USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Ypsilanti > Chronology of Ypsilanti from 1787 to 1865 > Part 2
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1842
Dr. T.M. Town built his brick home at 102 South Washington.
"The winter was very severe. Started November 17th and stayed until April, except for a slight thaw in January. There was good sleighing on Election Day , the first Monday in April". ( "Ypsilanti Commercial, " April 12, 1893).
Detroit opened the first free, tax supported school in the State.
First black families moved to Ypsilanti and included Robert Morton, Henry Johnson and possibly George Mc Coy.
Prominent people in the Village during this decade : Loveridre & Camp in a general store; D.F. Tompkins, tailor; Samson offering fine brandy, port and Madiera wines, Holland gin and other items for medicinal purposes.
1843
March " ... the floor pave way at the Methodist Rev- ival meeting, injuring some". Reverend G. L. Foster
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1843 locates the building as "now the South School- house on east side".
March 28. Construction of Methodist Church com- menced.
September. New Methodist Church completed. December 20: Ist issue of "Ypsilanti Sentinel" John Van Fossen, publisher.
1844
February .5. Charles Woodruff opened an "Academic School" in the Larzelere block (SW corner Michigan and Washington) opposite the Hawkins Hotel (NW corner Michigan and Washington).
February 26. Lots in Ypsilanti Cemetery offered for sale at Public auction.
April. Miss Jane Willard opened a school for children in common brances of English in a building near the depot. ("Sentinel" 4/25/1844).
April 26. Bishop Peter LaFevre of Detroit, purchased the lot on which the Catholic Church now stands, NW corner Cross and Hamilton Streets, from Charles W.
Lane. In 1845 the first Catholic Church & small frame building was built on it.
April 27. Second 11 week term of "Academic School" opened in Larzelere block.
July 4. The Superintendents, teachers and scholars of all Sabbath Schools in the vicinity met at the Methodist Church at 9:30 A.M. and marched to the Grove where refreshments were served and several speaches were enjoyed.
August 14. Ypsilanti Seminary opened. The academic year is divided into two terms of 22 weeks commenc- inm the 1st Monday of September and 2 Monday in February. Tuition $3 to $8. Board and Room $14 per quarter of Il Weeks. William L. Eaton and Mary B. F. Brown, Principals: L. H. Moore and Wm. A. Moore, Pro- prietors ( "Sentinel" 4/30/1845) .
1845
April 7. Annual Ypsilanti Township Meeting held in the "White Schoolhouse" on west side of Huron River in the Villare of Ypsilanti. ( "Sentinel" 4/2/1845) May 19. The 4th term of the Ypsilanti Seminary will commence on May 19th.
May 27. Abiel Hawkins became Postmaster.
June 26. Dr. Francis Rexford succeeded Hawkins as Postmaster.
July 4. "Independence Island" christened by Rev. H. P. Powers.
July 12. A meeting was held to consider a canal or navigation Ypsilanti to Gibraltar. Walter Bucklee, Edmunds and Van Fossen to investigate.
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1845 August 27. (From "The Sentinel"). Last week two skeletons were exhumed by workmen excavating the road west end of the new bridge. One was full grown, the other smaller. Buried about three feet below the surface, the large one horizontal enclosed in a coffin, without trinkets, which indicated it was not an Indian.
Sept. 17. Wyandotte Lodge #10 IOOF was formed in Ypsilanti.
Oct. 22. A General Election for Ypsilanti Township will be held in the house of John W. Putnam on Tuesday, November 4.
November 5. Meeting will be held in the office of C.W. Lane to form an Association of Teachers in Ypsilanti Township, auxillary to County Association if any exists.
November 10. At 11 p.m. a barn on the east side, owned by Jacob Emerick and used by A. A. Hunter as a storehouse for empty barrels, burned. Four dwell- ings also burned, 3,000 barrels burned. Medad Curtis stayed on top of his house with pails of water to put out sparks as they fell.
