1911 Plank Road Replaced

A few years back, while construction workers were replacing utilities and ultimately repaving portions of Grand River in Lansing, old planks were found and determined to be a part of the Old Plank Road built in the mid-1800s.  That same plank road was laid through Fowlerville during the years 1852 and 1853, connection Williamston through Webberville and Fowlerville to Howell.

In 1911, that plank road was still use but being replaced.  A short blurb in The Fowlerville Review let readers know Redford township was doing just that, obviously pleasing the editor:

Anyone having occasion to drive to Detroit will be glad to learn that a concrete road 16 feet wide will take the place of the old plank road, which has been in a very bad condition for many years past.  This new road will extend through Redford township and much of it is already built nine feet wide, but will be extended to 16 and will be completed not later than 1912.  The township has sold bonds for $50,000 for the purpose.

I decided to "google" images for a plank road and found a great picture.  It came from a page you can read by clicking here.

1911 Holt & Hart Store Burglary

~~About $500 Stolen~~The store of Holt & Hart was entered Tuesday night and $500 taken from the safe.  About $400 of the money belonged to the firm and the other $100 was Maccabee money, Mr. Holt being the finance keeper of Fowlerville lodge.

The burglars gained entrance through the outside cellarway by pulling a staple and cut a hole through the door so they could lift the hook, thus giving them entrance into the store from the north side, the hole being neatly cut with a knife, just the shape and size of the ordinary hand.

The firm have been in the habit of cashing milk checks on the 15th and did not bank their money Tuesday night, leaving it in the safe.

The cash was taken with the exception of a few dollars in change, and the safe relocked.  As far as is known, no goods were taken and the burglars left no clue.

So far no clue has been discovered that throws any light on the robbery.

Interestingly, nothing more appeared in the newspaper on solving the robbery, but the following letter did appear about a month after the above report:



1911 Birdsall/Greenaway Wedding

About a month prior to the wedding ceremony uniting in marriage Fern Greenaway with Louis Birdsall, a short blurb was published in The Fowlerville Review announcing that invitations for this wedding had been printed and were being sent out.  Did that mean that basically pretty much everyone in the Fowlerville area was invited to the wedding? 

 

I guess I found that kind of curious because when your invitation did not arrive, it might have made some feel slighted.

 

Anyhow, back to the wedding.  Louis Birdsall took over operations of the grist mill, which was located at the northeast corner of North Grand avenue and Mill street, halfway between where the fire department and library now reside (see photo below).  Prior to that, the Greenaway family owned and operated the mill.

  



Although this wedding announcement mentions Mr. Birdsall was a high school principal, he must have resigned that position for them to eventually live in Fowlerville, their house located where you will now find a parking lot across from the library.   

When I was doing research for my first book I came across information that Fern (Greenaway) Birdsall became a music/piano teacher and taught out of their home.  I even had a couple of my "informants" mentioning how they could remember both Mr. and Mrs. Birdsall.

Following is a squinty-eyed view of a 1956 aerial photograph (north is at the top of the pic), showing the grist mill (largest building close to the upper lefthand corner) with their house over to the right in the picture, showing the backside of the house as it fronted on Mill street.

1901 Beehive at Jay Redfield's Farm

A few weeks back, my husband and I happened to be taking care of errands and deliveries, and one of my stops was at the village office.  What fortunate timing it was.  Both Sherrie and Kathy urged us back outside to check out a honeycomb that was just discovered in one of the trees at the front of the village office building, now that the leaves had all fallen off.

 

I ducked under the tree and snapped the following two pictures before a beekeeper came to take it down and try to save as many bees as possible:

Coincidentally, as I'm searching through interesting information to post to the website, I came across the following article, published in 1901 in The Fowlerville Review about a beehive:

~~Jay Redfield has, in all probability, the largest beehive in this county at least.  He kept finding honey bees in the chamber of his residence and an examination revealed the fact that a swarm of bees had entered through a large knot hole in the siding and filled more or less of the space between the studding.  A few days after the discovery was made, the bees swarmed and Mr. Redfield put a hive over the knot hole and captured part of the swarm, the others still remaining in the house.  The only disadvantage is in having to tear the house down to get the honey.

Makes one wonder what he eventually did to solve the problem, or did the honey just remain in the wall forever.

1899 Pasacas Passes Away

Fowlerville used to be a major hub for horse racing -- from the mid-1800s way into the 1990s (I believe).  At a least a few times each summer, there is still some harness racing to be enjoyed at the fairgrounds where you can place a bet and watch some fun racing.

But back to the mid-to-late 1800s, horse racing was one of the main hobbies and even a business.  W.W. Starkey, the owner of the local stave mill (feel free to search on his name for more information) owned Pasacas.  This horse, as reported in the local newspaper, was a prolific winner.  I did some quick research online and found some genealogy for a Pasacas, born in 1870.  You can check out the chart by clicking here.  I'm fairly certain it is the same Pasacas that W.W. Starkey owned, as the horse was born 29 years earlier to the article shown below that was published in The Fowlerville Review:

1898 More Burgling

Yesterday's post spoke of F.G. Rounsville's house being ransacked.  Just within a few weeks, two more blurbs in the local newspaper showed up indicating more was going on in the village than just random hits on houses:

~~There seems to be a considerable amount of petty thieving on Gardan lane and some of the residents there may form a vigilance committee.

And,

~~The tramps have a new game now.  They are quick to catch on to every little idea that will help them to a hand out.  Just now, they are soldiers.  They say they wanted to enlist to fight for Cuban independence but the surgeon turned them down on account of some physical defect and they are working their way back home because they have not the money to pay their fare.  Just at this time the story is a go and rarely fails to bring a good bite to eat.

I'm thinking some things never change!

1897 Rounsville Home Burgled

F.G. Rounsville was a successful businessman here in Fowlerville at the turn of the 19th century.  He operated the grain elevator at the railroad tracks at South Grand avenue and was operating it while living across the road in a large, spacious home his family built around 1878.

In 1897, someone decided what was Rounsville's was his also, as reported in an article found in The Fowlerville Review:

~~Bold, Bad Burglar~~During Saturday afternoon, the residence of F.G. Rounsville was broken into and about $75 worth of small articles stolen.  The house was ransacked from bottom to top and things generally overhauled.  The chisel with which the door was broken open was left laying on the dresser.  Cora Cardotte saw a man in the yard as she was passing the house and upon learning of the burglary, gave a description of him which was given to the officers and a diligent search was made among the crowd.  One person was arrested upon suspicion but proved not to be the party she saw and no further clue could be obtained.

I have a huge amount of information on F.G. Rounsville (and a picture from one of the yearbooks -- see below) and others in his family, but the name of Cora Cardotte does not ring a bell with me in all of the research I've done so I went looking on one of the genealogy sites -- still no luck.  Has anyone heard of her or this family?