Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Part 91

Author: Beakes, Samuel W. (Samuel Willard), 1861-; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 886

USA > Michigan > Washtenaw County > Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan > Part 91

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The city charter was revised in 1859, amended in 1861, revised a second time in 1863, amended in 1867. 1869 and 1879, revised in 1877, and amended in 1879, 1881. 1895. 1897, 1899 and 1901.

The first society organized in Ypsilanti was known as the Temperance Society of Ypsilanti, and it was organized on the 18th day of Decem- ber, 1829, by Dr. Hayes, Esquire Darling, E. M. Skinner and others. By January 3d thirty-five members had enrolled their names and people were coming from places three or four miles dis- tant to attend the meetings of the society. Since that time Ypsilanti has always contained many earnest temperance workers, and whenever tem- perance revivals are in progress they seem to flourish in Ypsilanti. In 1838 the Ypsilanti Vig- ilance Committee was organized, and at the sec- ond meeting, held December 15, 1838, at the house of Abel Hawkins, James L. Gillis was made president, James M. Edmunds Secretary, and M. V. Hall treasurer. The directors or central committee were Chauncey Joslyn, Mark Norris, Abraham Sage, Marcus Lane, D. C. Mckinstry, Arden H. Ballard and Walter B. Hewitt. The meetings of this society were of the most secret character and their methods of work were care- fully guarded. But they showed results, for be- fore the end of the year 1839 one hundred and twelve men had been convicted, $10,000 worth of stolen property had been recovered, and a number of bad characters had been driven out of the community. Three years previous to this an old and long unused den of counterfeiters had been discovered. The discovery was made by Isaac Kimball and Harry Gilbert, who were carting away clay for the purpose of grading a lot on which Major Gilbert built his fine resi- dence. Their spade struck timber and they soon found a network of timber covering a cave, de- scending into which they found a room eight feet high and ten feet square, a furnace, a metal shell filled with oil and with partially consumed wick, with an exit one hundred feet in length running into a ravine and opening into some dense shrub- bery. This den was located about twenty rods south of Congress street, and the date of its con-

struction and the personnel of the counterfeiters who built it, were never discovered or even guessed at.

In March, 1851, the north side of Congress street was swept by fire from Washington street to the river. The fire destroyed the dwelling house. wagon shop, blacksmith shop and stable of Joseph Stockdale on Huron street; the engine house ; the store of R. D. Brower at the corner of Washington and Congress streets; the dwelling house of C. Millington : the dwelling house, shop, warehouse and lumber yard of G. Davis; Bres- ler's fur store ; Worden's tin shop; a building belonging to William R. Post; the stores of W. B. Hewitt, C. Millington, A. Craddock, M. A. Parks, J. W. Van Cleave. A. Vorrheis, C. Mill- ington's new store, and the grocery of E. Yost. The total loss was over twenty-five thousand dol- lars.

As has been seen Ypsilanti witnessed the first celebration of the Fourth of July within its bor- ders in 1824. There have been many celebra- tions of this event since. In 1845 it was cele- brated on a little island between the Congress street bridge and the lower paper mills; and it was named on that day, by the Rev. H. P. Powers, Independence Isle. J. M. B. Sill delivered the oration on this occasion.

In 1874 a semi-centennial celebration of the Fourth of July was held in Ypsilanti and a very large concourse of people assembled on this oc- casion, the streets of Ypsilanti being crowded all day and people from all over the county entering into the celebration. The oration of the day was delivered by the Hon. Lyman D. Norris, after- ward Chief Justice of Michigan. This oration traced the history of the county. Mr. Norris pro- duced the first genuine map of the surveyed part of the village, published in 1825 by Orange Risdon, who, in his eighty-first year, was present at this celebration. "Upon the map," said Mr. Norris, "the average village is indicated by four black dots or fly specks, and Washtenaw is noted for four such villages; for though Dixboro has a name as large and as black as the rest, it appears not to have reached the dignity of one speck. The relative size of these four settlements is given in the order following: Ann Arbor, ten

