USA > Michigan > Calhoun County > History of Calhoun county, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 49
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As one looks upon these two brothers, the universally respected sons of godly parents, passing to and fro upon our streets, it is hard to Vol. I-27
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realize that when they came to Albion there were no railroads, no high- ways, no bridges, no mills, no postoffiee, no public utilities of any sort or kind ; that for years after, the homes were heated by and the cooking done at the open fireplace; that the light in the house was from a tallow dip or a saucer of liquid fat which fed the flame from a lighted wick; that oxen were the beasts of burden in general use; that the wool elipped from the few sheep grown was carded into rolls and spun into yarn and knitted into soeks or mittens or woven into cloth and made into garments, all by the same hands that roeked the cradle, that did the cooking, the washing, the ironing, the sewing and the mending for the household.
SECOND FAMILY THAT CAME TO ALBION
These were the pioneer mothers and daughters who toiled side by side with the pioneer fathers and sons, who wrought so well in laying the foundations of our splendid later-day civilization. Honor and reverence to these worthy toilers of the earlier time who, in the deepening twilight of life's long day, still linger in our midst !
Wareham Warner was another who came in 1834. Though born in Conneetient, he came, when fifty years of age, direct from the state of New York and settled in Albion. He was one of the first in endeavor to build up the new town. He and his children are still held in honor by those who reap where they sowed.
JESSE CROWELL AND WHAT HE DID FOR ALBION
In the early spring of 1835 eame Jesse Crowell, who for the ensuing twenty-five years was to be Albion's most enterprising and influential
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citizen. Crowell was born in the state of New York and was in his thirty-eight year when he came to Michigan and decided, because of the excellent water power, that the "Forks of the Kalamazoo" would be an advantageous place to locate. He was a man of fine appearance and of pleasing address. He had served one term in the legislature of his native state, which gave him some knowledge of men and affairs. He had accumulated some money, which he brought with him and which gave him a great advantage in a new and growing seetion.
Honest and enterprising; resolute yet taetful, he soon became and long continued a dominating personality in the business affairs of the community.
JESSE CROWELL
Mr. Crowell, in company with Tenney Peabody, Issachor Frost and D. L. Bacou, the last named of Monroe, and father of the wife of the late General Custer, formed the Albion Company. This company bought up different holdings, so that it controlled about three-fourths of the ground on which the present city is located. Mr. Crowell was president and general manager of the company. In 1836, the village plot was laid out and the place given the name it now bears. It is said that the honor of naming the town was given to Mrs. Peabody, in recognition of her having been the first white woman to live in the place, and that she recommended that it be called Albion, out of regard for Mr. Crowell who came from a town of that name in the state of New York.
At the time the village was plotted, the township had not been named. It was known only by the surveyor's description as "Town 3 South,
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Range 4 West." For judicial purposes it was attached to Homer. Homer and Concord were considerable communities before Albion had a name. After the village was plotted and the first mill built, the Jackson road was opened, intersecting the territorial road about three miles to the east. A road was also opened to the northwest, striking the territorial road about four miles from Albion. At this point, on the farm now owned by Reuben Emery, was a postoffice named Waterburg. To this place the people in Albion went, or sent, for their mail until 1838 when, through the influence of Jesse Crowell, the Albion postoffice was established and that at Waterburg taken up. Mr. Crowell was the first postmaster and retained the position until 1849. At that time the office was located on the southwest corner of Erie and Superior streets, where the Warner block, now owned and occupied by Mr. Mounteer, stands. A hotel was built on the opposite corner on the site of the Sheldon block. As an inducement, the Albion Company proposed to give a lot to any one who would put up a building and conduct a general store. This proposition was accepted by Philo Taylor, who built and ran a store, which first stood on Superior street near Erie and later moved on to the present site of the Methodist Episcopal church. The grist mill stood where the Commonwealth Power Company's building now stands. The saw mill was a little north of the grist mill, about in the rear of the old National bank, while the east side of Superior street from Bullen's store to the stone mill was used as a log yard. Later there was a store, conducted by Jesse Crowell, where the Commercial and Savings Bank building stands.
