3
12
627
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/8db930010dde3b494f4aaed7df2e408a.mp4
db0693c92616a9e645c3da8b61d7b7e5
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2ce4b4fae1e1a40e658d51016630104d.srt
62145737033d6a06b3e1ba9144bd1115
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Journals
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled.
The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
COVID-19_2020-05-08_ElliottRyan_v05
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Elliott, Ryan
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-05-08
Title
A name given to the resource
Ryan Elliot video journal, Part 5
Description
An account of the resource
Video journal of Ryan Elliott, GVSU electrical engineering student, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video, Ryan gives updates about his upcoming wedding plans, politics, and the governor's stay at home order.
Subject
The topic of the resource
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/59b1c530f58ee9f853ccc8bbb7f1055a.mp4
1eee58c4aef5c5ebf30dc5cea7484583
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/281617373dd38e8f203ce065cf494ee2.srt
d973bdbdd9be8f590998f140ef30ff21
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Journals
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled.
The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
COVID-19_2020-05-08_ElliottRyan_v04
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Elliott, Ryan
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-05-08
Title
A name given to the resource
Ryan Elliot video journal, Part 4
Description
An account of the resource
Video journal of Ryan Elliott, GVSU electrical engineering student, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video, Ryan gives updates about work and church.
Subject
The topic of the resource
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/917dcd3dbc656a5b6155116b17188a86.mp4
c5e65e285e349bb2904e2d26d11619bd
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/0e255efddea9a080a6913786ebf1e510.srt
9d5e6547a7aff5b574721447ba6725bc
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Journals
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled.
The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
COVID-19_2020-04-02_ElliottRyan_v03
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Elliott, Ryan
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-04-02
Title
A name given to the resource
Ryan Elliot video journal, Part 3
Description
An account of the resource
Video journal of Ryan Elliott, GVSU electrical engineering student, and his fiancée Shay, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video Shay discusses her work in health care, and Ryan talks about his church involvement and the changes they have experienced due to social distancing.
Subject
The topic of the resource
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/f76ea500277d75dc93478b3b3bb266f3.mp4
17f2c5f8041cbcce7980a9a225169675
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/10f3628503831af997828da5041d3b01.srt
e91d317b173abeb7e891decfe6d22899
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Journals
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled.
The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
COVID-19_2020-04-02_ElliottRyan_v02
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Elliott, Ryan
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-04-02
Title
A name given to the resource
Ryan Elliot video journal, Part 2
Description
An account of the resource
Video journal of Ryan Elliott, GVSU electrical engineering student, and his fiancée Shay, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video, Ryan discusses co-ops, job loss, and the change in future plans for their wedding.
Subject
The topic of the resource
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/cabb59e24187dc3416ceb2f41abd7f4f.mp4
3b8415f00523fae7434383345a5646f9
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/779fd868709f0ac07ddd2682bd99da73.srt
7fe7177b1ecec1c38e86b50497e17436
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Journals
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled.
The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Moving Image
A series of visual representations imparting an impression of motion when shown in succession. Examples include animations, movies, television programs, videos, zoetropes, or visual output from a simulation.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
COVID-19_2020-04-02_ElliottRyan_v01
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Elliott, Ryan
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-04-02
Title
A name given to the resource
Ryan Elliot video journal, Part 1
Description
An account of the resource
Video journal of Ryan Elliott, GVSU electrical engineering student, and his fiancée Shay, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this video, Ryan discusses the transition to online classes at GVSU.
Subject
The topic of the resource
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/429a098549d9ceb5af40d5923b0c1973.pdf
f9a1060d2a0ed993b73c9f216483164f
PDF Text
Text
1
Grand Valley State University Special Collections
Kent County Oral History collections, RHC-23
Mr. and Mrs. Francis T. Russell
Interviewed on October 4, 1971
Edited and indexed by Don Bryant, 2010 – bryant@wellswooster.com
Tape # 30, 31 (1:21:28)
Biographical Information
Francis Thayer Russell was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan on 21 June 1892, the son of Huntley
Russell and Clara E. Comstock.
Huntley Russell was born on 1 September 1858 at New Britain, Connecticut and died in Grand
Rapids on 9 December 1928. Huntley was buried in Fulton Street Cemetery. Clara Eglatine
Comstock was born in Grand Rapids in April 1866, the daughter of Charles C. Comstock and
Cornelia Guild. She died on 18 June 1935 and was buried in Fulton Street Cemetery. Huntley
and Clara were married in Grand Rapids on the 1st of September, 1884.
