“…With the Greatest Determination…”

February is Black History Month! In observance, the Archives of Michigan presents this photo of Samuel Lett. Lett served in the 102nd United States Colored Troops (102nd U.S.C.T.) during the Civil War. This regiment officially mustered into federal service in Michigan on February 17, 1864 -144 years ago this month!

The 102nd United States Colored Troops

It began as the 1st Michigan Colored Infantry. On March 28, 1864, this regiment boarded a train for Annapolis, Maryland. From there, the men were sent to Hilton Head, South Carolina, arriving on April 19th. On May 23, 1864, the 1st Michigan Colored Infantry officially changed its designation to 102nd U.S.C.T. It was no longer under control of the State of Michigan but instead administered by U.S. Army’s Bureau for Colored Troops.

After arriving in Hilton Head, the 102nd was divided, with troops assigned to picket duty (or “guard duty”) on St. Helena, Jenkins and Hilton Head Islands. A few weeks later, the regiment was assigned to occupy Port Royal and construct fortifications there. On August 1, 1864, it was sent to Jacksonville, Florida. From there, the men marched twenty-one miles to Baldwin, Florida. There, a Confederate cavalry force attacked them. The 102nd U.S.C.T. fought bravely and drove the invaders from the field. The men continued marching through Florida. At Magnolia, they built more fortifications. Finally, the regiment was transferred to Beaufort, South Carolina, arriving on August 31, 1864.

Samuel Lett

At this point, Samuel Lett enters the story. He enlisted in Grand Rapids on August 31, 1864. Muster rolls note that he was twenty years old, although no birth date is cited.

Lett was mustered into the 102nd U.S.C.T.’s Company G. He arrived in Beaufort on October 4, 1864. He remained with the 102nd U.S.C.T. until it was mustered out of service at Charleston, South Carolina on September 30, 1865. The descriptive rolls provide no further details on his service, and no other biographical information is available.

“Covered Itself With Glory”

We do know that Lett’s regiment saw a great deal of action during his tour of duty. In November, 1864, a detachment of 300 joined a Union action to destroy the Charleston and Savannah Railroad around Pocataligo, South Carolina. One of the 102nd men declared that his regiment “covered itself with glory.” He asserted that the 102nd “maintained the steadiest line of battle and fought with the greatest determination of any troops.” The Confederates possessed greater firepower, however, and Union troops were forced to retreat. Men of the 102nd U.S.C.T. then participated in a successful counterattack to retrieve three hastily-abandoned Union cannons. Fighting continued in December, with the 102nd U.S.C.T. encountering combat at the Tillifinny River.

The year 1865 brought more hardship for the 102nd U.S.C.T. In late January, the entire regiment moved to Pocataligo. The Record of Service of Michigan Volunteers in the Civil War states that the 102nd U.S.C.T. then “made several expeditions in the enemy’s country, driving off his cavalry and destroying railroads and building breastworks.” The regiment separated into detachments at times, but then reunited in Savannah Georgia in March, 1865. The whole regiment then moved to Charleston, South Carolina.

In April, it again split into two detachments. One was commanded by Colonel Henry L. Chipman; the other by Major Newcom Clark. Chipman’s detachment was assigned to march from Charleston to the Santee River at Nelson’s Ferry (a total distance of seventy miles). These soldiers encountered – and drove off – Confederate cavalry along the way. Clark’s detachment joined with the 54th Massachusetts (another famed African American regiment). This group fought in several skirmishes and encountering a large Confederate force at Boykin’s, South Carolina. The Confederates were driven away and the two detachments of the 102nd U.S.C.T. were then reunited. Finally, on the morning of April 21, Companies A, B and C of the 102nd U.S.C.T. faced an attack by two hundred Confederates. The 102nd inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy and drove them back.

This would prove to be the 102nd U.S.C.T.’s last battle. The regiment spent the next five months on occupation duty and was then officially mustered out of service on September 30, 1865.

Sources

The Samuel Lett photo above was donated to the Archives of Michigan by Civil War researcher Hondon Hargrove. Mr. Hargrove’s short history of the 102nd U.S.C.T. proved essential in composing this essay. This history, entitled “Their Greatest Battle Was Getting Into the Fight,” can be found in Michigan History Magazine, vol. 75 (January/February 1991), pp. 24-30.

Photos of Samuel Lett and other Michigan Civil War soldiers can be viewed at Seeking Michigan’s “Discover” section (seekingmichigan.org/discover ). Click to view the descriptive entry on Samuel Lett.

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Note: This article originally appeared in the January/February 1999 issue of Michigan History Magazine. It has been updated in two ways: 1) “State Archives of Michigan” was changed to “Archives of Michigan,” to reflect the Archives’ current name. 2) The statistic on the amount of paper in the Archives (see concluding paragraph) now reflects the current, 2012 number, rather than the number from 1999.

President Andrew Jackson

The Archives of Michigan collects and preserves significant records generated by the state and local governments of Michigan. On rare occasions, however, this depository of Michigan’s documentary heritage is called upon to care for selected federal papers. There are four good examples of this unusual situation, and they all occurred years ago and at the same time.

The story of these seemingly strayed records begins in 1933, when U.S. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg discovered several interesting items squirreled away in the nation’s Capitol. In the files of the secretary of the Senate, he uncovered several original sheets of parchment that qualify as Michigan’s birth certificates.

The first of these handwritten treasures was a letter from President Andrew Jackson dated December 9, 1835. Addressed to the members of “the Senate and House of Representatives,” it notified Congress that Michigan had met the qualifications for statehood. [Editor's note: To read this letter, clickAndrew Jackson, Page 1 and Andrew Jackson, Page 2.]

The next find was Senate Bill 81 from the second session of the Twenty-fourth Congress. This document, bearing the date it was reported from the Senate Judiciary Committee, December 29, 1836, was the bill granting statehood to Michigan. [Editor's note: To read this bill, click Senate Bill 81, Page 1 and Senate Bill 81, Page 2.]

The remaining two documents were the credentials of Michigan’s first two U.S. senators, Lucius Lyon and John Norvell. Both of these men took their seats on January 26, 1837, the same day Michigan joined the Union.

Believing that these manuscripts would be more appreciated in Michigan than in Washington, Vandenberg crafted and submitted Senate Resolution 341. This measure directed the secretary of the Senate “to make photostatic copies” of the noted documents and deposit them in the Senate files. This having been done, the originals were to be sent to Lansing for permanent retention and preservation.

Vandenberg’s colleagues agreed to his proposal on February 9, 1933, marking the first time any state had been given the original documents admitting it to the Union. Two weeks later, the four congressional records arrived in Lansing.

Within the nearly full vaults of the Archives of Michigan are housed over sixty thousand cubic feet of the most important papers produced by public officials at the state, county, township and municipal level. But it is doubtful that anything in this vast amount of material has more sentimental value than the four isolated sheets of paper that declared Michigan the twenty-sixth state in the Union.

President Andrew Jackson's signature on the 1835 letter to Congress. The complete letter can be read at seekingmichigan.org/discover, in the Early Documents section.

Here's the link to the letter, and Happy Birthday, Michigan!

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Eddie Rickenbacker, circa 1919. Photo from the National Archives and Records Administration holdings (ARC identifier 533720). Digital copy found on wikimediacommons.org

Ace of Aces

After shooting down twenty-two enemy aircraft and four barrage balloons in less than a year, Captain Edward “Eddie” Rickenbacker became the most celebrated Allied airman of World War I, earning him the title “Ace of Aces.” He received the Congressional Medal of Honor, the French Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre, the Distinguished Service Cross and seven other medals.

At the close of the war, Rickenbacker returned home to a hero’s welcome of ticker-tape parades and other events in his honor. He retreated to the seclusion of the New Mexican desert to contemplate his future. He had been a race car driver before the war, and automobiles again filled his mind. He decided to build a car bearing his name.

Building a Car

Rickenbacker teamed up with some of the best and brightest automobile entrepreneurs of the time. Harry Cunningham was a former race driver turned engineer, and Walter Flanders and Barney Everitt were two-thirds of the EMF Company of Detroit. Rickenbacker contributed engineering ideas learned from his pre-war days building, selling and driving race cars.

Rickenbacker set out to design and build a mid-priced car with many advanced features. The stylish six-cylinder model he dreamed of would have a low center of gravity, a vibration-free tandem flywheel, cabin heater, air cleaner and a locking steering wheel. A 94th Squadron “Hat in the Ring” insignia graced the radiator housing. When it came to decide where such a car would be built, there was only one choice: Detroit, the Automobile Capital of the World.

The Rickenbacker Motor Company

Rickenbacker built factory prototypes in 1920 and logged eighty thousand miles test driving the cars himself. In 1922, the Rickenbacker Motor Company (RMC) went into full production, with Rickenbacker as vice-president in charge of sales. He barnstormed across the country flying in his airplane, selling cars and dealer franchises. Eventually, the company boasted a network of twelve hundred dealers in the U.S and three hundred worldwide. Between 1922 and 1924, RMC sold fifty thousand cars with price tags ranging from $1,485.00 for the touring model to $1,995.00 for a sedan.