November 13. Meeting to be held in the Chapel room of the Seminary, Thursday 13th, to discuss estab- lishment of Primary Department in the school and a Literary Association.
November 24. Dr. Inglis of Detroit, lectures this evening at the Seminary. The Ypsilanti Literary Asso. will meet in the Chapel room at the Seminary, Monday November 24. One or two short addresses will be given.
M. A. Parks advertises that he has established himself in clock and watch repair business in the part of the Book and Drug Store of E. Samson.
December 1. Professor Ten Brock of the University of Michigan will lecture before the Ypsilanti Literary Association at the Seminary, and his subject will be: "Proper Choice of Miscellaneous Reading".
December 8. The Ypsilanti Literary Society met, "No lecturer but a pleasant hour was spent in conver- sation. "
December 12. The house of Loyal Tuttle burned.
1846
May 13. United States declared war on Mexico. August 16. Charles Kellorr married Lucina Showerman, daughter of Timothy.
September 17. Cornerstone for a new Baptist Church was laid, SE corner Washington and Cross Streets. Reverend H. P. Powers resigned as rector of St Luke's Church.
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1847 Baptist Church - dedicated.
July 11. Reverend John A. Williams became Rector of St. Luke's Chruch.
November. First Telegraph message sent from Detroit to Ypsilanti. Exact date not known. "The Advertiser" ( Detroit) says: "The telegraph from this toward the setting sun began yesterday . forehoon between this' point
and Ypsilanti. We were unavoidably absent but we hear the lightning passed smoothly and that there were some flashes of wit as well as electricity sent
to and fro. Several congratulations and best wishes were sent to our neighbor Harmon on his patriotic self devotion in the Mexican War. £ Mr. Haviland is the operator here and he discharges his duties with skill and alacrity. The whole line to Chicago will be in operation in a short time."
The State Legislature voted to locate the State Capitol in "the Township of Lansing, in the County of Ingham".
1848
Cicero Millington married Dorlėsca Showerman, daughter of Timothy Showerman.
January 24. Gold discovered near Colmar, California.
1849
March 28. The Legislature approved an Act that a teacher Training School be established in or near some Village in the State. The Act was amplified March 25, 1850, plac ing the authority for such a school under the direction of the State Board of Educ- ation. The State provided 25 sections of swamp land to be sold to raise funds. The expense of the build- ings and equipment was to be borne by the community where the school located.
Several communities, Jackson, Marshall, Niles and Ypsilanti offered sites for the school. Ypsilanti offered the gently rising land on the north side of Cross Street fron Brower Street west. Ypsilanti also pledged the money to construct a building and pay the salary of the Principal for five years. At this time, Mr. & Mrs. John Starkweather, close per- sonal friends of John D. Pierce, cave generous sup- port and influence to have the school located in Ypsilanti.
March 29. A Special Act of the Legislature increased the number of School District. Board members to six to serve for six years. The Act gave the Board the authority to adopt any educational system that would not be contrary to Blate Law. The District Board began immediately to make changes in the interior of the =ccumseh H tel building and the Model School opened in October, NW corner Cross & N. Washington St.
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1850 Bernard C. Whittemore became Treasurer of the State of Michigan. ( In 1856, Mr. Whittemore bought lots from Mark Norris and built the brick mansion now standing at 223 River Street).
Construction began on the new Presbyterian Church in the new location on North Washington Street. John Ferrier was the builder and died before the work was completed.
June. Friends Church organized and located in Ypsilanti Township.
September 4. New Baptist Chruch dedicated.
Dr. Rexford retired from medical practive and be- came a partner with Benjamin Follett in a general store.
Hiram Batchelder, age 23, came from Orange County, Vermont, the Granite State, and established a marble and monument business with his brother Don C. Batchelder.
Daniel B. Greene opened a law office. Dr. A. F. Kinne beran meical practice, having moved from Jonesville, Michigan.
Normal School Addition platted and added to Ypsilanti, the area between Forest and Cross and Ballard to Brower .
