and D. T. McCollum, wrote back long letters to the editor of the Argus, describing the route taken to the Far OF GENERAL INTEREST 405 A PRIMITIVE SAWMILL, i865 Robert Speechly Cut Timber Between the Michigan Central Depot and the University West, scenes along the way, and their experiences in Califor-. nia. The letters of these men may still be read, the newspapers containing them being carefully preserved in the Library of the University. In a letter of McCollum to J. H. Lund, written October 20, 1849, and printed in the Argus December 10, a striking picture of the experiences of his party is found. He states that, after a five months' journey they arrived at Sacramento. During this journey, at three different times, he was "so ill as to be on the borders of the grave." As the journey progressed he and his companions, like thousands who had preceded them, were obliged to throw down all their baggage, "down to 75 lbs to each man." Along the way nearly 2,000 human graves marked the route; and in one day McCollum "counted 57 dead oxen, 4 horses and seven mules, 47 wagons left, 53 ox-chains, and as many ox-yokes, besides property of all kinds-guns, rifles, pistols, axes, crow-bars, drills, pickaxes, hoes, tools of all sorts and sizes, and thousands of pounds of different kinds of provisions, such as flour, meal, side-bacon, salt-pork, beans, peas, salt, &c., and clothing of all descriptions left along the road... One sixth of our number, who left Independence (Missouri) in good health, have died on the road. "As to the country we passed through," he continued, "God knows what he made it for, I do not!... We travelled 300 miles in a cloud of dust from morning till night. It would freeze '/2 an inch thick at night and nearly boil you at noon 406 4THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS... But you have no idea how many persons and teams of oxen, horses mules &c., started from the different points on Missouri River for the Land of Graves and Drought." McCollum then quotes prices as they were in Sacramento City. Pork was $40 per barrel; potatoes, fifty to sixty cents per pound; onions, $1 per pound; dried apples, sixty to sixtyfive cents per pound; and sugar from twenty to twenty-five cents per pound. In explaining how they lived, he said: "There are three of us who have a tent made out of 2 old wagon covers, and we purchased provisions and board ourselves, cook, wash and bake at a cost of about 8s. each per day." He complained that gold was scarce, and hard digging brought little more than an ounce a day. McCollum expressed a longing to be back in Ann Arbor with his wife and children. "If I ever get back," he wrote, "I shall be content to do a small and safe business in any line to get a living, and support my family in a humble manner." Nearly all of those who left Ann Arbor to seek their fortunes in the gold fields of California came back, but few of them made a success of the journey. The West brothers returned with $30,000 and with a part of the money, in 1865, established the Lake House at Whitmore Lake. John S. Knowland also came back with a sum of money. He had saved enough to buy a large farm in Scio, where he lived for many years. John Allen, in 1851, at the age of fifty-six, after several spells of a lingering fever, finally died, and his remains still lie somewhere not far from the Golden Gate. The ill-fortune of those who went to California stayed any exodus from our city, but for a time the gold fever here was high. In the Civil War days Ann Arbor became greatly interested if not mildly excited, over the promised visits of a number of prominent people, most of them coming here under the auspices of the Students' Lecture Association. The great attraction of the year 1860 was Ralph Waldo Emerson, who gave an address Friday evening, February 17, on `Manners and Morals." In 1861 the great temperance lecturer, John B. Gough, was given a place on the lecture course, and soon after his stirring denunciation of John Barleycorn, the famous Tom Thumb made his appearance. During the week of July 14, 1862, Ex-President Millard Fillmore spent two days in the OF GENERAL INTEREST 407 city, where he made many friends. In November of the next year l'. T. Barnum filled a number on the course of the Lecture Association after having been advertised as "the father of more humbugs than any other man in America." A little over a year after the great showman's appearance, the humorist Josh Billings entertained a large audience with his nonsense in such a way as to cause them to forget the horrors of the Civil War. It was just after the close of the Civil War that the merchants began to debate the question of closing their stores (arly in the evenings. On October 22, 1865, twenty-two of the merchants agreed to close at seven o'clock in the evening on November first and, except on Saturdays, remain closed in the evenings until March 1, 1866. An event of the year 1871 was the next of importance to arouse the interest and sympathy of the whole city. This was the great Chicago fire. W'hen the news of that gigantic holocaust reached Ann Arbor, October 13, the people were horrorstruck. Immediately a mass meeting of citizens was called and nearly $4,000 was subscribed to be sent to the people of the stricken city. The mayor issued a proclamation which forbade "smoking on the streets, firing leaves or other practice calculated to endanger the property of citizens." No disaster so stirred the people here for eighteen years. Then the great fire in Saginaw aroused their sympathies, and though precautionary measures were taken, smoking on the streets went on as usual. About a year after the Chicago fire an event of local interest, especially to the members of the younger generation, was advertised to take place at the old fair grounds near the corner of Hill and Forest. At that time, September 27, Ann Arbor was to have her first balloon ascension, a feat which was expected to attract crowds to the fair. The balloon, by the aid of considerable lifting, ascended two or three times as high as a tall man could reach, making a final landing in an orchard. The crowd which followed made up for their disappointlnent by bombarding the balloonist with apples. Had not help come from the police there is no telling what might have happened to the unfortunate hero. The incident of outstanding local interest for the year 1874 408 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS was a terrific explosion in the Fifth Ward in the store of A. Herz. A spark exploded a keg of powder. The heavy walls of masonry were torn and rent from cellar to garret, and although twenty persons were injured, no one was killed, and, with the exception of one, all of the injuries were slight. On July Fourth, 1875, Ann Arbor held the greatest patriotic celebration in its history up to that time. The American Revolution had begun 100 years before in April, and people from all over the county gathered in Ann Arbor to make a day of it. President James B. Angell delivered an oration on the Court House square before an audience of 20,000. The crowd flowed over all the surrounding streets, and though most of them could not hear a word they kept a respectful silence while the distinguished educator held the platform. A huge parade was held and more noise disturbed the peace of the city than had ever been heard before. Ever since that time the noisiness of the Fourth has decreased, until now the nation's birthday is comparatively quiet. A little over a year after this noisy celebration one could hear on the streets a good deal of talk about the probability of having a public market here. Minds were set at rest on this subject when, in September, 1876, the Council ordered that the vacant grounds in the rear of the Gregory House and adjoining buildings should be used for the purposes of a public market. A lease was signed for the use of these grounds, and all wagons and carts loaded with hay, straw, wood, or fish were required to stand there and at no other place in the central portion of the city. The ground was cleared of rubbish and prepared for market uses and thus Ann Arbor's first public market came into existence. The news of the death of President Garfield, September 19, 1881, came to this city as a shock. President Garfield always had been popular with the people here and it was fitting that they should set apart September 26 as a day of mourning in his memory. On that day a procession was formed at the corner of Huron and Main streets by Colonel Henry S. Dean, which marched to the Presbyterian church. There the following memorial program was carried out: 1. Organ Voluntary, Acting President Frieze. 2. Music, "He Watching Over Israel, Slumbers Not, Nor OF GENERAL INTEREST 409 Sleeps"-Mendelssohn. 3. Reading of the Scriptures and Prayer, Rev. Dr. Steele. 4. Hymn, "Servant of God, Well Done!" 5. Introductory, W. D. Harriman. 6. Address, Hon. Thomas M. Cooley. 7. Music, "Blessed Are the Dead Who Die in the Lord"Burk. S. Benediction. Ann Arbor's politics usually have been strongly Republican, but representatives of all parties gathered to do honor to the memory of Garfield. One great Republican made his first visit to our city seven years after Garfield was laid to rest. This was Theodore Roosevelt. He made one of his vigorous speeches strongly advocating the principles of the Republican party and showing his teeth at the same time. Four years after the visit of Roosevelt, ex-president Grover Cleveland, one of the greatest Democratic leaders the country has ever produced, came to the city. He was greeted here by many distinguished guests, Mayor W. G. Doty extending to him the freedom of the city. There were several thousands of visitors here that day, February 22, 1892, to welcome Cleveland, and he seemed to enjoy seeing them quite as much as they did seeing him. After the turn of the century there were several interesting events which attracted general attention. In 1903, in July, the Council accepted a proposed gift of $20,000 from Andrew Carnegie for a new library for the city. The gift was conditioned by the necessity for furnishing a site and that $2,000 be spent annually for new books. The Ladies Library Association offered its site and its endowment income of about $250 annually with the understanding that the names of Mrs. David Henning, Mrs. Alpheus Felch, and Mrs. Palmer be inserted in the books purchased with this money as this was a condition of the donors. The offer of the Ladies Library Association was not accepted, but the present site was chosen instead. The $20,000 became available August 13, and soon building operations were begun. The down town branch of the library was installed during the summer of 1911, largely through the efforts of Messrs. W. S. Mills, A. H. Paxton, Eugene Sweet, E. B. Manwaring, and L. D. Carr, cooperating with the Board of Education. In 1908 came an event most of the people of the city were 410 tIHE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS MAIN STREET IN THE FORTIES interested in. This was the opening of the new Whitney Opera House, Wednesday night, January 15. The first performance was "A Knight for a Day," and it was played before a large and enthusiastic audience. Our city often sees great crowds, especially at football games, but one of the most interesting crowds ever to come here invaded the city the last two days in October, 1913. Members of the Michigan State Teachers' Association to the number of over 7,000 met here for their annual convention, to get new ideas and to further educational interests. Most of the meetings were held on the Campus, but the city High School housed many of the special meetings and local teachers, merchants, and others put themselves out to accommodate the visitors and make them feel at home. It is entirely fitting to include in this chapter some remarks about a subject of such general interest as the weather. There is always much argument among the older citizens as to when the coldest weather came, the windiest, or wettest. A few facts on these matters may help to settle some of these arguments. The fall of 1831 was one of the wettest ever known in southern Michigan. It rained hard most of the time for several weeks. Swamps and marshes were filled with water, the Huron overflowed its banks, bridges were washed away OF GENERAL INTEREST 411 and roads were bottomless seas of mud. One of the worst wind storms ever to visit these parts came March 20, 1838. While the storm was raging torrents of rain fell and a boy named Tommy Welch was struck by lightning and killed. Towards night the violence of the wind abated, finally dying down entirely, but the rain continued to come down with terrific force, flooding everything on the lower levels of ground for miles around. However, the heaviest storm ever known here came Sunday morning, July 29, 1860. That storm has no parallel in Michigan history as far as is known. The most vivid streaks of lightning zigzagged from horizon to zenith and the artillery of nature shook the earth like a gigantic quake. The storm raged two and a half hours, during which time over nine inches of water fell! The Huron rose eighteen inches in fifteen minutes and it attained a higher level than ever before. Allen's Creek swelled to the magnitude of a river, and washed out every bridge which spanned it. The old bridge near Sinclair's Mills was partly destroyed and immediately afterward was condemned as unsafe for further use. Ann Arbor has had its cold days and its hot days as well as rainy ones. On December 31, 1859, the thermometer kept going down until it reached twenty-four degrees below zero; the last week in December, 1872, it ranged from twenty-six to thirty below; and the winter of 1917 it went down to twenty-eight. But more unusual than this was the cold weather which came during the summer of 1897. That year, Maly 31, Decoration Day, and the day after, June 1, the thermometer dropped to two degrees below freezing and a storm precipitated on the ground a generous coating of snow. During the years 1870 and 1874 we experienced our hottest days. Saturday, June 25, of the former year, the thermometer registered ninety-eight degrees in the shade and for a week thereafter it remained well up in the nineties. In 1874 came the torrid period if ever there was one. During the week of June 28 of that year, the temperature ranged from ninetyeight to 108 in the shade! March 21, 1913, Ann Arbor exiperienced a win storm which did a great deal of damage; and September 2, the University Observatory thermometer registered an even 100 degrees Fahrenheit. CHAPTER XXVII Keeping Abreast of the Times T HE citizens of Ann Arbor always have tried to keep their city abreast of the times. This is evident from the improvements made in the physical appearance of the city: the roads, bridges, parks, cemeteries, homes, hotels; and it is evident, too, from the attention given to the matter of sanitation and public health. To understand how far they have succeeded in these directions one has but to look around; but to appreciate fully how these things came to be, necessitates going back nearly a century. In an earlier chapter we gave an account of the ways in which the frontier of Michigan Territory was connected by land and water routes with the East. By the time that this Territory was ready to become a State, great improvements in the transportation facilities had been made in the northeastern part of the Unlited States. Every village and town in all that vast area profited by the improved conditions, Ann Arbor not excepted. By 1837 there was a route to the East, not only by way of Detroit and the lakes to the State of New York, but by way of northern Ohio and central Pennsylvania. Beginning here, this route led out South Main street and continued in a southeasterly direction to Columbia, Pennsylvania. It extended by railroad from there to Philadelphia, and from Philadelphia to Bordentown, by steamboat. From the latter city railroad connections were made to Amboy, from which place the boat was taken to New York. So much traffic passed over the South Main street road that talk was soon heard of building a plank road. During the Civil War such a road was built, toll gates marking the northern and southern ends. Sunday, January 31, 1864, the gate three-quarters of a mile south of the city was burned, but tolls continued to be taken there. This road was built by private interests but for several years failed to return a profit to its builders. The Argus for January 10, 1873, stated that the "Ann Arbor and Lodi Plank Road Company" January 7, declared a dividend of five per cent, KEEPING ABREAST OF THE TIMES 413 the first in many years. After that stroke of business, officers were elected and a board of directors chosen. The largest amount of money ever paid in tolls by people coming into Ann Arbor and going from it in one day up to the year 1882 was collected before six o'clock P. Al., June 14, of that year. That day $26.02 was paid by people who came to the city to see Forepaugh's circus. The owners of the road found it simplified their business worries if they leased the road outright to some private individual. ]Daniel O'Keefe leased the road for the year 1887 for the sum of $1,100, but he confided that he made no very great fortune out of the venture. Within a few years control of the road passed into the hands of the county, the planks were torn up or covered over, and the taking of tolls became a thing of the past. Within the city itself the condition of the streets began to be improved about the same time that the plank road was built. Some attention to the cleanliness of the streets in the business section had been given even before the War, but in 1863 so many complaints were made about the rubbish and filth that the Council decided to do something about it. May 4, of that year, the local "White Wings" were given a raise from one dollar to a dollar and a quarter a day to keep the streets clean, and a few days later appeared the first sprinkler on Main street. "Ford," said the Argus for May 15, "is out with the street sprinkler and lays the dust on our streets finely." The next year, after a number of University students had torn up several stretches of decayed sidewalk, the Council served notice to property owners on Huron street that new walks would have to be put down, and they ordered that new crossings should be put in and that "covered plank sluices" were to replace the "carriage smashing gutters, thereby saving many wheels and springs." The Council was specific in its orders as to the kind of sidewalks that were to be put down. It was required that the walks should be four feet wide, graded, and planked with pine planks two inches thick, and spiked to oak sleepers, four inches square.