The first death in Albion was that of a young millwright named Green, who was employed in the construction of the grist mill. A place for his burial was selected on the south side of the river. Later Mr. Crowell dedicated a plot of ground for burial purposes which, with the additions made from time to time since, now constitutes beautiful "River- side cemetery."
The purpose to establish an institution of learning of the higher grade at Spring Arbor, in Jackson county, having been abandoned, the people called "Methodists" were attracted by the exceedingly liberal offer made by the Albion Company, through Mr. Crowell, consisting of sixty acres of land lying east of Ingham street and in addition two full blocks and two half blocks for a college campus. This proposition was accepted by the Michigan Annual Conference, at that time the Methodists of the entire state were under one conference supervision, and in 1839 a successful application was made to the legislature for an amendment to the charter, changing the location to Albion. The board of trustees was re-organized. The new institution was named Wesleyan Female Seminary. Jesse Crowell was elected a member of the board of trustees. He was a good friend and a liberal contributor to the institution in the days when its wants were many and its friends comparatively few. Not only did the Albion Company give the lands already named, but it gave to each of the churches putting up a house of worship the land on which it was to stand. It also, largely under the favoring influence of Mr. Crowell, gave the ground for the beautiful park on "Baptist Hill."
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The stone mill was built in the year 1845. It is another monument to the enterprise of Jesse Crowell. Though built nearly seventy years ago and when there was but a handful of people in Albion, it is still, in 1912, the most pretentious structure in the business part of town. This mill made Albion, for many years, a sort of wheat emporium for all this see- tion. A high-grade quality of flour was manufactured, much of which found a ready market in Europe. Jesse Crowell, Albion's greatest bene- factor, died at his home on Michigan avenue, this city, in 1872. Business reverses eame to him in his later years, but no stain ever rested on his financial honor. He died, as he had lived, deserving and receiving the respect of all who knew him. For forty years, Mr. Crowell slept in an unmarked and neglected grave in the plot of ground he had given for cemetery purposes. Recently the people, awakening to the debt of grati- tude they owed him, plaeed a substantial and an enduring monument above his mortal remains. The name of the park he gave, long called Washington, has within a few weeks been changed to Crowell. A street, opened and dedicated to the city last year, is called Crowell in honor of this man, who did so much for Albion.
THE ESLOWS
In 1836, there came to Albion another man destined to leave his impress on the material features of our city. Champion Eslow, a black- smith by trade, eame from Homer to Albion in the fall of the year named, and built the second frame house in the then hamlet. It stood on the southwest corner of Cass and Eaton streets. James Eslow, his son, now in his 77th year, was a babe but six months old when his parents moved to this place. For more than three-quarters of a century, he has gone in and out of Albion and the mental and physical vigor he manifests gives promise of many more years. Mr. Eslow, senior, at once became a felt force in the town. . He was not only a first class me- chanie, but withal a man of thrift and enterprise and did much for the material advancement of Albion. In his later years, his son James was associated with him in wool earding, cloth making, and in the manu- faeturing of sash doors and blinds. These industries were located just east of Superior street and back of the stone mill. An enduring me- morial to the Eslows, father and son, is the imposing four story brick block standing on the northwest corner of Porter and Superior streets.
WILLIAM H. BROCKWAY
Among those of a generation next following the earliest pioneers, there is perhaps not one who has done more for the upbuilding of the town than William H. Broekway. Born in the Green Mountain state, he went, as a lad, to the State of New York, where he learned the blacksmith's trade. At sixteen he was converted and joined the Meth- odist Episcopal church. At seventeen he came to Michigan, making his home for a time at Dexter, where he was made a class leader in the church. In the spring of 1833, he was licensed to preach and in the fall of the same year, joined the Ohio conference, which at that time em-
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braced all of Michigan and nearly all of Ohio. For four years he per- formed the arduous duties of a junior pioneer preacher. In 1838 he was sent to take charge of and develop the Indian Mission at Sault Ste. Marie and in the Lake Superior country generally. For ten years he was a very laborious and useful missionary in that then far away country.
