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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, November 14, 2021, pg. 3 We continue with our history of the Victory Park dam in Albion. In digging the raceway below the waterfall, workers constructed a fortified sod bank on the west side which ran parallel to the river, reinforced by willow trees planted close together to hold the earth. To keep the muskrats from burrowing holes through the bank, tin clippings were spread on the east inside slope of the embankment. This area gained the nickname "the Willow Walk." The first sawmill erected by Tenney Peabody and Wareham Warner in the Market Place was the first of several water-powered enterprises erected in Albion, harnessing the waters of the Kalamazoo River via the Victory Park dam. Both the dam and the sawmill are drawn on the original 1836 Plat Map of Albion. The map notes that there was at 14-foot elevation drop from the dam to the sawmill. That sawmill helped provide the cut wood for the first homes and businesses constructed in our community. In 1835, Mr. Warner sold out his interest in the sawmill to the Albion Company, headed by Jesse Crowell (1797-1872). In 1837, Jesse Crowell erected a water-powered grist/flour mill on E. Erie St. along the raceway, which was known as the Brown Mill. It burned in 1883, and was replaced by a new structure nicknamed the "Red Mill." That operated until it closed at the turn of the century. From our Historical Notebook this week we present an old postcard photo circa 1907, showing the Victory Park waterfall and the unrestrained waters in front flowing down the River. Today there are river walls to contain the flow. Notice the person in the distance with a horse and trailer crossing the Haven St. bridge.  Postcard circa 1907, showing the Victory Park waterfall
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