- In case an owner wished, the city was willing to undertake the work, but the cost was to be paid by the owner of the property along which the walk was built. In June, 1866, the first gravel and tar 414 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS composition walk to be put down in the city was laid on the east side of Division street between William and Liberty streets. This walk, like all other walks in the city, had its own particular grade, but it did not have the same grades as the contiguous stretches at either end, making walking at night a hazardous undertaking. In those days each owner established the grade best suited to the grade of his nearby property or to his peculiar whims, but in 1869 neighbors more and more agreed on definite grades and thus by their cooperation many of the ups and downs of life were eliminated. In 1887 the condition of the sidewalks took on a decided change for the better. When United States Postoffice Inspector Newberger came to Ann Arbor to make arrangements for the free delivery of mail in the city he announced that no deliveries would be made on streets having no sidewalks. That was a signal for a regular epidemic of sidewalk destruction carried on by University students. The result was that many people who never had had sidewalks were forced to put them down, and those who had permitted theirs to get out of repair found them destroyed and were compelled to put down new ones. With the extensive use of concrete for sidewalks came the doom of the tar composition walks. Most people put down more durable and attractive concrete walks from choice, but some would have laid the composition walks had not the Council, March 7, 1910, passed an ordinance forbidding the further construction of walks of that kind. There are a few of these walks in the city even now, but they are disappearing rapidly, and no one will mourn when the last one has been taken up. In the middle nineties merchants on Main street began to discuss the project of paving the city's principal thoroughfare. Dust and grime drifted into the stores and settled over valuable goods there, after administeing a rich coating to such wares as were exposed for sale on the sidewalks. The worth of articles on the shelves and counters often was reduced to a half of their original value as a result of having been soiled by the clouds of dirt from the streets. The conditions were especially bad whenever visitors to the city were numerous, and on rainy days things were even worse. In 1896 a step in the direction of paving was made when Detroit street was mac KEEPING ABREAST OF THE TIMES 415 adamized. A second step was taken the next year when Mayor Hiscock, in his address to the Council, pointed out the need of paving some of the principal streets. He made the statement that in the eight years previous $77,917 had been spent on the city's streets and that there was nothing to show for it. Hle suggested that Main street be paved from Catherine to William street and that something permanent be done. The Council acted favorably on the suggestion, and before the turn of the century Ann Arbor was launched on a paving program which will never come to an end. In 1910, City Engineer Groves devised a way of using tar on some of the unpaved streets which laid the dust and proved very serviceable. This, together with the various paving projects, soon gave the city a much neater appearance and at the same time greatly improved the cleanliness of the community. During the summer of 1914 local Main street merchants backed a lighting system which greatly improved the appearance of Main street. Ornamental posts, with clusters of big white globes, were set at equal distances apart along Main street from Ann to William street. Merchants along Washington, Liberty, Huron, and Ann streets soon followed the example of those on Main street, thus making a "white way" of each of the principal streets of the down town business section. On the evening of December 5), 1914, the lights were turned on for the first time. They have been used constantly since, but now are quite worn out and new ones soon will be put in their places. No adequate apparatus for cleaning the streets was used before 1916. Up to that time the streets were cleaned through the use of manual labor, city water, and rain; but in August, 1916, the city, by a vote of 931 to 508, bonded itself to the sum of $6,000 for the purchase of street-cleaning apparatus. The equipment purchased then has been replaced since, and necessary additions to it have been made. The interest of the citizens in bettering the condition of the streets and sidewalks extended to the roads leading to and from the city. In 1917 they supported a bond issue of $100,000 for good roads and at other times have acted favorably on similar projects. Perhaps the greatest thrill came December 17, 1921, when the new paved road to Jackson was opened. The work on this road was started in April, 1920, by the 416 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ONE OF THE BRIDQES OVER THE HURON A Part of the City's Park System Washtenaw County Road Commission, John C. Cox, engineer and supervising manager for the work in both Washtenaw and Jackson counties. When the road was opened in December, 1921, only 2,000 feet of the entire distance to Jackson yet remained to be paved. In the other direction, towards Ypsilanti, the road was paved in 1924, completing a paved stretch all the way from Detroit to Jackson. Before 1828, getting into Ann Arbor from the east was not an easy matter. But the tide of emigration by that time had been so great as to call for building the first bridge on Broadway over the Huron. On July 29, 1860, the old bridge was partly destroyed by the high water caused by a terrible rain storm which came that morning. The heavy timbers lying on the structure kept it from being washed entirely away. This bridge was repaired and a few years after was entirely KEEPING ABREAST OF THE TIMES 417 rebuilt, but it was not until the spring of 1917 that a satisfactory structure was put up. The contract for the present bridge was let in February to J. P. Rusche, of Grand Rapids, for the sum of $51,000. On August 6, 1909, the old Wall street bridge collapsed, injuring five persons. Steps were taken almost immediately in the direction of providing a new one. In March, 1910, the Council let a contract to Hermann Tapp Construction Company, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, for $9,100, the city agreeing to furnish the labor and the cement. This bridge was ready for use within a year and since that time has been looked upon as valuable both from the standpoint of utility and beauty. While the bridges over the Huron have added much to the beauty of our city, the parks, more than anything else, are the real ornaments of the community. There seems to have been little thought of beautifying the city, or village as it was then, before 1837. General Edward Clark, writing in a local paper in 1873, gives us some information on the first attempts made in this direction. "At the close of a beautiful day in May, 1837," wrote Clark, "Hawkins, Lawrence (afterwards Judge), and Parris were sitting in their office on Main street opposite the Court House Square, when the writer dropped in upon them. The conversation that ensued was upon the improvement of the square." As a result of this conversation, Mr. Lawrence gave his check to pay the cost of fitting up the grounds in a suitable manner. That evening Olney Hawkins, William R. Thompson, William S. Maynard, E. W. Morgan, and Chauncey Goodrich each subscribed fifty dollars towards the work. Then these men appointed a committee to collect other sums and to spend the money for the desired improvements. A contract was soon entered into for putting a hitching rail around the square. Several young men of the village went into the woods nearby and dug up young trees which were planted on the grounds. The land was plowed up, sewed to grass and clover, and diagonal walks were laid from opposite corners of the square. These improvements, however, were not sufficient to make the square a place of beauty. The Michigan State Journal, for April 13, 1843, asked editorially: "OUR PUBLIC SQUARE,-Is there no other place that can be devoted, for 418 TIlE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS a part of the season, at least, for a hog pen, and cow yard? We should think that some of our enterprising farmers would be willing to yard these animals for the sake of improving their farms. What has become of our corporation officers'?" This outblurst seems to have had the desired effect, since a meeting of the citizens was held in the Temperance House (The Goodrich Hotel) for the purpose of organizing a society to be called the Ann Arbor Ornamental and Protective Association. George Miles occupied the chair on this occasion, and John W. Maynard acted as secretary. A committee drafted a Constitution, Aricle II of which stated that "The chief object of this Association shall be to ornament the public square with trees and protect the same, and to ornament the main public streets in like manner, as far as practicable with their means." Article V stated that "Any person may become a member of this Association by signing the Constitution and paying into the Treasury, the sum of fifty cents, either in work, suitable forest trees, or money." Officers were to be elected the first Monday each March. The first officers were chosen at this meeting, as follows: president, George Miles; secretary-treasurer, M. Eacker; board of directors, John Wells, J. B. Barnes, A.M. G ould, David Godfrey, and I'. S. Rawson. In May the work of this organization had progressed so far as to complete the setting out of trees and to build about each one a box which was neatly whitewashed. Many members of the Association planted trees in their yards and along the streets, and some went to the burying ground and planted trees and shrubbery there. In May, 1862, a more extensive improvement movement for beautifying the square was carried out. The gravel walks were graded and broadened and Mr. Theodore DuBois, who owned a nursery here, donated many evergreens and shrubs for planting along their sides and next to the fence which surrounded the square. In 1876 the old fence was removed and better walks were laid about the square. These in time gave way to the splendid concrete walks we have today. The burying ground used in the early days was originally a part of Andrew Nowland's farm, but now known as Felch Park. Nowland sold this property for cash, but when he handed over the title papers to the property he expressed the KEEPING ABREAST OF THE TIMES 419 wish that upon his own death his body should be placed as far as possible from the grave of Deacon Branch, so that when his Satanic Majesty should come for the Deacon there might be no mistake made and he, Nowland, carried off instead. Whether there is any truth in this story or not, it is true that on June 1, 1843, the citizens met in the Court lHouse and adopted a resolution for "improving and ornamenting the pub1ic Burying Ground of this village." Later a committee reported measures which were adopted without amendment, and the work went forward there in much the same way as it had on the Court House square six years before. Soon after Ann Arbor became a city it became apparent that in the course of a decade or two the old cemetery would be well within the city limits. Some thought it was too close to the Campus, and others thought it was lacking in natural beauty. Out of such discussion as arose in connection with the location of the cemetery came a demand for a new site, larger than the one then in use and farther removed from the residences of the citizens. In 1856, almost by unanimous agreement, a part of the old Taylor farm was chosen and it soon came to be called Forest Hill. A "Cemetery Company" received subscriptions which, with the money received from the sale of lots, made possible the original purchase and furnished means with which to prepare the ground for use and for expenses of upkeep. Most of the lots were sold at prices ranging from ten to fifty dollars. It was not until May 19, 1859, that the new cemetery was formally dedicated. Under the direction of George D. Hill, at nine o'clock, A. M., a great procession marched to the grounds. In this procession came first, a band, then several military companies, officiating clergy, the orator for the day, the president of the cemetery board, W. S. Maynard, and other members of the board. In order after these came the Common Council of Ann Arbor and several other cities, the faculty of the University, members of the Board of Education, teachers of the different schools, editors and printers of the city, the student body of the University, members of the fire companies, another band, the Masons, Oddfellows, private citizens and children of the public schools. At 10:30 the following order of exercises was given: 420 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Introductory prayer, Rev. E. H. Pilcher Reading of the hymn, Rev. J. M. Gregory Singing by the choir Reading of the Scriptures, Rev. A. L. Freeman Music by the band Reading of the Scriptures, Rev. George Smith Consecrating prayer, Rev. S. D. Cochran Address, Rev. I). F. Lumsden Dirge by the band Reading of hymn and Doxology, Rev. Boise Singing by the choir Benediction, Rev. Frederick Schmid Laying of the corner stone of the vault Public sale of lots In this program the songs sung by read by Reverends Gregory and Boise, case joining in the singing. The poems used. the choir were those the audience in each given here were those Come to this dwelling of the dead, Thou wand'rer of a day! Kneel at the threshold of thy home, And bid thy spirit pray. Come, while around thee thou can'st fold The fading robes of life, And find a place to lay them bSyWhen worn with dust and strife. Come from the busy changeful world, And leave thy sorrows there, 'Tis meet that thou should'st steal awhile From turmoil and from care. The tender voice of Mother Earth, Her child will welcome here, She hath a lesson for thy heart, And music for thy ear. These forest trees, whose boughs go forth To meet their native sky; Will lead thy wayward thoughts afarTo fairer scenes on high. The flowers that blossom at their feet, And wither in their bloom, Will teach the story thou may'st tell, While treading to the tomb. And here, amidst these solemn shades, The moss and ivy creep, And mark the spot where, all unwept, KEEPING ABREAST OF THE TIMES 421 Thy Indian brothers sleep, And thou wilt feel that all are dust, And all must pass away; One Father loves and watches too, The children of the clay. This holy ground beneath our feet, These gently sloping hills above, These silent glades and valleys sweet Shall be the home of those we love. Above their couch shall flow'rets bloomDear, precious flowers, that droop and die, 'Tis fit that ye should wreath the tomb, Where those we best have loved, shall lie. But they shall wake when o'er the earth Time's last receding wave shall roll; Shall share in an immortal birth, The changeless spring-time of the soul. Then let us learn to bear aright Life's weary weight of pain and care, Till, with our heavenly home in sight, This last and dreamless couch we share. Oh! let us see thy glory here, Our Father! and we'll kiss the rod; We leave ourselves, and all most dear, With Thee, our Saviour and our God! Many of the lots in Forest Hill Cemetery were sold on credit, and the board experienced some difficulty in making all of the collections. On July 5, 1866, they decided not to sell any more except for cash, and they further agreed that on and after September 1, of that year, the price of all lots was to advance twenty-five per cent. Their building committee that same day was instructed to go ahead with plans for an office, gate, and sexton's house at the cemetery entrance. After this time all the proceeds from interments and from the sale of lots were expended on the grounds. In addition, one dollar per lot per year was collected from each owner to help care for the grounds and for cutting the grass. Some delay was experienced in building the entrance structures, but they went up in time and greatly added to the appearance of the cemetery. The need for a system of parks in the city is of comparatively recent origin. In fact, the distance from any residence 422 'THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS to wooded areas was not great in any direction, but as the city spread out these distances increased, property was enclosed by fences and "no trespassing" signs were nailed to trees. Until 1894 about the only place the citizens thought of as a recreational center was the driving park, as the old fair grounds were sometimes called. In August, 1889, the Board of Public Works was authorized to employ legal talent to protect the city's rights in the old cemetery. This was the first step towards placing the property in shape so it could be used as a park. In 1891 the bodies were taken from this ground to the old cemetery in the Fifth Ward, and Huron street was extended through to its present length. Within the next two years the land was cleared of much of its brush, shrubs were planted, an September 28, 1894, the area was named Felch Park in honor of Hon. Alpheus Felch, who had recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday. At present the old Fifth Ward cemetery is city property and it is the only cemetery wholly under the jurisdiction of the Common Council. In 1898 several improvements were made at the fair grounds, the most notable being the erection of the log cabin in August of that year. Over the doorway of this cabin appeared the words: "Erected in Honor of Pioneers of Washtenaw, 1898." The building was dedicated September 27. It contained many interesting and valuable relics of pioneer days in this county. In 1915 and 1916 nearly all of these relics were either claimed by their owners or were stored in the attic of the Court House, where they still may be seen, covered with dust and almost forgotten. In 1917 the building was no longer used, except as a place in which to store old wagons and tools used in caring for the fair grounds. The years 1904 and 1905 were important ones in the history of the city's parks. In March and in May of that year noteworthy advances were made in the direction of caring for such parks as the city owned and in the direction of acquiring new lands for park purposes. Professor George P. Burns was the prime mover in all these activities. March 14, the Council proposed the adoption of an amendment to the city charter creating a park commission which should have charge of all the city parks, streets extensions, trees, etc. In the course of a few weeks the charter amendment was passed and Mayor KEEPING AJlUBEAST OF TIlE TIMES 423 THE ISLAND, ONE OF ANN ARBOR'S PARKS This Beauty Spot is Situated in the Huron, a Half Mile East of the Michigan Central Depot lafamilton appointed as the first commission, Royal S. Copeland, to serve one year, George P. Burns, to serve two years, David F. Allmendinger, to serve three years, Levi D. Wines, to serve four years, and Henry W. Douglas to serve five. Mr. Allnleedinger was the president of the commission. In August the Council decided to condemn the property just north of the Michigan Central Railroad depot for park purposes and to forbid the further use of the land for the purposes of a dumping ground. While the negotiations for this property were pro 124 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS gressing the grading for the North Boulevard drive was going forward under the direction of the contractor, John W. Markey, and the property between the drive and the river was being taken over for park uses. In July, 1906, land now known as Glen Drive, thirty acres in all, was put in condition for use. This property, extending from Geddes avenue to the Huron River and lying just east of'Forest Hill Cemetery, was given to the University by Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Nichols with understanding that the University should spend annually $750 on