Squint Shot 042111

Yesterday's 'then and now' squint shots showed the Palmerton (now Harmon) block with a brick building to the west of it, which originally housed the F.J. Cook Hardware store.  This would have been in the late 1800s. 

By the early 1900s, it appeared as Mr. Cook was getting restless.  The Cooks took a trip to California and headed north up the coast to Oregon, checking out various locales.  In a future post, I will republish a letter written by Mr. Cook detailing some of that trip. 

Later that year, he accepted the position for one year as general manager of the Lansing Wagon and Carriage Co.  This plant employs at present something over 150 men at the factory at Lansing and also has branch houses at four of the larger cities of the United States -- as reported by G.L. Adams in The Fowlerville Review.  When he took this position,  he retained ownership of the hardware store and lumberyard and left the management of the business to T.M. Loomis, which was fortunate as within a month, the position in Lansing did not work out.  Shortly after all of this upheavel, he sold the stock of lumber, grounds and sheds to William Love of Portland.

So, here are the two pictures; one old and one taken just a couple weeks ago.

As a side note, in my book, The Fowlerville Chronicles, on page 77, blueprints are shown for construction of the storefront on the right side with the arched stone.  For a closer look, you might just want to stop in to the hardware store and ask Doug Burnie for a peak at those plans.  Quite intriguing.