Mrs. Russell was born Lucille I. Hopson on 25 May 1894 in Grand Rapids, the daughter of
William C. Hopson and Frankie M. Hydorn. Lucille died on 19 October 1973 and was buried in
Woodlawn Cemetery in Grand Rapids. Her parents were married in Grand Rapids on 19
September 1889. William died in Grand Rapids on 9 March 1948 at the age of 91 and Frankie
passed away in Grand Rapids on 18 November 1958 at the age of 96.
___________
Interviewer: This interview with Mr. and Mrs. Francis T. Russell was recorded October fourth,
nineteen seventy-one. Ok. Go ahead; what were you going to say?
Mr. Russell: I was going to start to remember, to begin with, give my location at birth at
recorded in North Park Avenue and Terrace Walk, which, of course now Terrace Walk is
eliminated but North Park Avenue is still up there. The house which I was born in was torn down
and, turned into stores. But this is a rather unique location in that it was just across the street
from the Amusement Pavilion that my grandfather had built in the eighties sometime, along the
river bank for the amusement of people that might drive out from downtown, from the heart of
Grand Rapids or else come out on the, this dummy line that in the early days or the streetcar later
on. But the Pavilion was provided with quite a fleet of row-boats that could be rented and rowed
up and down the river and in the early days he had this side wheeler steamer that took a group up
to as far as the Plainfield Farm which was Grand Island. At present Grand Island’s about in front
of the Blythefield Club and this Farm was up in that general locality of the Blythefield Club. But
the, this Pavilion was a fairly good size and had a very large dance hall, had three storied, for one
of the attractions, there was a switch-back that ran from the Pavilion itself to another building
�2
perhaps oh, 150 yards away. And you’d get in this car and ride along as you would in a figure
eight or a jack rabbit or something like that over to this building and then you switched back and
then come back to the Pavilion again. Which was supposed to be quite thrilling at that time, I
think it was because it had some pretty good dips in it, although they weren’t loop-the-loops or
anything like that, but just a thrilling affair for grown-ups and youngsters at that time. But later
on, after this switch-back was given up, several years later the Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe
Club was established in the building just south of the Pavilion; which used to house the sidewheeler, the steamer that ran up and down the river. And the steamer went over great, so the
Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club was formed and was very active in canoeing and shell racing
and used to take some their best crew members out to Peoria and one place or another where
they’d have some racing contests in the shells. Afterwards, the Boat and Canoe Club built north
of this location. North of the bridge and where the present, let’s see, I think the American Legion
is in there now, isn’t it. They used to be the last……
Interviewer: Who was? Who was your grandfather?
Mr. Russell: C.C. Comstock and he came in eighteen fifty-three, moving out from New
Hampshire. His father had been a farmer and sort of a half hearted carpenter, but he was never a
very productive along the farming lines and as I gathered, the soil was not too productive, in that
locality in which helped to encourage my grandfather at an early age to strike out west, which he
did and looked this territory over, some almost the age of between eighteen and twenty and
eventually moved out here and established himself in the lumbering business. At that time there
was very little rail communication here. He originally arrived by a steamer through Chicago,
then through Grand Haven and up the river. And then in his memoirs was one of the events
coming up the river he tells about on the boat, when it blew up, the boiler blew up at Grandville
and he was blown into the water. The helmsman was killed, but the other passengers seemed to
survive alright and get ashore and he walked from there up to just south of the Soldier’s Home
where he lived at that time. He had built out in the country there at rather an early age, or not an
early age, early in his lifetime and his home was on Boltwood Drive, which was built in eighteen
ninety, at that time. But this isn’t that I referred to when he was blown off the steamer he was
residing on Ottawa Street. That was so it wasn’t quite the walk as it might have been if he’d been
in the later house. He was interested in lumbering and later on building factory for the
manufacture of pails and tubs on the corner of Newberry, now Sixth Street and Monroe; used to
be Canal Street at that time. And that building is still standing on the northeast corner and his old
office building right across the street on the northwest corner is still standing at this time. He was
at one time, Comstock, Nelson and Matter in the manufacture of furniture and there was a great
deal of difficulty in transporting at that time and getting the finished product out into the
territories to be saleable. And it was eventually developed that he built some of his own railcars,
his own freight cars, to transport the furniture out of town. That was later on of course when the
GR & I, and some other roads developed into Grand Rapids.