the plot. This area is adjacent to twenty-five acres the city had just purchased of Mrs. Mummery and in a sense, therefore, can be looked upon as a part of the city's system of parks, as distinguished from similar lands belonging to the State. The great interest Ann Arbor people always have had in contests of an athletic nature received a decided impetus with the success of the football teams coached by Professor Fielding H. Yost beginning in 1901. In 1906 and 1907, baseball teams of the University, track teams, and teams excelling in other sports more and more focussed attention of the value of athletic activities. But the young men of the city who were not attending the University had no regular places to engage in athletic contests until 1908. June 1, of that year, the Council adopted a resolution providing for an athletic field of six acres between Huron street and Miller avenue, just west of Chapin. On September 16, 1915, the citizens voted a bond issue of $5,900 to purchase additional land for West Park. On the land of this park, tennis courts were laid out, a baseball diamond leveled, swings, slides, and other exercise-giving apparatus erected, bleachers put up, and the whole place put in shape for rest and recreation. In June of 1910, when it began to appear that the fair grounds would soon fall into disuse, the Council, with great foresight, took steps to insure the use of the land for a park; and in August, of the same year, the Board of Education leased nineteen acres inside of the track for school athletic grounds. In May, 1917, Mr. G. F. Allmendinger gave five acres to the city for park purposes. This plot lies at the south end of West street in a region which is rapidly building up, so it will not be many years before it will be a popular place with the people living in its neighborhood. During the summer of 1920, the KEEPING ABREAST OF THE TIMES 425 old fair grounds having been devoted to other uses, plans for a new fair grounds west of the city were worked out. The Washtenaw County Fair Society was organized with Laverne 0. Cushing as president, 0. C. Burkhart, vice-president, Earl W. Martin, secretary, and William L. Walz, treasurer. A forty-acre site just west of the city was purchased, and in the course of a few months the permanent new fair grounds were ready for use. One of the greatest advocates of more extensive and more beautiful parks and drives has been Mr. Hackley Butler. With the parks, as with every other movement in the direction of making Ann Arbor a pleasant place in which to live, Mr. Butler has given time, energy, and money all out of proportion to his strength and means. His boundless enthusiasm has been so infectious that numerous others have caught his spirit and have given assistance which would not have been given but for his pride in his city and his desire to promote every phase of its welfare. The expansion of the city and the laying out of new streets always called for names for the additions and the streets that ran through them. The names of the additions may be seen on any good map of the city, their origin usually having been in the names of those who owned most of the property. The names of most of the streets in the city originated in an effort to honor some prominent man or woman connected in some way with its history. John Allen was too modest a man to name a street for himself, and it is a great oversight that some principal street has not been called Allen avenue. Allen was from Virginia and a great admirer of two great presidents of the Old Dominion and of the freedom for which they stood. In their honor he gave the names to Washington and Jefferson streets, and the street between them he called Liberty. Later the names of presidents were given to other streets of the city. Allen named Ann street in honor of his wife, and Huron street for the river and for the tribe of Indians who once passed along that route as a trail. Allen also named Catherine street, including it in his original plot of 1824. The land company which gave the Campus to the State for the site of the University laid out an addition east of Division street. Members of this company used their own names for their plot. William S. Maynard had two streets named for 426 THE1 FIRST 11UNDIRED YEARS THE WILLIAM S. MAYNARD HOME On Main Street, Now the Elks Club House. Built in I840. (Taken from an Old Picture) himi: William street and Maynard; and the names of William R. Thompson, Charles Thayer, Chester Ingalls, E. S. Cobb, andl )Daniel B. Brown were also given to streets. State street was so named because it ran in front of the Campus property which was given to the State, and the other bounding streets were called Univtersity avenues, according to whether they ran along the north, east, or south sides of the Campus. Twelfth street was so named because it was the twelfth street from First, and Thirteenth and Fourteenth streets followed in order. Observatory street was so named because of the location of the Observatory on it. Gott street was named in honor of Janmes B. (ott, who owned the farm plotted by his heirs as the Gott additioll, anld Miner street was named for John R. Miner, who sold off most of the lots. Felch street was named by Governor Felch, who plotted it, and similarly with Hill street, plotted by George D. Hill. Hamilton place was named after ex-mayor Hamilton, who put it through, and Cheever court was named for Judge Noah Cheever. In the Fifth Ward many of the streets were named by Anson Brown, Caleb Ormsby, and other residents of Lower Town, after streets in New York City, from whence they came. In this way Broadway, Wall, Maiden Lane, and Canal streets received their names. Traver street was named after Augustus Traver, who, in 1851, platted the land on it. Pontiac street was part of the original road to that city. Originally the name followed the many turns in its serpentine way, but, in 1890, just after S. W. Beakes was mayor, that part of it between North Main street and the Michigan Central tracks was renamed Beakes street in honor of him. One street was KEEPING ABREAST OF TIHE TIMES 427 MARKING THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN ANN ARBOR This Tablet was Incorporated in the Walls of the Artificial Ice Company's Building on West Huron Street Until it was Torn Down named Brown street il honor of Aniiso I-rown, tbut, in 1890, its name was changed to Moore street in honor of Eli Moore. Edwin, John, and Mary streets were named in honor of three of the chillren of Judge Edwin and Mrs. Lawrence, and a number of women gave their names to the streets of the city. Olivia avenue was named after Mrs. Olivia B. Hall, who platted it and, similarly, the streets platted by Mrs. Elizabeth Swathel and Mrs. Sarah Vaughan received their names, Elizabeth and Vaughan, from those estimable ladies. Volland street was named after Jacob Volland, and Israel avenue was named after Israel Hall. Wells street was named after Dr. Ebenezer Wells, and Baldwin avenue after J. D. Baldwin, who platted land in that section. Willard street was named after Dr. Willard B. Smith by his father, Dr. Ransom S. Smith, who platted it. Philip Bach and James Brown gave the names Bach and Brown to two streets platted by them. Dewey avenue was named in honor of the great Admiral after he became the hero of Manila Bay. Tappan street was named in honor of President Tappan. Miller avenue was named after ex-mayor John F. Miller, of the firm of Miller and Webster, bankers, who had a fine house on that street. Spring street originally was a corduroy road, and the name probably came 428 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS from the nature of the ground over which the road passed. Wilmot street was named after C. T. Wilmot, who platted Wilmot's Addition. Packard street was named after Benjamin Packard, who owned ten acres of land through which it passed. Chapin street was named in honor of Volney Chapin; Kingsley street, originally called North street, for Judge James Kingsley; and Hiscock street after Daniel Hiscock, father of Charles E. Hiscock, who platted the addition. Church street was named for Benjamin Church, who had a shop there for making mill sticks before the street was opened. Fuller street was named for Benjamin Church, who had a shop there for M. Doty. Some of the names given here date no farther back than February, 1890. At that time Liberty street in the Sixth Ward was changed to Belser street in honor of Frederick H. Belser, who had just finished a term as president of the Council. At the same time North street became Kingsley, and Bowery street was changed to Lawrence in honor of Judge Edwin F. Lawrence. In 1890, when John J. Lawrence platted his section, he named Edwin street for his illustrious father, Sybil street for his mother, Mary street for his sister, and Benjamin street for his brother. At the same time Fuller street was named in honor of his grandmother, Mrs. Rhoda Fuller. The plank road within the city was called South Main street; West Seventh street was changed to Jewett avenue; Pontiac street from Main street to the river bridge became Beakes street; Mill street, running from Broadway west to Wright street became Swift street; Second street from Felch to Madison became Ashley avenue; the short street running from Charles street north to Chubb road became Wildt street; Chubb road became Chubb street, then Sunset drive, and Fourth and Fifth streets became avenues, principally upon an old plea of W. S. Maynard. Elmn, Walnut, Linden, and a number of other streets have been named for trees which are native to the region; and other streets have been named in honor of some of the city's leading citizens or in honor of men and women who have had an even wider fame. N. B. Some of the names of streets mentioned above have been changed since 1890. CHAPTER XXVII The Centennial Celebration T HE most interesting celebration ever held in the city was held in the banquet hall of the Michigan Union Building on the evening of February 27, 1924, when a great dinner commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the founding of the city was enjoyed by 588 guests. The dinner and program were arranged by the Centennial Committee, selected by the Chamber of Commerce and composed of Titus Hutzel, D. W. Springer, secretary of the committee, Professor A. H. White, Backley uBtler, president of the Chamber of Commerce, and the great success of the evening was due to the untiring efforts of these persons. Admission was by ticket, and the seating arrangement was determined by the year in which the descendants of the pioneers came to Ann Arbor: those whose ancestors had come in 1824 being given positions nearest the speakers' table; those whose ancestors came in 1825 next nearest, and so on to the remotest corners of the hall. A large number of the ladies wore the apparel which was worn from fifty to a hundred years ago, some of the gowns being both elaborate and beautiful as well. At the speakers' table were President-emeritus Harry B. Hutchins, who presided, President and Mrs. Marion L. Burton, Mayor and Mrs. George Lewis, Mr. and Mrs. D. W. Springer, Reverend and Mrs. L. A. Barrett, and Professor and Mrs. 0. W. Stephenson. The menu of the banquet consisted of Fruit Cup Salad, Celery and Olives; Roast Chicken, Browned Sweet Potatoes, and Corn Pudding; Lettuce and Tomato Salad, Thousand Island Dressing; Ice Cream, Cake, and Coffee. Immediately after the dinner the following program was given: Toastnmaster...................................................... Harry B. Hutchins Star Spangled Banner Invocation.................................... Leonard A. Barrett Present Pastor of the First Church in Ann Arbor Banquet 430 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ANN ARBOR'S iooth BIRTHDAY CAKE FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Frank Hutzel, George Klug, Hackley Butler (President of the Chamber of Commerce) Fred Heusel, G. E. Bross, H. E. Pierce, E. A. White, With the Men Who Baked it. It Weighed 240 Pounds Ann Arbor Today...................................................... George E. Lewis "Hail Columlbia, Happy Land'.................................................... Quartet "Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes'................................ Robert Dieterle Ann Arbor One Hundred Years Ago.................... Orlando W. Stehenson "Annie Laur ie".................................................... Annis Dexter Gray "Loves Old Sweet So.................................................. mes A. Hamilton Ciiic Pride................................................. Marion Leroy Burton "Flow Gently Sweet Afton"'......................... oranJo Hooper War Hell "Believe Me If All Those Endearing Young (Charms"................ Quartet Roll Call of Piolneer Famiilies........................a..i.. 1).. Duran. Slpringer Auld Lang Syne Home Sweet Home A cco pa ist............................................................... Palm er Christian Just before the roll of the pioneer families was called by Mr. Springer, he pointed out to the assembly the replica of Ann's arbor at the end of the hall and complimented the work of those who had placed it there. As the roll was called one remarkable family after another got up, but the two which attracted the greatest rounds of applause were those making up the descendants of Jonathan Henry Mann and those making up the descendants of Frederick Staebler, who came here in 1830, a year after Mr. Mann. Thirty-odd descendants of the latter got up, including the Manns, Schmids, Hutzels, and others, and fifty-seven of Mr. Staebler's descendants rose to their feet. There were two of Mr. Staebler's children still liv THE CENTEN-NIAL CELEBRATIO'N 431 0v Z P" 0 CA~ r~ 432 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ing, Mrs. Barbara Rayor, aged 85, and Michael Staebler, aged 84, and while the banquet was in progress a telegram came announcing the birth of the 129th descendant, Paul 0. Staeb]er, of Kalamazoo. Just after the roll was finished members of the Chamber of Commerce carried in a cake weighing 240 pounds lighted by 100 candles. It had been donated by its makers, twelve Ann Arbor bakeries: the Modder, Schuman-Hutzel, Washington, Pierce, Purity, Quality, Ann Arbor Home, Ann Arbor City, Illi, Federal, and White. The cake was carefully carved after a photograph of it had been taken, and everyone present was given a generous helping. As the strains of "Home Sweet Home" died away the throng filed out, leaving only forty-eight descendants of the pioneers, who sat for a group picture. As the last one of these left the hall someone was heard to remark: "I never dreamed how much the history of Ann Arbor might mean to me, nor did I ever expect to have such a wonderful time as I have had tonight. Surely Ann Arbor is a wonderful place in which to live; John Allen would be proud if he could see his city today." APPENDIX A. Odd Notes on Buildings, Hotels and Business The first brick house in Ann Arbor was built by Lorrin Mills in 1830 on the corner of Main and Liberty streets. (From a paper read by Mills before the Washtenaw Pioneer Society, May 21, 1877.) Asa L.Smith built that part of the Huron Block known as the G. Ludholz estate, on the corner of Broadway and Canal streets, just northeast of the power plant of the Detroit Edison Company. (Van der Werker, History of Earliest Ann Arbor, p. 21.) The house of Colonel White was the first cobble stone house to be built in Washtenaw County. It still stands, about two miles down the Huron on the Pottawatomie Trail. The large three-story house standing on the northeast corner of West Liberty and Third streets was built by Henry Krause, the tanner, in 1839. Many years later the great porch was built across the front by Emanuel Schneider. The direction of building in Ann Arbor extended north and south in each direction from John Allen's block house ("Bloody Corners") and east and west along Huron. Then it extended along Fourth and Fifth avenues, then called streets, and along Ashley and Packard. One of the early brick homes was that built by Colonel Mosley on the southeast corner of Packard and Main. Brown and Mundy, and later, Mundy and Earl, had a general store in the early 'forties fronting on North Main street where the south wall of the Whitney Hotel now stands. John Maynard built a home on Division street about the year 1840 or earlier, and members of the Maynard family continued to live there for about half a century. About the same time Robert S. Wilson built on the corner of Division and Ann streets, the property later owned by Mr. George Wahr. William S. Maynard built his famous home, now the Elks Lodge, about the year 1844. It was long one of the show places of the city, with peacocks strutting about, summer houses, shrubbery, rustic benches, and spacious lawns. The yard at first extended as far as the present site of the Schumacher hardware store. George Miles built on the corner of Huron and Division streets, diagonally across from the Presbyterian church. This property came into the possession of John Sheehan. Originally the building had but 434 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS The House Built by Robert S. Wilson in I840 on Division Street, Now the Home of Ceorge Wahr one story, but William Sinclair and William Rogers greatly enlarged and improved the structure. The home of Captain Thayer was built at 319 East Huron street. It was twice remodeled and today forms a part of the photograph gallery of Mr. J. F. Rentschler. The home of Chief Justice Feltcher, built in the late 'forties (?), stood on Washtenaw avenue, just southeast of the Dental College building. He was the first presiding judge of the Washtenaw Circuit Court, from 1836-42, and was the first justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. The stucco on the old J. H. Lund home on the Pontiac road was mixed with skimmed milk and it is probable that the same fluid was used for the stucco in the early buildings of the University. The Hangsterfer Block, Christian Mack's, corner of Main and Liberty, and the H. Binder Block, on the southeast corner of Main and Washington streets, were all built in the year 1860. Just after Mack's store was finished John Haarer opened a "daguerrean" photograph gallery on the third floor. His son is now in the book business at 113 West Liberty street. Most of the business blocks built during and just after the Civil War had high ceilings and the tall windows were either of the Roman or the Gothic type. Christian Mack moved into his new store between September 1 and September 7, 1860. Early in September, 1861, the iron front block of Henry Krause on North Main street was completed and opened for business. In July of 1862 the Donnelly Block on Huron street was finished. NOTES 435 Philip Bach opened his new store on the northeast corner of Main and Washington streets, March 15, 1867. According to the Argus, for July 14, 1871, a number of buildings were put up in the business section of the city. Notable among these was the hardware store of John Schumacher. The drug business of Emanuel Mann was established in 1874 at 213 South Main street. Mr. Albert Walker was taken into the business in 1915. In 1918 the proprietor was Albert Mann, son of Emanuel. Plate glass store display windows were first put in by Eberbach and Company, in the summer of 1875. Other stores soon followed their example. A few years later the Haarer Book store put in large