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Advertisement from Threshermen's Review

by amy

Threshermen image

An advertisement from the August, 1912, issue of Threshermen's Review
(Click on image for larger view.)

submitted by Wystan Stevens

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Argo Mill a Total Loss

by amy

Ann Arbor Milling
image from the Downtown Historical Street Exhibits Program online.

from the Ann Arbor Daily Argus, Tuesday, January 5, 1904

"The Fire Yesterday Could Not be Subdued"

LOSS NEARLY $50,000

Property Insured in Six Companies for $32,000 -- Origin of the Fire a Mystery

The Argo mill, which caught fire at 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon, burned to the ground, causing a loss of nearly $50,000. Insurance to the amount of $32,000 is carried in six milling companies, but this amount includes the grist mill and 9,000-bushel elevator, valued at about $4,500, which were saved.

The fire broke out in the roller room and was discovered by head Miller Sherk and his assistant, H. F. Wolf, who had been in the room only a few moments before, when everything was all right. An alarm was turned in at once, but the flames spread with almost incomprehensible rapidity and by the time the fire department arrived the entire interior of the building was a raging furnace.

It was very evident that the building was doomed and the department devoted their energies to saving the grist mill and elevator and three cars of grain that stood on a siding.

Click READ MORE, below, to view the rest of the article.

Of the two hydrants near the mill one proved out of working order and it was necessary to go two blocks to get the second line of hose in operation. The pressure was also greatly inadequate, but finally the waterworks department began pumping directly into the pipes and the pressure became considerably stronger. The refractory hydrant was at last thawed out and the finale saw five streams at work.

The heat was intense, and the firemen suffered greatly, despite cloths wrapped about their heads and a wooden barricade used by the men working on the east side. The fire luckily started in the north end, so by concentrating their work on the south side, the grist mill, which is but a short distance from the south end, was saved. The sheet iron roof and sides of the grist mill became very hot and fearing that the structure could not be saved, a gang of men were set to work sacking and carrying out the grain. In this way a few hundred of the 4,500 bushels in the mill were taken away.

The heat was so intense on the east side that a telephone pole along the road caught fire, and the 100-wire cable attached to it melted so that the lines were all put out of service. The telephone company have sent for a cable expert and the lines will be put in commission again at the earliest possible date, which will be in about two weeks.

The roof of the Ann Arbor Machine Co. across the street began to smoke, and men were sent up with buckets of water. Finally a line of hose was run up on the roof.

The mill was shut down for repairs a few days ago, and the only machinery running was the apparatus used in unloading grain from the cars on the side track. The fire gained headway so rapidly that no one could get in to turn off the power, so the rumble of the machinery could be heard until the building was practically burned out.

Two of the men were laid off Saturday night, and the force at work yesterday consisted of Miller Sherk, Assistant Miller Wolf, Chas. Rooney and A. Christman. Rooney and Christman were at work on the scales outside the building when the alarm was given by Sherk and Wolf, who were unloading a car of wheat. Manager Kyer was at the Ann Arbor Machine Co. across the street and a section hand who was working on a side track outside the building saw smoke coming from a window and ran into the Machine Co.'s office calling out: "Mr. Kyer, your mill's on fire." Kyer rushed across the street to the mill, and the manager of the machine Co. called up the fire department. The alarm had just been sent in, however, by Miller Sherk.

The Argo mill burned to the ground in 1839 and again in 1849. Moses Seabolt, of the fire committee, who worked with the firemen yesterday also witnessed the other two fires. "The first one happened at 9 o'clock one night when I was a boy," he said, "and the second on Sunday morning. I was a member of the fire department then, and also an employee of the mill."

No explosion was heard and the exact cause of the fire is problematical. Friction or spontaneous combustion are evidently responsible, as there was no fire anywhere in the mill, which uses water power.

The officials of the company are unable at this time to give exact figures as to the loss.

The mill is controlled by the Michigan Milling Co. and the officers are: President, Col. H. S. Dean; vice president, W. C. Stevens; secretary and treasurer, G. Frank Allmendinger; manager, Nelson J. Kyer.

The fire department, under the direction of Chief Sipley, worked heroically. They deserve great credit for saving the grist mill, which was apparently bound to share the fate of the larger building."

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Argo Flour Mills Destroyed By Fire

by amy

Image removed.
image from the Making of Ann Arbor Postcard collection.

Text from the Ann Arbor Daily Argus, vol. 6, no. 26, Monday, January 4, 1904

"As we go to press the Argo Mills situated on the foot of Broadway street are on fire and the mill proper will undoubtedly be a total loss.

The fire appears to have originated in the room in which is located the roller machine used for grinding and was discovered shortly after three o'clock, by Head Miller Church and his assistant, H. F. Wolfe. Mr. Wolfe was in the room just before three o'clock [p.m.] and there were no signs of fire, but when he returned to the room at 3:05 it was all ablaze. The alarm was given and the department responded promptly, but it was soon discovered that the mill was doomed and the efforts of the firemen were directed to saving the elevator which adjoins the mill."