�3
Interviewer: He built his own freight cars, for what reason weren’t the railroads?
Mr. Russell: Well, the railroads weren’t equipped to apparently meet the requirements that he
thought should be necessary to take care of the product. And I don’t think that developed very
widely but I can gather in his memoirs that there probably weren’t more than three or four cars
that were built for that purpose. But his first interest in transportation apparently on his own hook
was building a dummy line from Sweet Street up to North Park, where he had the entertainment
enterprise. And this dummy ran fairly regular intervals between North Park and Sweet Street,
which was the limit of the streetcar line at that time- went as far as Sweet and then back
downtown. Then at that point they’d transfer to the dummy further north. And the later on as
time developed, the dummy line was absorbed by the streetcar, Grand Rapids Street Railway,
and electric cars were run on out there. But …
Interviewer: How, how was his street car run? Did he run on electricity, too?
Mr. Russell: Oh no, no this was before that, this was a steam dummy. It would carry a little
tender behind it and a passenger car and in the summer, the open passenger car, in the winter it
was closed. I think they had about, five cars was total equipment. But it afforded transportation
for a number of years and by getting the people out to his amusement resort and bathing beach,
which was also established out there on the west side of the river and they’d row across from the
Pavilion, go over there and go in swimming where there was a sand bar and a sand beach and
eventually that wore itself out. The swimming feature was given up and then it turned into just
farmland over there….
Interviewer: The river was pretty clean then in those days for swimmers?
Mr. Russell: Well yes, it was. I was always taught at that time that the river purified itself every
ten miles. That, whatever happened to it, after flowing over the gravel and sand beds that it
would be purified after ten miles of operation., We never thought of pollution at that time,
nothing of that sort. You couldn’t say it was as clear as Lake Michigan, but it was a much clearer
than we’ve been used to seeing it lately. I remember that the, the row boats, in front of the
Pavilion were attached to a series of booms that were floating in the river and these booms could
of course could, rise and fall with the variation of the river. And there was a tendency I recall a
moss gathering on the booms so it showed some pollution at that time. But, you’d get out of
those booms and then of course you couldn’t get too many of them [people] or they’d sink.
You’d have to go down, just a few at a time to get in the rowboats and then, then row wherever
you wanted to.
Interviewer: Did you ever go out to the amusement park, when you were a child Mrs. Russell?
Mr. Russell: North Park Pavilion?
�4
Mrs. Russell: I think I was out there to Sunday School Picnics. I think we used to have Sunday
School Picnics…I don’t remember quite so much. Well I remember all about its being there but
I’m afraid I didn’t play around there as much as you did.
Interviewer:
Where did you grow up?
Mrs. Russell: Well, I was born on North College Avenue about halfway between Leonard and
what’s now Michigan Street, was then called Bridge. And it was a plat that my father had bought
up there, a large piece of land; and our house was the only house on it. He built this house,
establishing the plat. And we used to walk a good distance of a half mile up Bridge Street to
school and think nothing of it. In those days, whether it (would) be summer or winter we’d go
home for lunch and go back again. But of course that’s unheard of now. And it occurs to me that
we used to go bobsledding right down those College Avenue hills. Either way, because we lived
right just halfway between. Then a little later on ‘course there were lots of houses built, largely
due to my father’s development. That whole section filled in, so we had neighbors, at that time.
I lived there until I was probably twelve or thirteen years old and then we moved down on Lyon
Street in one of these houses that are now being shown on the Heritage Hill tour, which intrigued
me. I went in to see it Saturday. I hadn’t seen it since about the year, what did I figure that out? I
think it was probably about nineteen eighteen. And I’ve never been in the house since we left it.
It was very interesting to see five apartments in it. I couldn’t quite picture that because they
hadn’t had that many people living there.
Interviewer: Whereabouts on Lyon is that house?
Mr. Russell: Four-forty.
