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FROM THE ARCHIVES: Cold wave hit Ypsilanti in January 1912
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Three issues dominated public concern in Ypsilanti in January of 1912: gas, roads, and a crumbling bridge. Hotly debated was the proposal for the city to seize control of the privately-owned gas plant on North Huron (now the DPW yard). The plant generated not natural gas, but coal gas, a toxic and sometimes lethal fuel created by burning coal and piped to city homes.
The plant was owned by several wealthy townsmen. When city leadership proposed buying the plant with the sale of bonds and converting the plant to a municipal utility, newspaper headlines erupted in the Ypsilanti Daily Press. The paper took a pro-municipal stance, running long editorials almost every day throughout January. Lecturers both pro and con spoke at the Normal (EMU) and venues around town.
One national movement that also engaged Ypsilantians was the good roads movement, which sought to transform a substandard national road system to a modern one. This issue was also the talk of numerous local lecturers.
A third ongoing topic was the crumbling Cross Street bridge and how to fix it. Conditions were so bad that two summers earlier it had been declared unsafe and closed for some time.
The headlines for these civic issues were eclipsed in January of 1912 by a natural event that would become arguably the second-worst cold wave in American history.
Temperatures sank in early January from the South to the Midwest and from Kansas to the mid-Atlantic states. “Mercury Hits Bottom of Tube,” read one Jan. 6 Press headline. The article listed temperatures around the nation: 10 below in Chicago, 20 below in Green Bay, 34 below in Grand Forks, North Dakota. “Atlanta, Georgia and a large territory surrounding is shivering in bitter cold,” said the article.
The nearly national phenomenon had local effects. Neighbors of one elderly woman alerted the postman that the woman and her granddaughter were living in a house without food or fuel, according to another Jan. 6 Press story. “The extreme cold of the last week has worked considerable hardship among the poor classes of the city,” continued the article. “One of the leading merchants of Ypsilanti has given several tons of coal the last two days through the Ypsilanti Home Association.”
In an era before federal welfare programs, the city had to care for its less fortunate by itself. Founded in 1857, the Ypsilanti Home Association was a group composed largely of some of the better-off women in town. It wasn’t large; membership over the years ranged from 25 to 45 or so members. The group received donations of goods and money and met monthly to decide how to mete out their modest resources to needy city cases. However, the largest items the ladies were accustomed to handling were blankets, coats, or a basket of food—not several tons of coal. The group’s “resources necessarily preclude their giving out fuel,” said the paper. “They were glad to make an exception in the present instance.”
In addition to the struggle to heat often uninsulated homes (at least two chimney fires were reported), water pipes were freezing all over town. In desperation, some people wrenched open fire hydrants in an attempt to get water. “The hydrants have promptly frozen solid,” said a Jan. 9 Press article, “and the [city] has spent a good portion of its time just lately in attending to these cases.” Farms outside the city had no such city resources if their water hand-pumps froze.
The cold persisted. On Jan. 13, a temperature of 15 below was recorded at the Detroit, Jackson, & Chicaco interurban car barns on the north side of Michigan Avenue just east of the river. The weather was causing trouble for the cars, and a February blizzard cut off travel to Saline. “One of the D. J. & C. work cars with snow plow attached . . . started out about noon today to tunnel a way through the snow drifts to Saline,” said a Feb. 23 Press story. “Traffic on this line had been at a standstill.” Continued...
The plant was owned by several wealthy townsmen. When city leadership proposed buying the plant with the sale of bonds and converting the plant to a municipal utility, newspaper headlines erupted in the Ypsilanti Daily Press. The paper took a pro-municipal stance, running long editorials almost every day throughout January. Lecturers both pro and con spoke at the Normal (EMU) and venues around town.
One national movement that also engaged Ypsilantians was the good roads movement, which sought to transform a substandard national road system to a modern one. This issue was also the talk of numerous local lecturers.
A third ongoing topic was the crumbling Cross Street bridge and how to fix it. Conditions were so bad that two summers earlier it had been declared unsafe and closed for some time.
The headlines for these civic issues were eclipsed in January of 1912 by a natural event that would become arguably the second-worst cold wave in American history.
Temperatures sank in early January from the South to the Midwest and from Kansas to the mid-Atlantic states. “Mercury Hits Bottom of Tube,” read one Jan. 6 Press headline. The article listed temperatures around the nation: 10 below in Chicago, 20 below in Green Bay, 34 below in Grand Forks, North Dakota. “Atlanta, Georgia and a large territory surrounding is shivering in bitter cold,” said the article.