display windows along the east side of their building. Other merchants were quick to see the advantages of this and remodeled their stores accordingly. One of the greatest building booms the city ever experienced came during the summer of 1881. In 1885 Staebler and Sons started in the bicycle business. In 1900 the firm received their first automobile, a machine called the "Trimoto," but nicknamed the "Tomato." It was a tricycle made by the American Bicycle Company of Chicago. (Times-News, September 16, 1918.) In September, 1885, the Masonic rooms in the Gregory House were dedicated. June, 1887, the University held a semi-centennal celebration. One of the most popular men's gathering places in 1887 was the famous barber shop of Julian Trojanowski. The shop was located in one of the small frame buildings opposite Mr. E. G. Hoag's Home Supply Store. President James B. Angell came to this shop a great many times. Leading checker players of the community matched wits there and many a great checker battle was staged in that little building. In 1889, Sam Heusel's Bakery was opened on the northeast corner of Liberty street and Fourth avenue. On September 23, 1890, "German Day" was celebrated in Ann Arbor. It was the biggest event of the kind in many years, with a huge parade and many beautiful floats. One of the songs heard most often during the day was "Brueder reicht die Hand zum Bunde." A similar celebration was held in August of 1895. One of the prominent local firms since a decade before the end of the last century is that of the Benz Brothers. The second week in August, 1892, saw the completion of the largest coal shed in Michigan outside of Detroit. It was built by E. B. Hall on Miller avenue along a spur of the Ann Arbor Railroad. It is 450 feet long and eighty feet wide and is capable of holding 18.000 tons of coal. (Ann Arbor Register, August 11, 1892.) Toward the end of the last century, August Wiedemann operated a double hardware store on the northeast corner of Main and Washing 436 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS ton streets. When the State Savings Bank was organized in 1892, the corner property was sold to the bank. The Eberbach Company built a hardware store just back (east) of the new bank property but found it impossible to remain in business. When they became insolvent, the bank, which was heavily interested in the hardware store, asked John C. Fischer to take over the Eberbach store and put it on its feet. Early in the present century Mr. Fischer closed out the hardware store he was operating on Huron street and took charge of the Eberbach store. Within a few months the business was proving successful and it has continued so since that time. Fred Heusel's bakery was established in 1893. The John F. Schaeberle firm was founded in 1896. Their first store was at 114 West Liberty street. In 1905 Ernst A. was taken into the business. In 1908 the firm moved into the present quarters at 110 South Main street. In 1916 the elder Mr. Schaeberle retired and left the care of the business to his son. The Quarry Drug Company was established in 1898. The J. F. Wuerth Clothing Company was established with R. E. Staebler (now of Kalamazoo) in 1900. In 1907, it began to operate under its present name. The store of E. G. Hoag was started in 1902. During the mid-summer of 1886 the Business Men's Association of the City of Ann Arbor was formed. By July 14 of that year 108 names had been subscribed to the constitution, which said that the object of the association was "to advance the material prosperity, to promote the business interests, encourage manufactures, increase transportation facilities, to acquire for its members a more accurate knowledge of all matters affecting the public welfare, to give healthy tone to public sentiment and social intercourse." After adopting the constitution, the following officers were elected: Henry S. Dean, president; Thomas J. Keech, vice-president; G. Frank Allilendinger, recording secretary; Charles E. Hiscock, corresponding secretary; Christian Mack, treasurer; and as members of the board of directors, W. F. Breakey, N. J. Kyer, J. E. Beal, and K. Kittridge, were chosen. This association continued active for several years, doing all it could to carry out the purposes for which it was established. In February, 1907, it was succeeded by the Chamber of Commerce which, since that time, has been doing work similar in character to that done by the parent organization. The actual organization of the Chamber of Commerce was affected the night of February 27, 1907, about sixty business and professional men being present when the organization was completed. The leading spirits in bringing the men together were: L. D. Carr, E. F. Mills, H. P. Hall, and certain members of the first board of directors: Walter C. Mack, George F. Apfel, E. F. Mills, H. H. Seeley, B. F. Schumacher, Professor H. L. Wilgus, J. W. Dwyer, W. J. Goodyear, and L. D. Carr. On motion of Mr. Goodyear, it was decided to call the new organization of "The NOTES 437 Board of Commllerce of Ann Arbor," and it was agreed to incorporate for a period of thirty years. The first officers were: Walter C. Mack, president; H. H. Seeley, vice-president; E. F. Mills, secretary; and H. P. Hall, treasurer. The first annual banquet of the Chamber of Commerce was held at the Armory, May 2, 1907, with W. W. Wedemeyer as toastmaster. In DlecembIer of 1.912 a great booster banquet was held and an attempt was made to raise the membership of the organization to 400. The attempt was successful in the end, but before the membership campaign was over it was decided to change the name of the body. Early in January of the next year the name became the "Ann Arbor Civic Improvement Association," and the field of activities was broadened to include every phase of the city's welfare. On Tuesday night, January 28, at a banquet in the Armory attended by more than 100 men, with George J. Burke as toastmaster, officers of the new association were chosen. The first president was G. Frank Allmendinger, and the first directors were: E. L. Seyler, A. S. Lyndon, E. G. Hoag, George J. Burke, Burt Schumacher, G. F. Allmendinger, H. J. Abbott, Shirley W. Smith, and E. D. Rich. The Civic Improvement Association was in active operation until 1918, when a new Chamber of Commlerce came into being. The work of this body was planned during January and February of that year and it resulted in combining the business of the Civic Association and the Merchant's Credit Association. Leaders in bringing the new chamber into being were: Charles F. Kyer, Roscoe O. Bonisteel, C. J. Sweet, C. C. Freeman, Claude I)rake, Mannlie Kuster, Walter C. Mack, John C. Fischer, A. F. Freeman, Frank Royce, Henry E. Riggs, Chris T. )onnelly, R. M. Wenley, Frank Leverett, Clarence T. Johnston, George Langford, H. D. Runciman, Paul Proud, Nathaniel Stanger, E. B. Manwaring, Athniel J. Braun, Herbert Tenny, C. John Walz, William Walz, Horatio Abbott, Henry W. Douglas, Charles A. Sink, and G. Frank Allmendinger. The first big ban(quet of the ChamLber of Commerce was held at the Michigln Union Building, February 26, 1918, and their first big project was to back a 1)(ond issue of $75,000 for water meters in Ann Arbor homes. Since that time the Chamber of Commerce has had more to do with the movements for bettering economic conditions in the city than any other non-political organization. At the present time the mellbership numblers about 500 and the body is very much alive. In April, 1902, the Board of Public Works adopted the nine-hour day for city labor. In April, 1903, the nlumlber of persons employed in the factories of the city was 602; the daily wages, aside fron office help and foremen, averaged for men and women, $1.30. For men the average length of the day was 8.9 hours. The average daily wages of women was $0.78. During the summer of 1903 the front of the Gregory Building on 438 THEE FIRST 1HUNDRED YEARS the northwest corner of Main and Huron streets was remodeled. The entrance on Main street was closed up and on the Huron street side where Mr. E. B. Hall had a coal office a new entrance was made. A new heating plant was installed and an elevator was put in near the entrance. The offices on the second floor were remodeled, the total cost of all the improvements being about $20,000. In 1904 the Cutting Apartments on the southeast corner of State and Monroe streets were built. In 1907 the grocers and butchers organized the Merchant's Delivery with a capital stock of $10,000. Most of the Greeks who live in Ann Arbor came here after the year 1907. According to Charles Preketees, who has been recognized as the leader of the colony since he and his brothers opened their confectionery store in 1911, his fellow countrymen were greatly attracted by the beauty of the city's location, resembling in many respects their native land. Mr. Charles Preketees has been a resident of Ann Arbor nearly a quarter of a century, and the store they opened on July 4, 1911, and now operated by himself and three brothers, Frank, Paul, and Tony, is known all over this section of the State. At the present time there are about 200 people of Greek nationality in the city and forty-five stores of different kinds are operated by them. Without exception, they are the city's most law-abiding element and they are supporters of every movement for the welfare of the community. In 1908, in the late spring and early summer, $40,000 was subscribed as an industrial fund to be used for the purpose of inducing worthy business enterprises to locate in the city. Among the heavy contributors to the fund were: the Ann Arbor Gas Company, $2,000; the Washtenaw Light and Power Company, $2,000; the Ann Arbor Water Company, $1,000; Mack and Company, $1,000; and Koch Brothers, $1,000. Mr. Thomas E. Nichols built the Nickels Arcade between State and William streets during the years 1915-16. It has eighteen stores along the fourteen-foot passageway and many offices and shops on the second floor on either side. The Arcade cost approximately $150,000 and was designed by Herman Pipp. On Tuesday night of September 5, 1916, without a dissenting vote, the Council amended the city curfew ordinance, doing away with the blowing of the whistle on the city pumping station for curfew purposes. Among the beautiful residences built here in 1916 were those of Walter C. Mack, Leander J. Hoover (now the Kappa Sigma fraternity), and Frederick Stevens. In February, 1913, the budget system for local charities was adopted. The action had its origin in a meeting of the Board of Education rooms of the Ann Arbor High School, which was addressed by Reverend Lloyd C. Douglas. He spoke on the subject: "A Budget System for Social Agencies of the City." Those who supported his ideas and who had most to do with the installation of the system were: Dr. Louis P. Hall, NOTES 439 Henry W. Douglas, Reverend L. A. Bartlett, Captain Herbert Pugmire, Thomas A. Lowry, Harold L. Westerman, Mrs. W. V. Brace, Mrs. B. A. Finney, Mrs. Campbell Bonner, Mrs. Ella G. Heartt, and Mrs. Maria Peel. On Monday, May 19, 1919, the campaign was begun which ended in obtaining enough money by subscription to begin building the new Masonic Temple. A committee of ten, headed by Horatio Abbott, did a great deal of the work, but able assistance was given by members of the Eastern Star under the leadership of Mrs. William H. Murray and Mrs. J. Royal Sage. In 1920, the city's real and personal property was valued at $32,206.675. In 1924, 688 building permits were issued, and the total amount of money involved in the builidng operations amounted to well over $2,000,000. In 1924, Ann Arbor's real estate was valued at $26,552,860. Hotels The A\ashtelnaw House in Lower Town was built by a Justice Gooding ill 831 and 1832. It was condemned August 4, 1921. Adolphus Gully, William R. Thompson, and Nelson Benham were early proprietors. It is said that the hotel was the finest between Detroit and Jackson. At 121 West Hurol, where the Hotel St. James now stands, there stood in 1833 a block house tavern kept by Mosely Maynard. In 1836, besides the hotels mentioned elsewhere in this volume as being in existence at that time, there were il operation, the Western HIotel, Solon Cook's Temperance House, and the hotel of Chauncey Goodrich. The Exchange Hotel was completely repaired in 1847, about ten years after it was put up. It had a dining room capable of taking care of 200 persons at one time. It also had a large dance hall and sleeping accommodations for fifty persons. Some of these rooms were, at times, used for offices. Eber White was one of the early proprietors, but just before fire destroyed the building it was operated by G. D. Hill. John Allen's Block House was remodeled after it had stood a few years, the walls of the first story being moved out to the sidewalk and thus bringing them in a line vertical with the walls of the second story, which orignally had overhiung the tirst. About the time that the Central Railroad came to AnnL Arbor the building was torn down and the Franklin House was put up on the site. In 1862, Edgar M. Gregory built the Gregory House on the site of the Franklin Hotel, the latter being torn down to make room for the new three-story hostelry. A hotel knowni as the Farmer's Home was built on the northwest corner of Ashley and Huron streets about 1850. In 1857 it becalme 440 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS known as the American House, for several years kept by a family named Eggleston. The building burned in 1862 and E. M. Gregory built the Monitor House on the site. In 1869 the inside of this hotel burned and the building then was fitted up for a livery barn. It is now used by Mr. Walter Procknow and his business associates for the Buick Automobile Sales and Service Station. During the summer of 1871, Cook's Hotel was torn down and a new hotel erected on the site at a cost of $31,000. The opening celebration was held the evening of November 15, of that year. The proprietor, James F. Avery, gave a banquet and ball for the event. The business failed to thrive and the property, July 7, 1877, through a foreclosure sale, passed into the hands of J. N. Gott for the sum of $25,000. In November, 1881, the Hotel St. James reopened after having been closed for several weeks. It had been repaired and completely refurnished during the time it was closed. The American House was built in 1885 and it has been in continuous operation since that time. In the 'nineties the proprietor was the father of the mayor, E. E. Walker, whose term of office covered the years 1895-97. In 1902, the old building just across Fourth avenue, east of the Court House, which once had been Goodrich's Tavern, was torn down. Shortly thereafter excavations were begun, a foundation put in, and the present city Y. M. C. A. building was put up. On June 12, 1911, the new Allenel Hotel was opened under the management of W. C. Nowlin, son of the proprietress, Mrs. M. F. Nowlin, of Detroit. Joe Parker first operated a hotel and restaurant where Kresge's Five and Ten Cent store now is, the third door south of Liberty street on the west side of Main. Later he took over the property now used by the Chamber of Commerce and once known as the Arlington Hotel. Mr. Parker called his new place of business the Catalpa Inn, but it was popularly known as "Joe's." In 1924 he opened a restaurant in the basement of the Cornwell Block. When the Michigan Union Building was opened the tops of the old tables which Mr. Parker had used in the Catalpa Inn were purchased and taken to the Grill Room of the Union where they were fastened to the ceiling. There they serve to recall pleasant memories of good times gone by and to remind the "old grads" of carefree companions of undergraduate days. APPENDIX B. Some of the Principal Advertisers in Local Papers, 1830-I890 The * indicates that the orignal business or an offshoot of it is still being carried on. -1830 -James Turner Allen. Post Master and General Story. "Bloody Corners." Cyrus Beckwith. Mortgage Sale. Colban Cornwell. Announces that he purchased John Allen's Inn or Mansion House (Bloody Corners), January 15, 1830. Samuel Dexter. Land for sale. The EMIGRANT. Printing. Bethuel Farrand. (Treasurer of Washtenaw County). Lands to be sold for taxes. Chauncey Goodrich. Tavern. Mortgage sale. James Kingsley. Mortgage sale. Dr. S. Markham. Physician. Office il the Mansion House. George and C. Prussia. Tanners. They ask their debtors to settle their accounts. Benjamin Sutton. Administrator of the estate of William Jackson. -1835 -John Allen. Attorney at Law. Arden H. Ballard, David A. McCollum, William P. Hallett, Fleming M'Math, David Page (County Treasurer) and others, mortgages. Bardwell and Brown. Brewery. Brigham and Platt. General Store. Brown and Company. Brick and Builder's Supplies. George Corselius. Books. Drs. M. H. Cowles and C. A. Jeffries. Physicans. Eye and Ear troubles given especial attention. William W. Dennis. Hardware. Dr. Samuel Denton. Physician. H. Goodspeed. Hardware. Olney Hawkins. Attorney at Law. George W. JeWett. Attorney at Law. Michigan Whig and WVashtenaw Democrat advertised for sale, issue of August 6. Mills and Irish. Clothing. McKiney and Davidson. Brick. 442 THE FIRST HUNDRED1 YEARS Reuben Moore. Hats. Lower Town. Luke Parsons. High School of Oral Instruction. George C. Wood. General Store. Lower Town. H. M. Wood. Boots and Shoes. Lower Town. -1840 -Phillip Bach and Peter H. Abel. Window Sash, Wooden Bowls. Warren Barney. Turning Shop. J. Beckley and Son. English Blood Bucks. George Corselius. Books. Dr. Samuel Denton. Physician. Room 40, Ann Arbor Exchange Building. George Grenville. Drugs. A. Goodell and B. H. Deming. General Store. Ingalls and Bardwell. Brewery. Daniel W. Kellogg. Nursery. Lower Town. William S. and John W. Maynard. Drugs and Medicines. Thomas Mosely. Boots and Shoes, Paper, and General Merchanldise. W. Parker and Company. Stoves, Salt, 1'aper, Cider, Shingles, Leather, etc., at the Rail Road Ware Iouse. William R. Stow. Jewelry. Ann street. Ward and Jewell. Resurrection Pills. Wildt and Hutzel. Groceries and 'Provisions. Main street. Mrs. Wright and Miss West. School for Young Ladies. Methodist Church. -1 845)Bach and Abel. Dry Goods. Calvin Bliss. Jewelry. E. G. Burger. Dentist. George Corselius. Books. Robert Davidson. General Store. Jacob Doremus. Water Power Site for Sale. *Christian Eberbach. Drugs and Medicines. H. B. Harris and E. T. Williamns. Steam Foundry. G. D. Hill and Company. Spring Goods, Wheat, and Wool. Knapp and Haviland. Clover Machines. W. S. and J. W. Maynard. Drugs. S. D. Noble. Land for Sale. William R. Perry. Books. J. M. Rockwell. Marble Yard. Monuments. Mrs. J. B. Smith and Miss S. Field. Select School for Younlg Ladies, basement of the Episcopal Church. -1850 -S. Abel. Aetna Insurance. Bach and Abel. Dry Goods. H. Becker. General Store. Calvin Bliss. Jewelry, No. 6, New Block. ADVERTISERS-1830-1890 443 E. Booth. Northwest corner of Main and Huron, over Gregory's store. Solon Cook. Cook's Hotel, southwest corner of Huron and Fourth avenue. "Carriage and Baggage Wagon service gratis." Harness shop in same building. Saddles and Harness to exchange for hay, oats, produce, lumber, etc. M. Campion. Tailor. C. Clark. Post Master; Insurance. Post Office Building. William M. Davis. Watches, Jewelry, Perfumery and Hair Oils. Alvin De Forest. General Store. "Pure Wines and Liquors for Medical Purposes-Positively, New Block, No. 9." *Christian Eberbach. Drugs. Northeast corner of Washington and Main. Oldest business firm in Ann Arbor. Business started in 1843. T. B. Freeman. "Hair Dressing Saloon, First door north of Maynard's Store." C. N. Fox. News Rooms, No. 10, Cottage Block. Godfrey and Whedon. General Store, Crane and Jewett's Block. H. W. Goodrich and Company. Stoves and Tinning. Firm dissolved Oct. 31, 1849. New firm of C. S. Goodrich, Jr., continued the business. Northeast corner of Main and Ann streets. George Grenville. Drugs, Jewelry, Liquors. New Block. J. D. Irish. Tailor. W. S. and J. W. Maynard. Agents for Brant's Purifying Extract, Cure for Scrofula, Cancer, Mercurial Diseases, Liver Complaint, etc., etc. Parker's Bookstore. Improved Melodeons. Where the Main street book store of George Wahr now stands, 103 North Main. W. It. Perry. Bookstore. G. W. Rose and G. W. Chapel. Tailors, Lower Town. Abram Sager. Physician. William F. Spaulding and Asher Teachout. Marble Yard. Monuments. L. W. and E. H. Spaulding. Hats and Caps. D. H. Sperry. Manufacturer of Sofas, Lounges, Bureaus, Tables, Ottomans, Coffins, Bedsteads, etc. S. M. and T. S. Sprague. Seeds, Trees, and Shrubbery. Charles Stringer. Ready Made Clothing, No. 2, Mundy Block. H. W. Thompson. Manufacturer and Dealer in Boots and Shoes. C. M. Van Gieson. Boots and Shoes, One door north of Becker's. IV. C. Voorhies. Hardware, No. 3, Mundy Block. *William Wagner. Clothing. The store was openled in 1848. Christian Walker. Leather Goods. J. R. Wilcoxson. Jewelry. Wilmot, Henderson and Company. General Store, No. 7, New Block. -1860 -E. H. Alley. Daguerrean Gallery, Exchange Block. 