Sales were brisk and in 1924, the company introduced the Vertical 8 Super Fine model. A promotional brochure bragged that “almost without exception, Rickenbacker factory officials and their wives drive this coupe model…it is a type much coveted and appreciated by young ladies and dowagers. It is quite as suitable for a man as a woman driver.” Other ads claimed that the motor “improves with use. Take a look at the frame. Comparatively, the Brooklyn Bridge does not provide such a factor of rigidity and strength.”

A family with a Rickenbacker car (Click on the image to view it in a larger size)

Four Wheel Brakes

Advertising rhetoric aside, the company seemed to be doing everything right and they announced a new automotive innovation. Four-wheel brakes have been standard equipment since Rickenbacker introduced them more than eighty years ago. The announcement that the braking system would be standard on their 1924 models caused a commotion in the automobile business. Several auto companies—notably Studebaker—mounted a slander campaign, claiming that four-wheel brakes were dangerous and unpredictable.

Believing in himself and his product, Eddie Rickenbacker dismissed the adverse publicity. Rather than play down the accusations, he touted the merits of the braking system by stenciling “4-WHEEL BRAKES” on the spare tire covers. Detractors claimed that this was necessary to avoid rear-end collisions caused by Rickenbacker cars stopping too fast.

End of a Dream

Despite the company’s efforts, sales began to lag. In 1926, Rickenbacker resigned from his position, and the company struggled on until 1927, when it declared bankruptcy and halted production. Ironically, the German company Audi bought the design, tooling and spare parts and installed Rickenbacker engines in some models.

At the age of thirty-five and $250,000 in debt, Rickenbacker had to abandon his dream of building a “Car Worthy of its Name.” He vowed to pay off his creditors and changed his career course. He bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and later became Chairman of the Board of Eastern Airlines. A survivor in life as well as business, Eddie Rickenbacker survived two airplane crashes before passing away in 1973 at the age of eighty-two.

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25 Christmas Lane on a winter's eve, circa 2010 (Photo courtesy of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland)

My favorite holiday movie is National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989). Clark Griswold, (Chevy Chase), our hero, has a plan for the traditional Griswold family Christmas that includes fifty thousand twinkling outdoor lights on the roof. When Clark drags his entire family out to see his masterpiece, the lights don’t work. The frustrating, yet entertaining, effort to fix the problem resonates with me (This includes Clark on the roof checking each individual bulb.). My favorite part comes when Clark prevails, the family is impressed, and he thanks his father for teaching him about exterior illumination.

Beginnings

Wallace Bronner (1927-2008) knew that exterior illumination is essential for the holidays. We are all familiar with his enormous enterprise: Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland, located on 25 Christmas Lane in Frankenmuth. Initially, this behemoth of holiday cheer started as a signage business. During the early forties, Wally worked as a sign painter and a clerk at the Hubinger Grocery Store, which was owned by his maternal relatives. Part of his job included designing window displays. In 1945, as Frankenmuth celebrated its centennial year, Bronner Display and Sign Advertising was in demand for painting signs and decorating store windows and parade floats. That year Wallace Bronner met Irene Ruth Pretzer, the woman he would marry on June 23, 1951 at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Hemlock, Michigan.

Signs designed by Wally Bronner for the city of Clare, 1951 (Photo courtesy of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland.).

Irene was instrumental in helping Wally land a monthly window display contract with the Jennison Hardware Company of Bay City (c. 1947) (Irene had attended Bay City Junior College and boarded at the home of G.W. Cooke, president of the hardware company.). Bronner’s work for the hardware company resulted in a referral to the town of Clare, Michigan (1951). This first municipal holiday commission was to design decorative lamppost panels. After that job, Wally hired his friend Fred Bernthal to look for new clients in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Ontario.

Bronner also entered into contracts with General Plastics Corporation (Marion, Indiana) and Mold-Craft Corporation (Port Washington, Wisconsin). These companies provided street trims and ornaments, latex Santas, reindeers and nativity scenes. In 1952, Bronner staged two shows exhibiting outdoor Christmas decorations, one in the Frankenmuth Township Hall, the other at the St. Lorenz School gymnasium. Both were successful. However, both venues were temporary. Bronner decided to rent a more permanent building, a vacated one-room schoolhouse (formerly Frankenmuth School District Number 1). Thus, year round exhibit of Christmas decorations became possible! “At first the people of the community thought the idea to be rather unusual, but accepted it fully when Frankenmuth became known as the Christmas Town.” (Bronner’s 2005 Corporate History, page 35.)

“Thinking Big”

Wally Bronner with employees. (Photo taken in the 1960s. Photo is courtesy Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland)

Herman Bronner (Wally’s father) was a building contractor and stone mason. He convinced his son to “think big” by changing the plans for the first Bronner-owned building from two, L-shaped, rectangular buildings to one large, square building. The Bronner’s store at 121 East Tuscola (a lot adjoining Aunt Hattie’s grocery store) opened in 1954. It was divided into two sections, one space for the sign painting business, the other for Christmas decorations.

Wally was grateful for his dad’s vision and business acumen. The municipal clientele grew to include shopping centers and commercial interiors. As buyers selected decorations for their stores and churches, their wives requested home decorations. From 1954 to 1963, Bronner exhibited at the Saginaw County Fair, which, at the time, boasted numbers of three hundred thousand people. By 1960, the company was officially incorporated, and home decorations were added to the product line. In 1964, the first billboard advertising Bronners appeared on I-75, ten miles south of Exit 136 (Frankenmuth). Many travelling up North are familiar with that sign. Subsequent ones (more than sixty located in seven states) continue to extol the importance of holiday cheer and illumination.

Source material

Picturesque Story of Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, as related by Wally Bronner. Published by Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, 2005.

The History of Bronner’s Christmas Decorations by Doris A Paul. Published by the Frankenmuth Historical Museum, 1981.

Brad Redford, a native of Frankenmuth visited Bronner's last year and has a pretty funny video in his show Redford's Rundown. However, we're going to have to go with this awesome music video of Wally Bronner (Christmas Always) by Michigan rockers The Hard Lessons. A little tip: click that link and subscribe to their email list to download their entire new album Arms Forest AND stay tuned at the end of the video for the B-side of this song, O Holy Night!

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“King of the Toy Train World”

For more than one hundred years, Lionel trains have been a favorite toy. Originally founded in New York City in 1900 by inventor Joshua Lionel Cowen, the company now resides in Michigan.

This photo dates from about the early 1930s. The train is identified as a Lionel - based on comparisons of the switches, signal, trucks, track gauges, etc. with contemporary Lionel catalogs.

Cowen designed his first train, the Electric Express, not as a toy but as a display for selling toys. Demand soon turned the train into a toy.

It was at this time that Cowen’s superior marketing abilities made their impact. Cowen is responsible for linking toy trains to the Christmas season. It was Cowen’s idea to include toy trains as part of crèche displays. Later, incredible showroom and department store displays would leave every young boy wanting toy trains for Christmas, and toy trains remain popular Christmas gifts today. Colorful annual catalogs also enticed buyers.

By the 1920s, Lionel was the king of the toy train world. It was during this period that Lionel produced some of their most beautiful trains. The locomotives and rolling stock were highly detailed.

Lionel ceased toy production during World War II and manufactured items for national defense.

“A Real Estate Developer Who Loved Toy Trains”

In 1971, Lionel moved to Mt. Clemens, Michigan, but the company experienced hard times. In 1986, Richard P. Kughn, a real estate developer in Detroit who loved toy trains from the time he was seven years old, bought Lionel Trains. The sales and quality of the trains improved dramatically.

Kughn once talked about his passion for toy trains. “I was walking home from school on trash day. There was a trash barrel out in front of a house with a train sticking out on top. I didn’t know much about trains or toy trains at the time, but it intrigued me so I pulled all the pieces out, including the tracks and the transformer. I took it home, and my dad helped me clean it up. We worked on it and put it on the ping-pong table in the basement, and it ran.”

Kughn said “If you’re happy in what you’re doing, in creating, putting things together, watching things happen in front of your eyes because of your efforts, it makes you smile. . .and time goes by rapidly when you play with toy trains—that’s happiness.”

In 1995, Kughn sold the company. Today, it is located in Chesterfield, Michigan.

Seeking Michigan would like to thank the following for consultation on the photo above:

Peter Magoun, Trains and Things Hobbies, Traverse City, Michigan
Mark Cowles, Lansing Area N-Trak Model Railroad Club
Various members of the National Model Railroad Association

You can click to visit Lionel Trains, and here's a blast from the past - The Wonderful World of Trains from Lionel Trains.

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A Man and His Mountain from Justin Vander Velde on Vimeo.

Mt Mancelona Postcard, Cardcow.com

Last winter Jason Dodge of miskireport.com and his crew spent time at Mount Mancelona and, with intern Justin Vander Velde and the  assistance of the documentary class at Grand Valley State, produced this very cool video about long-shuttered Mt. Mancelona.  Jason writes:

This project is the pinnacle of things that I have been involved with up until this point. A Man and His Mountain not only tells the story of Mt. Mancelona, but it uncovers the true passion that owner Joe has been hanging onto for the past 22 years.