In 1848, Mr. Brockway came to Albion and for the next forty-three years, or until his death in 1891, was a positive force in all that made for Albion's betterment. He became thoroughly identified with the inter- ests of the town. Few, if any, have sat so many years in the city council, as did he. For a long period he served as agent of the college. He was
WILLIAM H. BROCKWAY
a trustee and for a time president of the board of trustees. He served successively in both house and senate of the Michigan state legislature. Though in his forty-ninth year, when the war for the Union broke out, such was the temper of the man and such the quality of his patriotism that he not only gave his son, Porter, to be a soldier, but himself went as chaplain into the army. In all these varied positions, Mr. Brockway served faithfully and well those who entrusted their interests to his care.
As agent, he made friends for the college and brought it both money and students. It was during his term of service and under his direction that the north and south college buildings were erected. In a way, they serve to typify the man, who supervised their construction, in that they are plain, substantial and enduring; meeting well the pur- poses for which they were built. Nine stores and some twenty dwelling
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houses attest his material contribution to the city of Albion. To him, per- haps more than to any other one man, is the city and section indebted for the Lansing branch of the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad. For many years a locomotive, which made the round trip daily with the passenger train between Lansing and Hillsdale, was called the "William H. Brockway," in his honor and in recognition of his valable services in building the road. Mr. Brockway was one of the leading spirits in planning, one of the liberal contributors to the build- ing fund and one of the valuable members of the committee charged with the construction of the present Methodist Episcopal church. The deep and rich toned bell, that serves to call together the people who worship in that edifice, was bought at his sole expense. But of all his varied public service, that which is perhaps most enduring and which gave to him most of satisfaction while living, was what he did for the college.
It is eminently fitting that his only daughter should be the accom- plished wife of one who served long as a professor, and who now and for some years past has filled the position of president with great credit to himself and profit to the institution. Samuel Dickey, hushand of Mary Broekway Dickey, will long be enrolled among the ahlest and most sneeessful of Albion College presidents.
JAMES MONROE
In 1846, a young man, James Monroe by name, came to Albion and erected a foundry and machine shop on the east side of south Superior street and just north of the stone mill. Monroe was a practical molder as well as a business man. Threshing machines, plows and other farm implements were made. Under Mr. Monroe's management, the business grew and prospered. After operating the plant for twelve years, it was sold to Robert Y. Finch and Fred Sheldon. Mr. Monroe removed from the city. In his later years he gave much attention to politics and he was generally recognized as one of the most influential men in the Republican party in Michigan.
THE COMING OF THE GALES
In the year 1836, a family came from New York State to Moscow, Hillsdale county, which was destined to exercise a great and lasting in- fluence upon the future of Albion. It was in the year named that George Gale, with his wife and seven children, first settled in the county next south of us, where he built a furnace and began the manufacture of plows. The eoal used for melting the iron was hauled hy ox teams from Detroit or Toledo and in the same way, the pig iron was brought from Mishawaka, Indiana. Mr. Gale went to the forest and cut the timber that was to be shaped into beams and handles for his plows. After operating for a few years at Moscow, the Gale plant was moved to Jonesville and drags were added to the output of plows. About this time, Orlando C., the oldest son, came to Albion and engaged in the hardware business, which is now being successfully conducted by his youngest son. Ilarry.
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
Some two years after Orlando came, he was followed by his brothers, A. J. and Horatio. The three brothers, together with E. W. Hollings- worth, a brother-in-law, purchased the establishment founded by Mon- roe, but then owned by Lane and Porter, successors to Finch and Shel- don, and organized the Gale Manufacturing Company, with Orlando C. Gale as president. The new company added to the already somewhat ex- tended list of agricultural implements made. The business grew and prospered to such an extent that it was necessary to enlarge the plant. To this end, a new location was selected and a large brick structure cov- ering the site of the present postoffice block was erected where, for many years a large number of men were employed and the output of the fac- tory found a market in various parts of the United States.