Mrs. Russell: Near College Avenue. It’s a block between College and Prospect. It’s directly
back of Central High School. We, we owned the property, straight through from Lyon Street to
the Central High School line. We had a big tennis court back of the house that about half the
town used to make use of because there weren’t too many tennis courts then; and they’d all come
and warm up for the city tournaments, the city tennis tournaments. And so we, we got a lot of
circulation of people there while we lived there. And then at that time I attended the Central
Grammar School, which was down, at the corner of Barclay and Lyon Street. And of course
that’s since been torn down. It was a great big square building and very high on quite a hill that’s
since been leveled down, considerably. Then of course the next step was to go to the old high
school next door and then I eventually graduated my last year nine twelve I graduated from
Central High School. And then from that residence, my father built down on Madison Avenue. I
spent the rest of my life with them, I spent down there. I’ve always been around the parts here.
Interviewer: Where, whereabouts on Madison was that?
�5
Mrs. Russell: At the corner of Logan and it isn’t exactly the corner though, one house south of
the corner of Logan on the east side of the street. Right next to, well it used to be Henry Heald’s
house, a very old, old house, which was taken down, wasn’t it or is it still there?
Mr. Russell: Yes, it‘s turned in to a school.
Mrs. Russell: School now. Yes, it, it had quite a historical old house next to it. But, again my
father bought a piece of land out there and then sold off the lots to the various people that built
between our home and Logan and Morris Avenue and Madison. So we had a neighborhood that
developed all at one time practically and …..
Interviewer: What was your father’s name?
Mrs. Russell: William C. Hopson. People called it Hopkins or Hobson, it isn’t, it’s none of those,
it’s H-O-P-S-O-N. I hate to have it called otherwise. He came here, when did I tell you he came
here? Eighteen, hold that down here, I ought to, I hate to be inaccurate. (He) came to Grand
Rapids in the spring of 1870. Now that’s right, that’s when he came, he came here from
Ypsilanti; but he was born in Toledo, Ohio. And he came here with a widowed mother and he
was of tender age of about twelve years old when he came here and had a very heavy degree of
dependency on her part. So that, he used to go to night school and tried to pick up his education
and I think he went to high school until he was seventeen and I doubt he ever graduated. I don’t
think so. But he went heavily to night school. And then at that time he joined a metalworking
firm called Shriver-Weatherly. And in the course and learned the trade... he learned the metal
trade and worked hard at it I’m sure, because he was pretty vigorous at applying himself. Then
his spare time on holidays and nights he used to run a popcorn stand down on the corner of
Monroe and Lyon right beside of the Mays, where Mays is now. And he really could tell some
tall tales about how much money he’d make on July Fourth, and how far he could make the
lemonade go.
Interviewer: Was that a pretty big day in Grand Rapids, July Fourth?
Mrs. Russell: Evidently it was because apparently they had a parade. I think they always had a
parade that got everybody downtown. Then if he could get them downtown then he could catch
them for a popcorn ball or a glass of lemonade. I’m sure he said that he didn’t make lemonade
out of a single lemon. I think he bought something called citric acid and turned it out of that, and
consequently it was profitable. But he had kind of a struggle getting along. And he was sort of
proud of some of his success. He helped put the roof on, I think the post office, ahead of the old
post office. I don’t think this one was the one that was.
Mr. Russell: Oh, no it was….
�6
Mrs. Russell: …the one that preceded this one. But he used to like to talk about having helped
put the roof on the one, not the one, two ahead of our modern one; the one that preceded the
court building now at the corner of Lyon and Ottawa. Is that? Yes, Ionia and Lyon. And it was
the building ahead of that one I’m sure that he put the roof on. And or helped and he had some
rugged occupations all right. Of course he went in business after he worked for ShriverWeatherly; he went in business for himself. And he got a man to back him with money, some
money, and then after a period he was able to buy the man out and go out on his own. And he
continued until it became W.C. Hopson and Company which is still operating under the name
Hopson-Bennett now. And….
Mr. Russell: On Grandville Avenue, the building was built in nineteen-ten, that’s it was…
Mrs. Russell: Nineteen-ten. He built the building and ….
Mrs. Russell: He was a lover of automobiles and, I think the first time he ever saw an automobile
for sale was out at the, what do you call that?
Mr. Russell: West Michigan Fair…
Mrs. Russell: West Michigan Park, West Michigan Fair. Is that what they called it? West
Michigan, wasn’t there a park in there?
Mr. Russell: No. it was at Comstock Park.
Mrs. Russell: Out at Comstock Park. And they had a demonstrator of Oldsmobile, with a little, I
think a single lunger. I’m sure it was because it went by jerks and, it had a removable rear.