1851
March 28. A very destructive fire broke out about one o'clock last night in the Cady Grocery and swept Washington Street thru the wood frame buildings clear to the Huron River. Thirty three buildings were destroyed on the north side of Congress Street (Michigan Avenue ) and the heaviest loses were: J. Cady, Grocery; C.B. Earl, paint and sash shop; Miss F. Nicols, Millinery; Buck and Beach, dry goods; A Guest, gro- cery; Loveridge and Camp, dry goods; E. W. Sage, Saddle and harness shop; W. R. Martin, drug store; C. C. Chase, grocery; Rice and Boyce, shoe store; R. Phillips, shoe store, M.A. Parks, jewelry store, J. Cross, grocery; J.H. Dimick, drug store; E. Samson, drup and book store; W. B. Hewitt, shoe and leather store; Hewitt Brothers, dry goods; G. C. Collins, clothing store; G.M. Osborne, hardware; Worden Bros., stove and tin shop; Gilman Davis, lumber yard, cabinet and chair shop; C.E. Brisler, tin shop; J. Stockdale, blacksmith and wagon shop; S. Ostrander, wagon and blacksmith shop,; L'Esperance and Smith, chair and cabinet shop; Masonic and Sons of Temperance Halls. The store buildings and VanCleve and Voorheis plus the home of Dr. Abel Millington on the west side of N. Huron Street.
The Ashley Minor residence, a blacksmith's shop and a house at the corner of Pearl and Huron were un-
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1851
touched as was the "Ark" even though it was threat- enec.
On March 27th Elijah Grant had died at his home, SE corner of Congress and Washington. The fire the following day was so fierce the Grant house seemed to be in danger and volunteers removed the coffin to the Towner house on the west side of South Washington Street.
1852 June. The first class graduated from the Seminary, said to be the secon graded high school in the State. ( "The Evening Times" 3/11/1899 )
October 5. The first building for the Normal School was dedicated with A. S. Welch as Principal. Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published.
1853
March 29. First term of 17 weeks opened at Normal School.
George Moorman came from Rawsonville and conducted a :grocery business in Ypsilanti until 1878. May 3. Walter H. Hawkins became Postmaster. Brick addition constructed at the Seminary, and in April Reverend Joseph Estabrook became Principal with Miss Harriet Mccutcheon as his first assistant.
1854
A Department of Music established at the Normal School with Albert Miller as the Instructor.
Dr. Francis Rexford bought the business of Buck and Beach on the .NS of Congress St. in the 100 block. He was joined in the venture by his three sons. One son, Edgar became prominent in local business and political affairs and also served on the State Board of Education.
Benjamin Follett, Isaac N. Conklin and Samuel Y. Denton operated a bank known as ."Follett, Conklin and Company" near the railroad Station. In 1854, Charles E. Tisdale replaced Samuel Denton in the organization and the bank moved to the second floor of the new .Hewitt building, NE corner Congress and Washington Streets.
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1854 African Methodist Episcopal Church organized with 12 members including Jesse Stewart and wife, Isa Eliz Johnson and Washington York.
1855 Elder W. P. Pattison became Pastor of the Baptist Church.
Dec. 24th - The railroad bought the land where Mark Norris had built the Great Western Hotel.
1856 The first Fire Department was organized on the East side.
October - The Eagle Mills burned.
1857 Seven graduated from the Seminary.
Ypsilanti Home Association organized. September 23- New Presbyterian Church with single tower dedicated. Rev. Gustavus L. Foster in- stalled as Pastor.
Eliza Ann Gorton first Clerk of Friends Church. November 13- East Ypsilanti established on the east side of Huron River .
Frank Smith having graduated from Dartmouth College, came to Ypsilanti to join his brother-in-law, Dr. A. F. Kinne, in a business venture, a drug store in the 100 block of Congress Street.