THE GALE WORKS RE-ORGANIZED
About the year 1837, the company was re-organized. Mr. H. K. White, of Detroit, purchased the controling interest ; new and greatly enlarged buildings were put up in the western part of the city, side tracks were laid and much new and up-to-date equipment was added and the establishment that, when originally bought by the Gales, gave employment to from twelve to fifteen men and supplied the local market with its output, now, under the management of Mr. A. J. Brosseau and his able corps of assistants, furnish work for five hundred men, largely skilled mechanics; the manufactured product competing successfully in the lines made, in every agricultural implement market on the globe. Though the Gale brothers mentioned have all passed from the living and though no one of their descendants is now connected with the establish- ment that bears the family name, it still remains that much is due to them for Albion's oldest and most important manufacturing industry.
THE ALBION MALLEABLE IRON PLANT
Shortly after the Gale plant moved out of the old buildings into their present quarters, the Albion Malleable Iron Company was organized and began operations in a small way. Its capital was small, its mana- gers inexperienced and the stockholders were doubtful of the ultimate outcome. The first years were attended by many discouragements, but the business gradually increased, the product commended itself to the trade and confidence in its future took the place of doubt. After a time the old quarters proved too small, besides being poorly adapted to the making of malleable iron.
In 1898, the company purchased 67 acres of land northwest of the city and lying between the Michigan Central and Interurban railroads. On this plot was constructed a new and up-to-date plant and at that time thought to be sufficiently large to meet every necessity for many years, but such was its growth and such the increasing demand for malleable iron, that it was found necessary to enlarge. During the past five years, the plant has been virtually rebuilt. It now has eight acres of ground under roof. It is regarded as one of the best equipped factories of its kind anywhere in the country. It is melting at this time at the rate of
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IHISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
sixteen thousand tons of iron a year. It gives employment to over five hundred men. In order to accommodate many of its working men, it has from time to time felt compelled to build houses for them, until now it has on its own land adjacent to the works, thirty dwellings wholly occupied by its own employees.
To W. S. Kessler, president and general manager; Harry B. Parker, vice president and assistant general manager; and M. B. Murray, secretary and treasurer, is the credit largely due for making this one of our city's most important industries. These three have been with it from the beginning and have guided it through every change and vi -. cissitude to its present magnitude and to assured snecess. Washington Gardner and Benjamin D. Brown together with the three above named constitute the board of directors.
Another modern Albion industry of increasing importance and magnitude is the
UNION STEEL SCREEN COMPANY
The success of this enterprise, so gratifying to the citizens of Albion, is largely due to Mr. George E. Dean, secretary and general manager. The plant started in a small building near the Michigan Central depot. Later, the company bought the wooden buildings formerly used by the Elms Buggy Company. These have been largely replaced by modern briek buildings and still other additions are in contemplation.
Another comparatively new and growing manufacturing industry is the
NATIONAL SPRING AND WIRE COMPANY
which is owned and controlled by Albion men.
A new and what promises to be a very substantial addition to the manufacturing interests of Albion is the branch of the
HAYES WHEEL COMPANY
recently established in the old Pronty works' buildings. An increasing force of skilled mechanies is being employed and constant additions of complicated and expensive machinery are being made. This plant, which came so quietly and unostentatiously into our city, promises to soon take an important place among our industrial interests.
THE COOK MANUFACTURING COMPANY
a historieal sketch of which appears elsewhere, is now under the man- agement of Mr. John A Rathbone, formerly of Detroit. It is the hope of all Albion people that this interest, so long identified with the city, may, under its new management, take a place among the successful enter- prises of the city.
During the years of its history, AAlbion has had a number of in- dustries, other than those mentioned, of more or less importance, which have for a time flourished and then passed out of existence. There has, however, never been a time when the city had so many manufacturing
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concerns as now; never when there was so much money invested in buildings, grounds and equipment ; never so much money paid in wages, and never from this point of view has the outlook for the future of Albion been so full of promise.