Take a closer look at the image above, a postcard of the mill prior to the fire, in the Making of Ann Arbor Postcard collection.

submitted by Wystan Stevens

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Antiques Shows in Ann Arbor

by amy

I don't think we should assume a connection between the Art Fair Antique Show on North U and the one that began at the Farmer's Market on Sundays, but quickly got too big (and caused neighbors of the market to complain about the lack of parking) and moved to the Saline Farm Council Grounds, where it became a phenomenon. The Farmers' Market-cum- Saline show was begun by Margaret Brusher, who had got her start as the impresario of the Good Samaritans' Antique Show, an annual nonprofit event, staged by Catholic women to fund Catholic Social Services and other charities. The Good Sams show was a fancy event with ritzy dealers from New York, Florida and California, which set up in the ballroom of a hotel on the south end of Ann Arbor.

submitted by Wystan Stevens

Click the READ MORE link, below, to continue...

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The Ugliest Building in Ann Arbor?

by amy

"Dear Wystan, since I know you will eventually stumble upon this photograph can I just go ahead and preemptively ask for information about the Masonic Temple? Thanks!" (photo and quote by Phil Dokas)

Phil, I am touched by your faith in my proclivity for stumbling . . . . I also stumbled across this page from Jim Rees, who concurs with your aesthetic assessment of the Federal Building.

Even as the Federal Building was taking shape, witnesses realized that it was not going to turn out well. Its insipid obtrusiveness compounded the felony that had been committed already in removing the Masonic Temple and several inoffensive houses, merely so that several dozen USPS trucks could be parked on a barren lot behind. The building's greatest sin was that it was not special enough for the site. As a structure, it was obviously unworthy of the sacrifice that had been made in the loss of the Temple.

Notwithstanding the negative impact that the new building made on the public mood, and on the downtown streetscape, within a few months of its completion it received awards from the Michigan chapter of the American Institute of Architects, and from some kind of academy of masonry contractors. Coincidentally, these outfits appear to have represented the only people anywhere who actually profited from its existence. I read stories about their awards in the newspaper, and snickered. Everyone could see that the emperor had no clothes.

In a memorable sally, Ann Arbor News columnist Jane Myers referred to the glassed-in staircase bay out in front as "King Kong's shower stall." (DeLaurentiis' 1976 version of the King Kong movie was still fresh in memory.)

John Baird supplies this photo of the Frehsee "Corner House" Building, on State Street at Washington, another worthy contender for your "ugliest" honors.

submitted by Wystan Stevens

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Check out our new local history blog

by amy

The Library's new Local History page now features a local history blog with contributions by local historians. Here you can discover (and comment upon) interesting facts about Tree Town, stumble across obscure bits of local lore, and learn about events, organizations, and collections relating to Ann Arbor history.

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Packard Brick Street ...

by jaimonr

Packard Brick St.
Taken by Piotr Michalowski in May 2007

Packard St. bricks before they re-paved between Main and Division

In an image in 1789, the bricks were between the parallel lines of the car tracks. When the car tracks were taken up, the space between them was also disrupted, and then sometime repaved with bricks as on Detroit Street. The original street railway line consisted of two lines- one out Packard and one up Williams street to circle the campus, both connecting to the MC Station. I do not think the original 1890 street car line went out Huron, since the interurban to Jackson in 1901 had a fight with the Ann Arbor Railroad over the crossing of tracks on Huron, which were at grade. The Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor Street Railway, which was steam operated with a "dummy engine" was built in 1890 and operated from Main and Huron out Packard to Ypsilanti, ending on the south end of town at Harriet Street, which may have been the end of the horse car line, which did go down Washington Street in Ypsilanti.

--- Mark H.

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Prof. Guthe home on Brookwood, Ann Arbor, after gas line explosion during storm, May 11, 1959

by jaimonr

Image removed.
Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University.

Line squall blew over trees, tree roots broke gas line, house filled with gas, exploded, burned. Visible damage to house on right as well. The Ann Arbor News in 1959 labeled this storm "The Worst Ever to Hit Ann Arbor" -- but the newspaper's historical perspective tends to be limited to the memory of the oldest person on the staff at any given time . . . .

Chris Guthe was in University School with me then (Remember ‘U High’-Kindergarten thru 12th grade, associated with the U of M from 1924 to it’s demise in 1969?-Now School of Ed.) we were at the end of first grade then—- I remember the storm, it did scare us kids. The protocol during storms at school there was to sit on the floor of the hallways or to go down into the tunnels below the school, part of the U of M service tunnels—we used to sneak down in those, it was fun. As I recall Chris was telling people that a tornado destroyed his house.

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Morgan horses grazed where Huron High now stands

by jaimonr

Ruthven after he retired from the UM bought a house on the Huron out there on Fuller, not the cobblestone house but another house, and started raising Morgan Horses across the street where the Huron playing fields are now. If you will remember, the school didn't have playing fields for the first couple years as they had to buy Ruthven's land separately.

This explains the spatial disconnect between the school and the playing fields. The land on the other side of the school, towards the VA, is owned by the UM and there's a medical waste dump there so Huron can't go that direction for expansion or playing fields.

I do remember the horse riding stable on the other side of the river where the tennis courts club is now. There was a barn and a lot more wooded land which I guess is the golf course now. I had my first (horrifying) horseback riding experience there at age 11 or 12.

-- Fran Wright