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specks: Woodruff's Grove, eight specks: Ypsi- lanti, three: and Dexter, two-a fair average for Washtenaw as Detroit could not boast of more than twenty specks. Benjamin Sutton, the pio- neer, covers sections 27 and 28 of Northfield. Maps, like other works of fallen humanity, are not always truthful, for upon this you will dis- cern that section 7 of Pittsfield and 12 of Lodi are all iron ore. Then sections 2 and II of Sa- line are salt springs : but well you remember that nearly all of us of this enlightened age had some of that salt stock and have it yet ; though lost to sight, to memory dear, gone to rest in the lengthy hole that ran down, so science told us, through the edge of the saucer-like salt basin of Michi- gan. We were also told by the same learned sa- vant that more money and a longer hole would somewhere in the bowels of the harmless earth reach the great Onondaga salt saucer near the middle, where the brine was. * * * Starting from the surface of the map, is another promi- nent object that will call to the minds of many of the pioneers, the events of 1839. It is Prospect Hill and the beautiful chain of lakes that, in 1825. as now, girdled its base with laughing water. It was only a few years later, under the fancy touch of Lillibridge, to become the Saratoga of Michi- gan. A magnificent city was prospected on paper. Parks, fountains and statuary were the least of its attractions. On the summit of the lofty hill. 'like Fame's proud temple, shone afar' the dome of an observatory, while the rural homes at its base were dominated by the hotels of that period. filled with the fashion and beauty, wealth, luxury and folly which fifteen chartered and forty-five wildcat banks, with a nominal capital of $10, 115 .- 000, were warming into life as fast as rags could be pulped into paper and groaning presses con- vert that paper into steel plate pictures. But Lil- libridge's 'soap mine,' as even the folly of that period had the wisdom to dub it. did not lather well, and but few were shaved; his renowned Tontine Coffee House in Detroit faded out, and his magnificent city (lithographed) is a choice relic of a past age of unreason. And Prospect Hill, overshadowing the little hamlet of Hudson. where honest labor in the person of Tom Birkett has built a snug business and a pleasant home, re-

mains, girdled with its emerald gems of beauty, almost as it was fifty years ago." Among other things, Mr. Norris gave a good description of the railroad which reached Ypsilanti in 1838. "The road was built on a continuous wooden stringer of sawed timber. This rail was fitted into sawed ties held fast in a trapezoidal groove by wooden wedges. On top of this continuous stringer was spiked the old iron strap rail, when they had it, and when they did not, an inch and a half by three inch oak ribbon nailed to a tie did duty in its place. The passenger car of that day resembled an omnibus placed at right angles to the track, and moving sideways on four wheels. The con- ductor walked a platform step in front and along the end of the omnibus, and collected his fare hanging by his arms to the window. 'Snake- heads.' or the old strap iron worn and loosened from the stringer, occasionally varied the monot- ony by curling up their ugly points through the floor of the car. The equipment of the road dur- ing the first six months after it reached Ypsilanti was four locomotives, five passenger and freight cars, or square boxes not half the length of the present freight car and running upon four wheels like any well regulated wagon, in an exceedingly jerky and independent way."

Ypsilanti has always been a manufacturing town. As we have seen the first mill near Ypsi- lanti was built by Major Woodruff in 1824. the first grist mill in the county. It was built on a water power south of the present city, which had a natural fall of eleven feet and which is claimed to be the third best power on the Huron river. The power of the water at this fall was so great that it did not necessitate the construction of a dam. The mill was completed in 1825 and con- tinued in operation for five years. The first mil- ler was a Mr. Stevens. The first milldam was built by Harding & Reading out of brush, clay and logs. It was located where the woolen mill now is, and the rude barrier was swept away by the flood of 1832. The first saw-mill in what is now Ypsilanti was built by John Stewart in 1826, although some of the pioneers claim that Harding & Reading's saw-mill, built in 1827. was the first. Harding & Reading sold to Mark Norris and Timothy McIntyre, McIntyre shortly afterward

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selling to Anthony Case and Chester Perry. These sold to Arden H. Ballard, who erected a flouring mill called the Eagle Flour Mill in 1839 and 1840, which was destroyed by fire in 1856. Bal- lard sold to a Dr. Clark, of Detroit, in 1843 and then Clark sold to Thomas O. Hill. In 1850 the mill was sold to Mark Norris and Benjamin Fol- lett. In 1853 Norris sold out his interest to his son, Lyman D. Norris, and Follett sold his inter- est to Chauncey Joslyn. In 1856 Mr. Joslyn be- came the sole owner of the Eagle Mills. In Octo- ber, 1856. Mr. Joslyn received $16,000 worth of wheat at the mills, the delivery of which had long been delayed by the Michigan Central. Seven thousand dollars' worth of this wheat was lifted into the grain room of the mills, and the first night after the delivery the mills burned up consuming all this valuable store of grain. Mr. Joslyn lost over $10,000. The second flouring mill was built by Harding & Reading in 1828, just below the present woolen mills. The building was torn down in 1851. The third flouring mill was built in 1829 by W. W. Harwood, just south of Con- gress street on the left bank of the Huron, the dam being erected by Mark Norris and W. W. Harwood. In 1835 the water power passed into the possession of John Gilbert, who, in 1839. gave a half interest to his son-in-law. Abel Goddard. They soon sold to Alfred D. Hunter. The mill then passed into the hands of assignees and was run by lessees until 1854, when it was sold to Nathan Follett and Alexander Ross. In 1859 Follett became sole owner, and continued sole owner until 1861, when he sold to Isaac N. Conk- lin. In 1862 the mill was purchased by Benja- min Follett, sold to Nathan Follett in 1865, in 1873 to the Deubel brothers, and has since con- tinued in the possession of the Deubel family.

