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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, July 11, 2025, pg. 5 The Ditch was a small open stream located in a lowland swampy area running through the southwestern portion of our community in a northwest direction beginning at the Kalamazoo River millpond behind River St. It crossed S. Eaton St. then moved through the Charles Dalrymple property, the future site of Dalrymple School. The Black Ditch was so-named due to the rich, black soil found in the area. The mosquito-breeding Ditch was described in 1911 as a "trough of muck and slime which has contained stagnant water in the hot months of the year and breeds millions of germs every summer." The Black Ditch was utilized during the great Flood of 1908, when dynamite was used to try and free the ice jam in the millpond. The black ditch was used as a type of water pressure safety valve by diverting water through the ditch, and thus supposedly reducing the volume of water raging through the city. In 1912, City of Albion undertook the most massive sewer project in its history up to that time, and installed over a mile of 12-inch, 24-inch, and 30 -inch tile storm and sanitary sewer pipe over the route of the Black Ditch. The cost of the project was $8,000, and was installed under the direction of our local sewer commissioner, William J. Porr (1856-1938). How would you like to have a title of sewer commissioner in your resume? The project was financed by private assessments of properties along the route that were serviced by the line. This amounted to 586 property owners. The pipe was laid 10 feet underground. Workers had to dig through several inches of sandstone with pick axes, as blasting would have caused cave-ins. The project served a dual purpose. It provided much needed drainage for the area which was immediately evident when the line was placed into service. It also provided modern sanitary sewer service to area residents, thus dooming the numerous outhouses which once dotted the landscape. The storm sewer was placed directly above the sanitary sewer. The Black Ditch only appears on the 1871 map of Albion. From our Historical Notebook this week we present that map, with a few identifying street names added by yours truly. Here we see that the Ditch flowed through land owned by Samuel V. Irwin, Champion and James Eslow, and Silas Finley. How many of our readers have ever heard of the Black Ditch?  1871 Map of Albion
All text copyright, 2025 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
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