After having the privilege of meeting Joe, listening to the stories, and working alongside the crew to capture the history, I ask myself why would I not want to come to Mt. Mancelona? Why would I not want my family to experience this place? After all, isn’t this true ski culture? Perhaps I’m a touch traditional and don’t get that knocked out about the fancy high-speed lifts, gondolas and magic carpets. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy riding in a Cadillac as much as the next guy, but there is a lot to appreciate about rusty t-bars, the smell of raw fuel in a 1960’s Tucker, and an old weathered lodge. This is the natural patina of skiing and snowboarding, captured at Mt. Mancelona.

Looking down Mt Mancelona, miskireport.com

Read on for more about the project and some production stills. A cool site we found is Michigan Lost Ski Areas Project (MILSAP). Their entry for Mt. Mancelonanotes that:

In 1958, Sports Illustrated reported a 1200′ t-bar with a 300′ rise, and 5 ropes. New for 1958 were 3 rope tows, the lodge with locker room and bar, a new trail, lights for Friday night skiing and hi-fi skiing music.

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U.S. government poster, 1942. Click on images to view them in a larger size (Image from the United States National Archives. Wikimedia Commons).

It has been seventy years since the "Day of Infamy" – December 7, 1941. On that day, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, propelling the United States fully into World War II. For an entire generation of Americans, the world changed forever.

Today, later generations may wonder how it felt to experience firsthand such a pivotal moment of history. Twenty years ago, Michigan History Magazine provided some insight. The Magazine's November/December 1991 issue contains reminisces on that fateful day.

Up Close

The reminiscences include eye witness accounts of the attack. Frank Peter Stock of Hamtramck recalls several Japanese planes passing him overhead. "The rear machine gun of each plane sprayed us with bullets," he writes. "They were so close that you could almost count the stitches in the pilots' helmets... My first thoughts were that this was a drill, and we should act accordingly. But I had never seen planes come in from this direction before."

Ted Blahnik of Coloma also experienced the attack firsthand. He had been aboard the ship Helena. "We thought we were hearing bees," he remembered. "Later on, when we cleaned up our gunmount area, we discovered it was actually bullets that we heard." He also recalled post-attack conditions: "One of the most heartrending things that I witnessed was after the water was out of the Helena. The fellows went into the dry dock area, up to the gaping hole that the torpedo made, and took the bodies out from the area in which the torpedo hit."

Back Home

Americans on the home front also held vivid memories of December 7, 1941. Many recalled hearing radio news casts. Forest B. Meek of Clare remembered The Shadow radio program being interrupted. "What kid in the eighth grade knew where Pearl Harbor was?," he asked. "I sure didn't, and this interruption was an invasion into my private world of good versus evil." Mary Anderson of West Branch recalled hearing the news on a car radio. Christine Stevinson of Royal Oak remembered being at a party. "The radio was on," she said, "but there was so much laughing and talking no one heard the news for awhile. But suddenly, someone caught a bit of the broadcast and complete silence reigned." Others stated that they heard the news from someone else and then quickly turned on the radio. As December 7, 1941 was a Sunday, a few people reported hearing the news in church.

U.S. Navy sailors in a motor launch rescue a survivor of the U.S.S. West Virginia, December 7, 1941 (U.S. Navy photo from the National Archives. Wikimedia Commons).

Reactions

Elizabeth Anesi of Portland stated that "My roommate and I had the same reaction: we didn't really believe it. My roommate said, 'The only thing I remember hearing about the last war was the shortage of sugar,' so she went into the kitchen and made a batch of fudge."

Disbelief is, in fact, a common theme in the recollections. Other reactions are noted as well. Margaret Greene of Marshall stated that, "Our first reaction was disbelief, then outrage." Virginia Weaver of Lansing remembered some fear. "Everyone in the house feared the future," she said. "None of us slept well that night."

One thing is certain: The Pearl Harbor attack changed America and the world. As Duane T. Brigstock of Battle Creek wrote, "For many of us, our lives changed forever, creating such a division in our life that we still speak of 'before the war' and 'after the war.'"

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...at which time the center courtyard section was enclosed by the addition of a geodesic dome roof section weighing 18,000 pounds. The Rotunda reopened to the public on June 16, 1953, as part of Ford's 50th Anniversary Celebration. A highlight of this celebration included 50 huge Birthday candles, mounted and lit along the rim of the Rotunda.

The ultra-modern Rotunda was a huge attraction, becoming the fifth most popular United States tourist destination during the 1950s. In fact, only Niagara Falls, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, The Smithsonian Institution, and the Lincoln Memorial were more popular. Yellowstone, Mount Vernon, the Washington Monument, and the Statue of Liberty all received less visitors.

The annual Christmas Fantasy held during the Holiday season was partially responsible for the Rotunda's popularity, with nearly a half million people visiting during 1953, the very first year it was held. A giant Christmas tree was always a spectacular thing to see, and the Christmas Fantasy became more spectacular each year. Highlights from various years included animated characters from children's stories, a 1/2" per foot scale 15,000-piece miniature circus with 800 animals, 30 tents, and 435 toy figurines of circus performers and customers. In all, nearly 6 million people visited the Christmas Fantasy during the nine years it was held at the Rotunda.

When flames consumed a Christmas fantasy from the Detroit News Rearview Mirror relates that over 6 million people visited the Christmas Fantasy over the 9 years it was held and tells the sad tale of how it burned to the ground on November 9, 1962. You can see some more photos from Ford and see a Ford Rotunda slideshow from Karen Breen-Bondie.  Many of the photos below also appear on Television History - The First 75 Years. They also have a nice aerial of how the Ford Rotunda was located in relation to the Rouge Plant.

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Here is a portrait of Elsie Schuenemann at the wheel of the Christmas Ship, near the Clark Street Bridge on the Chicago River in the Loop community area of Chicago, Illinois. The boat carried Christmas trees to Chicago from Michigan. Her father, Captain H. Schuenemann, died when the Rouse Simmons, a ship carrying Christmas trees, sank in 1912.

The trees behind her likely came from the woods of Escanaba. Though the story of Barbara Schuenemann and her three daughters carrying on the tradition of the Christmas Tree Ships has perhaps been a little over-romanticized, there can be little doubt that the Schuenemann family and the many others who participated in the difficult trade of hauling Christmas trees south as the storms of winter closed in were heroes cut from a cloth that isn't found too often today.

If you'd like to read more about all the Christmas tree ships (there were many more than just the famous Rouse Simmons) I recommend Christmas Tree Ships from Fred Neuschel. He has also written a book called Lives and Legends of the Christmas Tree Ships (available from UM Press). The National Archive also has The Christmas Tree Ship: Captain Herman E. Schuenemann and the Schooner Rouse Simmons that details the Schuenemann's story.

You can also see Rich Evenhouse's great video of diving the Rouse Simmons - click for more of his dive videos.

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The Carl D. Bradley, circa 1950 (Photo From the Edwin T. Brown Collection, Archives of Michigan)

Editor’s note: This article was first published in the January/February 2009 issue of Michigan History magazine.

“A Deafening Thud”

Abandon ship! Abandon ship! The whistle squawked seven short blasts, then one long blast. It was a signal twenty-six year old deck watchman Frank Mays knew well, but never expected to hear. Just minutes earlier, he had been having a smoke with Gary Price in the dunnage room, deep in the bow, when they heard a deafening thud. “We hightailed it out of there to find out what had happened,” Mays recalls. “When I reached the upper deck, I looked aft and saw the stern flapping up and down like a dog’s tail.” The Carl D. Bradley‘s back had broken, and it would be only a matter of minutes before water filled the tunnels and cargo holds of the 639-foot vessel. It was 5:30 p.m. on November 18, 1958.

Final Voyage

The Bradley had departed Gary, Indiana the day prior, running in ballast in building southwest seas along Lake Michigan’s western shore. On the season’s final voyage, the veteran boat was scheduled to head to Manitowoc, Wisconsin for repairs during its winter lay-up. The rusting cargo had been due for an $800,000 replacement for over a year, but its owner, Bradley Transportation Company, a subsidiary of U.S. Steel, pushed the work back until the end of the season. A radio call from headquarters ordering an additional stone delivery before lay-up proved to be the demise of the Bradley. Despite reports of gale-force winds and thirty-foot seas that compelled other freighter captains to take shelter along Wisconsin’s shore, Captain Roland Bryan, known as a “heavy weather man,” headed northeast across the lake from the Door County peninsula toward the Straits of Mackinac and back to Rogers City. At 5:35 p.m., the Bradley sank twelve miles southwest of Gull Island.

“The Worst Night of His Life”

Even today, survivor Mays recalls that horrific night with clarity. Hunkered down on the life raft just aft of the pilothouse, he trembled realizing the sinking beneath him. His eyes were drawn aft toward the flying sparks as the huge steel deck plates began to tear apart. In the growing darkness and mayhem, he could make out second mate John Fogelsonger running toward the stern and leaping over the break. Before his eyes, his friend disappeared as the Bradley ripped apart. The next thing Mays recalls was being pitched into the air, landing in the icy, angry water and then struggling onto the raft where he fought to hold on through the worst night of his life.