As early as 1832 an iron foundry fifty by eighty feet in size was built by Hurd & Sage. In 1833 this was converted into a plow factory, later into a woolen mill, and still later into an iron casting shop; and in the '4os it was converted by Timothy Showerman into a flouring mill known as the Aetna Mills. They utilized part of the water power belonging to Norris, and a series of suits were commenced, Norris and Joslyn finally securing the building and transforming it

into a sash, door and blind factory. Later three other departments were added, a planing mill, an ax handle factory, and a gypsum mill. In June, 1858, a flood swept over the east end of the dam and carried away the mill and stock, scattering the goods along the Huron river and causing a loss of $12,000. A new planing mill was built by Follett, Conklin, Joslyn & Norris. It was sold to Quirk, Dow & Bois, and later to Fulman & Scoville, and still later to Scoville. The Ypsi- lanti flouring mill was built by Mark Norris in 1839 and 1840.

Before 1835 a pail factory had been built upon the west bank of the river by Chester Perry, but this factory was not a long lived one. Near where the Cornwall paper mills were afterward located, a saw-mill was erected by Jacob Lazelere, in 1830, which was in 1840 converted into a woolen-goods factory by John Y. Lazelere employing about twenty hands. A dam was built in 1847. After Lazelere's death, the mill was allowed to decay and was later swept away by a flood. This dam was the occasion of the starting of the first paper mill in Ypsilanti in 1855, known as the Cornwall Paper Mills, and later as the Lower Paper Mills. This pioneer paper mill was destroyed by fire in 1871; the second mill was also destroyed by fire, a short time ofter its erection; and in their place there was erected a number of brick buildings, one sixty-six by one hundred and thirty feet, occu- pied as the machine house; another fifty by one hundred and seventy feet as a store and freight house ; and a third thirty-six by one hundred and twenty feet occupied as an engine house. This mill manufactured paper. Cornwall, Son & Brothers built the Ypsilanti Paper Company Mills in 1874. having a water power with seventeen feet head. Cornelius Cornwall. the pioneer paper manufacturer of the county, began business when twenty-one years of age at Foster's, four years later put a grist mill there, and shortly afterward his first paper mill. The firm of Cornwall, Son & Brothers, in the course of time, erected paper mills at Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Geddes, Jackson, Foster's, etc., and employed over five hundred hands in the manufacture of paper.

The Peninsular Paper Company of Ypsilanti

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was incorporated in 1867 with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, its first officers being : L. A. Barnes, president; I. N. Conklin, vice-presi- dent ; and J. W. Van Cleve, secretary-treasurer. They erected large buildings just outside the old city limits of Ypsilanti and manufactured their first paper in 1868. In 1872 they erected a mill on the opposite side of the river from their first mill, known as Mill No. 2, for the manufacture of super-calendered paper. By 1880 the mills were manufacturing fifteen hundred tons of paper a year. In 1876 the capital stock was increased to one hundred thousand dollars. The mills are still running and are doing a large and profitable business.

A distillery was erected as early as 1826 by Captain Norton, Cephas Hawks, William Jarvis and Arden H. Ballard. This was run until 1849. when James N. and Newton Edmunds retired from business, and it was turned into an ashery.

Crane's tannery was erected in 1861, and was at one time the most important industry of the city, handling in one year twelve hundred calf and five hundred kip skins, and fifteen hundred hides. This tannery was one of the numerous tanneries that were established in Washtenaw about that time, and run with profit, but which have long ceased to exist.