1858
February 2- The State Legislature approved a City Charter for both villages, Ypsilanti and East Ypsilanti, providing they became one city. There was considerable debate by both units and then the two villages united and became the City of Ypsilanti. First Mayor, Chauncey Joslin who estimated that the total population of the new united city, to be at least 5000.
A City Hall was built on the north side of Cross Street at the west end of the river bridge. January 20 · General John Van Fossen died. January 22 - The Ypsilanti Gas Light was organized under a Legislative Act. The organizers were: Chauncey Joslin, M.A. Parks, E. Samson, Benjamin Follett, Isaac Conklin and Delos Showerman. June 2 - A Woolen Mill was erected at Rawsonville ( County Clerk's Misc. records, Vol. 1, pg 9). New Episcopal Church completed in June. August 17 - New Seminary building ready for use. Dr. Francis Rexford, President of the School Board. The new Gas Plant was put into operation. Ezra Meade Foote succeeded Miller as Head of the Music at the Normal School and organized the first Normal Choir.
Foote's daughter became Mrs. T.C. Owen.
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1858 The African Methodist Episcopal Church was built at SE corner of South Adams and Buffalo Street.
1859 January 7 - Horace Greeley lectured at the Semi- nary: Subject; "Great Men".
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Construction started on the Gilbert Home, on the west side of North Grove and north of the rail- road. (From the memory of Gertrude Woodard) . October 28 - The original Normal School building burned. During this decade, a schoolhouse stood on the SW. corner of Washington and Woodward Streets. During the 1858-59, there were 76 pupils enrolled. In the 1850's, the Cross Street bridge was built thru the efforts of Mark Norris and the decade saw 12 platted real estate additions made to the City. July 4 - The Follett House Hotel on East. Cross Street opened for business with John Davis as Manager and. an "Independence Ball" was held in the new hotel. Honor ary managers: Horace Welch, Samuel Casey, Billy Wilson, L.D. Norris, David Edwards, W. H. Hawkins, J. H. Phillips, John Starkweather, Jason Cross and J. W. Babbitt. Special Committee: George Wanless, G.J.Cross, R.H. Smith, C.B. Bush, A.M. Noble, Julius W. Smith, H.H. Tisdale, J.M. Crane and J.M. Forsythe.
1860
Daniel Lace Quirk came from Chicago to live in Ypsilanti.
Edgar and F.P.Bogardus organized a banking firm. The black school children were transfered from the Seminary to a school at the NE corner of Adams Street and Michigan Avenue. The first teacher was John Hall. Washtenaw County gave Lincoln a majority of six hundred and fifty-six.
1861
The secession of eleven States from the Union. The firing on Fort Sumter Lincoln's first call for seventy-five thousand volunteers was read from the pulpits of some of the churches. Ypsilanti's organization of citizen soldiers, known as the "Ypsilanti Light Guards", was one of the first companies of the State to offer itself for Federal Service.
It is impossible to record all the events and happenings in Ypsilanti during the two decades from 1850 to 1870 even = if our space was not limited. However, certain ones must . be listed while many deserving mention are left out. :
The Ypsilanti Normal Teacher Training School was dedicated
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October 5 1852 and in 1854 there were three in the first graduating class: Helen C. Norris, Alzina Morton and J . M. B. Sill. On October 29 1859, the original building burned. It was replaced and classes resumed April 10 1860.
March 29 1857, the Seminary burned and did not reopen until August 17 1858. That building stood until it too burned in 1877. Prior to 1860, Primary Grades were con- ducted in the brick building on the East side of River Street which had housed the First Methodist Society; a brick structure on East Forest Avenue at River was a Grade School and another was in the building on the SW corner of South Washington and Woodward Street.
By 1852 the First Presbyterian Society which also included the Congregational Society, had outgrown the frame build- ing on Pearson Street, North of the Westside Public Square. A handsome stone and brick structure with a single steeple was built on the NE corner of Washington at Emmet. The dedication that year had Rev. G. L.Foster as distinguished speaker.