444 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Philip Bach. Dry Goods. Calvin Bliss. Jewelry, Pianos. M. Campion. Fall and Winter Goods. Chapin, Wood and Company. Successors to Lund, Chapill and Coimpany. Print, Wrapping, Book, and Tobacco Papers. 0. Collier. Boots and Shoes. Doty and Newton. Drain Tile. *Christian Eberbach and Company. Drugs. W. B. Greenman and Son. Manufacturers of Matches. Lower Town. *Jacob Haller. Jewelry. Gottlieb Hauser. City Brewery. First street. David Henning. Cooper. Detroit street. S. and H. C. Ide. Jewelry, Tableware, etc. IPeople's Store. Jacob Hangsterfer. Pastry, Ice Cream and Confections. Southwest corner of Main and Washington streets. *Zina P. King. Real Estate. *Christian Mack. Staple and Fancy Dress Goods, Groceries, Crockery, and Hoop Skirts. Donald McIntyre. Ann Arbor Savings Bank, No. 1. George T. Mann. Tea House. Tyson Tea and Groceries. 0. M. Martin and C. B. Thompson. "New Cabinet Firm." Furniture. Maynard, Stebbins and Wilson. General Store. J. W. Maynard. General Store. Miller and Davis. Ann Arbor Savings Bank, No. 2. A. P. Mills. General Store. Addison P. Mills. Furs, Dry Goods, Dresses, and Groceries. A. Moore. Boots and Shoes. *Florian J. Muehlig. Undertaking. Business started in 1852. Parker. Furs, Hats, and Caps. Risdon and Henderson. Furniture. L. C. Risdon. Hardware. Stoves. William S. Saunders. Boots and Shoes. Schoff and Miller. University Book Store. Stationery. Frederick Sorg. Painters Supplies and Window Glass. E. H. Spaulding and E. Fleming. Hardware. Mrs. F. A. Stone. Coats for Ladies. Dressmaking. Charles B. Thompson and Chauncey H. Millen. Dry Goods and Groceries. Partnership expired January 8, 1860. J. C. Watts. Jewelry. Clocks. Michael Weinmalm. Meat Market, opened this year. Wines and Knight. F. W. Woodruff. Sewing Machines. *Frederick Wurster. (Started business in 1857.) Wagons, carriages, and Blacksmithing. -1870 -Bach and Abel. Dry Goods. *Dean and Company. Store was started in 1861. ADVERTISERS-1830-1890 445 J. and P. Donnelly. Glassware, Crockery, and Plated Ware. R. W. Ellis and Company. Drugs, Wines, and Liquors. Ellis and Kissell. Irugs, No. 2, S. Main. The Farmer's Store. "Everything." Finley and Lewis. Boots and Shoes, No. 2, E. Huron. John G. Gall. Meats. Gilmore and Fiske. Books, No. 3, N. Main. George Grenville. Drugs. Henion and Gott. I)ry Goods. *William Herz. Started in business last year. Continued in business at the same place until his death in 1913, when his son, Oswald, took over and continued the business. Now oldest paint store in the city. W. D. Holms. Looking Glasses, Picture Frames, etc. 32 E. Huron. Hull, Robinson and Company. Groceries, Produce and Commission Merchants. E. J. Johnson. Hats, Caps, Furs, Umbrellas, Gloves, and Gentlemen's Clothing. *Zina P. King. Real Estate. Conrad Krapf. Lumber. Laubengayer, Hall and Smith. Groceries and Baked Goods. Lewis and Risdon. Stoves and Hairdware. Mack and Schmid. Dry Goods. A. P. Mills. General Store. C. H. Millen. Dry Goods. Robinson and Baxter. Hacks. Livery. Slawson and Son. Groceries, No. 14, E. Huron. *John Schumacher. Hardware. Business begun in 1865. Store built in 1875. S. Sondheil. Ready Made Clothing. (. Sutherland and Company. Lumber. Sutherlanl d and Whedon. Sewing Machines. Life Insurance. J. T. Swathel. City Mills. Flour, Feed, etc. R. Tarrant. Ladies Shoes, No. 24, S. Main. Theodore Taylor and Company. Groceries and Country Produce, No. 13, S. Main. A. A. Terry. Hats and Caps. William Wagnler. Dry Goods. -1875 --*Villiam Arnold. Jewelry. Business started in 1872 on southeast corner of Liberty and Second street. With his sons, William and Emil, Mr. Arnold is still carrying on the business at 220 South Main. N. Arksey. Manufacturer of Carriages, Buggies, Wagons, Sleighs. Bach and Abel. Dry Goods. Dr. Carr. "Swedish Movement Cure, Medical Inhalation, and Medical Electricity." 446 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Christian Eberbach and Company. Manufacturing Chemists, Dealers in Drugs and Medicines. Anton Eisele. Monuments. Frame Building, Corner of Detroit and Catherine streets opposite the Agricultural Hall (now the White Swan Laundry). The Farmers' Store. "Check Flannels." I. L. Grinnell. Singer Sewing Machines, First door east of the Post Office. G. W. Hayes. Superintendent of the Anll Arbor Trading Association. Clothing, Carpets, and Matting. Hutchins Roofing Company. Fabric Roofing. *Ziia P. King. Real Estate, Prairie Lands in Iowa and Nebraska. Agent for the Burlington and Missouri River Rail Road. C. A. Leiter. Drugs, No. 1, Gregory Block. L. S. Lerch. Drugs, No. 12, E. Huron, Cook's Hotel Block. Lovejoy. Cigars, Snuffs, and Pipes. Mabley and Company. Ready Made Clothing. No. 33, S. Main. Mack and Schmid. Dry Goods. *C. H. Millen. Fire Insurance, No. 4, S. Main. A. P. Mills. General Store. *Muehlig Brothers. Furniture, Nos, 35-37, S. Main. C. Pack. "Tobacconist." C. E. Pond. Business College. Day and Evening Classes. Rinsey and Seabolt. Flour, Feed, Groceries and Provisions, 114 E. Washington. R. F. and J. A. Sanford. General Machine Work. Corner of Main and Catherine Streets. *John Schumacher. Hardware, Stoves, Tinwnare, Furnaces, and Sheet Metal. W. L. Snell. Collector and Real Estate Broker. "McMahon Block, rear of the Court House." Charles Spoor. Manufacturer of Saddles and Harness, 45 S. Main. E. Stilling. Baked Goods, Confections, and Ice Cream. Swathel, Ailes and Kyer. Flour and Feed. A. A. Terry. Hats and Caps, No. 15, S. Main. W. Tremain. Drugs and General Insurance. J. C. Watts. Jeweler, No. 10, S. Main. Wines and Worden. Clothing; Cassimeres. -1880 -*William Arnold. Jewelry. No. 36, S. Main. Bach and Abel. Dry Goods. Calvin Bliss and Son. Jewelry. No. 11, S. Main. J. C. Burkhardt. Hardware, No. 4, Huron street. Courier. Steam Printing House, Nos. 39, 41 and 43, N. Main. *Dean and Company. Groceries. Douglas, Henderson and Company. Clothing, No. 18, National Bank Block. ADVERTISERS ---1830-1890 447 C. Eberbach. Hardware. *Eberbach and Son. Druggists, No. 12, S. Main. Anton Eisele. Monuments, Corner of Detroit and Catherine streets. '.. G. odfrey. Draying. He camne to Ann Arbor il 1878 and worked on the Ann Arbor Railroad, then being built into the city. Experiencing some diffticlty in procuring his pay he traded his time for a horse 1and dray land started in the draying Ibusilness. Seve(ral years later the storing of goods was added to Mr. (Iodfrey's busiiess ac(tivities. I. L. Grinnell. White Sewilng Machines. L. Gruner. Boots and Shoes. J. Haller and Son. Jewelry. "Next to the First N;tional Bank." Formerly No. 22 Huron. Jacob Hangsterfer. Dollar Store, No. 30, S. Main. C. D. Herrick. Groceries. No. 39, S. Main. George D. Hill. Opera Iouse. John W. Hunt. Hardware, No. 6, S. Main. _Titus F. Hutzel. Plumbing. Furnaces. Joseph T. Jacobs. Tailor. Southeast Corner of Main and Washington streets. Kearney and Cropsey. Groceries. John Keck. Furniture. No. 52, S. Main and No. 4, W. Liberty. 'Zina P. King. Law and Collection Office, No. 42. S. Main. John Koch. Furniture. Started in business in 1878. Henry Krause. Boots and Shoes. No. 48, S. Main. Cyrus A. Lewis. Boots and Shoes. Little Mack. Clothing. No. 9, Main. 'Mack and Schmid. Dry Goods. A. P. Mills. General Store. H. A. Neuhoff. Machinist, No. 3, W. Washington. Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Noble. Tonisorial Parlor. A. L. Noble. Clothing. G. J. I'ease. Hardware. Caspar Rinsey. Groceries, No. 16, E. Huron. J. F. Schuh. Stoves and Ranges. Fred Sorg. Painters' Supplies, Window Glass and Wallpaper. A. J. Sutherland. Fruit Trees. A. Syler. Boots and Shoes. Jalles Tolbert. Lumber. W. Tremain. Insurance. Christian Walker and Brother. Carriages, Walgons, and Sleighs. J. C. Watts. Jeweler. Winans and Berry. Clothing. Merchant Tailors. No. 11, S. Main. NOTE. About half a century ago. when people would go to the markets after their meat, they would carry in their hands long sharp sticks or long forks. They would prod this piece of meat and that, testing the tenderness of the different cuts. After making a selection 448 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS a customer would jab his stick or fork into the meat and, holding it out in front of himself, carry it home. -1890 -Adam's Bazaar. China, Toys, Books, Lamps, and Novelties. D. F. Allmendinger. Pianos, and Organs, Factory, Northwest Corner of First and Washington streets. Retail Depot, 38 S. Main. Bach and Abel. Dry Goods, 26 Main. E. Baur. Fruit Farm, W. Huron street. L. M. Bennett. General Store, No. 13, Ann street. William Biggs. Contractor and Builder. Louis Blitz. Overcoats and Men's Clothing. E. E. Calkins. Drugs, 34 S. State street. W. G. Dieterle. Furniture, 37 S. Main street. Doty and Feiner. Shoes. C. E. Godfrey. Draying. Goodspeed's. Gentlemens' Furnishings and Shoes, Nos. 15, 17, Main. Goodyear and St. James. Dry Goods. No. 18, S. Main. J. T. Jacobs and Company. Clothing. A. W. Hamilton. Insurance. Miss Mattie Harriman. Instructor in Painting. Hiscock and Wood. Coal and Wood. Mrs. E. A. Hoyt. Millinery and Hair Goods. Kittredge and Morgan. Magazines Bound. Registry Bindery. *Koch and Henne. Furniture and Carpets. Samuel Krause. Boots and Shoes. L. T. Limpert. Jewelry. Hangsterfer Block. W. F. Lodholz. Groceries. Mack and Schmid. Dry Goods. Mary F. Miley. Art Embroidery. A. P. Mills. Dry Goods. George Moore. Groceries, S. State street. A. L. Noble. Clothing and Hats. Henry Richards. Lumber and Wood, No. 9, Detroit street. *Schairer and Millen. Dry Goods. J. F. Schuh. Sewing Machines, No. 31, S. Main and No. 11/2 E. Washington. Charles Shetterly and Brother. Barbers. Oscar 0. Sorg. Paints and Painters' Supplies, No. 70, S. Main. James Tolbert. Plumber. *Wagner and Company. Clothing. C. H. Wild. Tailor, No. 2, Washington. Alvin Wilsey. Agent, Boardman and Gray Pianos. Wines and Worden. S. Wood and Company. Lumber. APPENDIX C. Complete Business Directory for the Year 1860 From the first directory ever published in the city, loaned by Mr. George Wahr. The various "card" references refer to advertisements in the directory. Agricultural Hall, Moses Rogers, proprietor, junction of Detroit and Fourth, residence same. Ann Arbor Brewery, R. Hooper & Son, proprietors, cor. State and Fuller. Ann Arbor Journal, Seaman & Cole, editors and proprietors, cor. Main and Huron. (See card, p. 10.) Arksey, Nicholas, carriage and wagon maker, Detroit, near Railroad Depot, res. on Pontiac, rear shop. (See card, p. 11.) Bach & Pierson, retail dry goods and groceries, cor. Main and Huron. Barry, Robert J., mayor and county clerk, residence cor. Liberty and Fifth. Barstow, H. T., Franklin House. Barstow, H. T., proprietor Franklin House Saloon, residence cor. Huron and Main. Bengel, John, fancy and dry goods notions, groceries, &c., east side Main, bt. Washington and Liberty, res. same. Bennett, H. D., postmaster, res. west side Division, bt. Liberty and William. Bliss, Calvin, jeweler and watch maker, east side Main, bt. Washington and Huron, res. east side Fifth, bt. William and Jefferson. (See card, p. 14.) Bodwell, A. M., manufacturer of Can & Hugh's bran duster, 3 Buchoz block, bds. Wmn. Ward. Britt, Mrs. A., millinery and fancy goods, east side Main, bt. Huron and Washington, res. cor. Washington and Fourth. (See card, p. 15.) Brooke & Mathews, painters, cor. Huron and Fifth. (See card, p. 16.) Burnett, Ast, wagon maker, cor. Main and Catherine, res. Main, bt. Catherine and North. Chapin, Wood & Co., paper manufacturers, Broadway, Lower Town. Christman, P., tin and stove dealer, Main, bt. Washington and Liberty, res. same. Clark, Edward, deputy register, res. cor. Second and Huron. Cole, James, editor and publisher Ann, Arbor Journal, res. east side Fifth, bt. William and Liberty. (See card, p. 10.) Cook's Hotel, cor. Huron and Fourth, Solon Cook, proprietor. (See card.) 450 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Cook, Solon, proprietor Cook's Hotel, cor. Huron and Fourth. (See card.) I)alton & Gauss, carriage and repairing shop, Detroit. (See card, p. 20.) Davis, Lorenzo, editor Local News, res. north side Liberty, bt. Division and State. (See card, p. 18.) Devaney, Michael, cigars and tobacco, Huron, south side Public Square, bds. Bowery, bt. State and Division. (See card.) Dunlap, R. H., Commercial College, 6 and 7 Slawson & Geer's Block, bds. Miller ave. (See card.) Eberbach, C. & Co., druggists and apothecaries, Main, bt. Huron and Washington. (See card, p. 23.) Emery, Reuben, chair manufacturer, at Woolen Factory, Lower Town, res. Detroit, N. of Railroad. Fantle, Charles, millinery and dry goods, east side Main, bt. Huron and Washington, res. Huron. Fogg, Henry, (col.) barber, Franklin House, Huron, res. Miller ave. Franklin House, S. W. cor. Public Square, Barstow & Co., proprietors. Gardner, L. B., blacksmith, horse shoeing and wagon repairing, Lower Town. Gates, D. L., carriage and wagon maker, cor. Detroit and State, res. Lower Town. Glasier, Robert B., (Scott & G.) res. cor. Ann and Ingalls. Godfrey, L. D., attorney at law, res. William, bt. Maynard and State. Godfrey & Henion, dealers in dry goods, ladies' dress goods, carpets, oil cloths, &c., cor. Main and Huron. Goodrich, C. S., Jr., stoves, tin and copper ware, east side Public Square, res. west side Fifth, bt. Ann and Catherine. (See card, p. 8.) Gott, James B., attorney at law, office, 1 and 2 Slawson and Geer's Block. (See card, p. 24.) Res. I)ivision, bt. William and Jefferson. Gott & Pitkin, attorneys at law, office, 4 and 5 Slawson & Geer's Block. (See card, p. 24.) Granger, Bradley F., Probate Judge, res. cor. First and Huron. Grisson, Dr. Samuel, county treasurer, res. Jefferson, bt. Division and Fifth. Grossman, George, coverlind and carpet weaver, Second, bt. Liberty and William, res. same. Grudes, Christopher, saloon, west side Main, bt. Washington and Liberty, res. same. Guiterman, M. & Co., wholesale and retail clothiers, east side Main, bt. Huron and Washington. Gwinner, J. F., cutlery manufacturer and grinder, Washington, bt. Fourth and Main. Hale & Smith, bankers, Washtenaw County Savings Bank. (See card, p. 26.) BUSINESS DIRECTORY-1860 451 Haller, J., jeweler, Huron, next to Slawson & Geer's Block, res. same. (See card, p. 27.) Hangsterfer, Jacob, confectioner, cor. Main and Washington. Hangsterfer Hall, S. W. cor. Main and Washington. Hauser, G. F. & Co., City Brewery, First, near Liberty. (See card, p. 28.) Haviland & Rhodes, machine shop, Wall, near Broadway, Lower Town. Heinrich, John D., prop'r Kossuth House, cor. Pontiac and Summit. Hooper, R. & Son., brewers, res. S. E. cor. Ann and State. Hutzel, Augustus & Co., paints, oils, dye stuffs, groceries and provisions, willow ware, crockery, etc., Main, bt. Huron and Washington, res. cor. Washington and First. (See card, p. 29.) Ide, S., queensware, crockery, glass ware, groceries and provisions, Main, bt. Huron and Washington, res. cor. Washington and Main. (See card, p. 30.) Ide, Sheldon, grocer, res. cor. Liberty and Main. Jaekle, Joseph, watch maker, J. Haller, Huron, near Fourth. Jones, James, manufacturer of all kinds of cooper work, Broadway, Lower Town. Kettner, John, dealer in lumber, laths and shingles, south side Ann, bt. Division and Fifth, res. same. Kossuth House, John D. Heinrich, proprietor, cor. Pontiac and Summit. Kruger, Albert, cigar manufacturer, west side of Main, bt. Washington and Liberty. (See card, p. 32.) Lawson, J. W. (L. & Wurster), res. Washington. Lanson & Wurster, blacksmiths and carriage makers, shop on Fourth, north of Ann. (See card, p. 33.) Lender, Irwin G., architect, carpenter and builder, one door E. Buchoz Block, res. Fifth, near Detroit. (See card, p. 34.) Leonard, Thomas F., sheriff, res. North Main. Local News, Lorenzo Davis, editor and proprietor, City Hall Block. (See card, p. 18.) Lutz, G. F., saloon, Main, bt. Washington and Liberty, res. same. McCreery, William, dealer in leather and findings, 2 American Block, res. east side Fourth, bt. Washington and Liberty. McIntyre, Donald, banker, S. E. cor. Ann and Fourth. McIntyre, D., banker, res. Huron, W. of First. Martin & Thompson, manufacturers and dealers in upholstery, furniture, &c., New Block, Main. Maynard, Stebbins & Wilson, dealers in dry goods, drugs, groceries and provisions, northwest cor. Main and Ann. (See card inside first cover.) Michigan Argus, E. B. Pond, editor and proprietor, cor. Main and Huron. (See card, p. 56.) Millen, C. H., dry goods, cor. of Main and Washington. (See card, p. 35.) 