“A Painful Memory”

By morning, only Mays and first mate Elmer Fleming were alive. After fifteen bone-numbing hours in the icy waters, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Sundew rescued them. All thirty-three of their mates, including Gary Strelecki and Dennis Meredith, who shared the raft for most of the night, as well as two of Frank’s own cousins, perished. These men left behind twenty-five widows and fifty-four fatherless children. Considering twenty-three of the crew hailed from Rogers City, the home port of the Bradley, the loss personally affected nearly everyone in the small community. Fifty years later, the sinking is still a painful memory.

As promised, here is the trailer for November Requiem. You can get the Emmy Award Winning DVD right here from the Presque Isle County Historical Museum.

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This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.
~Elmer Davis

Today's photo and quotation is provided by luna.nik and I think that it pretty much sums up what is asked, what is given and what we are called to remember and honor on Veterans Day and all the year long.

If you don't get a chance to get out to Veteran's Day parades or ceremonies to hear some veterans speak, you can see some interviews with veterans from the Southfield Veterans Commission that were produced as part of the Library of Congress Veterans History Project. This one features Herbert Howard of Southfield and there are many more right here.

Much more Michigan Veterans Day information.

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~A message found in a bottle 11 days after Plymouth disappeared, dictated by Chris Keenan, federal marshal in charge of the barge

Wikipedia says that the Great Lakes Storm of 1913, also known as the "Freshwater Fury"or the "White Hurricane", was a blizzard with hurricane-force winds that ravaged the Great Lakes November 7-10, 1913. With the sinking of 19 ships, the stranding of another 19 and a death toll of at least 250, it remains the deadliest and most destructive natural disaster in Great Lakes history.

Major shipwrecks occurred on all but Lake Ontario, with most happening on southern and western Lake Huron. Lake masters recounted that waves reached at least 35 feet (11 m) in height. Being shorter in length than waves ordinarily formed by gales, they occurred in rapid succession, with three waves frequently striking in succession. Masters also stated that the wind often blew in directions opposite to the waves below. This was the result of the storm's cyclonic motion*, a phenomenon rarely seen on the Great Lakes.

In the late afternoon of November 10, an unknown vessel was spotted floating upside-down in about 60 feet (18 m) of water on the eastern coast of Michigan, within sight of Huronia Beach and the mouth of the St. Clair River. Determining the identity of this "mystery ship" became of regional interest, resulting in daily front-page newspaper articles. The ship eventually sank, and it was not until early Saturday morning, November 15, that it was finally identified as the Charles S. Price. The front page of that day's Port Huron Times-Herald extra edition read, "BOAT IS PRICE" DIVER IS BAKER "SECRET KNOWN". Milton Smith, the assistant engineer who decided at the last moment not to join his crew on premonition of disaster, aided in identifying any bodies that were found.

You can get a map to the wreck of the Charles S Price, and here's a list of shipwrecks of the 1913 storm and an account of the weather. You can see more photos from Wikipedia and also in Lakeland Boating's slideshow of some of the on and offshore damage from the Freshwater Fury (includes a shot of the Price prior to its sinking). GreatLakesShips has this excellent tribute to the ships and crews that didn't weather the storm below and you'll also want to check out this interview with survivor Edward Kanaby.

*The Great Lakes storm of October 2010 had cyclonic wind patterns as well.

More at absolutemichigan.com/Shipwreck and even Michigan shipwrecks on Michigan in Pictures (where this post originally appeared).

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Detroit Gargoyles by The Whistling Monkey
part of a set of detroit Gargoyles

Among all the impish offspring of the Stone God, wizards and witches, that made Detroit feared by the early settlers, none were more dreaded than the Nain Rouge (Red Dwarf), or Demon of the Strait, for it appeared only when there was to be trouble. In that it delighted. It was a shambling, red-faced creature, with a cold, glittering eye and teeth protruding from a grinning mouth. Cadillac, founder of Detroit, having struck at it, presently lost his seigniory and his fortunes. It was seen scampering along the shore on the night before the attack on Bloody Run, when the brook that afterward bore this name turned red with the blood of soldiers. People saw it in the smoky streets when the city was burned in 1805, and on the morning of Hull's surrender it was found grinning in the fog. It rubbed its bony knuckles expectantly when David Fisher paddled across the strait to see his love, Soulange Gaudet, in the only boat he could find--a wheel-barrow, namely--but was sobered when David made a safe landing.

It chuckled when the youthful bloods set off on Christmas day to race the frozen strait for the hand of buffer Beauvais's daughter Claire, but when her lover's horse, a wiry Indian nag, came pacing in it fled before their happiness. It was twice seen on the roof of the stable where that sour-faced, evil-eyed old mumbler, Jean Beaugrand, kept his horse, Sans Souci--a beast that, spite of its hundred years or more, could and did leap every wall in Detroit, even the twelve-foot stockade of the fort, to steal corn and watermelons, and that had been seen in the same barn, sitting at a table, playing seven-up with his master, and drinking a liquor that looked like melted brass. The dwarf whispered at the sleeping ear of the old chief who slew Friar Constantine, chaplain of the fort, in anger at the teachings that had parted a white lover from his daughter and led her to drown herself--a killing that the red man afterward confessed, because he could no longer endure the tolling of a mass bell in his ears and the friar's voice in the wind.

The Nain Rouge it was who claimed half of the old mill, on Presque Isle, that the sick and irritable Josette swore that she would leave to the devil when her brother Jean pestered her to make her will in his favor, giving him complete ownership. On the night of her death the mill was wrecked by a thunder-bolt, and a red-faced imp was often seen among the ruins, trying to patch the machinery so as to grind the devil's grist. It directed the dance of black cats in the mill at Pont Rouge, after the widow's curse had fallen on Louis Robert, her brother-in-law. This man, succeeding her husband as director of the property, had developed such miserly traits that she and her children were literally starved to death, but her dying curse threw such ill luck on the place and set afloat such evil report about it that he took himself away. The Nain Rouge may have been the Lutin that took Jacques L'Esperance's ponies from the stable at Grosse Pointe, and, leaving no tracks in sand or snow, rode them through the air all night, restoring them at dawn quivering with fatigue, covered with foam, bloody with the lash of a thorn-bush. It stopped that exercise on the night that Jacques hurled a font of holy water at it, but to keep it away the people of Grosse Pointe still mark their houses with the sign of a cross.

It was lurking in the wood on the day that Captain Dalzell went against Pontiac, only to perish in an ambush, to the secret relief of his superior, Major Gladwyn, for the major hoped to win the betrothed of Dalzell; but when the girl heard that her lover had been killed at Bloody Run, and his head had been carried on a pike, she sank to the ground never to rise again in health, and in a few days she had followed the victims of the massacre. There was a suspicion that the Nain Rouge had power to change his shape for one not less offensive. The brothers Tremblay had no luck in fishing through the straits and lakes until one of them agreed to share his catch with St. Patrick, the saint's half to be sold at the church-door for the benefit of the poor and for buying masses to relieve souls in purgatory. His brother doubted if this benefit would last, and feared that they might be lured into the water and turned into fish, for had not St. Patrick eaten pork chops on a Friday, after dipping them into holy water and turning them into trout? But his good brother kept on and prospered and the bad one kept on grumbling. Now, at Grosse Isle was a strange thing called the rolling muff, that all were afraid of, since to meet it was a warning of trouble; but, like the feu follet, it could be driven off by holding a cross toward it or by asking it on what day of the month came Christmas. The worse of the Tremblays encountered this creature and it filled him with dismay. When he returned his neighbors observed an odor--not of sanctity--on his garments, and their view of the matter was that he had met a skunk. The graceless man felt convinced, however, that he had received a devil's baptism from the Nain Rouge, and St. Patrick had no stancher allies than both the Tremblays, after that.

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Elmore Leonard, The Dickens of Detroit

Detroit author Elmore Leonard is celebrating his eighty-sixth birthday today (October 11, 2011). Leonard was born in New Orleans in 1925. He has made the Detroit area his home since 1934, when his family moved there. The city of Detroit often serves as the main character in his novels. As a result, fans often refer to Elmore Leonard as the ‘Dickens of Detroit.”

Leonard graduated from University of Detroit Jesuit High School in 1943. He then immediately joined the Navy, where he served with the Seabees. After his service, he enrolled at the University of Detroit and graduated in 1950 with a degree in English and Philosophy. Leonard started his writing career as a copywriter at the Campbell-Ewald Advertising Agency. Writing on the side, he was able to publish his first novel, The Bounty Hunters in 1953. In his early career, he focused on writing pulp Westerns, because that was what was selling at the time. Leonard eventually moved on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers. A large number of his books have been turned into movies or television programs.

Critics praise Leonard for his effective use of dialogue and the gritty realism in his books. His unique ear for dialogue and the ability to capture it on the page is rarely matched. Concise and plot driven, his stories are stuffed with colorful characters and tricky, often humorous plot twists. “If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it,” serves as Leonard’s writing mantra. He explains his success when advising aspiring writers by stating, “Try to leave out the parts that readers tend to skip.” Stephen King has called him “the great American writer.”

