Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Ellen Street looking west from Ann Street - 1916

Copy of a postcard sent to me by Bill Gough a grandson of Ethel Corbin.  Top of the old schoolhouse seen in the background.

Note sent with the picture - A postcard postmarked Apr. 11, 1916 from my grandfather John Corbin to Ethel visiting her father (Cassius Reed) in Durand, MI.  Caption - "Ellen St. looking west from Ann, Union City, Michigan." 

Bridge Washed Out during the 1908 Flood

Copy of the picture sent to me by Bill Gough a grandson of Ethel Corbin.  Picture is of a crowd gathered on the south side of Broadway looking at the bridge that washed out during flooding on March 8, 1908.

Dam on Union Lake - 1

The dam on Union Lake.

Dam on Union Lake - 2

Union Lake Dam. Probably taken in the mid 1940's.

Union Lake Dam - 3

Union Lake Dam looking at the hydro-electric building. Probably taken in the mid 1940's.

Union Lake Dam - 4

Union Lake Dam from the top side. Probably taken in the mid 1940's.

Union Lake Dam - 5

Union Lake Dam probably taken in the late 1950's.

Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) Civil War Monument - 1884

My brother Marty sent me this picture.  The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) erected the monument in 1884 in recognition of those men who served in the Civil War.  The picture was taken shortly after the monument was erected, and is one of the earliest pictures of both the monument and the Congregational Church.

206 West High Street - Re-posted with comments from Marge Gottschalk

Ethel Corbin lived in the house in the picture at 206 West High Street when I was growing up.  We lived across the street at 209 West High Street.  Prior to us living in our home at 209 West High Street we lived in the little house to the left side of the picture.  The top of the old school house can be seen in the background.  The top part of the school was removed when they put the addition on the front of the building in 1931.  My father's class of 1932 was the first class to graduate in the new gym and my class of 1960 was the last.

In reviewing the 1940 census for 206 West High Street we find George Frydrychoski and his wife Woodena living in the house along with his brother Frank and sister Rita ....I am sure all remember the great motion pictures that George and Frank would show outdoors back in the 1950's, and Rita who worked at the post office till the late 1970's.  George worked in Battle Creek at one of the factories and Frank was a baker in Coldwater.  The bakery in Coldwater also had a remote location on the West side of Broadway where they sold some pretty great donuts.  Sometime after the 1940 census, the Frydrychoski's must have shorten their name to Fry.

Some comments from Marjorie (Wessel) Gottschalk ....My dad added the sun porch and two car garage on the house. Marge

....Good to hear from you. Yes Ethel brought the house at 206 West High Street from my dad, around the middle of the '40. Miss Jeanett Corbin Ethel's sister in-law lived in the corner house. Jeanett later moved to Charlotte St. The small house behind the Methodist Church. ....Carlyon and I have thought about the past and are surprised at the people we recall. Keep up the good work and I will be happy to give any info I can. Not to many of us old folks left. Time marches on, Right!!! Best to you Marge!

.....happy to hear you are keeping up with the history of UC. I was born on Thomas Street. Art Albright's bought that house from my folks. It caught fire, I'm going to guess the date about l930. The remodeled it and it burnt again, then the built the one that is there now. Rita Fry bought it from them. ....Back to West High, I believe it was about l929 or 30 we moved in. When we moved down on N Broadway around l939 my dad rented the house on W High to my sister and then the Fry family. Mrs Corbin bought it from my dad. Yes my dad built the beauty shop at the house on N Broadway for my sister. She had a nice business. Rita worked at the Post Office with your mother. Your mother and I along with a few other gals all belonged to the Live Wire Circle. We had a great TIME!!!! Do you remember Jeanett Corbin, she lived in the big corner house, then she moved on Charlotte street in the little house behind the church. She was Ethel's sister in-law. She was on the school board.  The old town has made many, many changes. So good to hear from you and do hope I can help with any information.  Marge

Comment from Ralph Gottschalk .....Woodena (Wessel) sister to my mother Marge (Wessel) Gottschalk was married to George Fry as you have asked in an email to mom ....and my Grandpa, Charles Wessel rented house to them.

Swan Brother's Grocery about 1947 - Repost with comment from Ralph and Marge Gottschalk

The two pictures below were sent to me to posted by David Swan.  He dates the picture as around 1947.  His father owned the Swan Brother's Grocery that later was called Donovon's Market.

