Return to the Frank Passic
Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
|
Morning Star, December 12, 2021, pg. 3 We conclude our series this week about the history of the Victory Park dam. During the 1930s as part of the Works Progress Administration funding, a stone wall was constructed along the banks of the Kalamazoo River, including in Victory Park and the millpond up to S. Superior St. by Riverside Cemetery. In Victory Park, decorative additions were added to the river edges, including a small stone-arch bridge and pond, a fish-rearing pond, and trees and flowers were planted. The fish rearing pond was quite active in the 1940s. Following World War II, Consumers Power Company made the decision to discontinue its water-powered electric generating operations here. The millpond was filling up with muck, thus decreasing the reservoir of water pressure needed to turn the dynamos at the plant. In addition, the waterfall and the raceway were in need of repairs, and Consumers deemed it to be no longer cost effective to maintain. Water-powered electric generation operations ceased here around 1948. In the next few years, Consumers deeded the waterfall and raceway to the City of Albion. The raceway pond next to the waterfall with its gates were left intact, and water was allowed to flow through it to the next pond, which in the 1960s was turned into a hockey rink. The flow of water to the Consumers Power plant on E. Erie St. and the Market Place was cut off, and the water instead was channeled to flow out of the new Rieger Park which was developed just east of the raceway route. Today, the Victory Park waterfall, its adjacent floodgates, as well as the concrete itself, has been deteriorating. This whole area is long-due for a makeover to restore the beauty of the 1930s. Recently I noticed there is a big "chunk" of concrete missing from the south wall below the waterfall. That is not good. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a pristine photograph of the Victory Park waterfall and environs from August, 1939, complete with the new river wall. It is Victory Park in its full beauty. Should the Victory Park dam be removed, the water let out, and the muck be allowed to flow down to Marshall? Should Albion establish a "River Walk" park behind local residents’ property along River St. and Haven Lane in the former millpond space if most of the water is drained except for the River itself? Take a look at what was done in Ceresco to their dam as an example. History can be expensive to maintain/restore, but destroying history too, can be just as expensive. Albion doesn’t have the money for either. Our city leaders (as well as in Concord, too) have that conundrum they will be dealing with in the months and years to come.  Victory Park waterfall from August, 1939
All text copyright, 2024 © all rights reserved Frank Passic
| ||||