Among Leonard’s best known works are Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Mr. Majestyk, LaBrava, Rum Punch, Freaky Deaky and Killshot. In 2010, his short story “Fire In the Hole’ was the basis for the television series Justified. The Library of Michigan owns all of Leonard’s works in their Michigan Collection. Search ANSWER, the Library’s online catalog to locate works by Elmore Leonard.

Sources for this article include the WMRA Public Radio Blog and you can learn more about Elmore Leonard at his web site.

You can check out a video where Elmore Leonard's shares his tips for writers, but we'll start you off with part 1 of a 4 part feature on Elmore Leonard from Emery King's World Class Detroiters. Here's part 2, part 3 and part 4!

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A poster for McCay's Gertie the Dinosaur cartoon, 1914 (Click for a larger view).

Winsor McCay, pioneering animator and comic strip artist, was a native of Spring Lake, Michigan. Spring Lake is also where he began his career in art. His father, Robert McCay, and mother Janet ran a grocery store in the village. While it is probable that Winsor was born in 1867 during a visit to his mother’s family in Ontario, McCay stated that he was born September 26, 1871, in Spring Lake, Michigan. He always considered Spring Lake his hometown.

In 1880, the Goodrich steamship Alpena, en route from nearby Grand Haven to Chicago, was wrecked in a terrible storm and sank to the bottom, carrying with it nearly one hundred passengers. At the age of thirteen, young Winsor drew a picture of the wreck on the blackboard of Union School, which he attended on Exchange Street. The illustration was photographed and copies were sold as postcards.

A panel from the comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905-1914)

McCay’s comic strips included Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. McCay created the very first animated cartoon in America with the release of Little Nemo in 1911 (See video link below).

Many in the animation world hail McCay today as the “Father of Animation.” As a tribute, the highest award that an animator can receive is an “Annie,” which is the Winsor McCay Award for Lifetime Achievement in Animation. When Disneyland first opened in 1955, so the story goes, Walt Disney took Robert McCay, son of Spring Lake native Winsor McCay, on a guided tour. He stopped near the end and said, “You know, this should really belong to your father.”

Winsor McCay passed away on July 26, 1934.

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Yesterday the Detroit Tigers powered to their 11th straight victory, a 5-0 shutout hurled by Justin Verlander, his 11th in a row as well and 23rd victory overall. The Tigers are now 12 1/2 games atop the AL Central and reduces their magic number to clinch to 4.

11 in a row ties the longest winning streak ever by the Detroit Tigers (September 9-21, 1968), and we thought it would be great to feature a little something from the other Tiger squad they are tied with, the 1968 Detroit Tigers. It's almost a half hour of footage from when the Tigers clinched the pennant and is a rare and wonderful look at one of the best baseball teams of all time.

Check out Mayo Smith at 6:30, and let's hope Jim Leyland is looking like that a whole lot over the next several weeks!

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The UAW and GM bargaining teams negotiate the Treaty of Detroit, 1950 (Photo courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University)

As the national debate over universal health care continues, it is instructive to look back to 1950. The “Treaty of Detroit,” signed that year, represents a pivotal moment in the offering of full medical benefits to the American worker.

Pattern Bargaining

Under Walter Reuther, the United Auto Workers (UAW) evolved the negotiating practice of pattern bargaining with the Big Three. In essence, the UAW would pick a strike target among Ford, Chrysler and General Motors (GM) during each negotiating year. The other two companies would match the concessions won by the UAW from the strike target and avert costly strikes at their own factories.

In 1950, the UAW pattern bargaining target was Ford, and among the major issues were pensions and full medical benefits. Ford quickly settled, and, after a 104 day strike, Chrysler agreed as well. GM followed suite. In what was hailed as the “Treaty of Detroit,” all autoworkers at the three carmakers would receive full pensions and full medical care. The trickle down effect was felt across the United States, as companies in the automotive and other industries followed the trend. For the first time, large segments of workers in the United States would have affordable health care, provided through their companies. Individuals and families who couldn’t afford to see a doctor, or for whom a medical emergency was an economic disaster of epic proportions, were now part and parcel of the growing health care system.

Personal Experience

Reuther himself had been forced to use the existing health care system in extreme fashion. He had been the victim of an assassination attempt in his house in northwest Detroit on April 20, 1948. After returning home after a late UAW meeting, Reuther was hit by a shotgun blast through the kitchen window as he was opening the family refrigerator. Wounded in the chest and right arm, Reuther suffered a long process of recovery and knew from first-hand experience the costs associated with the extremes of medical care. No doubt this played heavily on his mind as he negotiated the Treaty of Detroit.

Walter Reuther recuperates after the 1948 attempt on his life. His wife May watches over him. (Photo courtesy of Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University)

For much more about Walter Reuther, visit the Walter P. Reuther Library. Of particular interest is No Greater Calling: The Life of Walter P. Reuther. It was developed to commemorate his 100th birthday and also has text and even audio of speeches, photos and more.

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Maker Faire Detroit 2010 by OnInnovation

Absolute Michigan had the chance to talk with a few of the makers who will be at the event and Marc Gruether, Chief Curator of The Henry Ford about Maker Faire. Marc told us that a few years ago, Dale Dougherty of MAKE Magazine was looking to grow the movement and Maker Faire. He turned his eyes to the Midwest and was struck by Detroit's unique assets. Through a Twitter post, they heard Dale was visiting and invited him to tour of the Henry Ford. Dale said. "Wouldn't it be kind of cool if Maker Faire could happen here?" and the rest is history.

While many folks might think that a partnership between an entity like the Henry Ford that is all about the past and Maker Faire, a celebration of maker culture that is very much rooted in the here & now is incongruous, Marc explained:

"Make Magazine and Maker Faire are optimistic and venturesome and very much about the present. If you're a museum professional, you understand that while your resources are from the past, these artifacts have power and relevancy in the here and now. At the Henry Ford we have phenomenal materials that can inform the present, and I think that the combination of Maker Faire Detroit and the museum create an environment where ideas can collide and churn and everything leverages everything else. It's a solid whole.

Last year I was watching some of the younger makers and the conversations that were taking place between them and around the works of some of the great makers from the past like Thomas Edison and the Wright brothers.

Dale's notion was not to import an event from somewhere else. Maker Faire Detroit is a user generated event. The participants are the content are important to our region due to the particular sense of adventure that's in our museum and in the factories, tool and die shops and garages of the area. This event pulls innovators out of their garages to share their work with the public in a highly interactive fashion."

Maker Faire by Maia C

Matt Gryczan is a maker from Grand Rapids who will be introducing Space Age Building Blocks - wooden blocks that when stacked create an arch like the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Matt told us, "I was an early subscriber to MAKE magazine, and I read with a lot of envy a few years ago about what makers were going at the Bay Area Maker Faire near San Mateo, Calif. It was 'art festival meets science fair' only the demonstrators just did the cool part of the project and chucked the boring cardboard displays. I couldn't believe the opportunity that we had when MAKE launched a Maker Faire in Detroit. We really know how to invent in Michigan and the Midwest, and I'd say this fair does more to spark interest in science and technology in youngsters and adults than a truck full of textbooks."

Fellow maker Nicholas Britsky of i3 Detroit agreed, adding "This event is a great opportunity for Detroit for a number of reasons. The first is recognizing Detroit as a center of innovation and creativity both currently and in the past. The second is it gives a typically underground or very under reported group of individuals a chance to show off their projects to the public. Finally, it inspires kids to start building and hacking at home and showing them that it is possible to remix normally household supplies and hardware store buys to make cool new things."

Ouch, watch who's hand you burn with that by jadonk

Nicholas is taking three projects to Maker Faire. One of the coolest are and invention called Monster Shoes that allow kids to strap a contraption on their feed and leave tracks around Maker Faire in the shape of monster foot prints.

Marc concluded, "It's like any event, and in some sense the same as being an entrepreneur. You do all your planning but these things have a life of their own. What emerges is a powerful thing."

Make Magazine has a neat post from last year titled Making Detroit: Changing the Story that is well worth a read. Many more in their "Making Detroit" section! You can see tons of cool videos on the Maker Faire Detroit web site. We'll leave you with a great video from Leo LaPorte of TWit Live.

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Actor Ray Milland (1905-1986) figures in this week’s blog post. I love Ray Milland – whether he is the dashing Major Kirby who befriends the lovely but scamming Ginger Rogers in The Major and the Minor(1942) or the evil Tony Wendice who plots to murder the beautiful, but unfaithfulGrace Kelly in Dial M for Murder (1954). Milland’s name, along with Paulette Goddard‘s, appears on the theater marquee in this photograph of the Gratiot Drive-In.

Gratiot Drive-In Theater, Roseville, MI

The Gratiot Drive-In

The Gratiot was located in Roseville, Michigan. This elaborate theater, with its cascading waterfall on the front of the screen tower, opened in 1948. By the 1950s, such drive-in theaters had become part of American culture. Drive-ins promised movies at a cheap price, to be enjoyed by families or teenage couples from the comfort of their own automobiles.