Comment from Ralph and Marge  Gottschalk ....the Grocery store was purchased by Swans, from Herbert and Harold Rathburn.

David notes that the man on the right is his father, but is not sure who the young lady and man are.

1898 Memorial Day Parade

The picture was sent to me by Bill Gough the son of Eleanor (Corbin) Gough and who is a grandson of Ethel Corbin.  Ethel Corbin lived at 206 West High Street, across the street from where I was grew up .  Bill's father Rev. Roger Gough was a minister at the Congregational Church in Union City from 1937 to 1941.   Bill's parents were married at the Congregational Church in the summer of 1940.  

Bill's comments that accompanied the picture ....picture of the 1898 Memorial Day procession coming south on Ann Street, maybe between Ellen and High. I would guess that the church in the background is the old Episcopal church.

Silas B. Corbin Family - 1902

Picture sent to me by Bill Gough from his mother Eleanor (Corbin) Gough's photo album.

Comments from Bill ....The Silas B. Corbin Family, taken in 1902. From left to right, my grandfather John, Elizabeth (Betty or Bessie), Silas, Byron and Ella (Spofford). John was 18, Betty 16 and Byron 13 years old in the picture. Silas' brothers Horace and Samuel were businessmen in Union City, in dry goods sales. The Corbin brothers came to Union City from Charlestown, New Hampshire, during the early 1860s. They were descendants of the Puritans.

Betty went on to be a teacher at a private school in Highland Park, MI, Byron became a professor of chemistry at the Teachers College (now Eastern Michigan University) in Ypsilanti. John, of course, took over the farm from Silas, but he was also president of the Union City National Bank, the Branch County Community Corporation, and was a member of the Branch County Hospital Board. He was also a deacon at the Congregational Church. 

Arrival of the "Holy Land Flyer" at Athens Railroad Depot around 1911

Another great photo from Bill Gough that is from his mother Eleanor (Corbin) Gough's photo album.

Comments from Bill ....Mom and the family went to Athens to take the Grand Trunk railroad from Athens to Battle Creek, and then switched trains to travel to my grandmother Ethel's home town, Durand, MI (just west of Flint). The Union City depot had trains that ran more east-west between Detroit and Chicago. I don't know how many folks in Union City or nearby that occasionally went to Athens to more conveniently connect to other parts of Michigan via train in the old days.

I don't know what the "Holy Land Flyer" was. The postcard was sent to my grandmother in Durand from my grandfather in Union City, probably around 1911. I can't read the postmark. 

Congregational Church Events in early 1900's

Some more pictures sent to me by Bill Gough from Eleanor (Corbin) Gough's photo album.

Comments by Bill ....When I look at the following two pictures, I can't help but compare this to the recent festivities in Union City that I have seen via the Facebook page. What is there about the town that makes folks want to dress up in costumes?  Just kidding…

Comments by Bill Gough ....it looks like there has always been a lot of imagination in Union City. It's heart-warming to see pictures like these…in so many photos from the past, people look so serious. The first is, I'm reasonably certain, from the Congregational Church. Mom doesn't know the occasion, but I suspect this was a play that was put on by the members…and I would guess it was taken around 1910. My grandfather John Corbin is standing in the second row with a mustache and small goatee, 5th from the right. I think that is also my great aunt Betty Corbin (John's sister) sitting in the front row, 4th from the left, in the white dress. A lady holds a sign that says "Matrimony" on the left, along with a trumpet player, a railroad engineer, the ladies' social group, etc. Interesting. 

Comments by Bill Gough ....In the picture above, John Corbin is standing in the back row 4th from right. I don't know if either his siblings Byron or Betty or in the picture, but they could be. The room also looks interesting - obviously not in the church but where, I don't know. Mom cannot recall anything about this, but it was before her time. A bit exotic with the Chinese lanterns and the palm tree, and a few people in Asian garb. Again, I would guess from around 1910. Up to you and the rest of the town to fill in the blanks!

Rev. Roger Gough

Pictures sent to me by Rev. Roger Gough's son Bill.

