Ann Arbor Observed: Selections from Then and Now

✍ Scribed by Grace Shackman

• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 281
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Twenty-five years ago Grace Shackman began to document the history of Ann Arbor’s buildings, events, and people in the Ann Arbor Observer. Soon Shackman’s articles, which depicted every aspect of life in Ann Arbor during the city’s earlier eras, became much-anticipated regular stories. Readers turned to her illuminating minihistories when they wanted to know about a particular landmark, structure, personality, organization, or business from Ann Arbor’s past. Packed with photographs from Ann Arbor of yesteryear and the present day, Ann Arbor Observed compiles the best of Shackman’s articles in one book divided into eight sections: public buildings and institutions, the University of Michigan, transportation, industry, downtown Ann Arbor, recreation and culture, social fabric and communities, and architecture.  For long-time residents, Ann Arbor expatriates, University of Michigan alumni, and visitors alike, Ann Arbor Observed provides a rare glimpse of the bygone days of a town with a rich and varied history. Grace Shackman is a history columnist for the Ann Arbor Observer, the Community Observer, and the Old West Side News, as well as a writer for University of Michigan publications. She is the author of two previous books: Ann Arbor in the 19th Century and Ann Arbor in the 20th Century.

✦ Table of Contents

Contents......Page 8
Introduction......Page 10
The 1838 Jail......Page 13
The County Poorhouse......Page 17
The Private Hospital Era......Page 20
Ann Arbor’s Carnegie Library......Page 33
Red Howard, Small-Town Cop......Page 36
The Farmers’ Market......Page 40
The Detroit Observatory......Page 48
The Remarkable Legacy of Francis Kelsey......Page 53
The Botanical Gardens......Page 62
When Football Players Danced the Cancan......Page 66
Lane Hall......Page 75
Inglis House......Page 79
Orange Risdon’s 1825 Map......Page 83
The Michigan Central Depot......Page 90
Ann Arbor’s “Other” Railroad......Page 93
Ann Arbor’s Streetcars......Page 100
109 Catherine—Car Age Services......Page 104
The Ann Arbor Cooperative Society......Page 108
The Rise and Fall of Allen’s Creek......Page 111
Henry Krause’s Tannery......Page 119
The Athens Press on Main Street......Page 122
439 Fifth Street: From Drinking Spot to Play Yard......Page 127
The Artificial Ice Company......Page 130
The West Side Dairy......Page 133
L. W. Cole and the Michigan Argus......Page 137
John Haarer Photography Studio......Page 143
Hoelzle’s Butcher Shop and Metzger’s Restaurant......Page 149
Prochnow’s Dairy Lunch......Page 154
Justin Trubey and the Ice Cream Trade......Page 157
Otto’s Band......Page 161
Ann Arbor’s Municipal Beach......Page 166
The Roy Hoyer Dance Studio......Page 170
The Broadway Bridge Parks......Page 175
Cinema’s First Century......Page 182
The Underground Railroad in Ann Arbor......Page 195
Dixboro......Page 211
Delhi Village......Page 216
The Story of the Schwaben Halle......Page 220
A Tale of Two Lakes......Page 228
Cobblestone Houses in Washtenaw County......Page 236
The Remarkable History of the Kempf House......Page 241
Ann Arbor’s Oldest Apartments......Page 245
Alden Dow’s Ann Arbor......Page 254
Frank Lloyd Wright in Ann Arbor......Page 269