The Emanuel" Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized in 1859 with a membership of 16. . Mark Norris contributed the lot on which the first Church for Lutherans was built, NE corner of E. Michigan and Grove Street.
The Home Association was organized in 1857
Charles Griswold Wiard, born June 25 1835, had married a widow, Mrs. Catherine Arnold Ackley in 1858. Later he purchased the Ezra D. Lay farm on East Michigan, which was formerly known as the Colby Stand which was taken up from the Government by Zolva Bowen. Zolva was an early Tavern Leeper at that location.
August 29 1859, the first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania, causing a greater change in our civilization than that other event in the same year: Charles Darwin published his "Origin of the Species" astonishing only a few scientific minds. Both events went unnoticed in Ypsi- lanti where citizens were doing very well with the horse and buggy, well water, the outhouse and unpaved streets ." The 'American Troubador', Stephen Foster, composed "My 01d Kentucky Home", "Old Folks at Home" and other simple, sentimental appealing melodies; Henry Clay Work published "Carry Me Back to Old Virginie", the popular temperance song, "Father Dead Father, Come Home With Me Now", "Year of Jubillo" and many others. September 19 1858 Daniel Decatur Emmett coposed the stirring song "Dixie". Music caused or follows the moods of the people.
October 6, 1859 the most militant of the abolitionists, John Brown, and 21 of his followers, seized the little town of Harper's Ferry, Virginia, and then captured the United States Arsonal there. Under command of LT. Col. Robert E. Lee, the United States Marines, retook the Armory, kill-
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ing eleven of the raiders including two of John Brown's sons, and five civilians. The Marines lost one man. On December 2, John Brown and five of his followers were con- victed of Treason and publicly hanged in what is now Charles Town, West Virginia.
March 19 1860, William Jennings Bryan was born in Salem,
Illinois. Theodore Roosevelt was born in New York City, October 27 1858.
The Snti-Slavery Society was formed in 1833 causing serious division of citizens in the United States with violence, bloodshed and death in several of the States.
Slavery was the greatest problem facing the Nation but there were many places where opinions differed on problems having nothing to do with Slavery. During the 1850s local The
problems led' to anger and a division of Ypsilanti. prominent men on the East side of the River Huron were determined to separate from the city on the west side of the river. It took state legislative pressure to join the two factions and establish the City of Ypsilanti in 1858 with Chauncey Joslin as Mayor and Arden Ballard graciously re- tiring as President of the Village of Ypsilanti.
Benjamin Thompson came to Ypsilanti in 1828 as a young millwright and helped install machinery in many sawmills; gristmills and pulp-paper mills on the Huron River. During
the next decades the Thompson name was prominent in the business and civic affairs of the City. He established his own business making carriages and wagons.
When Mark Norris sold the triangle of land occupied by his Great Western Hotel he used the bricks to build an imposing brick structure on the NE corner of River and East Cross. Benjamin Thompson moved his wagon and carriage works into that building and was joined by his son Oliver E. Thompson who manufactured farm implements in that location for the next sixty years. The many Thompson properties located be- tween E. Cross and Maple Street, were part of the growing 4th Ward of the City. The first Volunteer Fire Department, the Masonic Lodge in the Norris Block and many other civic en- terprises always found the name Thompson leading the way. Oljvci E. Thompson was Mayor of Ypsilanti 1901-02 and it was his personal project which arranged bringing the big Parrot Rifle to Ypsilanti and having it mounted in Prospect Park where it stands after 112 years of lovely silence having never been fired in its lifetime. This unusual cannon was cast in a foundry at West Point, New York and in 1864 it was mounted at Fort McClery, Kittery, Maine, as part of the defense of the Atlantic Coast.
The intention is to make a modest outline of the history of Ypsilanti but it is so easy to expand on certain names and events. Those selected are not the only ones that de- serve mention.