Comments by Bill ....two pics of my dad…Rev. Roger W. Gough. The first one (sepia) is from the early 1930s while he was in seminary in New York…he probably looked much the same when he came to Union City. The second is my mom's favorite, because of the smile, but was taken probably close to twenty years after leaving the Union City church.

Wedding picture - Eleanor Corbin and Roger Gough in front of the Congregational Church in July 1940

Picture sent to me by Bill Gough, son of Eleanor (Corbin) and Rev. Roger Gough.  

Comments by Bill Gough ....Picture was taken in front of the Congregational Church after their wedding ceremony in July of 1940.  Yes, the Corbins were quite involved in the Union City church... and so my dad got to know my mother through that connection while he was pastor. Mom was a student in college at Eastern Michigan U. (Michigan Teachers College at the time) in Ypsilanti when they met. They were married a little over one year after she graduated. In between, she taught music in Ithaca, MI in the public schools. My parents left Union City in the summer of 1941 for a church in Allegan, MI. From there they moved to Piqua, OH and then eventually to St. Paul, MN. Attached is a wedding announcement from the Battle Creek newspaper at the time.

Corbin Family Homes

Pictures sent to me by Bill Gough from his mother's photo album.

Comments by Bill Gough ....This is the Corbin Farm House on Stanton Rd. west of Union City, off of M-60. I know it is still there, a family has modernized the property and built a swimming pool in the back. In the picture, my grandmother Ethel and my great aunt Elizabeth (Betty) Corbin are on the porch, Ethel in the rocker. I would guess the picture was taken sometime in the 1912-1915 range. The farm was purchased by my great grandfather Silas B. Corbin in 1886. Before that the Corbins lived near Burlington on the Earl Smith farm. My grandfather John took over the farm…and lived there until his death in 1944. A few years later, grandma Ethel Corbin sold the farm and moved to the house in Union City.

Comments by Bill Gough ....This house was somewhere on a side street in north Union City - probably west of Broadway. I wish I knew the address. It is one of the homes where my great grandmother Ella Spofford lived after her husband, Silas Corbin, had passed away. She had also lived in a brown cottage on Ann St. behind the Methodist church. She was a teacher in Union City and in Manistee, MI, Traer, IA public schools before she married my great grandfather. The Spoffords were prominent residents of Branch County, her brother Byron was president for 40 years of the Branch County Savings Bank in Coldwater.

Comments by Bill Gough ....This is the house of Janette Corbin , the daughter of Horace Corbin, on Ellen Street, just west of Broadway. Horace was the brother of my great-grandfather Silas. Janette was a teacher in the schools in Union City and Coldwater. Guessing the picture was taken sometime in the late 1940s. Janette was the town historian at the time, and put together a scrapbook of the city's history. She was very active in the Congregational Church, and served on the Board of Education. She died the year I was born in May 1956, at age 92. My father came back to officiate the funeral.

Ethel Corbin - 1955

Some more pictures sent to me by Bill Gough of his grandmother Ethel Corbin.

Comments from Bill Gough ...Ethel Corbin taken inside her living room and in front of her house at 206 W. High. She's opening Xmas gifts in December of 1955.

Comments from Bill Gough ....Ethel Corbin in front of her home on West High Street.

Congregational Church and the Christian Endeavor Group

The pictures below were sent to me by Bill Gough from his mother's photo album ...some great pictures, hopefully some of you that take a look at the pictures can help identify who the people are in the pictures.

Comments from Bill .....Some old photos from the Congregational Church. Below is a picture of the church choir in the mid 1930s. My grandfather John Corbin and my mother Eleanor are 2nd and 3rd from left in the second row. My grandmother Ethel is 3rd from left in the front row. I think that is a Rev. Russ McConnell (?) in the back row in the center. I don't know the exact year but it was likely around the time mom left for college.

Bill's comments ....The "Christian Endeavor" group, I think it was a young adults group, taken in the church in 1905. John Corbin is 3rd from left in the back row. His brother Byron is 3rd from right in the back row.

Bill's comments ....A postcard to my grandmother Ethel from John, 1911. On the back written "Thurs Eve. This is the breaking up of the C.E. (Christian Endeavor) picnic. Do you see any familiar faces?" Not sure who he is referring to!

Bill's comments ....Not sure when this was taken … but I would guess 1905-10. Christian Endeavor Group again. Byron Corbin, my great uncle, on the left end.