The nearly national phenomenon had local effects. Neighbors of one elderly woman alerted the postman that the woman and her granddaughter were living in a house without food or fuel, according to another Jan. 6 Press story. “The extreme cold of the last week has worked considerable hardship among the poor classes of the city,” continued the article. “One of the leading merchants of Ypsilanti has given several tons of coal the last two days through the Ypsilanti Home Association.”
In an era before federal welfare programs, the city had to care for its less fortunate by itself. Founded in 1857, the Ypsilanti Home Association was a group composed largely of some of the better-off women in town. It wasn’t large; membership over the years ranged from 25 to 45 or so members. The group received donations of goods and money and met monthly to decide how to mete out their modest resources to needy city cases. However, the largest items the ladies were accustomed to handling were blankets, coats, or a basket of food—not several tons of coal. The group’s “resources necessarily preclude their giving out fuel,” said the paper. “They were glad to make an exception in the present instance.”
In addition to the struggle to heat often uninsulated homes (at least two chimney fires were reported), water pipes were freezing all over town. In desperation, some people wrenched open fire hydrants in an attempt to get water. “The hydrants have promptly frozen solid,” said a Jan. 9 Press article, “and the [city] has spent a good portion of its time just lately in attending to these cases.” Farms outside the city had no such city resources if their water hand-pumps froze.
The cold persisted. On Jan. 13, a temperature of 15 below was recorded at the Detroit, Jackson, & Chicaco interurban car barns on the north side of Michigan Avenue just east of the river. The weather was causing trouble for the cars, and a February blizzard cut off travel to Saline. “One of the D. J. & C. work cars with snow plow attached . . . started out about noon today to tunnel a way through the snow drifts to Saline,” said a Feb. 23 Press story. “Traffic on this line had been at a standstill.” Continued...
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Trains all over the Midwest were affected. One Michigan Central passenger train was lost. It was found completely buried in a giant snowdrift near Kalamazoo. Luckily, the passengers had tunneled out and sought shelter in nearby farmhouses.
Even with no wind, 15 below was enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin in about 45 minutes. Men harvesting ice on the Huron river upstream from the Peninsular Paper Mill were thus exposed. One man riding on ice blocks up a conveyor belt to waiting boxcars was crushed in an accident.
“David Russell, who has been employed at cutting ice in the Shanghai Pit, was badly hurt on Saturday afternoon,” read a Jan. 23 Press story. “He was riding up the chute on a bunch of ice-cakes when the tongs securing the ice slipped and released the cakes.” Both man and ice crashed back down the chute. Russell escaped with no more than a broken leg. His doctor advised him to rest at home for two months. Russell likely missed the remainder of the ice season and could not provide for his wife and 2-year-old.
The ongoing cold wave’s icy conditions weren’t all bad, however. A skating carnival was organized for Jan19. It . was to be held at the city rink on the south end of Riverside Park—the same location where a large puddle traditionally forms each spring. In addition to an exhibition hockey game against Detroit’s Shamrocks team, the evening carnival would offer public skating with lights and music.
In time the cold wave eased, and Ypsilantians welcomed spring. But many would always remember the cold wave of 1912.
Laura Bien is a local history columnist and the author of “Tales From the Ypsilanti Archives” and “Hidden History of Ypsilanti.” Reach her at ypsidixit@gmail.com.
Even with no wind, 15 below was enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin in about 45 minutes. Men harvesting ice on the Huron river upstream from the Peninsular Paper Mill were thus exposed. One man riding on ice blocks up a conveyor belt to waiting boxcars was crushed in an accident.
“David Russell, who has been employed at cutting ice in the Shanghai Pit, was badly hurt on Saturday afternoon,” read a Jan. 23 Press story. “He was riding up the chute on a bunch of ice-cakes when the tongs securing the ice slipped and released the cakes.” Both man and ice crashed back down the chute. Russell escaped with no more than a broken leg. His doctor advised him to rest at home for two months. Russell likely missed the remainder of the ice season and could not provide for his wife and 2-year-old.
The ongoing cold wave’s icy conditions weren’t all bad, however. A skating carnival was organized for Jan19. It . was to be held at the city rink on the south end of Riverside Park—the same location where a large puddle traditionally forms each spring. In addition to an exhibition hockey game against Detroit’s Shamrocks team, the evening carnival would offer public skating with lights and music.
In time the cold wave eased, and Ypsilantians welcomed spring. But many would always remember the cold wave of 1912.
Laura Bien is a local history columnist and the author of “Tales From the Ypsilanti Archives” and “Hidden History of Ypsilanti.” Reach her at ypsidixit@gmail.com.