At various times in Ypsilanti there have been established broom factories, pump factories, brick vards, lime kilns, marble works, bucket factories, spoke factories, whip socket factories, gas gov- ernor factories, carriage works, sash, door and blind factories, machine works, agricultural im- plement factories ; and, as a rule, the factories in Ypsilanti have been prosperously managed. The Curtis Carriage Factory, which is still in exist- ence, was established in 1868. The Ypsilanti Woolen Mills Company's mill and building be- low the Mill Street bridge, and its machinery, cost over one hundred thousand dollars. Batch - elder & Company's monument and marble works were established as early as 1850. Jacob Grob's brewery was established in 1861. The Grove Brewery was established in 1869 by Taufkirth & Trockenbrod and was run in a small way until purchased by the Foersters, since which it has done a large business. The Swayne Malt House

was built in 1872, succeeding the small malt house of L. C. Wellington located in a building which had originally been a schoolhouse.

The Ypsilanti Gas Works were built in 1858. In 1902 they were purchased by the Ann Arbor Gas Company, the price of gas being reduced to a dollar a thousand and the service improved.

Probably the oldest store in Ypsilanti is King's Grocery started by George R. King & Son in 1837. George R. King died in 1849, and his son Charles King carried on the business until his death, September 11. 1891, and he was succeeded by his son Charles who still conducts the business.

BANKS.

The Bank of Ypsilanti. This bank was organ- ized March 28. 1836. with Timothy Treadwell as president and David Ballentine as cashier, the capital stock being one hundred thousand dollars, of which ten per cent was paid in cash and the balance when the directors called for it. They issued wildcat currency and their credit was such that their notes were circulated freely long after the majority of the wildcat banks had been driven out of existence. Benjamin Follett was made cashier in May, 1837, and the bank was of great help to the young business men of the village. Later the stock changed hands and the bank was run with less conservatism, and the attorney- general was finally obliged to wind up its busi- ness.

The Huron River Bank. This bank was organ- ized under the wildcat banking law in 1838 with Arden H. Ballard as president and Myron V. Hall as cashier, securing its flood of notes of issue by mortgages on real estate supposed to be mort- gaged for one half of its value. As a specimen of the operation of the wildcat banking laws it may be stated that the French claim of six hun- dred and thirty acres was estimated to be worth sixty-five thousand dollars, but the land was afterward sold for ten dollars an acre. The bank failed after operating for eighteen months and the creditors of the bank were unable to realize anything upon its assets as the title to the French claim, No. 681, was not in the person who mort- gaged it.

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The Bank of Superior. This bank was located at what was then called Lowell, near where the Ypsilanti Paper Mills were afterward built. John Van Fossen was president and James M. Ed- munds cashier. It did not succeed in getting much wildcat currency into circulation, the total amount which it put into circulation being be- lieved to have been about $300, and this amount was stolen.

With these three banks, wildcat banking in Ypsilanti ceased. In 1852 Benjamin Follett, Isaac Conklin and Samuel Y. Denton organized a bank under the name of Follett, Conklin & Company, and opened an office near the Ypsi- lanti depot. In 1856 they moved to the building afterward occupied by the First National Bank, and continued in business until 1862, when the firm was dissolved. They were succeeded in 1862 by a firm organized by Benjamin Follett and R. W. Hemphill, under the title of Benjamin Follett & Company, which continued to transact a bank- ing business until 1865. when it was succeeded by Cornwall, Hemphill & Company. The bank- ing firm of E. & F. P. Bogardus was organized in 1860 and continued in business until 1867. when it was consolidated with the First National Bank.

The First National Bank. This bank was or- ganized January 4. 1864. by Benjamin Follett. Isaac N. Conklin, Asa Dow. D. L. Quirk and Cornelius Cornwall. It has always been one of the foremost banking institutions of Ypsilanti. and D. L. Quirk has presided as its president for a great many years. Charles E. King is vice president, Daniel L. Quirk, Jr., cashier and Fred L. Gallup, assistant cashier. Its capital stock is seventy-five thousand dollars and surplus seventy- five thousand dollars.

The Ypsilanti Savings Bank. This bank was organized May 15, 1887. Its first directors were Don C. Batchelder. R. W. Hemphill. S. M. Cutch- eon, Henry P. Glover and Stephen Moore. Don C. Batchelder was elected president, S. M. Cutch- eon, vice president, and R. M. Hemphill, cashier. A fine three story bank building, brick with stone trimmings, was erected on the corner of Con- gress and Huron streets at a cost of about twenty thousand dollars. The present officers of the

bank are Augustus Beyer, president : Henry P. Glover, vice president, and Robert W. Hemphill, cashier. The capital stock is fifty thousand dollars.

HOTELS.