452 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Miller, Davis & Webster, bankers, west side of Public Square. (See card, p. 36.) Mills, A. P., general merchant, south side Public Square, res. Huron, west of First. (See card, p. 43.) Mills, Lorrin, tailor, south side Public Square, res. Huron, west of Public Square. (See card, p. 37.) Moore & Loomis, manufacturers of boots and shoes, west side, Public Square. (See card, p. 38.) Morgan, E. W., attorney at law, east side Public Square, res. cor. Fifth and Huron. (See card, p. 31.) Nye, N. B., livery stable, cor. Main and Catherine, res. cor. Ann and Second. (See card, p. 39.) Pack, Clarkson L., boots and shoes, 2 American Block, res. Washington bt. Division and State. Palmer, N. R., clerk, Cook's Hotel. Perry, Daniel, billiard saloon, Exchange Block, west side Public Square, bds. same. Peterson, Miss M. E., milliner and dress maker, S. W. cor. Main and Ann. (See card, p. 40.) Pettibone, Samuel, county surveyor, res. south side Huron, bt. Division and State. Pitkin, Ed. P., attorney at law, 4 Slawson & Geer's Block, res. east side Fifth, bt. William and Jefferson. Pond, E. B., editor, prop'r Michigan Argus, Fifth, cor. Detroit. Pyper, Miss I., millinery, bonnets, ribbons, flowers, a large stock on hand, Detroit. Risdon & Henderson, dealers in hardware, stoves, iron, steel, etc., New Block, Main. (See card, facing front cover.) Rogers, M., proprietor Agricultural Hall, junction Detroit and Fourth, res. same. (See advt., p. 41.) Roth, Wim. F., justice of the peace. Saunders, William S., wholesale and retail dealer in boots, shoes, and trunks, south side Public Square, res. on Ypsilanti road. Schlotterbeck, Hermann, baker and confectioner, Main, bt. Huron and Washington. (See card, p. 42.) Schoff & Miller, books, stationery, wall and window paper, etc., 2 Franklin Block. (See card, p. 45.) Schuyler, R., general freight agent, Michigan Central Railroad, res. Broadway, Lower Town. Scott & Glasier, ambrotype artists, east side Main, bt. Huron and Washington. Seamon, E. C., Ann Arbor Journal, res. cor. Huron and State. Seamon & Cole, editors and proprietors, Ann Arbor Journal. (See card, p. 10.) Seaman & Root, attorneys at law, south side Huron, near Main. (See card, p. 46.) BUSINESS DIRECTORY —1860 453 Sheldon, H. G., country register, bds. Franklin House. Slawson & Geer, grocers and provision dealers, cor. Fourth and Huron. Spaulding, W. F. & Co., marble yard, Huron, bt. Fourth and Fifth. Sperry, DI)., cabinet maker and furniture dealer, Huron, bt. Fourth and Fifth, res. cor. Huron and State. (See card, p. 47.) Sperry & Moore, groceries afnd pIrovisions, east side Main, bt. Huron anld Washinlgtoll. (See card, p. 48.) Spoor & Thompsoin, slddle and harness makers, Main, bt. Huron and Washington. (See card, p. 49.) Stone, Mrs. F. A., dress maker, Main, over West and Johnson, bds. William Holmes. (See card, 1p. 50.) Sutherland, A. J., manufacturer and dealer in gunllS, and pistols, south side Public Square, res. Washington, bt. Fifth and Division. (See card, p. 52.) Sutherland & Bell, wholesale and retail grocers, Phoenix Block, Main. Traver, A. J., miller, Broadway, Lower Town. Traver's Mills, A. Traver, Jr., proprietor, Broadway, Lower Town. Vancleve, C. H., circuit court commissioner and justice of the peace, res. cor. Liberty and Division. Voorheis, William C., hardware dealer, west side Public Square, res. Huron, west of Main. (See card, p. 53.) Wagner, William, merchant tailor, east side Main, bt. Huron and Washinton, res. Washington, near Fifth. (See card, opp. title.) Washtenaw County Savings Bank, Hale & Smith, prop'rs, 4 Franklin House. (See card, p. 26.) Webster, J. R. & Co., wholesale and retail books and stationery, south side Huron, near Main. (See advt., p. 66.) Wleil, J. & Bros., manufacturers of leather and morocco, and dealers in wood and furs, Huron, near First. Wells, E., physician and surgeon, east side Main, bt. Huron and Washington, res. cor. Willard and Main. Wheeler, M., baker and grocer, Main, bt. Ann and Catherine, res. cor. William and Fifth. White, Eber, farmer, res. south Liberty, on City Limits. Wildt, E. G., saloon, res. Huron, bt. Fourth and Fifth. Wilcoxson, James M., probate court clerk, res. Division, bt. Catherine and Ann. Willnot, C. T., farmer, res. Washtenaw, east of State University. Wines & Knight, dry goods, groceries, crockery, hardware, boots, shoes, hats, caps, &c., west side of Main, bt. Huron and Ann. (See card, p. 54.) Wood, D. L., (D. L. W. & Co.) Bowery, cor. State. Wood, D. L. & Co., dry goods, groceries, &c., west side Public Square. (See card, p. 68.) Ziese, August N., Music Hall Saloon and musician, Washington, bt. Fourth and Main. APPENDIX D Population Statistics (approximate) 1830.................................................. 1,050 1840......................................... 2,250 1850................................................ 4,490 1860...................................................... 4,990 1870....................................................7,370 1880.............................................. 8,100 1890.................................................................................................. 9,450 1900.........................................11,000 1910.........................................14,825 1920.........................................19,600 1925............................................... 25,000 APPENDIX E. Some Leaders of Other Days Below is given a list of names of some of the more prominent citizens of Ann Arbor, arranged according to the year and month when they passed away. Events in the lives of many of these persons are mentioned in the body of the text. In numerous instances, however, the particular topics treated are handled in such a way as to make necessary omitting reference to many interesting activities in the lives of those whose names appear here. In an attempt to atone for this, in part at least, short sketches of certain ones are given, most of which bring out the reason or reasons for putting the names in the list. 1827, September, Elisha Walker Rumsey died at the age of forty-two. He was born at Sharon, Connecticut, November 24, 1785. 1846, H. K. Hewitt. Prominent member of the Baptist church. 1852, July, Bethuel Farrand. 1855, April, Judge Henry R. Rumsey died in Ann Arbor. He was a brother of Elisha W. Rumsey, one of the founders of Ann Arbor. 18 5(, January, Lucy Ann Kingsley, wife of Judge James Kingsley. 1860, August, Samuel Denton passed away at the age of fifty-seven. 1)r. Denton came to Ann Arbor in 1826. He had an office in the old Court House and was active in the early history of the city. HIe served in the Michigan Senate from 1844 to 1848, and at one time was a Regent of the University. When the Medical Departlnent of the University was organized he was appointed Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine. In Ani Arbor professional life he wNas well known as president of the State Medical Association. (Shaw. Also, Argus, Aug. 24 and 31, 1860.) 1866, June, William S. MIlynard. (Argyus, June 22, 1866.) 1866, D)ecember, Earl P. Gardner, with General Edward Clark, founder of the Ann Arbor Argus. 18468, June, George Allen died. His marriage to a Miss Morton was the first marriage solemnized in Washtenaw County. (Argus, June 12, 1868.) 1868, March, Volney Chapin, aged sixty-five. Born in Burlington, Otsego County, New York, April 21, 1803. The coal and iron he used in the foundry business here was brought in wagons froml Detroit, the anthracite selling there at $24 a ton. From 1843 to 1846 Mr. Chapin was sole owner of the foundry and machine shop, employing sixty men in the manufacture of plows, mill machinery, saw-mill engines and boilers, threshing machines, separators, stoves, and tinware. In 1846 he sold a half interest 456 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS in the business to a man named Loomis, and a few years later Charles Tripp was brought into the firm. In 1859 Mr. Chapin sold out to Mr. Tripp. In 1851 Mr. Chapin bought a half interest in J. H. Lund's paper mill in Lower Town, but the next year sold his holdings to his son, Chl-rles A. Chapin. In 1854 he reentered the firm, which then became known as Lund, Chapin & Co. Between that time and 1865, when the business was discontinued, the firm membership changed often. Mr. Chapin was interested in the cooperage business in different parts of the United States and in the salt and lumber business in Saginaw. At one time he owned 6,000 acres of pine lands in Saginaw County, and Chapin township was named in his honor. 1871, December, Mrs. Ann White, wife of Orrin White. She had been a resident of Ann Arbor forty-seven years. 1874, April, Amon West. 1875, November, Ann Isabelle Allen, aged seventy-nine. Her death took place at the home of her son-in-law, Dr. Addison Waddell, of New Hope, Augusta County, Virginia. Her maiden name was Agnes Barry, and she was born in Ireland. 1876, November, Orange Risdon, died at Saline, aged eighty-nine years and eleven months. He came to Michigan Territory in 1823 and was the chief engineer on the Detroit to Chicago road. (Argus, December 1, 1876.) 1877, August, Dr. Abram Sager. (Argus, August 10, 1877.) 1877, September, Horace Booth died in Pittsfield at the residence of his son, aged seventy-six. 1878, August, Judge James Kingsley, aged eighty-one years, seven months and eleven days. 1878, February, James Weeks. IHe was born at Rouse Point, New York, May 1, 1799, and came to Ann Arbor in the spring of 1828. He was a brick mason by trade and on his arrival here he immediately went to work on the building being erected by Lorrin Mills on the southwest corner of Main and Liberty streets. Up to the year 1850 he worked on every brick building erected in the village. 1881, October, G. D. Hill passed away in Yangton, South Dakota. He became Surveyor General of Dakota Territory in 1862. He built the opera house, the old Porter House on Washington street, the St. James Hotel, and a house in the Sixth Ward. 1882, April, Ebenezer Wells. 1882, November, Judge Bradley F. Granger. He was Judge of Probate in 1856; member of Congress from the First District, 1861-65, of which Lenawee County was then a part, and was a Justice of the Peace in Ann Arbor for a term ending July, 1882. (Argus, November 10, 1882.) 1883, October, Rice A. Beal. He was proprietor of the Courier, and a great benefactor of the University. To his efforts, principally, SOME LEADERS OF OTHER DAYS 457 the University owes the old Museum, the Beal-Steere collection in Botany, of 2,500 specimens, and the collection in Zoology numbering 60,000 specimens. (Courier, October 18, 19, 1883.) 1885, June, Judge Edwin Lawrence. (Courier, July 1,, 1885.) 1887, Thanksgiving Day. (Courier, December 1, 1887.) 1888, July, Luther James, at Waukesha Springs, Wisconsin, where he had gone for his health. He came to Ann Arbor in 1835 and prospered greatly in business. His estate was valued at $350,000. (Register, July 26 and August 2, 1888.) 1889, August, Frederick Hutzel, born in Germany, Feb. 25, 1807. He came to U. S. in spring of 1830, spending the first nine years after his arrival in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Became citizen few years after arrival in U. S. Came to Ann Arbor in the spring of 1839. He married Sophia tIeinericke Mann, youngest child of Jonathan Henry Mann, June 30, 1839. There are still eight children of this union living: Mrs. Sophia Spring of Ann Arbor; Mrs. Pauline Wurster of Ann Arbor; Mrs. Martha Steinbach of Chelsea; Mr. Herman A. Hutzel of Muncie, Ind.; Mrs. E. K. Frueauff of Ann Arbor; Titus F. Hutzel of Ann Arbor; Mrs. Hannah Heim of Saginaw; and Miss Charlotte Hutzel of Dexter. The late Mr. Hutzel organized the firm of Hutzel & Co. in May, 1857. The first partnership consisted of August F. Hutzel, Christion Eberbach, and Emanuel Mann. In 1878, Messrs. Eberbach and Mann retired, and the two sons, Herman Hutzel and Titus F. Hutzel were made partners. In 1888, the two sons took over the business. In 1898, Titus F. Hutzel bought out his brother's interest and took in Emanuel C. Spring, deceased, and Robert Gwinner. In 1905, John Seyfried was made a partner, and in 1915 Emanuel C. Spring retired and August F. Hutzel, Jr., was made a partner, he being the grandson of the late A. F. Hutzel and also making the third generation active in the firm of Hutzel & Co. The deceased Mr. Hutzel was an active worker in the German Bethlehem Church for fifty years of his life in Ann Arbor. He conducted the Sunday School for about twenty years, being the only teacher the congregation had, and in the absence of the pastor of the church, always conducted the services. 1889, November, John Geddes, aged eighty-eight. He came to Ann Arbor July 14, 1824. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1840, several times served as Supervisor, and was Justice of the Peace for over twenty years. (Register, November 7, 1889.) 1890, August, Dr. Silas H. Douglas, aged seventy-four. (Courier, August 27, 1890.) 1891, January, Chauncey H. Millen. He was born in 1821 and came to Ann Arbor in 1835. He was away at sea for a time, but came back here in 1844. He established the firm of C. H. Millen and Company. He gave one-tenth of the money, $4,000, required to build St. Andrews church. He helped Professor Andrew D. White 458 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS plant many of the great trees on the University Campus. (Courier, January 21, 1891.) 1891, February, Lorrin Mills, in Manhattan, Kansas, at the home of his daughter, aged eighty-six. (Courier, February 18, 1891.) 1892, February, Merchant 1H. Goodrich, James H. Morris, and E. W. Morgan. (Register, February 25, 1892.) 1895, December, William McCreary, aged eighty-one. He was one of the first Irish pioneers to settle in Ann Arbor, arriving in 1834. He operated one of the tanneries in the early days, made a comfortable fortune, and became a member of the first Board of Directors of the First National Bank. (Register, December 12, 1895.) 1896, February, Conrad Bissenger, aged seventy-five, the oldest German resident of the county. 1896, June, Alpheus Felch. One of the city's most remarkable men. Early schooling in the old Fryberg Academy in Maine, where Daniel Webster had gone to school. Colleague of General Cass, a great statesman of ante-bellumn days, and nestor of the Washtenaw bar. He climbed rapidly in the legal profession until he occupied a position on the State Supreme Bench. Several times he headed the State Democratic ticket when that party was strong in Michigan. As United States Senator he gave special attention to the question of public lands and was recognized as an authority oni the subject. Nearly all the public lands of Michigan except those given to the Michigan State College and the University were secured through the exertions of Governor Felch. Forty huge volumes stand onl the shelves of the library of the Secretary of the Interior at Washington. They contain a record of the findings of Felch's Public Lands Commission, and they stand there a silent and lasting monument to the learning, industry, judgment and integrity of one of Ann Arbor's most illustrious citizens. Most of the time after he arrived in Ann Arbor from Monroe, in 1834, was devoted to service outside the city Yet he gave much time and energy to the city's interests, making a wide circle of friends, which included the humblest citizens of our city as well as the highest officers in the United States (Register, September 13, 1894; June 18, 1896; January 14, 1897.) 1896, December, Emanuel Schmid, at Columbus, Ohio, aged sixty-one. He was the first German child to be born in Ann Arbor, the date, July 3, 1835. He graduated from the University in 1854. Taught Latin and Greek for many years in Ohio at Capitol University at Columbus. lie was prominent as a worker in the Lutheran church. (Register, December 31, 1896.) 1897, December, W. S. Perry. Superintendent of the city schools for twenty-seven years. (Register, December 23, 1897.) 1898, May, Hon. Elihu B. Pond. He came to Ann Arbor in 1854. In SOME LEADERS OF OTHER DAYS 459 1.859 he was elected State Senator from this district, serving one term. He was a member of the Board of Education for more than a decade. In 1883 he was appointed warden of the State prison at Jackson, a post he held for two years. After he sold his interest in the Michigan Argus he was elected to the office of Justice of the Peace, which position he was holding at the time of his death. Mr. Pond was one of Ann Arbor's keenest editors, of a judicial makeup, broad minded anld usually found on the right side where important matters were involved. (Register, May 12, 1898.) 1898, June, George F. Rash, aged seventy-six. He lived in this county seventy-four years, most of the time in Lodi. He came to this region with his parents when he was two years old. He served once as supervisor and once as township treasurer. At one time he ran a sawmill on the Huron, and it was from this mill that the State purchased lumber used in building Mason Hall. (Register, June 23, 1898.) 1898, August, John W. Maynard, aged eighty-five. He passed away at his home on North Division street, where he had lived fifty-four years. He settled in Pittsfield township in 1824, but soon came to Ann Arbor, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was one of the city's oldest and most reliable merchants. In his old age he weighed over 300 pounds. (Argus, March 18, 1887; Register, August 25, 1898.) 1898, September, Judge Thomas M. Cooley, aged seventy-four. Best known of any lawyer Michigan ever produced. He was known and his works read wherever English was spoken. He came to the University when the Law Department was started as one of its three professors. For twenty-five years he lectured on constitutional law and related subjects and for a time served as professor of history. For six years he was State Supreme Court reporter. At one time he beat Alpheus Felch for a place on the Michigan Supreme Bench, where he remained until the year 1855. He was greatly interested in the development of railways and was inclined to be prejudiced in their favor. He is most to be remembered through his books, the most famous of which was his "Constitutional Limitations," which appeared in 1868. (Register, September 15, 1898.) 1899, November, Andrew Ten Brook, at the Seventh Day Advent Church in Detroit. Came to Ann Arbor in 1844. (Register, November 9, 1899.) 1900, May, John Knowlanld, aged seventy-four. After coming back from California lhe settled in Scio, where he lived twenty-two years. Then he moved to Ann Arbor where he lived until his death. He served as city marshal several terms. (CourierRegister, May 30, 1900.) 1901, August, Christian Mack. He came to Ann Arbor in 1851, soon 460 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS entering business. By industry and the exercise of sound business judgment he succeeded very well, in a few years becoming one of the city's wealthiest business men. Mr. Mack entered business here just before the Civil War. When his store was first enlarged he took a partner and the business was conducted under the name of Mack and Schmid. The business was organized under the name of Mack & Co. in 1895. He served the city in numerous capacities, always honorably, and furthered its interests along many lines. He is best known for his interest in education, and as the founder of the great business now carried on by his son, Walter C. Mack. 1901, September, Christian Eberbach. Like Christian Mack, one of the splendid types of German citizens who made Ann Arbor their home. He was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, July 25, 1817. He came to Ann Arbor at the age of twenty-one and was Ann Arbor's first pharmacist. As a young man he carried mail from Ann Arbor to Monroe on horse-back. He was known for having the best horses in southeastern Michigan. He took the stump for Lincoln, whom he admired greatly, and often met other Republicans back of his store for rallies in the days before the Civil War. He is best known as the founder of the drug business which still bears his name. (Courier-Register, September 25, 1901.) 1905, July, Judge Noah W. Cheever, at his home, 516 Madison street. He graduated from the University in 1863, and from the Law Department two years later. He was one of the city's most prominent lawyers, greatly interested in civic improvement, in temperance work, and in the work of the Congregational church. (Register, September 8, 1892; Courier-Register, July 26, 1905.) 