Three issues dominated public concern in Ypsilanti in January of 1912: gas, roads, and a crumbling bridge. Hotly debated was the proposal for the city to seize control of the privately-owned gas plant on North Huron (now the DPW yard). The plant generated not natural gas, but coal gas, a toxic and sometimes lethal fuel created by burning coal and piped to city homes.
The plant was owned by several wealthy townsmen. When city leadership proposed buying the plant with the sale of bonds and converting the plant to a municipal utility, newspaper headlines erupted in the Ypsilanti Daily Press. The paper took a pro-municipal stance, running long editorials almost every day throughout January. Lecturers both pro and con spoke at the Normal (EMU) and venues around town.
One national movement that also engaged Ypsilantians was the good roads movement, which sought to transform a substandard national road system to a modern one. This issue was also the talk of numerous local lecturers.
A third ongoing topic was the crumbling Cross Street bridge and how to fix it. Conditions were so bad that two summers earlier it had been declared unsafe and closed for some time.
The headlines for these civic issues were eclipsed in January of 1912 by a natural event that would become arguably the second-worst cold wave in American history.
Temperatures sank in early January from the South to the Midwest and from Kansas to the mid-Atlantic states. “Mercury Hits Bottom of Tube,” read one Jan. 6 Press headline. The article listed temperatures around the nation: 10 below in Chicago, 20 below in Green Bay, 34 below in Grand Forks, North Dakota. “Atlanta, Georgia and a large territory surrounding is shivering in bitter cold,” said the article.
The nearly national phenomenon had local effects. Neighbors of one elderly woman alerted the postman that the woman and her granddaughter were living in a house without food or fuel, according to another Jan. 6 Press story. “The extreme cold of the last week has worked considerable hardship among the poor classes of the city,” continued the article. “One of the leading merchants of Ypsilanti has given several tons of coal the last two days through the Ypsilanti Home Association.”
In an era before federal welfare programs, the city had to care for its less fortunate by itself. Founded in 1857, the Ypsilanti Home Association was a group composed largely of some of the better-off women in town. It wasn’t large; membership over the years ranged from 25 to 45 or so members. The group received donations of goods and money and met monthly to decide how to mete out their modest resources to needy city cases. However, the largest items the ladies were accustomed to handling were blankets, coats, or a basket of food—not several tons of coal. The group’s “resources necessarily preclude their giving out fuel,” said the paper. “They were glad to make an exception in the present instance.”
In addition to the struggle to heat often uninsulated homes (at least two chimney fires were reported), water pipes were freezing all over town. In desperation, some people wrenched open fire hydrants in an attempt to get water. “The hydrants have promptly frozen solid,” said a Jan. 9 Press article, “and the [city] has spent a good portion of its time just lately in attending to these cases.” Farms outside the city had no such city resources if their water hand-pumps froze.
The cold persisted. On Jan. 13, a temperature of 15 below was recorded at the Detroit, Jackson, & Chicaco interurban car barns on the north side of Michigan Avenue just east of the river. The weather was causing trouble for the cars, and a February blizzard cut off travel to Saline. “One of the D. J. & C. work cars with snow plow attached . . . started out about noon today to tunnel a way through the snow drifts to Saline,” said a Feb. 23 Press story. “Traffic on this line had been at a standstill.”
Trains all over the Midwest were affected. One Michigan Central passenger train was lost. It was found completely buried in a giant snowdrift near Kalamazoo. Luckily, the passengers had tunneled out and sought shelter in nearby farmhouses.
Even with no wind, 15 below was enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin in about 45 minutes. Men harvesting ice on the Huron river upstream from the Peninsular Paper Mill were thus exposed. One man riding on ice blocks up a conveyor belt to waiting boxcars was crushed in an accident.
“David Russell, who has been employed at cutting ice in the Shanghai Pit, was badly hurt on Saturday afternoon,” read a Jan. 23 Press story. “He was riding up the chute on a bunch of ice-cakes when the tongs securing the ice slipped and released the cakes.” Both man and ice crashed back down the chute. Russell escaped with no more than a broken leg. His doctor advised him to rest at home for two months. Russell likely missed the remainder of the ice season and could not provide for his wife and 2-year-old.
The ongoing cold wave’s icy conditions weren’t all bad, however. A skating carnival was organized for Jan19. It . was to be held at the city rink on the south end of Riverside Park—the same location where a large puddle traditionally forms each spring. In addition to an exhibition hockey game against Detroit’s Shamrocks team, the evening carnival would offer public skating with lights and music.
In time the cold wave eased, and Ypsilantians welcomed spring. But many would always remember the cold wave of 1912.