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Daniel Lace Quirk and Asa Dow his close friend and business associate from Chicago, built handsome brick mansions side by side on North Huron Street with grounds extending down to the Huron River. Quirk, with Mansard roof style at 304 North Huron and Dow at 220. Both had carriage houses to match their homes. Two of the really fine homes in Ypsilanti.
Robert Lambie, who had come as a youth of 14 with his parents, Francis and Mary Lambie, from Strathaven, Scotland in 1839 to Superior Township, built a Greek Revival type house on the NE corner of Hamilton and old Ellis. The John Gilbert residence, with square tower and other features, at 227 N. Grove Street, became an imposing show place for Washtenaw County when completed in 1860. grounds provided ample room for tennis courts, outdoor Roman type swiming pool with attractive fountain in the center, fruit orchard, flower gardens and fish pond. The Gilberts entertained graciously thru the years for many social gatherings in their lovely home.
The 350 mile Erie Canal opened in 1825 and several million people and tons of merchandise and household goods passed thru it until the 1850s when the railroads took over. Toward the end of the 1850s, there was a great amount of building, both brick and frame, in the newly incorporated City of Ypsilanti .
One of the largest and finest brick homes, was that of John S. Jenness at 324 West Forest Avenue. John A. Watling who became a world famous dentist, built his brick resi- dence with handsome square tower, at 121 N. Huron Street. The Jerome Walton brick at 404 E. Huron is an example of how brick was used in building the Greek Revival style. The Nathan Follett home at 219 North Huron is a combina- tion of cobblestone and brick, a portion of the house having been built in 1845. Much of the Arden Ballard house at 125 North Huron is brick construction and commands atten- tion after 140 years.
The Isaac N. Conklin house at 126 Adams Street is basicly brick, and the Charles King at 103 North Adams in one of the fine homes built by Cecil Millington. Erastus Samson, a drug store owner as early as 1840, built and lived in the sturdy Italiante brick home at 302 West Cross Street. The William H. Deubels built and lived graciously for many years in the handsome brick at 211 North Washington, a site of many social gatherings. The Hiram Batcheldor brick home at 210 North Washington Street was another of note in that block along with the Charles Bassett house at 201 North Washington. The brick house of Mark Norris, dating ho-1 00 1834, stands at 213 River Street, George T.T wasnlar, an early builder, built the impressive brick house at 221 South Washington Street. There were many more brick houses built during the time of Ypsilanti's expansion, so many gone even though the ravages of time did not destroy them.
Spacious
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The Brick Yards of Charles McCormick and Murray P. Holmes & Co., in the Depot section, were classed among the great brick yards of the State.
In 1860 the United States Census listed a population of 3956 for the City of Ypsilanti and 1357 for the Township. There was no distinct division of City and Township except on the maps showing the surveyed boundries of the City. Chickens, cows, pigs and horses, though less in numbers were as common in the City of Ypsilanti as in the Township farms where there, were elegant homes equalling those in the City. Because of the great forests in Michigan, and the coming of the saw and abundant waterpower to operate the circular saw, the shift from log cabin to the clapboard house was rapid.
The axe, hand hewn beams, studs continued as long as . labor was cheap and plentiful. Log cabins and farm log structures were in evidence on Hitchingham Road, Willis Road and other parts of Ypsilanti Township even a decade or more after the turn of the Century.
The Greek Revival style of Architecture, conspicuous be- cause of its simple balance, was brought to Ypsilanti from New York State and New England and used extensively. The Timothy Showermans built a home at 206 North Huron using this style as did Dr. Franics Rexford at Ill North Huron, on the West side of the Street. At the south end of old Cemetery Street, now Prospect Street, where it joins South Grove Street, Addison Fletcher built a Greek Revival house, said to be the finest example in Ypsilanti of that style. The lot on which it was built was part of the site of Wood- ruff's Grove, now lost as well as the house, to antiquity except for the Marker placed by the Ypsilanti Chapter of the DAR in 1923 to commemorate the location of Woodruff's Grove.
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