North Broadway looking towards downtown - 1911

Another great picture postcard being posted thanks to Bill Gough sending a copy along to me.  The postcard was postmarked in 1911.  The horse is getting a drink at the corner of Broadway and Allen Streets.  You can see the downtown area in the background, the tall building being the Corbin Block.

Lewis L. Katz Farm - 1955

Picture of Lewis L. Katz on his farm south of Union City.  I am like many Union City residents, my first plane ride was in Lewis Katz airplane.

The picture was recently purchased by Lewis's daughter Sharon on eBay, and with her permission I am posting it on the blog.  

The picture was a wire service photo that the following stamped on the back:

 1955 APR 31 PM 1:04

By Detroit News Staff

photographer

KILPATRICK 

Reporter

Also in longhand: Mich cities Union City Lewis Katz Farm.  Sharon did some research on Kilpatrick trying to find out what the occasion was for the picture. 

Sharon's comments:
Photo of Lewis L. Katz on his farm East of Union City (Corner Creamery Rd. & Railroad Rd.).  When Lewis & Frances Katz purchased 160 acres in the N.W. corner of Section 3, in the spring of 1943, it was then known as 'The Flynn Farm" which lays in Branch County on the edge of the Calhoun County Line Rd.

Of course the photo intrigued me beyond just wonder'in..... so I spend time on the Internet searching online for info about James E (Scotty) Kilpatrick. I am not sure why he came from Detroit, to the little town of Union City and captured this delightful photo of my father Lewis L. Katz.  One possible reason is he may have been doing a story on the Civil Air Patrol Events at the farm, related to educational highlights of those years. 

Turns out the photographer is quite famous, as his Daughter Jane wrote; "My father, James R. (Scotty) Kilpatrick worked as a photographer for the Detroit News for almost 40 years. James Kilpatrick was a longtime photographer with the paper and is most famous for his "Battle of the Overpass" photo, which captured labor strife during the 1937 auto workers strike in Detroit.

The May 27th 1937 incident followed an attempt of the United Auto Workers Union to distribute leaflets to the workers leaving the plant and marked the first outbreak of violence in which 16 were injured including four leafleteers (Walter Reuther, Bob Kanter, J.J. Kennedy, and Frankensteen).

Beating of Frankensteen occurred around 2:00 pm when Reuther and Frankensteen were asked by a Detroit News photographer, James E. (Scotty) Kilpatrick, to pose for a picture on the overpass, with the Ford sign in the background. The news photographers were the next target; many had their cameras, plates and holders broken, and others forced to flee beyond the city limits.

Kilpatrick was lucky. He hid the photographic plates under the back seat of his car, and surrendered useless plates he had on his front seat. The next day, news and photos of the brutal attack, the so-called ‘Battle of the Overpass’,  made headlines in newspapers across the country. All of America was witness to the primitive tactics with which Henry Ford subdued organized laborers. This publicity didn't end Ford’s opposition to organized labor, but it made his eventual acquiescence inevitable. On the journalistic end, Kilpatrick’s photographs inspired the Pulitzer committee to institute a prize for photography.

Lewis Katz wrote in his memoirs dated 1983:

'I was 38 yrs old when I took my first flight at the controls of an airplane with an instructor, December 1947. The U.C. airport was located one mile West of Union City on the Arbogast Farm, run by one of my school chums, Jack Arbogast.

In February 1948, I made my first Solo Flight... I trained very hard, after 50 hours flying time I received my Official Pilots License by D.E. Mollenkoph instructor at Coldwater Airport. After the farm was paid for we purchased a little yellow & red Aeronca Champion airplane, two place tandem plane, that cruised at 80 mph. We made a landing strip on the farm & kept "Clara Bess" at home. We decided to name our farm "Sky Ranch".

Having my plane on the farm was very handy and I would fly a lot of short hops in the evening after the chores were done. After 275 hrs in the Aeronca, traded it for a red & black 140 Cessna, 85 horse-power engine that cruised at 105 mph. I had snow-ski for these two planes.

By the time we purchased the 170 Cessna, I had logged 712 flying hours. It was red and black, all metal, 4 passenger, 145 h.p. engine. The 170 was equipped with radio, air speed, compass, altimeter, heater, ball bank, cruse speed was 120 mph. At the price of gas at that time and a cruising speed of 120 mph the cost @ mile of travel was 4¢ ~ that in my mind was a very reasonable recreation.