Cars and Movies

The combination of cars and movies was the brilliant idea of thirty-year old Richard Hollingshead, Jr., of Riverton, New Jersey. (Some sources attribute his mother as being the inspiration, because she found theater seats too uncomfortable.). Hollingshead experimented in his backyard by tacking a projection screen on a tree and mounting a 1928 Kodak projector on the hood of his car. A radio was placed behind the screen for sound. An important hurdle to overcome: visibility. Cars could not be directly parked behind other cars. Hollingshead designed a configuration that varied the distance between cars and placed blocks and ramps under the front wheels of the cars further away from the screen. These terraced ramps were instrumental to the patent (Patent # 1,909,537.) that Hollingshead received on May 16, 1933. Hollingshead then formed a company – Park-In Theaters, Inc. – with Willie Warren Smith, his first cousin.

Click this line to view Hollinghead’s patent

Hollingshead and Smith built the Automobile Movie Theater (known as the Drive-In Theater) on Crescent Boulevard in Pennsauken Township, New Jersey (Some sources give a Camden address, but the theater was built just over the town line.). Its first movie, Wives Beware (1932) opened on June 6, 1933. In 1936, Hollingshead sold his drive-in, and the operation moved to Union, New Jersey. Factors that contributed to the sale: the high cost of film rental, problems with sound synchronization, and insects.

Drive-In Boom

Retaining his interest in Park-In Inc., Hollingshead felt he would enjoy steady income from licensing fees. Unfortunately, other entrepreneurs were ready to thwart this plan by questioning the legality of his patent. After years of legal morass, Hollingshead lost when the First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the patent “was not inventive at all, but a mere facsimile of the layout an indoor Theater utilized, only having cars instead of seats. The terracing of vehicles was deemed to be a mere adoption of the sloped floor in a Theater auditorium and was an obvious design, not novel in any way.” The Drive-In Theater patent was overturned in 1949 (See: Water Winter Wonderland: Drive-In History).

The demise of this patent and technical innovation in sound quality led to a United States drive-in boom, particularly in rural areas. While statistics vary, it appears that by 1955, Americans could enjoy the outdoor movie experience at about four thousand venues throughout the country. Some of these were huge, ready to accommodate thousands of cars, provide concession stands and offer additional fun, such as amusement park rides or playgrounds. Others were more modest in screen size and number of automobiles served. Some were so basic that the movie was shown by a 16mm projector. The Gratiot Drive-In boasted a waterfall illuminated by colored lights. If the cartoon and main attraction did not entice you onto the grounds, perhaps the water would. The cost of construction is estimated at $400,000. Car capacity: one thousand. It operated from April 30, 1948 until Labor Day, September 3, 1984.

End of an Era

The Gratiot, like many others, closed because of economic factors. American movie habits tended toward indoor multiplexes or the video stores. In addition, monolithic drive-ins were taking up expensive real estate that could be developed for more lucrative retail business ventures. The Gratiot Drive-In was demolished on the same day that the Detroit Tigers won the 1984 World Series (October 14, 1984). While others were celebrating the victory by cruising up and down Gratiot Avenue, Joe Niedzielski was using his 1958 Edsel to salvage the heavy steel letters of the Gratiot Drive-In sign. You can read a 2004 blog post from Joe Niedzielski at http://www.michigandriveins.com/gratiot82.asp

Sources:

Drive-In Theaters: A History from their Inception in 1933 by Kerry Segrave. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Co., 1992.

“The Drive-In Theater Turns 75″ by Robin T. Reid. Smithsonian.com, May 28, 2008

Drive-In Culture: Drive-In Theater (University of Michigan Web site)

Water Winter Wonderland: Drive-In History

Michigan Drive-Ins.com: Gratiot Drive-In Theater

About.com: Drive-In Inventor

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President Gerald Ford and First Lady Betty Ford
by Marion S. Trikosko

First Lady Betty Ford (Elizabeth Ann Bloomer Warren Ford) passed away on July 8, 2011. She was born in Chicago on  April 8, 1918. After a brief stint in Colorado, she moved with her family to Grand Rapids and graduated from Central High School. In 1948, she married Gerald Ford, who was campaigning for what would be his first of thirteen terms as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. They were married fifty-eight years until his death in 2006. Despite the fact that she had one of the shortest terms as First Lady, she was definitely one of the most influental women to have held the position:

In the opinion of The New York Times and several presidential historians, "Mrs. Ford's impact on American culture may be far wider and more lasting than that of her husband, who served a mere 896 days, much of it spent trying to restore the dignity of the office of the president."

The paper went on to describe her as "a product and symbol of the cultural and political times—doing the Bump along the corridors of the White House, donning a mood ring, chatting on her CB radio with the handle First Mama—a housewife who argued passionately for equal rights for women, a mother of four who mused about drugs, abortion and premarital sex aloud and without regret." In 1975, in an interview with McCall's magazine, Ford said that she was asked just about everything, except for how often she and the president had sex. "And if they'd asked me that I would have told them," she said, adding that her response would be, "As often as possible."

Ford was also instrumental in raising awareness of breast cancer and founded the Betty Ford Center after a battle with alcoholism. You definitely have to watch this PBS feature on Betty Ford - it's one of the best and there are also some interviews with her children as well. Also see President Gerald R. Ford - 1913 - 2006 on Absolute Michigan.

The Detroit News reports that  public viewing of her casket will be held in the atrium of the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum today from 7-11 PM and Thursday from 7-10 AM. Following a 2 PM service tomorrow, Ford will be buried beside President Ford on the Museum grounds.

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For the past eight months, the 29 year old has been driving a 1930 Model A as his everyday car. His project, dubbed “365 Days of A,” has him parking his Ford Explorer and Honda Accord and, for one year – with no exceptions for weather or distance – driving the beautiful blue Model A instead.

“It’s something I wanted to do for a few years,” says Klinger, who owns a 1919 Model T and ‘a few other cars.’ “I wanted to show that an old car like this can be driven every day.”

Head over to 365 Days of A to follow Jonathan through the ins (learning to slow down) and outs (fixing what goes wrong) and saga of his Model A experiment from Day 1 (October 13, 2010) to Day 252 (and beyond). Be sure to check out the FAQs for the who, what and where.

The video below looks at how they got the A into shape, and you can see a lot more on their 365 Days of A playlist!

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by Dave Votta, CADL Local History Librarian

When he plummeted to his death during an air show in Vincennes, France, the Lansing Batman was known world-wide as an aeronautical daredevil. Clement A. "Clem" Sohn was born December 7, 1910, in Fowler, Michigan. In 1929 he became of protoge of Art Davis and his flying circus, performing in air shows around the country.

Lansing's second Batman Charlie Zmuda

Davis was a World War 1 pilot who became one of the most highly decorated stunt aviators and barnstormers of his time. His plane was christened the Spirit of East Lansing. The East Lansing Davis Airport is named in his honor.

Clem's signature act developed in 1933-1934 when he and Davis created a bat like suit made of steel tubing and zephyr cloth. He would free fall, sometimes gliding over 30 miles, deploy the parachute approximately 1,000 feet up and drift to the ground. He held the world's record for free fall, over 18,500 feet.

Accompanied by Davis, Sohn was invited to the 1937 Paris Air Show. They crossed the Atlantic by ship. Severe weather impeded swift passage to Paris. Because of the delay, it is reported he was unable to satisfactorily check his equipment. Clem jumped at 6,000 feet. It is unclear exactly went wrong. Some accounts cite his parachute may have been moistened from rain. Neither the primary or auxiliary chutes opened. He died instantly.

Sohn is buried in Fowler. At his funeral, planes circled overhead dropping flowers.

Upon his death, another took up the mantle. Charles F. "Charlie" Zmuda was the second Lansing or Michigan Batman. He too worked with Art Davis touring the world leaping from planes and glissading from several thousand feet. The above photograph is of Zmuda, probably in one of Sohn's outfits.

Zmuda survived the perilous vocation. He succumbed to a heart attack at 44 in 1959, survived by his wife and three daughters. At the time of his death, he worked as a pilot for American Airlines.

Sources Consulted

Michigan History Magazine (September/October 1983)
Lansing, city on the Grand, 1836-1939 by James MacLean and Craig A. Whitford
Lansing State Journal (April 26, 1937)
Lansing State Journal (April 9, 1959)
Time Magazine (May 3, 1937)
History of Fowler MI
Photograph Courtesy of the  Capital Area District Library Special Collections

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Come see Plowshares into Swords – a special exhibit recognizing the 150th anniversary of the American Civil War. Plowshares into Swords opens April 12, 2011 at the Michigan Historical Center. A special Plowshares into Swords: Grand Opening event will occur on Saturday, April 16.

A photo of Charles Foster

Charles T. Foster

In 1861, Charles T. Foster was a young clerk in Turner's Dry Goods Store in North Lansing. His younger brother, Seymour, later described him as being about five feet ten inches in height, with a light complexion, big blue eyes and a high forehead. Charles also wore a very becoming young mustache. A member of the church choir, he was deemed “a fine singer.” He had a genial disposition and an agreeable manner and was a great comfort to his mother.