ALBION COLLEGE
Under the able administration of president Samuel Dickey, the burdensome debt that long rested upon the college has been lifted and the institution is now free from finaneial obligation. A hundred thousand dollars have this year, 1912, been added to the produetive endowment. There are more students in the college elasses than at any time in the history of the institution. Its hold upon its patrons was never so secure and its future never so full. of promise as now.
The churches and the schools, with other interests, are fully set forth elsewhere. It is only necessary to say that they have grown and de- veloped with the growth of the city.
THE FLOOD OF 1908
The greatest single disaster that has come to the city within the memory of the present generation, if not in its history, was the flood in the second week of March, 1908. There was an unusual combination of conditions that made the disaster possible. The February preceding, elosed with the heaviest fall of snow Michigan had known in many years; Mareh was ushered in with a rain that froze into a sleet as it fell, holding the recipitation on the surface; two or three days later it rained very hard again, and following this it turned very warm with bright sunshine. The large quantity of snow and ice was suddenly
changed to water. The brooks and rivulets became torrents. The marshes appeared changed into lakes. Everywhere the surplus water seemed to be seeking an outlet. Before nine o'eloek on a Saturday morning the Kalamazoo had overflowed its banks; before noon it had carried away the Porter street bridge, the north foot bridge on Erie street and had made a lake of the market place. By night the south foot bridge on Erie street gave way. Dynamite was used to break up the iee jams against the wagon bridge and every effort made to save endangered property. By dark the water was flowing over the Supe- rior street bridge and through the stores on both sides of the street. Two dams at Homer had given way under the unusual pressure and the water they had been holding baek was emptied upon Albion. At mid- night the water on Superior street bridge was a foot deep, on the Cass street bridge eighteen inches deep, and on the Erie street bridge two feet deep. When Sunday morning came it was found that not only were many of the cellars in the business houses filled with water, result- ing in great damage to goods, but in addition to the bridges already men- tioned, the foundation of the north end of the new cement bridge on Superior street had been undermined and the bridge so damaged that later it had to be entirely rebuilt. Six stores over and adjoining the river were in ruins, the water washing away the foundations preeipi-
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HISTORY OF CALHOUN COUNTY
tating the superstructures into the river. The direet damage was es- timated at $125,000.00, while the indirect injury could hardly be com- puted in figures, but it was very great.
The greatest shoek in financial circles and to the confidence of the people in the integrity of trusted officials was given on New Year's day, 1912, when it became generally known that
THE ALBION NATIONAL BANK
had closed its doors and that its cashier, a man over seventy years of age and having long enjoyed the unquestioned confidence of the com- munity, was in custody of the United States officials. Later investiga- tion and developments revealed a systematic scheme of deception, run- ning through a series of years, so perfectly conceived and so adroitly manipulated as to long baffle alike the scrutiny of the bank directors and of the National bank examiners.
Many who had trusted the bank with the custody of their funds suddenly discovered that they were bereft of the savings of a life time. Elderly people, retired from the active duties of life, who had placed their surplus here for support and maintenance for the remainder of their years, saw that support swept away as by a flood. Widows, aged and alone, found the staff upon which they leaned broken and them- selves left helpless and destitute. Frugal and industrious working girls, who through a series of years had denied themselves that out of their meager earnings they might each week make a small deposit in the bank and so have something in the day of need, suddenly realized that their frugality and self-denial availed them nothing. Not only manufactur- ers and business men and farmers, who deposited here, found the de- posits swallowed up, but the working man, who left in trust a portion of his weekly earnings until he could have accumulated enough to make a payment on his home, found his trust betrayed and his money gone. Township treasurers, fraternal societies, churches, missionary so- cieties, Sunday-schools, teachers and students in the college, who had placed confidence in the bank, found their deposits gone beyond re- covery.
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