Many years, three other farmers & I would fly to the WLS Prairie Farm Shows, normally held in IN, IL, or IA. I also made many trips with my planes for parts for my farm machinery!

In 1953 I joined the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary to the U.S. Air Force. It was the duty of the C.A.P. to fly Rescue Missions and look for downed airplanes. I flew two actual search missions.

I was Commanding Officer of the Cadets in Union City. We had a government plane called the L.5, which I flew and took the Cadets for rides. It was my job to teach them the basics of flying, explain the different components of the plane and what each part did in flight.

We had three big C.A.P. Field Days at our farm. Several C.A.P. pilots from other parts of Michigan would fly in with their cadets. We had music by local talent, U.C. Fire Dept., hot dog stand & drinks by South Union 4-H Club and different contests for the airplanes. I flew an experimental plane each time, made by my neighbor Bob Delebaugh. Had as many as 300 people attend. I dropped parachute troops from my own plane at one of the C.A.P. events... that was another thrill for me.

I seemed to have no trouble having passengers. My runway was South of the barn, by the road. I often flew on Sunday afternoons and many cars would park along the side of the road and watch. I took many of them for a ride, ask each one to personally sign my Log Book and date it. As time went on I recorded over 1,000 different names of persons that I have taken up once, some many times. It's impossible to tell about all the amusing things that happened in my nearly 30 years of my flying career. Needless to say ~ I enjoyed it all." 

Aerial View of Union City - 1955

The aerial picture of Union City was from a series of pictures taken in 1955 of Union City for a newspaper article.  A note on the rear of the picture indicated the picture was taken from Lewis Katz's airplane.

Watertower

The Union City watertower on West High Street.

Farmers Bank Block - c 1909

Keeton Realty - revised on May 13, 2011

The picture on this postcard would probably been taken in the mid 1970's based on the automobiles in the picture (anyone have an idea of the time frame for the picture?). The buildings that I identify are Keeton Realty (was Trudgeon's Drug Store when I lived in Union City), the local General Telephone central office, and the Methodist Church.

Note - Regarding the building in the picture ...(from the publication titled "Historical Industrial and Social Record of Peerless Union City Michigan" edited, compiled, and published by Tom F. Robinson in March 1903) identifes the corner building as the "Farmers' Bank Block".

Note - Got a comment from a blog viewer suggesting the date of the picture would have been in the 1970's rather than the 1960's based on two of the auto's in the picture.

Class of 1960 - Senior Trip

Civil War Vets in front of the Civil War Monument - 1908

Scanned picture while visiting the Hammond House in June 2010.

Civil War Soldiers Monument

Hom Komer Picnic - Monument Park

Union City School House on Ellen Street c 1915

Cherry Hill Tourist Camp

This postcard picture of the Cherry Hill Tourist Camp that was on M-60 just west of Union City.
Remember the restaurant that was located there back in the late 1950's, ate my first piece of pizza there.
Noted on the backside of the postcard:

At the Head of Union Lake
Good Fishing, Boating and Bathing
Furnished Cottages Day or Weekend
- Home Cooked Food -
Steaks, Chops, Chicken
Phone 3654

Handwritten on the backside was: Neal Radebaugh's, we built this in 1939

Canning Factory

The canning factory in Union City, Michigan is noted on this picture postcard.

Mill Rrace Dam and Michigan Central Railroad Bridge

The dam is located on the Coldwater River to keep the water level going into the mill race to the right of the picture high enough to power the floor mill. The bridge in the background is for the Michigan Central Railroad.

Passenger Train going over Coldwater River

The picture on this postcard is of a Michigan Central Passenger Train crossing the Coldwater River in the background. The dam on the left is on the Coldwater River with the waterway on the right flowing into the mill race for the Flour Mill. The postcard picture was postmarked 1916

.The map is a cropped section of a map of Union City found on page 18 & 19 in the "Standard Atlas of Branch County, Michigan; compiled and published by George A. Ogle & Co., Chicago, 1915".

Note - The top of the arrow indicates from where the picture of the train was taken (from the mill race bank looking south towards the railroad bridge that crosses the Coldwater River.