Laura Bien is a local history columnist and the author of “Tales From the Ypsilanti Archives” and “Hidden History of Ypsilanti.” Reach her at ypsidixit@gmail.com.
The plant was owned by several wealthy townsmen. When city leadership proposed buying the plant with the sale of bonds and converting the plant to a municipal utility, newspaper headlines erupted in the Ypsilanti Daily Press. The paper took a pro-municipal stance, running long editorials almost every day throughout January. Lecturers both pro and con spoke at the Normal (EMU) and venues around town.
One national movement that also engaged Ypsilantians was the good roads movement, which sought to transform a substandard national road system to a modern one. This issue was also the talk of numerous local lecturers.
A third ongoing topic was the crumbling Cross Street bridge and how to fix it. Conditions were so bad that two summers earlier it had been declared unsafe and closed for some time.
The headlines for these civic issues were eclipsed in January of 1912 by a natural event that would become arguably the second-worst cold wave in American history.
Temperatures sank in early January from the South to the Midwest and from Kansas to the mid-Atlantic states. “Mercury Hits Bottom of Tube,” read one Jan. 6 Press headline. The article listed temperatures around the nation: 10 below in Chicago, 20 below in Green Bay, 34 below in Grand Forks, North Dakota. “Atlanta, Georgia and a large territory surrounding is shivering in bitter cold,” said the article.
The nearly national phenomenon had local effects. Neighbors of one elderly woman alerted the postman that the woman and her granddaughter were living in a house without food or fuel, according to another Jan. 6 Press story. “The extreme cold of the last week has worked considerable hardship among the poor classes of the city,” continued the article. “One of the leading merchants of Ypsilanti has given several tons of coal the last two days through the Ypsilanti Home Association.”
In an era before federal welfare programs, the city had to care for its less fortunate by itself. Founded in 1857, the Ypsilanti Home Association was a group composed largely of some of the better-off women in town. It wasn’t large; membership over the years ranged from 25 to 45 or so members. The group received donations of goods and money and met monthly to decide how to mete out their modest resources to needy city cases. However, the largest items the ladies were accustomed to handling were blankets, coats, or a basket of food—not several tons of coal. The group’s “resources necessarily preclude their giving out fuel,” said the paper. “They were glad to make an exception in the present instance.”
In addition to the struggle to heat often uninsulated homes (at least two chimney fires were reported), water pipes were freezing all over town. In desperation, some people wrenched open fire hydrants in an attempt to get water. “The hydrants have promptly frozen solid,” said a Jan. 9 Press article, “and the [city] has spent a good portion of its time just lately in attending to these cases.” Farms outside the city had no such city resources if their water hand-pumps froze.
The cold persisted. On Jan. 13, a temperature of 15 below was recorded at the Detroit, Jackson, & Chicaco interurban car barns on the north side of Michigan Avenue just east of the river. The weather was causing trouble for the cars, and a February blizzard cut off travel to Saline. “One of the D. J. & C. work cars with snow plow attached . . . started out about noon today to tunnel a way through the snow drifts to Saline,” said a Feb. 23 Press story. “Traffic on this line had been at a standstill.”
Trains all over the Midwest were affected. One Michigan Central passenger train was lost. It was found completely buried in a giant snowdrift near Kalamazoo. Luckily, the passengers had tunneled out and sought shelter in nearby farmhouses.
Even with no wind, 15 below was enough to cause frostbite on exposed skin in about 45 minutes. Men harvesting ice on the Huron river upstream from the Peninsular Paper Mill were thus exposed. One man riding on ice blocks up a conveyor belt to waiting boxcars was crushed in an accident.
“David Russell, who has been employed at cutting ice in the Shanghai Pit, was badly hurt on Saturday afternoon,” read a Jan. 23 Press story. “He was riding up the chute on a bunch of ice-cakes when the tongs securing the ice slipped and released the cakes.” Both man and ice crashed back down the chute. Russell escaped with no more than a broken leg. His doctor advised him to rest at home for two months. Russell likely missed the remainder of the ice season and could not provide for his wife and 2-year-old.
The ongoing cold wave’s icy conditions weren’t all bad, however. A skating carnival was organized for Jan19. It . was to be held at the city rink on the south end of Riverside Park—the same location where a large puddle traditionally forms each spring. In addition to an exhibition hockey game against Detroit’s Shamrocks team, the evening carnival would offer public skating with lights and music.
In time the cold wave eased, and Ypsilantians welcomed spring. But many would always remember the cold wave of 1912.
Laura Bien is a local history columnist and the author of “Tales From the Ypsilanti Archives” and “Hidden History of Ypsilanti.” Reach her at ypsidixit@gmail.com.
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