Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
Morning Star, May 13, 2007, pg. 6 It has been quite a while since we featured a particular street history in Albion. Mallory St. is located in the northwest part of Albion, in an area that was platted during World War I. Mallory St. was once part of the 18-acre farm of Job Mallory (1832-1918), a pioneer of our community. Job came to Albion in 1855, and worked for Jesse Crowell & Company as a wagon driver for their milling operations in downtown Albion. His wife Maria Carr (1839-1903), was a native of Dryden, NY, where several pioneer Albion families had originated from. The couple’s son Erva Mallory became an Albion City Manager and postmaster. Job’s property began at Jefferson St. and moved westwards on the north side of Austin Avenue, with the future Mallory St. being the approximate western boundary. When Mallory St. was platted, some of the first houses erected there were occupied by: Daniel Kozbiel, Aaron Wright, Dee Oliver, Basil Colett, William Skalski, and Charles Harvey. The large Mallory family farmhouse was located at 726 Austin Avenue. It was acquired by Homer C. Blair, president of the Commercial & Savings Bank. He sold it to Polish immigrants, Stanley and Bernice Buinowski. They turned the home into a boarding house which housed twenty-one roomers. Most of them worked at the nearby Albion Malleable Iron Company. On October 3, 1915, the former Mallory house burned to the ground. The fire department was unable to save the structure because of a lack of water pressure to the hoses caused by only a 4-inch water main which then extended across Austive Avenue. Concerning the now homeless boarders, the local paper reported: “The people in the residence did not know of the fire until it had gained much headway. Most of the inmates of the place escaped in their night-clothes, some of them having no extra time to spare. All the foreign colony was present and gave aid to the fire-stricken ones in the shape of clothes and a place in which to stay.” A replacement home was erected on the site. From our Historical Notebook we present a photograph of the Mallory St. sign, and a photograph of Job Mallory himself. Special thanks to Job’s great-granddaughter Linda (Mallory) Treap of Millersburg, OH. for supplying this week’s photo. Her father Donald Mallory (AHS class of 1927) was the son of Albion postmaster Erva J. Mallory. The Mallory St. sign Next: HENRY C. CONANT All text copyright, 2024 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
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