THE 1954-55 ALBION CITY COUNCIL - Historical Albion Michigan

What an election we just went through! Here in Albion people voted in record numbers and the lines were long--at least at Crowell School they were where yours truly worked as an election inspector. Perhaps you, too may have noticed a “trend” that has developed in our local elections, with just one major exception. There seems to be no one challenging incumbents, who are easily re-voted into office for another term with no opposition. Such was not the case years ago when many persons in town aspired for political office and there was always a full slate of names to choose from.

In any case, our local newly-elected and re-elected City Council and Mayor will be sworn in for their new term which commences at the start of December. I encourage our readers to visit one of our local city council meetings and express your opinions during the “public comment” portion. Isn’t it great that we can view the proceedings live on our local cable channel 21?

From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of the Albion City Council from 50 years ago which began its term in December, 1954 as attested by the calendar in the background. Front row, left to right: Mayor Charles Hughes; George Kracko representing the 1st precinct; Edwin Williams from the 4th precinct who passed away in August 1955 in the midst of his term; and Lyle Johnson from the 5th precinct. Lyle would subsequently serve as an Albion Mayor in 1964-65.

Back row: James McIntosh representing the 2nd precinct--he was Albion’s first black city councilman; Gardner Lloyd representing the 6th precinct; and Karl H. Miller from the 3rd precinct. All of the men in this photo have since passed away with the exception of Gardner Lloyd, who was an executive at the Albion Malleable Iron Company [Postscript: He passed away on Tuesday, November 9, 2004]. How many of our readers remember these men and their positions in the community?

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
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	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
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