1906, July, Benjamin F. Watts. Born in Ypsilanti, November 4, 1836. Son of Mr. and Mrs. William Watts. Came to Ann Arbor in 1852 and entered the jewelry store of his brother, Joseph C., where he learned the business. Became a partner and continued the business after his brother's retirement. In April, 1859, he married Miss Eva Webster. Mr. Watts held several important offices in Ann Arbor: city treasurer, county coroner, and deputy collector of internal revenue. He was very active in Masonic circles, both locally and in the State. Died in his chair in his store on State street. Was survived by his wife and one son. Funeral one of largest ever seen in the city, the Knight Templar ritual being observed. 1907, March, W. W. Whedon. He came to Ann Arbor in 1849, soon taking an active part in the intellectual life of the city. He was deeply interested in public education, serving as a member of the Board of Education for twenty-three years. He was very progressive and advanced in his views, strongly advocating improvements in the city schools wherever he saw an opportunity SOME LEADERS OF OTHER DAYS 461 for them. For a long time he was in the dry goods business with David Godfrey. 1907, January, Nelson J. Kyer, long connected with the Michigan Milling Company, and at first known as the Kyer Milling Company. He was manager of this company six years. He became a director of the State Savings Bank and for three years served as a member of the Board of Education. He served as alderman, was a prominent Mason, and a director of the Michigan Millers' Association. (Argus, January 19, 1907.) 1907, April, Dr. Carl Rominger. He came to Ann Arbor in 1860. He was an extensive traveler, wrote much on geological subjects, and once served as State Geologist. (Argus, April 23, 1907.) 1910, January, "Uncle Jimmie" Otley, aged ninety-six. He was in the service of the University for fifty-two years, the last eighteen of these as custodian of the old library cloakroom. In 1857 he was superintendent of the University janitors. At the time of his death he was known by nearly every student who had attended the University from just after the Civil War to the time of his death. (Times-News, January 4, 1910.) 1910, April, J. C. Watts. Born in Gresham, England, April 4, 1830. Came to America and to Ypsilanti in 1836 and to Ann Arbor in 1846, starting in the jewelry business in 1851 in the Ann Arbor Savings Bank Block. In 1858 he built the house now occupied by Dr. Jeanne C. Solis on the northeast corner of Division and Liberty streets, drawing the lumber from Milan himself. The next year his store was robbed of several thousand dollars worth of stock. He went to Saginaw in 1875, remaining there nineteen years. In 1893 he came back to Ann Arbor to continue the jewelry business. He was in this business all together fifty-nine years. His first store was located where the State Savings Bank is now. Later he moved into the store occupied by Brogan the confectioner, and he carried oil business there for fifty years. This store is now occupied by Schaeberle and Son's Music House. (Times-Newrs, April 2, 1910.) 1911, February, Mrs. Daniel (Maria) Hiscock, aged eighty-four. She was brought here in 1826 by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eber White. She lived in Ann Arbor all her life. She married Daniel Hiscock in 1847. Educated in the Clark school. (TimesNews, February 22, 1911.) 1911, August, Hon. Andrew J. Sawyer, dean of the Washtenaw bar. Born in New York State in 1834. Camine here in 1873. About 1901 he formed a partnership with his son, which ended with his death. (Times-News, August 18, 1911.) 1913, January, Hon. W. W. Wedemeyer, lost in the Caribbean Sea from the steamer, Panama. Prominent attorney and member of the firm of Cavanaugh and Wedemeyer. Represented this dis 462 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS trict in Congress. A popular and able lawyer. (Times-Newzs, January 3, 1913.) 1914, January, David Rinsey. 1914, May, Francis M. Hamilton, at his home, 127 South Fifth avenue, aged seventy-five. Was graduated from the University in 1869. Came to Ann Arbor in 1895. He built many houses on William street, Ha milton Place, and on Fifth and North University avenues. He was an alderman from the First Ward for six years, and was mayor from 1905 to 1907. He was much interested in the Y. M. and Y. W. C. A. He gave to the University the beautiful fountain at the entrance to the Campus at the corner of North University avenue and State street. (Times-News, May 4, 1914.) 191]5, March, Edwin W. Groves, after an illness of five weeks, aged fifty-two. Was city engineer for twelve years. Was prominently identified with city affairs: member of the Board of Directors of the Washtenaw Gas Company and of the Hoover Steel Ball Company; trustee of the Methodist Episcopal church and a member of several local fraternal orders. (Times-News, May 23, 1912; March 27, 1915.) 1915, July, Mrs. Anna Botsford Bach, widow of Philip Bach, aged seventy-four. Tireless worker in behalf of the Ladies Library Association, one of whose organizers she was. Active in charity work and did more than any other in the founding of the Old Ladies' Home. Her service on the Board of Education, combined with that of her husband, covered a period of forty-nine consecutive years. Daughter of Elnathan Botsford, one of the earliest settlers in the county. (Times-News, July 31, 1915.) 191'5, October, Col. Henry S. Dean, nearly ninety-six. For half a century one of the city's best known and most highly respected citizens. Born at Lima, New York, June 14, 1830. Served in the Civil War as second lieutenant and recruiting officer of the twenty-second infantry. He received a captain's commission in July, 1862; that of major in February, 1863, and July 7, 1864, was raised to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He saw service in several campaigns and was especially active at the battle of Missionary Ridge. After the war he engaged in business here as a member of the firm of Dean and Company. He held a long list of offices of importance in Ann Arbor, probably more than any other citizen in the city's history. At one time it was within his power to become the governor of the State had he cared for the office. (Times-News, October 18, 1915.) 1915, December, C. A. Sauer, of typhoid fever after an illness of three weeks. He came to Ann Arbor in 1886. Was a contractor and builder and was interested in the lumber business. (Times-News, December 6, 1915.) 1916, February, John Henne, aged ninety-two. Born in Germany in SOME LEADERS OF OTHER DAYS 463 1824. Came to Ann Arbor as a young man and learned the trade of a shoemaker. He was a charter member of the Arbeiter Verein. He lived on West Liberty street for sixty-five years. (Timles-News, February 1, 1916.) 1916, September, John Wahr, aged fifty-eight. He entered the shoe business here in 1893. At the time of his death he controlled stores on Main and State streets. He was one of the city's leaders in business for thirty years. 1917, April, Christian Schlenker. Born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1860. Came here in 1871, and in that year entered the hardware business. He represented the Second Ward as alderman for several terms. Was a member of the Board of Public Works and served as supervisor in the Second WVard. His sons still carry on the business established by their father. (Tinws-Neivs, April 10, 1917; September 16, 1918.) 1918, February, Isaac L. Sherk, aged fifty-eight. Came to Michigan when a lad of eighteen, making Ann Arbor his home for the last twenty-four years of his life. In 1894 he became head miller with the Argo branch of the Ann Arbor Milling Company and he kept his connection with the milling business most of the time during the remainder of his life. Represented the Fifth Ward in the Council for fourteen years. It was largely due to his efforts that Island and Riverside parks were purchased by the city. He backed the movement which resulted in the building of the new Broadway street bridge. (Times-Ncivs, February 14, 1918.) 1918, September, Leander J. Hoover, aged forty-two. Besides his business he was much interested in charity work and the work of the Y. M. C. A., to which organization he contributed liberally of his means. 1919, January, Judge William G. D1oty. Long a prominent lawyer here. (Times-News, January 11, 1919.) 1920, March, Professor J. B. Davis, in Florida. He was connected with the Engineering College of the University for fifty-two years, coming to the University in 1872. In 1874 he organized Camp Davis, where student engineers go every year to study practical engineering. (T'ie.rs-Nels, March 10, 1920.) 1920, July, Eugene IMann, druggist, at his home, 528 South Fifth avenue. For twenty-five years he wa's a partner with his brothers in the drug business oni Main street. (Times-Newls, July 19, 1920.) 1920, September, Professor Isaac Demmon, the oldest member of the University faculty in point of service. He took the chair of English in 1903 and was a noted Shakespearean scholar. He was also an authority on rare books. Veteran of the Civil War. (Times-cNcws, September 29, 1920.) 1920, November, Charles E. Hiscock, aged sixty-six. Entered the Ann 464 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Arbor Savings Bank in 1869 and was actively connected with it until his death. From 1901 to 1917 he was president of that institution, and after 1917 was chairman of the Board of Directors. He was one of the original incorporators of the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Street Railroad Company. He was a director of the Ann Arbor Street Railway before these two lines were taken over by the Detroit, Jackson and Chicago line. He twice served as mayor, and was prominent in military and fraternal affairs. The first pavements put down in the city were laid while he was mayor. (Times-News, November 2, 1920.) 1921, January, J. J. Walser, at Lake Worth, Florida. Leading clubman and capitalist. Popular member of the Rotary Club and other organizations. Much interested in charitable work. Was treasurer of the Goss Printing Company of Chicago. (TimesNews, January 6, 1921.) 1921, January, Ottmar Eberbach, aged seventy-six. Son of Christian and Margaret (Laubengayer) Eberbach. Ottmar entered his father's business in 1874 when Emanuel Mann withdrew from the firm of Eberbach and Company. When the son joined the father they began to manufacture scientific instruments, now known the world over. Ottmar was influential in getting better pharmacy laws for Michigan, at one time his activities resulting in the passage of the State Act of 1885. For twenty-one years he was a member of the Board of Education, and he was also a member of the original Board of Directors of the School of Music, and a charter member of the State Pharmaceutical Association, of which he was president in 1900. He was the author of many learned articles on pharmacy and was known all over the world as a scholar of great attainments. (Times-News, January 15, 1921.) 1921, July, Judge Edward D. Kinne, aged seventy-eight. He came here in 1860. For many years was a judge in southeastern Michigan. He was elected by large majorities to eevry office he ever held. (Times-News, July 26, 1921.) 1921, August, Professor Henry C. Adams. After 1886 head of the Department of Political Economy in the University. Internationally recognized as an authority on economics. For twentyfive years statistician for the Interstate Commerce Commission. tHe was largely responsible for the system of accounting still in use on American railroads. (Times-News, August 11, 1921.) 1923, Travis F. Beal. Son of Regent Junius E. Beal, aged twentyeight. 1923, April, Henry J. Mann. Born January 3, 1847. At the age of eighteen he entered the employ of Mack and Schmid and he remained in the store for over fifty years, devoting his time to bookkeeping and to managing the insurance business of the firm. 1924, Henry W. Douglas. (See index.) APPENDIX F. Mayors of the City of Ann Arbor From To April April GEORGE SEDGWICK............................. 1851 1853 ERWIN S. TREMAIN......................................... 1853 1855 JAMES KINGSLEY.................................. 1.855 1856 WILLIAM S. MAYNARD................................................ 1856 1858 PHILIP BACH................................................. 1858 1859 ROBERT J. BARRY......................................... '859 1861 JOHN F. MILLER................................................. 861 1862 CHARLES SPOOR........................................................... 1862 1863 EBENEZER WELLS................................... 1863 1865 * WILLIAM S. MAYNARD.......................... 1865 1866 OLIVER M. M ARTIN.......................................................... 1866 1868, CHRISTIAN EBERBACH.............................. 1868 1869 ALFRED H. PARTRIDGE................................. 1869 1870 WILLIAM D. HARRIMAN..................................... 1870 1871 * SILAS H. DOUGLASS............................... 1871 1873 HERMAN J. BEAKES.............................. 1873 1875 ED W AR D D. K IN N E.......................................................... 1875 1877 DEN SM ORE CRAM ER................................................... 1877 1878 WILLARD B. SMITH.............................. 1878 1880 JOHN KAPP...................................... 1880 1883 WILLIAM D. HARRIMAN.......................... 1883 1885 JOHN KAPP....................................... 1885 1886 JOHN J. ROBINSON............................... 1886 1887 WILLARD B. SMITH.............................. 1887 1888 SAMUEL W. BEAKES............................. 1888 1890 CHARLES H. MANLY................................................. 1890 1891 WILLIAM G. DOTY........................................ 1891 1893 BRADLEY M. THOMPSON................................................ 1893 1894 CYRENUS G. DARLING............................................... 1894 1895 WARREN E. WALKER................................................. 1895* 1897 CHARLES E. HISCOCK................................................. 1897 1899 GOTTLOB LUICK................................................................ 1899 1901 466 TlHE FIRST HIUNDRED YEARS ROYAL S. COPELAND....................................................... 1901 1903 ARTHUR BROWN................................................................ 1903 1905 FRANCIS M. HAMILTON.................................................. 1905 1907 JAMES C. HENDERSON.................................................. 1907 1909 W ILLIAM L. W ALZ............................................................ 1909 1911 W ILLIAM L. W ALZ............................................................ 1911 1913 DR. R. G. M cKENZIE........................................................ 1913 1915 tCHARLES A. SAUER.................................................. 1915 1917 ERNST M. WURSTER..................................................... 1917 1919 ERNST M. WURSTER.................................................. 1919 1921 G EO RG E E. LE W IS......................................................... 1921 1923 * In March, 1895, the term of office of Mayor and President of the Council was extended to two years. t Died Dec. 6th, 1915. Succeeded by Ernst M. Wurster as Acting Mayor from I)ec. 6, 1915, to April, 1917. PRESIDENTS OF THE COUNCIL 467 STANDING COMMITTEES OF THE COMMON COUNCIL 1925-26 Finance-Nichols, Slauson, Lutz. Ordinance-Freeman, Slauson, Dwyer. Sewer-Lucas, Jocelyn, Graf, Nichols, Moore, Freeman, Young. Street-Sweet, Maulbetsch, Nichols, Young, Moore, Bursley, Jocelyn. Sidewalk-Slauson, Graf, Freeman, Sweet, Dwyer, Ware, Lutz. Railways-Ware, Bursley, Dwyer. Fire-Lutz, Lucas, Jocelyn. Lighting-Jocelyn, Graf, Sweet. VWater-Bursley, Nichols, Moore. Police-Maulbetsch, Ware, Bursley. License-Young, Maulbetsch, Ware. Bonds-Graf, Lucas, Slauson. Park and Sanitary-Dwyer, Young, Lucas. Poor and Cemetery-Moore, Maulbetsch, Lutz. Board of lVater Commissioners-George J. Mann, President; John Lindenschmitt, Robert Norris. Board of Health-Dr. John Wessinger, Health Officer; Dr. U. D. Wile, Dr. Reuben Peterson. Board of Public lVorks-A. R. Cole, President; Eugene J. HIeinzman, Titus F. Hutzel, Harry II. Atwell, J. Fred Rentschler, Ernest Relhberg, Edward M. Bragg. Boa(rd of Fire Coinvmissioners-Sid W. Millard, Chairmnan; Philip H. Schumacher, Erwin E. Schmid. Boardl of Police Commissioners-John E. Swisher, Chairman; George J. Burke, Clarence R. Snyder. Board of Park Commissioners-Thomas I)D. Kearney, President; W. H. Butler, Andrew Muehlig, M. J. Fritz, L. D. Wines. Board of Appeals-Willis G. Johnson, Chairman; Lewis M. Gram, Oswald R. Mayer, Herbert M. Slauson, Clyde E. Wilson. Board of Election Commissioners-John T. Kenny, Chairman; George H. Fischer, John Huss. Supe)rvisors-L. 0. Cushing, William A. Dupslaff, Fred J. IIensel, Jr., William A. Seery, Nuel E. Smock, Donald 1). May, James N. Gallbraith. CITY OFFICERS Mayor....................................................................................Robert A. Campbell President of Council........................Benjamin F. Woodbury City Clerk......................................Isaac G. Reynolds City Assessor.....................................................Herbert W. Crippen 468 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS C ity T reasu rer................................................................................R oss G ranger City Attorney..................................Roscoe. Bonisteel Health Officer...............................Dr. John A. Wessinger City M arshal...........................................................................Thomas O'Brien Chief of Fire Department..............................Charles J. Andrews City Engineer...............................George H. Sandenburgh Street Commissioner....................................... Alfred J. Paul Superintendent of Parks...............................E. A. Gallup Manager of Water Department..............................George S. Vandawarker Superintendent of Water Works..............................Leslie A. Bush City Physician......................................Edwin Ganzhorn Poov Commissioner................................................John H. Shadford Superintendent of Grae........................................ C. F. Hartman APPENDIX G. Presidents of the Council (This position was established as an elective office by the charter of 1889.) From To April April FRED H. BELSER................................ 1889 1891 MORTIMER E. COOLEY................................................. 1891 1893 WILLIAM W. WATTS.................................................. 1893 1894 LEVI D. WINES................................... 1894 1895 CHARLES E. HISCOCK.................................................. 1895* 1897 GOTTLOB LUICK.......................................................... 1897 1899 WALTER T. SEABOLT.................................................. 1899 1901 JOHN W. HAARER................................... 1901 1903 JOHN C. WALZ, JR.................................................. 1903 1905 EUGENE S. GILMORE............................. 1905 1907 WILLIAM L. WALZ............................... 1907 19093 DR. WILLIAM S. MILLS................................................... 1909 1911 DR. WILLIAM S. MILLS.................................. 1_911 1913 E. E. SCHMID..................................... 1913 1915 ERNST M. WURSTER..................................... 1915 1917 RUDOLPH E. REICHERT......................... 1917 1919 GEORGE E. LEWIS...................................................... 1919 1921 tRUDOLPH E. REICHERT.............................................. 