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.