Lansing's First Volunteer

Charles had attended a mass rally at the old capitol in Lansing, on April 13, 1861. It was the day after the attack on Fort Sumter. Cheer after cheer filled the air in the packed hall, greeting fiery speeches by Lansing's leading civic leaders—Daniel Case, Judge Tenney, Judge Longyear and others. Excitement rose to a fever pitch when Judge Tenney announced that a roll had been prepared. Volunteers could thus come forward and sign up to fight for the Union. A sudden hush fell. Not a soul moved. Seymour, who had not been able to get into the packed hall and had climbed up and perched in one of the windows, saw that someone was working his way to the head of the crowd. He couldn't see who it was. Then Judge Tenney's voice rang out: “Charles T. Foster tenders his services and his life—if need be—to his country and his flag.” Charles had just become the Lansing area's first volunteer. A great cheer went up and others shouldered forward. Allen Shattuck became the second Lansing man to volunteer, and he was soon followed by twenty-nine others. Although Lansing was Michigan's capital city, it was not then large enough to field its own regiment. Charles and his Lansing comrades made their way to Grand Rapids, where they joined the Third Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment. They became that regiment's “Company G.”

Flag Bearer

Charles Foster fought with the Third for the first year of the war. He was engaged in the first Battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861) and the siege of Yorktown (April 4-May 4, 1862). Then, at the battle of Williamsburg in May of 1862, Charles volunteered to carry the flag (The regular color sergeant was unable to do so.). The next day, he wrote to his mother:

“When the Major called for volunteers and none of the sergeants seeming to want to take the responsible and dangerous position, I felt it to be my duty to do so, for someone must do it, and if none would volunteer a detail would have to be made, and the lot might fall on one who had a wife and children at home and could not be spared, whereas I was single and free, and would not be missed if I was killed.”

Charles's brother Seymour recalled that Charles never knew the grief that his letter – and particularly his statement that he would not be missed – caused their mother.

“Don't let the colors go down!”

A few weeks later – at the Battle of Fair Oaks on May 29, 1862 – Charles was again called upon to carry the flag. He did so through charge after charge. Then, suddenly, a minie ball pierced his neck. As he fell, he drove the flag staff into the ground and called out, “Don't let the colors go down!”

In his memoirs, Ezra Ransome – a member of the Third and a friend of Charles – remembered that moment:

“I rescued the colors from capture. The bearer had when shot fell on his back and threw both arms in a death grip around the flag just as our line had fallen back a little, which left the colors between the rebs and us. I rushed for the flag, pulled it from the arms of the Sergeant, fell flat and so dragged myself back to our men.”

This memorial marker lies at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lansing, Michigan (As noted on the marker inscription, Foster himself is buried at Seven Pines National Cemetery in Virginia)

Charles was buried near the scene of the battle but for many years his grave was lost. His family finally located and marked it, He is buried at Seven Pines National Cemetery in Virginia. The marker for grave number 152 reads:

In Memory of Charles T. Foster
January 16, 1839–May 31, 1862
Buried at Seven Pines National Cemetery, VA
Flagbearer Third Mich. Vol. Inf.

After the war, at the suggestion of Allan Shattuck, Lansing's Grand Army of the Republic post was named after Charles T. Foster, the first Lansing man to enlist and the first to fall.

Sources:
Michigan History, September 1951. “The Letters of Theodore Foster.”

Michigan In The War by John Robertson, Michigan Adjutant General

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During an exploratory dive to the 250-foot deep wreck, MSRA made note of three features that are significantly different from sailing vessels dating to the mid- and late-nineteenth-century: the lack of a centerboard, the presence of a raised afterdeck and deadlights (a pair of openings) in the stern that allowed light to reach the cargo hold.

MSRA's historians have verified that the vessel's construction and design is consistent with ships built in the 1820s and 1830s, making it perhaps one of the oldest vessels discovered in the southern basin of Lake Michigan. The vessel sits upright and is in surprisingly good condition considering it was built nearly 200 years ago.  Exact identification will be difficult as these small, early sloops were rarely documented and most had wrecked or been scrapped before photography became available. MSRA will continue to research and explore the wreck during the 2011 season.

Underwater video of this new discovery will be shown at the annual "Mysteries and Histories Beneath the Inland Seas" evening event on Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 7:00 pm at Holland's historic Knickerbocker Theatre. In addition to a program about four Ottawa County shipwrecks presented by local author Craig Rich, attendees will learn about the newly discovered steamer Westmoreland, the schooner Marion Egan, and the steamer Lady Elgin in which 300 people perished in the lakes' deadliest disaster, the subject of MSRA's award-winning author Valerie van Heest's latest book. Tickets for the show are available at the Michigan Shipwreck Research Associates' website.

Here's a video of the wreck!

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by Dave Votta, CADL Local History Librarian

Local breweries and brew pubs have a long tradition in Lansing. The Lansing Brewing Company on the corner of Turner and Clinton (see picture below) operated between 1898 and 1914. Yeiter & Co. opened the Grand River Brewery on Madison overlooking the river in 1865. Their water came from an artesian well. Additional smaller breweries came and went during the late 19^th century.

Much of the description of the first brewery derives from two sources  An Account of Ingham County from its Organization by Frank N. Turner and a  Pioneer History of Ingham County by Mrs. Franc L. Adams. The accounts are nearly duplicates. Adams includes more editorial comment. She was the secretary of the Ingham County Pioneer and Historical Society and in addition to compiling others' accounts adding her own comments and thoughts.

Imbibing in the story of Lansing's first brewery one travels to the NE corner of Pine and Maple Streets circa 1856. There is a spring fed creek crossing Maple and providing fresh water for brewing. Its source was deep in the "impenetrable" Bogus Swamp, a haven for miscreants, now the  Westside Neighborhood. There are two buildings. A long porch faces east off a one and a half story residence. This porch is for the public house addition to the home and overlooking the beer garden in a stand of maples. Adjacent to the north is the brew house, east of that a "young forest of hop poles".

A cabbage patch thrives in the fertile soil of the creek flats. Pen's house pigs fattened on waste malt. There is the smell of sauerkraut, "steaming malt" and pipe tobacco billowing from "large porcelain pipes." To the south cows grazed in an unfenced pasture. The sound of their bells "tinkling" during the day was drowned by drinking songs, sometimes late into the night, sung "by a score of lusty Germans."

The proprietors were Frederick and Anna Weinmann. He was born circa 1822 and described as tall, "full of energy and hard work". Anna was about 7 years his junior, "short and sturdy". They had several children and emigrated from Württemberg, Germany.

With a large German population in town business thrived. The problem was the new neighbors. In 1858 across Pine from the brau haus a school opened. SistersAbigail and Delia Rogers moved into the new location of their Lansing Female Seminary, later the  Michigan Female College, the  Odd Fellows Institute and eventually the  Michigan School for the Blind. The Rogers sisters,  Abigail especially, are nationally recognized as part of the  First Wave of the Women's Movement.

Pioneers in women's education and the  Temperance Movement the sisters catered to the most affluent families in the state. Select boys were admitted if the family was sufficiently wealthy. Apparently they did not celebrate the only entrance to their institution serenaded by lusty Germans in "harsh guttural tones" or smelling of pigs, tobacco and beer.   The Rogers were equally well funded and connected.

Check out the sources for this article in History of Local Breweries & Brew Pubs and don't miss  the next installment, when the story of this pioneer brewery takes an unexpected turn that challenges historical accounts. See many more Michigan breweries on Absolute Michigan

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Fiborn Quarry was created by a partnership of the Duluth, South Shore & Atlantic Railroad in 1904. This small company town was built to house the workers (homes and a boarding house), offer a school and a general store. The operations consisted of the quarry plant, crusher house and steam engine shop.

In 1909, the Fiborn Quarry operation was sold to Algoma Steel and continued operating the open pit limestone mine until 1935. In the year of 1935, Algoma Steel required the residents to move; and so the buildings were either torn down or moved. It was briefly reopened when limestone was needed to pave US-2.

Algoma Steel ceased ownership in 1987. Fiborn Quarry was purchased by the Michigan Karst Conservancy.

The sole reason for Fiborn Quarry to exist was a need for its natural product; limestone of a high purity. Why? (Besides the obvious use as a construction material.) Calcium carbide is used to easily generate acetylene gas by placing water in contact with the carbide. Acetylene held broad potential as bright, clean, and economical light source. Calcium Carbide would be manufactured by cooking limestone in continuously operating electrical furnaces in the carbide plants in Sault Sainte Marie. In the summer of 1898 sources of suitable limestone were being sought in the eastern Upper Peninsula for use at the carbide plants in Sault Sainte Marie. Needs for pure limestone would soon bear directly on Fiborn Quarry and its residents.

The Eastern Upper Peninsula is an unlikely candidate for nearly pure limestone due to the rather recent passing of glaciers. Within this surface level “vein” of limestone, ideal conditions have been formed in the concentrated wetlands which have formed caves. There is an underground flow of water which eventually drains into the Hendrie River. As of today, the process which formed the caves is also eroding them.