1921 1923 MARK B. SUGDEN................................... 1923 * In March, 1895, the term of office of Mayor and President of the Council was extended to two years. t President of Council till April 3rd, 1922, then resigned. Officers of the City-April, 1925 COMMON COUNCIL, 1925-26 First Ward-Louis P. Jocelyn, Herbert M. Slauson. Second Ward-Benljamin H. Graf, William C. Maulbetsch. Third Ward-E. Edward Lucas, Clarence J. Sweet. Fourth Ward-Harry W. Nichols, J. Edgar Dwyer. Fifth Ward-Thornton E. Ware, Walter S. Moore. Sixth Ward-Charles C. Freeman, Joseph A. Bursley. Seventh Ward-Leigh J. Young, George J. Lutz, Jr. aI INDEX ANN A IRB3O Htay Press Company, 221-222. High School, )ricipals, 131 -133i; societies, 133-135; athletics, 134-135; p)ublications, 135 -136; theatricals, 136; first commencement, 136; growth of, 136-137; attendance, 137; tire history, 137-140; bell souvenirs, 138; new building olpened, 140. Land Company, 237. Railroad, history, 334-340. Wild life in region of site, 24-26. Site, 23; surveyed, 37; origin of iname, 37-38; Indian namie for, 38. First marriage in, 69; ol(est house in, 70; first houses, 71 -72; first wages in, 72. First child born in, 75; first death, 75. First religious imeetings in, 78. Village officers in 1833, 1S9; u1nder charters of 1851 and 1889, 190-191; officers in 1889, 191; efforts to revise charter of 1889, 191-192; mnemblership of charter coinmission of 1916, 192. ARMORY, 166. ATHLETIC Coaches, 280-288. Events, 208-212; 280-28S. A.UTOMOTIVE UTILITIES CORIORATION, 228. ABOLITION SOCIETY, 151-152. ACADEMY, The Old, 100-101. AGRICULTURAL WOIIKs, 218. ALLEN Family, arrival of, 31, 34. Family, deaths, 43. James Turner, notes fromn his diary, 40-43..Jamles T., postmaster, 79. John; native of Virgiia, 13; reasons for going west, 13-14; drealms of, 14, 15, 17, 19; his house, 31; grist mill, 36, 38; gives site for Court House, 40); first post master, 62; scheme for colnnecting Atlantic and Pacific by waterways and railways, 70; studies law, 79; interest in schools, 27, 124; Justice of the Peace, 176; first village )resident, 182; returns to law lractice, 1 89; abstractor, 189; George Corselius' opinion of, 190; works for city clllrter, 190; built community oven, 193; visions connectilg Detroit and So. Joseph Rivers, 32S. ALLMEN\)INGER Daniel F., Comes to Ann Arbor, 80; helps to form Evlangelical Society of Scio, 90. 1). F., Organ and Piano ColmIany, 218-219. A:AElRANr BROACH AND MACHINE COMPANY, 228. AIMUSEMENTS, Student, 288-292. ANmDREWS, Fire Chief Charles, educates public on fire dangers, 315. BANID, A An Arbor's first, 49. BANKS, early history of, 296-298; First National, 298-300; Ann Arbor Sa ving s, 300-302; Farmers and Mechanics, 302 -304; State Savings, 304-306. 472 THIE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS BASEBALL, early games in Ann Arbor, 206-207; diamond laid out in West Park, 207. BEAL, Junius, in High School play, 136; becomes Regent, 270. BETHLEHEM CHURCH, origin of, 92-93. BICYCLES, introduced into city, 207; riding feats, 207-208. BLAIR, Governor Austin, supports President Lincoln in Civil War matters, 156; comes and orders troops to Washington, 158. BONAPARTE, Napoleon, 81, 82, 83. BOOTH, letter of Horace and Virgil to their parents, 10-11; letter of Horace and Adaline describes conditions in 1834, 60-61. BRANCH, Israel, first jailer, 53. BREWELRIIES, 229-230. BRIDGES, built over Huron, 181 -182. BROWN Anson, in business with his brother, D)aniel B., 46-47; struggles to have post office located in Lower Town, 175 -178; dies, 178. Daniel B., opens store on South Main street, 45; sketch of his early life, 46-47. BURYING GROUNDS, 418-421. BUILDING BOOMS, 213. BUSINESS Earl forms of, 229ff. Pl a c e s, Hangsterfer's, 213; Christian Mack's, 214; (haidn and Wood, 215; the Exchange, 215; Philip Bach's store, 216; plate glass fronts installed, 216; stores in 1878, 216-217; Titus Hutzel enters business, 217. BUTLER, Leslie A., chosen superintendent of schools, 142; estimate of, 142; becomes superintendent i n G r a n d Rapids, 143. CABINS OF PIONEERS, description of interiors, 36. CALIFORNIA, discovery of gold in, 404; description of rush to, 404-406. CAMP, original camp of Allen and the Rumseys, 21. CAMPUS, early appearance of, 245. CANALS, to promote nationalism, 14, 15, 16. CARNEGIE LIBRARY, 409. CASS, General makes treaty with Indians at Saginaw, 19; appoints White brothers to military offices, 69, 144. CELEBRATIONS Fourth, 60, 76-77, 195-196, 408. Centennial, 429-432. CENTRAL RAILROAD, opened in 1839, 331. CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, business activities, 225ff. C IrA'I:N Miss Lucy, her forebears, 70; secretary of High School Alumni Association, 138. Volney, operates foundry, 223; other business activities, 223 -224. CHASE, Dr. A. W., Books of Receipts, 354-355. CHEEVER, Mrs. Noah M., organized High School alumni, 135. "CHOLERA WAR," 144-145. CHICAGO Fire, 407. Road, 62. CHIPMAN, Calvin, helps build Rumsey's house, 28. CHOLERA, ('0omes to Ann Arbor, 17. C URlCHEiS, first services, 3,68; Presbyterian, 368-372; Methodist, 372-377; St. Andrew's, 377-381; Catholic, 381-384; Baptist, 384-387; Unitarian, INDEX 473 387-389; Congregational, 389 -390; Disciples of Christ, 390 -391; smaller ones, 391. CInCUSES come to Ann Arbor, 198. Cirvc ASSOCIATION, interested in city charter revision, 191-192. CIVIL WAR, issues discussed in Ann Arbor, 150-154; newspapers in, 153-154; local activities, 155ff; casualties, 160 -161, 163; soldiers return, 163; efforts to keep alive memory of services of soldiers, 163 -165. CLARK, Edward, opens store in 1827, 45; in Black Hawk War, 145; captain of Home Guards, 156. CLIMAX SPECIALTY COMPANY, 225. CLINTON, DeWitt, interested in Erie Canal project, 15, 16, 49. CLUBS, Golf, 210-211; Rotary, 391 -393; Kiwanis, 393; Exchange, 393. COLORED PEOPLE; rejoice o v e r emancipation, 160. CONG(RESS: forbids commlercial intercourse with Europe, 5; passes law providing for sale of western land, 14; hears President's War Message in 1917, 168. COOLEY, Dean Mortimer, advises fireproof High School, 139. ConBUs, James, goes up Huron River in 1821, 19. COUNTY Officers, earliest, 54. Seat located, 182. (COUTi tEUr DE BoIs, 26. CORN WELL DAM, 231. CounT Business, first in Ann Arbor, 54-55. House, old one built, 182-183; efforts to get new structure, 183-185; old building torn down, 186; new Court House built, 186. CORSELIUS, George, editor of the Emigrant, 79. CRoss, Daniel, helps Alien and Rumsey find a tonw site, 20; helps "roll up" logs for Rumsey's house, 28. I)EFOREST, Alvin, operates store, 45. DETROIT EDISON COMPANY, property, 228-229, 232. DEXTER, Samuel, one of proprietors of the Western Emigrant, 56; Anti-Mason, 56; established post office in Dexter, 1826, 56; home farthest west, 59. DOTY, Samuel, shoe dealer, 45. DRINKING PLACES, famous, 208. EARLY SETTLERS, origin of, 6. ECONOMIC CON)ITIONS, il New Eniglalnd, 6-7. EVANGELICAL SOCIETY of SCio, organmized, 90() building erected, 92. ELECTRIC LIGHTIN(G: introduced, 326; Detroit Edison Company's activities, 326-327. EMIGRATION to the West, 1817; complaillt of New Hampshire Supporter on, 6; complaint of Vermont legislature, 6. EMIGRANTS w e s t w a r d bound: chllra:cter of, 7-11; arriving in Ann Arbor in 1824, 31. ERI~E CANAL, 15, 15, 17, 49; traffic oil, 66(; (contacts with East, 194. EUIROPE, conditions causing Germans to leave for America, from, 81-88. EUROPEAN CONGRESSES of 1815 -1823, 84-87. 474 TIlE FIRST HUNDRED YEAlRS FARRANO, Betliel. (carries inail to 1)etroit, 57; son, Iucius nearly loses life, 58; brings hogs froml Ohio, 73-74. -FELCHI, Governor Alpheus: in Toledo WVar, 148; sulpports Civil War, 154-155. FIRE DEPARTMENT, 307-315. FLOUR AND FEED MILLS, 2930-233. FooD, I)robleml in early days, 73 -74. FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WVARi, 88. FRENCHI FUnR TRADERS '-t Ypsilanti, 26; leave region about site of Ann Arbor, 26. FRONTIER PROBLEMS, 27. FULTON, Robert, 16. FURNITURE FACTORIES, 220-221. G. A. I., keeps alive memory of soldier dead, 165, 166. GAS COMPANY, organization of, in 1858, 323; original lighting in Ann Arbor, 323, 324; gas stoves save Gas Company fromn failure, 324, 325; Washtenaw Gas Company organiZe(, 325-326. GEIDDES John, describes Rumsey's house, 28. John and Rolbert, come to Ann Arbor, 67-68; sawmill o n Huron River, 73. GERMANS come to Ann Arbor, 72 -73; first church services of, 89-90. GERMAN Methodist Episcopal church, history of, 96. Settlers about Ann Arbor, origin of, 81-90; in town's affairs, 92; soldiers, 97-98; families of prominence, 98; Working Men's $ociety, 205. GODDARD, Professor E. C., speaks at unveiling of sailors, soldiers monument, 165. (Gooin0ICl., (Chaull(ey 1., anld f.tllily journey wvest, 47-48. G(OTT, Jollhn N., abstractor, 189. IHEALTII Coinditioniis, inpIrovemient i n, 360ff; work of health officers, 361-364. Il early days, 36(;. }HEREFORD, John, )opened first store in Ann Arbor, 213. H1IGH SCHOOL, records burned, 124. HILL, G. D., p)rop)oses resolutions supp)orting Civil War, 154; )builds Athens Opera House, 199; building destroyed by fire, 215. HOLY ALLIANCE, forlnIation of, in 1815, 83; nature of, 83-84; (lisgust of Metternich over, 84. HIOOEIl TL. J., death of, 227. Steel Ball Companly, 226-227. H1 L,, General William, makes treaty with Indiana, 19. IIt IUON RIVER M nmufacttlring Compiany, 222. Origill of namne, 23; natural advanta1ges, 24; fiatbeoat on, 29. HItTTZEL, Titus, Ineilber Bethlehem Church building committee, 94-95. I NDIANS, danger from, renmoved, 14; tribes of southeastern plart of Michigan Territory, 19; la(nds obtained from, 19; (ldancing grounids, 24; relations with plioleers, 24; move ealstward(l to obtain bouillties, 194; throng roads, 195. INIJ DSTIRY, 'Products o f wood, imetal, and cloth, 217ff; Ann Arbor not strategically well located for, 222-223. INTERItURANs, history of, 341-344. INDEX 475 IRIsiI: come to Ann Arbor, 72; sympIathy for, 403-404. JACKSON City foundedl in 1827, 59. President Andrew, 52; on the tariff, 53; in Toledo War dispute, 148-149. "JAIL SQUARE," 44, 53. JAILS, various locations of, 187 -189; costs of different buildings, 187-189. JOHN, Reverend S. A., succeeds Reverend Neumann, 94. KINGSLEY, James, sketch of his life, 49-52; supports Civil War, 154; active in procuring Civil War recruits, 138; interest in the University, 237, 238; receiver of the Bank of Washtenaw, 297; interest in Central Railroad, 328-333. KNOWLANI), Andrew, tavern, 39. KOHL, J. G., German traveler, writes of frontier conditions, 81. LADIES LIBRARY ASSOCIATION, history of, 203-205. LAKE ERIE STEAMBOATS, 16, 17, 18. LA FAYETTE, Marquis de, nation's guest, 49. LAWRENCE, E. W., director of Union School, 129, 130. LECTUlRERS in Ann Arbor, 201. LETTER, first from Ann Arbor sent by John Allen, 62. LIBERALISM, in Germany, 82-88. LINCOLN, A b r a a in, in Black Hawk War, 145; takes oath of office, 154; calls for volunteers, 157; second call, 159; frees slaves, 139-160; assassination, 161; mourning services in Ann Arbor, 161-163. LITERARY Association organized, 202. Societies, first in village, 1826, 56-57. IlVINCG COSTS, in 1843, 246. LO()AN ASSOCIATIONS, 306. LUI1CK Lumber Business, 234. LUTI MBER YARDS A N D L A N I N G MILLS, 234-235. MAIL; diffiiculties of transporting in early days, 59; route to Detroit, 59; carriers, 62-64; route between Ann Arbor and Detroit, 63-64; free delivery, 180, 181. MANN, Jonathan Henry, comes to Ann Arbor, 80; operattes tannery, 230. "MANSION HOUSE," John Allen's, 33; called "Bloody Corners," 40. MARTINEAU, Harriet, opinion, of Indians, 24; of Ann Arbor Ilewspap)er, 195. MASON, Governor Stevens T., gives Eber White military rank, 69; interest in University, 242. MAYNAJRD:), Eznra. writes son, William S.. of conditions in Ann Arbor il 1827, 54. MESMERISrM, craze over, 200; de Bonlneville's exhilitions, 200 -201; Ypsilanti invites the "Professor," 201. MIEXICAN AVAR, 150. MICHIIGAN Ladder (Colmpany, 221. Central Railroad, history, 328 -334. MILLS, Lorrin, and other members of the Mills family come to Ann Arbor, 48-49; marries, 77. MORGANs, E. W., interest il University. 237. MOZARIT WATCH COMPANY, 224-225. NASl. Zenas, lays corduroy road out Miller avenue, 65. NEUMANN Reverend G. A., pastor of Bethlehem Church, 94. 476 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS Reverend John, succeeds Reverend Reuter, 94; conflicts in his church, resignation, 94. NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY organized, 202-203. NEWSPAPERS, first in Ann Arbor, 78-79, 194, 195. NOWLAND, Andrew, 32; builds grist mills, 73. OLD SETTLERS' SOCIETY organized, 205; becomes Washtenaw Pioneer Society, 205; papers and relics of, 205-206. OCCUPATIONS, early, 44-45. PARENT-TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION, 143. PARKER Manufacturing Company, 228. PARKS: athletic grounds in West Park, 207, 421-425. PATRIoT WAR, 145-148. PEACE CONFERENCE, at Versailles, 1918, 82. PERRY, AV. S., superintelndellt of schools, 127; Perry School named for, 127; interest in High School, 129; trouble over fraternities, 134; scholarship fund, 138. PHILLIPS, Wendell, speaks against slavery, 152. PIANO, first west of Detroit, 70, 71. PILLSBURY, Parker, speaks against slavery, 152. PIONEERS, first in V a s h t e n a w County, 21.; interest of, 52; political views, 52-53; of 1824, 66, 70; wedding, 193-194. POLICE DEPARTMENT, 322. POLITICAL History; meager in early days, 175; rivalry between lower and upper villages, 175-178; prominence of the Aliens, Welshes, and Browns in, 175 -179; struggle over issue of a new Court House, 182-185; different forms of government in city's history, 189-192. Issues in Ann Arbor, 55-56. POPULATION of Ann Arbor in 1827, 45; increase, 66. POST OFFICE, rivalry between Lower Town and upper village over location of, 175-179; various sites of, 178-182. POTTERY WORKS, 235. PRAY, Enoch, tavern, 2S. PREKETES BROTHERS, business prospers, 229. PRIVATE SCHOOLS First in Ann Arbor, 99; advertisements of, 99; schools conducted in the Oll Academy, 99-100(; I'arson's High School of Oral Instruction, 100-101; thte B. F. Brown school, 101 -102; Manual Labor school, 102-1)3; the Griffin school, 103-1(04; Boards of Visitors, 104, 107, 108, 118; exhibitions, 104-106), 107; the Gott school, 104-106; the Page school, 106 -109; schools conducted in St. Anldrew's Church, 109-110; the Van Cleve school, 110-111; lusiness s c h o o 1 s, 111-112; Mrs. J. V. Palmer's schools, 112. The C(lark scho(ol, 1.13-121; charactevr of the C(irk sisters, 113 -115; varfiouls locatiolls of, 115 -116; calelndar, 116, 119; home towi. s of pipils, 116, 117, manage nt of, 117; the sc(lool lpaper, 117; rates, 118 -119; amusements, 119-120; quarter-cenltenary c e 1 e bration, 120; death of sisters, 120-121. PRUSSIA, George, tannery, 44. INDEX 477 PUBLICATIONS, early ones, 347ff; amusing advertisements, 351 -354; Ann Arbor Times-News, 357; later newspapers, 357ff; first photograph in, 358. PUBLIC SCHOOLS, early history, 123; controversy over districts, 123-126; Union School opened, 125, 129; primary funds, 126; ward schools built, 126-127; public pride in 127; teachers' salaries, 128; movement to modernize schools, 128-129; construction of Union School, 129; modernization, 140-143. RNDOLPH ROGERS Art Association, 204-205. REAL ESTATE DEALERS, first in Ann Arbor, 40. REAPER, first in region about Ann Arbor, 231-232. REUTER, Reverend Herman, Succeeds Reverend Schmid, 93; resignation, 94. REVOLUTION, European, of 1848, 87-88. RISDON, Orange, surveys roads westward from Detroit, 62. ROADS west of Detroit, 15, 18, 32 -33, 63-65. RUMSEY Elisha Walker, meets John Allen, 18; to push frontier farther west, 19; falls in with Daniel Cross, 20; makes camp on site of Ann Arbor, 21; dies, 59; military company, 144. Henry, farm becomes site of University, 238. SAWMILL, first in county, 217. SCHMID, R e v e r e n d Frederick, comes to Ann Arbor, 89; character of, 92-93; resignation, 93. SEABOARD STATES, conditions in, in 1814, 5. SHIEEP RAISING, 44. SLAUSON, H. M., retires as superintendent of schools, 127; helps at burning of High School, 138; in movement for better schools, 140; resignation, 141-142. SMrITH, Asa L., comes to Ann Arbor with his family, 28-29. SOCIALISM in Ann Arbor, 40)-402. SOCIAL LIFE, early, 75-76. SOLDIERS' AI) SOCIETY gets supplies for Civil War soldiers, 159. SONS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION organized, 166-167. SPANIsH-AMERICAN WAR, i t t 1 e excitement over, 166; stimulates interest in new armory, 166. SPORTS, indoor, 210. STAGE LINE, first, 180. STORES: first in the village, 40, 44 -47; first in Lower Town built by James Jones, 45, 213. ST. PAUL'S Lutheran Church, history of, 96-97. STREET CARS, early history of, 340, 341; "Pay-as-you-enter" cars introduced, 343. STREETS, improved, 181-182, 412ff; 425-428. STUI)ENT LIFE, 242ff. SURVEYS, of 1816 and 1818, 19. SWIMMING, 210, 211, 212. TEACHERS, first, 77-78. TELEGRAPH SERVICE; telegraph offices, 344, 345. TELEPHONES: first in city, 345, 346; Bell Telephone Company, 346. TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT, 208, 366 -368. TEN EYKE'S TAVERN, 29. TITEATRICALS, in early days, 198 - 478 THE FIRST HUNDRED YEARS 200, 201; begin in Majestic Theater, 209. THOMPSON, Revrend 0. C., conducts private school, 99, 100. TOLEDO WAR, 148-149. TRINITY Lutheran Church, history of, 96. TRIPP, Charles, machinist, 224. UNION SCHOOL CADETS, 154. UNIVERSITY Efforts of Ann Arbor Land Company to have it located in Ann A r b o r, 237-238; branches, 239; first buildings erected, 241-242; early history of, 242ff; Alumni Society oragnized, 250; fraternities and sororities appear, 251, 252, 253. Ad(inistrtions: under Dr. Hienry Philip Tappan, 254-259; under Dr. Erastus 0. Haven, 259-266; under Acting President Henry S. Frieze, 2060 -2G8,; under D)r. James Burrill Angell, 268-271; nd(ler I r. Harry B. Hutchins, 271-275; under Miarion Leroy Burton, 275-279. Activities, 280-294. School of Music, 292-294. conditions, 319; first Water Works Commission, 320; meters installed, 320; pumping in 1924, 320. WEATHER, 410, 411. WEST, farthest in 1824, 28. WESTWARD MIGRATION, causes of, 5, 8. WHEAT area about Ann Arbor, 215. WHITNEY, B. C., remodels Athens Opera House, 199-200, 215. WHITMORE LAKE, named, 62; attractions of, in 1841, 196-198. WHITE, Orrin and Eber, come to Ann Arbor, 69. WINES, Levi D., name given to Wines Atheltic Field, 135. WIRELESS, first in city, 346. WORLD WAR Excitement in Ann Arbor over, 1(;7; issues explained by University professors, 167; message of President Woodrow Wilson to Congress, 168; war work of local organizations, 168-172'; solliers bidden goodbye il Inll Auditorium, 160; food an111 fuel administrators, 170-171. Financing, 171-172; celebration of armistice, 172; Cardinal Mercier and Marshall Foch visit Ann Arbor, 174. W. R. C., keeps alive memory of soldier dead, 165, 166. WItRSTER, E. M., t o a s t m a s ter, Bethlehem Chiurch blanquet, 94. Y. M. C. A., 394-397. YOST, I' r o f e s s o r Fielding H., achievements, 284-288. YPSILANTI, early settlers in, 20; marks farthest west, 20. Y. W. C. A., 397-399. ZION Lutheran Church, history of, 94-95. VIENNA, Congress of, 82- 83. VISIToRS, famous ones to 406, 407. city, WAGONS, CARRIAGES, ETC., manufactured in Ann Arbor, 219 -220. WASIITENAW Guards, organized, 149; captains of, 149. Origin of name, 23. WATER NSUPPLY: original, 315, 316, Water Works Company organized, 317; complaints on quality of water, 318; continued:(agitation for improved w lu.1 II -Vf<7-' Elm