Historical Albion Michigan
By Frank Passic

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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.

OVERLAND AUTO DEALERSHIP

Morning Star, December 4, 2011 pg. 4

We've got a winner. Last week's unidentified 50th wedding anniversary photo has been identified as Floyd W. (1884-1971) and Ethel (Murray) (1889-1971) Dean. The couple were married in November, 1908 and so this photo would be dated 1958. Special thanks to Marge Burns and others for their identification help. The Deans were long-time members of the Church of God, and early meetings were held in their home. Ethel's father Montford Murray was the Albion Malleable Iron Company executive who recruited African-Americans from Pensacola, Florida in 1916 to work at the Malleable.

For those who might have missed out, my two latest pictorial Albion history books, "Growing Up in Albion," and "Albion in Review" are still available at the Albion Chamber of Commerce. These would make great Christmas gifts for your relatives who moved away but are visiting for the holidays. Why, "Growing Up in Albion" even has photos of the city dump, the dog pound, and the sewage treatment plant, all under one cover! How's that for a sales pitch?

Now for this week's article. The Albion Garage Sales Agency was formed in 1914 as an expansion of the Albion Garage at 118 E. Michigan Avenue. Harry Richards, Sr., Arthur G. Noble, Daniel McAuliffe, and Edwin Mounteer were partners in the new firm. The Agency moved from their location at 118 E. Michigan Avenue around 1917 to a new two-story building they erected at 302 N. Superior St. on the northeast corner of N. Superior St and Michigan Avenue. Today this is the site of the gas pumps at the Citgo gas station (PS Mart).

The Albion Garage Sales Agency was our local Overland automobile dealer, a popular brand in the early days of the new automobile era. On Tuesday, May 16, 1916, eighteen (18) Overlands arrived in Albion, and a panoramic "group photo" was taken of the at the Superior-Michigan Avenue intersection. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a portion of that photo. The view looks north. The sign on the car at the left end states, "1916 Overland, $750." This photo was taken by local photographers Bennett and Tuttle. Special thanks to Tom Richards for supplying this week's photo.

On the left where the large elm trees appear would be where our U.S. Post Office was being built at the time. On the right is where the new Albion Garage Sales Agency brick building would soon be erected. In the distance on the right is the Sebastian Monumental, which dealt in marble and granite work, mostly tombstones. Because this photo is so long we couldn't print all of it this week. Instead, we'll include the right hand portion of it when this article is placed on the www.albionmich.com website.


Arrival of the Overlands on Tuesday, May 16, 1916, Panoramic collage


Left side


Right side

Next: 1918 OVERLAND PANORAMIC PHOTO


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