Some of the people who were born here and those who have spent a segment of their lives here, still return occasionally to look at what has become of Fiborn Quarry.

Links and more at Fiborn Quarry and the Michigan Karst Conservancy or just skip straight over to the Michigan Karst Conservancy & Fiborn Karst Preserve for the fascinating history and geology of Fiborn Quarry!

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Aretha Franklin performs at President Obama's Inauguration, Jan. 20, 2009. Public domain image by Cecilio Ricardo, U.S. Air Force (Source: Wikimedia Commons).

In 1987, Aretha Franklin became the first female inductee in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2008, Rolling Stone magazine named her the number one greatest singer of all time. Perhaps her greatest honor, however, is much less official: To music fans everywhere, she is the undisputed “Queen of Soul.”

“Music Was Always in the Air.”

Aretha Louise Franklin was born March 25, 1942 in Memphis, Tennessee. She grew up in Detroit, where she lived from the age of two.

Her father, C.L. Franklin, served as Pastor of New Bethel Baptist Church. In her autobiography, Aretha: From These Roots (co-written with David Ritz), Franklin recalled that her father preached on the radio and traveled the country due to his radio sermons. Her father also knew famed African American musicians such as Clara Ward, Mahalia Jackson, Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole. In her autobiography, she describes her childhood home, noting that “music was always in the air.”

The Queen of Soul

In 1960, Aretha Franklin signed with Columbia Records. A few of her Columbia singles – including “Operation Heartbreak” and “It Won't Be Long” – were hits on the R&B charts. She also had one pop chart hit – “Rock-a-Bye Your Body with a Dixie Melody.”

In 1966, she switched to Atlantic Records. There, her reign as Queen of Soul truly began. Hits included “I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Love You),” “Baby I Love You,” “Chain of Fools,” “Since You've Been Gone,” “You Make Me Feel Like a Natural Woman,” “Think” and, of course, “Respect,” to name but a few. Franklin's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Web site biography describes “Respect” (a song written by Otis Redding) as “Franklin's greatest triumph” and “an early volley in the women's movement.”

A New Phase

Franklin's career entered a new phase in 1980. That year, she left Atlantic for Arista and made a cameo appearance in the movie The Blues Brothers. Her hit albums for Arista included Jump to It and Get it Right(both produced by Luther Vandross) and Who's Zoomin' Who. Hit singles included “Jump to It,” “Freeway of Love” and “Who's Zoomin' Who.” In the 1980s, she also recorded duets with Annie Lennox (“Sisters are Doing it For Themselves”), Keith Richards (a cover of “Jumpin' Jack Flash” that appeared in the Whoopi Goldberg film of the same name) and Elton John (“Through the Storm”). In 1990s, she performed at President Bill Clinton's inaugural celebration, began her own record label (World Class Records, which focused on gospel music) and wrote her autobiography. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush in 2005 (See photo below.) and sang at President Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009 (See photo above.).

Respect

To date, Aretha Franklin has had forty-five top forty singles – more than any other female artist. She has won twenty-one Grammy awards. Many feel that she is history's greatest female soul singer. Her “Queen of Soul” title will likely remain for many, many years to come.

We'll take you out with great network tape of Aretha singing Runnin' Out of Fools from DetroitLives313 (who has some GREAT Motown!). Many more in the Aretha Franklin mix on YouTube.

Sources:

Books

Aretha: From the Roots by Aretha Franklin and David Ritz.

The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll (3rd Edition). Edited by Holly George-Warren and Patricia Romanowski.

Articles

“Thinking of Aretha” by Bob Herbert. New York Times. December 24, 2010

Aretha Franklin Biography. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Web Site.

Aretha Franklin's Performance At Barack Obama's Inauguration: A Milestone In A Historic Career by Jon Weiderhorn. MTV News. January 20, 2009

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The First State Election in Detroit, Michigan 1837. A painting by Thomas Mickell Burnham. Used courtesy of the Detroit Institute of Arts.

January 26 marks Michigan's 174th birthday as a state. Today, many residents of our country's fifty states take statehood for granted. For 1830s Michiganians, the road to statehood proved rough and rocky.

Do-It-Yourself

Michigan Territory petitioned the U.S. Congress for statehood in 1833. A petitioning territory would typically begin writing a state constitution after Congressional approval (This came in the form of an “enabling act.”). Michigan, however, gained no such approval. In May 1834, Congress tabled the matter. Two issues delayed the process: 1) Michigan's boundary dispute with Ohio (For more on this dispute, click: Toledo War.), and 2) the fact that Michigan statehood would upset the balance between free state and slave state Senators (Eventually, this matter would be resolved when Arkansas, a slave state, entered the Union around the same time as Michigan.). The Territory decided not to wait for Congress. In January 1835, the Michigan territorial legislature called for the aforementioned constitutional convention. Michigan looked to Tennessee for precedence. In 1796, Tennessee wrote a constitution and then demanded statehood, claiming statehood as a right that Congress couldn't deny. For Tennessee, the tactic worked.

Two Conventions

For Michigan, it wasn't so easy. Congress made statehood contingent on a compromise of the aforementioned dispute (For details, click: Toledo War.). If Michigan wished to become a state, then a convention of elected delegates had to formally agree to Congress's terms. Such a convention met in Ann Arbor on September 26, 1836. The delegates rejected the compromise. Michigan Governor Stevens T. Mason was not happy with this outcome. He knew that Michigan would never win the boundary dispute, and he saw nothing to gain by denying Congress. Through some political maneuvering, he and his fellow Democrats secured another body of delegates. On December 14, 1836, these new delegates met in Ann Arbor in what would be termed “the Frostbitten Convention.” This second convention assented to Congress's terms, and Michigan formally became a state on January 26, 1837. Truthfully, the second convention acted under a dubious legality. Neither the territorial legislature nor the U.S. Congress authorized it. The delegates were chosen through local caucuses, rather than through general elections. Some counties refused to participate. The outcome, however, was never officially challenged. Michigan Statehood: Our Documentary Heritage

The Great Seal of Michigan

The Archives of Michigan houses the original 1835 Michigan constitution, in addition to other documents from the early statehood and pre-statehood periods. Now, Seeking Michigan visitors can view these materials from their home computers. To access them, click:  early statehood documents.  These materials are all documentary treasures, representing the heritage of every Michiganian. Now, on the 175th anniversary of our state's constitution, would seem an appropriate time to review these treasures and reflect on the stories behind them. Sources consulted Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State (3rd Revised Edition) by Willis F. Dunbar and George S. May The Toledo War: The First Michigan-Ohio Rivalry by Don Faber “The Four Michigan Constitutions” by Frank Ravitch. In The History of Michigan Law, Edited by Paul Finkelman and Martin J. Hershock. See Also: For more on Michigan's first elected governor, Stevens T. Mason, click: Stevens T. Mason (Look! article)

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Charlevoix - Mushroom House by ktylerconk

In the "things I found while looking at other things" category comes Quirky cottages in Charlevoix are winter delights from the Detroit Free Press.

Earl Young tourism is a Charlevoix specialty. The quirky builder erected 30 stone homes in town between 1918 and the 1950s, all so unusual they are often compared to works of art. Some look like mushroom houses, with undulating roofs capping boulder walls. Some are tiny. Some are enormous. Most have incredible detail -- doorways of stone, window frames made of boulders, chimneys that look frosted by a giddy cake decorator. The early houses are arts and crafts or chalet style, but the later homes are rounded and organic, part Tolkien, part Keebler elf.

More about Earl Young's cottages at the Freep including a number of Earl Young houses that are available as vacation rentals including Charlevoix's fixture The Weathervane. View more Earl Young House photos from the Charlevoix Historical Society, check out the Earl Young Guidebook and take a video tour of the Earl Young Hobbit Houses in Charlevoix with MyNorth.

Postcard: Weathervane Terrrace Inn & Suites,
Charlevoix, MIchigan by fantomaster

The best resource is the Earl Young Collection at the Charlevoix Library. With everything from the ad for Earl's first development, Boulder Park and the opening of the Weathervane to an article on his book Charlevoix the Beautiful, there's some great stuff to be explored! Let's close with a bit from another  article from the Freep on Young, this one from July 29, 1973 that begins:

Stone houses seem to sprout as naturally as dandelions from the soil of this pleasant Lake Michigan resort community.

And they do because of an already legendary 84-year-old man named Earl A. Young, who built them all.

For more than half a century Young has combed lonesome fields and dusty quarries searching for the odds and ends of nature. He blends stones and timber with an architect's skill and a geologist's respect for his raw material, and so far he has fitted more than 40 local landscapes with his art.

"l have a very strong feeling for stone," Young explained recently as he sat in his wood-paneled office on the lower level of one of his most flamboyant creations, the Weathervane Inn, a local restaurant.

"Stones have their own personalities. People say I'm crazy when I say so, but they really do. Why I found a stone that weighed 160 tons. It was formed 350 million years ago at the bottom of a warm sea and was carried here 10,000 years ago by glaciers."

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