Hotels were numerous in the early history of Ypsilanti and most of them were log houses. The first pretentious hotel was erected by Major Woodruff in 1825 and opened by Mr. McKinstrey in 1826. It was afterward the residence of Judge Whitmore and called the Whitmore House, and was situated on the west bank of the Huron near the Congress Street bridge.

The Perry House was built in 1827 by Chester Perry on the southeast corner of Congress and Huron streets. Mr. Perry had come from New York with the express intention of building a hotel at Ypsilanti and brought with him a large quantity of hotel furniture, window glass and sashes, and also many other articles which it might be difficult to obtain in a new country. He was ac- companied by a carpenter named Salmon Cham- pion. The goods were brought to Ypsilanti from Detroit in a flat boat as far as Rawsonville, from which point they were brought to Ypsilanti in wagons. In 1860 this hotel was bought by A. P. Bucklin and run as a first class house until 1867. In 1868 the building was burned.

The Colby House, two miles east of Ypsilanti. was erected by Z. Bowen in 1828 and at one time was the most pretentious tavern between Ypsi- lanti and Detroit. It was afterward conducted by William Colby, and purchased from him by E. D. Lay, and finally sold to a Mr. Wiard.

The Stackhouse was completed in 1830 by a Mr. Stackhouse on the north side of Congress street, a short distance east of the bridge, and in this house Dr. Andrews, George King, Abraham Sage and Andrew Brown successively presided as landlords.

The Hawkins House is the successor of a hotel known as Tolland's Trading House, built by a Mr. Tolland, a son-in-law of John Stewart, in 1827. It was on the southwest corner of Con- gress and Washington streets, and in it Tolland conducted a small trading store, selling out to a Mr. Foster, who converted it into a hotel and

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soon added a two story frame addition, which from 1830 was the hotel of Ypsilanti. Landlord Coy succeeded Foster, and he sold to Dr. Mil- lington. Abiel Hawkins purchased from Milling- ton in 1834. The next year he built an addition on the west side, and subsequently a large front to the hotel, so that by 1848 he had the ground on which Union Block is located covered with the hotel. In 1846 he deeded this property to his son, Walter H. Hawkins, who continued in the hotel business until 1879. when he soll the land and moved the main structure of the hotel further west as the rear of a new building which he erected and opened as a hotel September 24. 1879. at a cost of twenty-five thousand dollars. Since this time the hotel has passed through the hands of several proprietors, but still retains the name of Hawkins House.

The Western Hotel was built in 1838 by Mark Norris and opened in 1839 by Abiel Hawkins and Abraham Sage. The building was of brick with stone facings. It was finally torn down to make way for an extension of the Michigan Central Railroad.

The Follett House was built in 1859 by a stock company. Benjamin Follett being the principal stockholder. He afterward purchased the entire interest in the building. It was opened as a hotel by John Davis on July 4. 1859. In a few months Abiel Hawkins became landlord, and he was suc- ceeded by John M. Cutler. Aaron H. Goodrich. A. N. Tisdale, M. Cutler and James L. Stone.

The Occidental Hotel has had a varied career. It is a large hotel and under some managements has been a high class hotel.

The Ypsilanti Opera House was built in 1879. and formally opened in January, 1880, by a stock company, Messrs. Bogardus, Curtis and Quirk taking the lead in the movement for an opera house.

CEMETERIES.

The Indians had a great burial ground on the west bank of the Huron. extending from Cather- ine street to a line drawn east from Pearl street. A series of conical hills here covered the surface and innumerable relics of the Indian age have been dug up. including stone hatchets, iron

brooches, arrows, knives, skulls and skeletons. This burial ground was afterward covered with business blocks. It was supposed to have been the burial ground of the Wyandottes.

The first cemetery was deeded to the village in 1830 by Judge Lazelere, and about two hundred and fifty people were buried in it. It was un- fenced until 1847.

The second. cemetery was at the eastern end of Ellis street, and with additions covered nine acres, and over a thousand people were interred in it.

Highland Cemetery was laid out by Colonel Glenn, of Niles, who was employed as architect. and was dedicated July 14. 1854. the oration being delivered by Professor A. S. Welch. The first burial was the body of Elias Norton, which was buried a day before the dedication. The grounds included forty acres and a handsome large gate was erected in 1880 at a cost of twenty-five hun- dred dollars.

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Past and present of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Part 91

Author: Beakes, Samuel W. (Samuel Willard), 1861-; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company Publication date: 1906 Publisher: Chicago : The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 886

Author: Beakes, Samuel W. (Samuel Willard), 1861-; S.J. Clarke Publishing Company
Publication date: 1906
Publisher: Chicago : The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 886