When we rode in it on Sunday why it had two seats, but all during the week when he was going
back and forth to work in it he had just a platform and slide the second seat off and put this
platform on. And the car wasn’t very dependable because they were the early days and the chain
kept breaking, no matter what they did to it; nobody really knew how to repair it. And this chain
would keep breaking so whenever we went for a ride on Sunday, the man who was the teamster
down at the factory and lived fairly near us, took the horses, they had a team of horses there, had
to stay home so he could be sure to come out and tow us in. So we spent, this poor man never got
a Sunday out when we were out riding. My father finally said well I’m going to drive that car to
Lansing because I’m going to take it right back to the factory. Everything in the world’s
happened to it, and Adams and Hart was the automobile agency here. They worked over it and
they hadn’t done very well by it so he got this teamster to say he’d go along with him and it took
him four days to make Lansing, partly due to the fact that the roads were so muddy. There
weren’t any paved roads at all. It was just all dirt roads. And they’d get stuck and then something
would break and they’d get that put together and fixed up and then they’d go a little further. But
they made Lansing. I don’t know whether he ever brought it back or not but he got to Lansing. I
always thought it was so amusing to be towed in, and I was so embarrassing to have had horses
�7
be pulling you when you had this good-looking car; and not very many cars in Grand Rapids.
There were very few. Then later on he got a fancy, for just a notional fancy, he thought the
Franklin car was the car. It couldn’t freeze and it was, oh it was just the car to have. So he stuck
to that pretty consistently. Then he got a notion that my mother might drive an electric car. She
wasn’t very brave about getting behind a wheel and so he got a Detroit Electric and, he jokingly
said to my mother, “Now Mr. Steinman is our city assessor and he lives just a block from us
here. Don’t drive around that way or he’ll raise our, what do you call it?
Mr. Russell: Personal property assessment.
Mrs. Russell: Yes, personal property tax. And so my mother went out with the man
demonstrating it, who was trying to teach her to drive it and she tried to turn the corner from
Fountain to College and she ran right up on Mr. Steinman’s lawn and, and the car stopped right
in his yard, which we always thought was very humorous.
Mr. Russell: It was a good start?
Mrs. Russell: You know, at that time I lived there on Lyon Street, Blodgett Hospital was on the
corner of College and Lyon. Only of course it was UBA Hospital before they changed the name.
But that presented quite a different picture with that hospital on the corner. Less than a block
away from us, it was. And of course that is right where Fountain Street School is now. That’s the
location where UBA was.
Mr. Russell: Fountain Street School?
Mrs. Russell: Yes.
Mr. Russell: UBA was United Benevolent Association. Did you ever hear of that?
Interviewer: No.
Mr. Russell: That was the hospital organization.
Mrs. Russell: It preceded; it’s the same hospital except that the Blodgetts put a put a great deal of
money into this hospital and in recognition they changed the name of it. I think they still, their
annual meetings refer to it as United Benevolent Association. I think the name has...
Mr. Russell:
Oh, is that?
Mrs. Russell: ….been fluctuated a little. I’m not sure of that, but I think so.
Interviewer: What was the United Benevolent Association?
Mr. Russell: I don’t know what denomination it was, do you?
�8
Interviewer: Perhaps it had some religious affiliation then?
Mr. Russell: Yes, it
Mrs. Russell: I don’t think so. I don’t think it is. No, I think it was more like, something instead
of the [Community] Chest; a group of private, contributors who united to build the hospital. I
don’t recall there was ever any religious…..
Mr. Russell: Well, now wasn’t Butterworth in operation at that time, too?
Mrs. Russell: No.
Mr. Russell: That was later on?
Mrs. Russell: I don’t think so. I think, I think UBA was the first one. I think. I hope they don’t
rely on my accuracy ‘cause I could be wrong and I could be corrected. I just remember what it
looks like. I’m sure it was there, when I was there.
Interviewer: Did your mother ever, did your father ever buy that electric car? Did you…..?
Mrs. Russell: Yes, we had about three of them. We had one right after the other. They were very
intriguing to operate because, in fact they created an awful problem for me to learn to drive a gas
car when I got married. I had to drive a gar car. His idea was it would keep me out of the gas car,
which he had, and the electric would be so much safer. And so I didn’t bother to learn to drive
his car at all. So when I got married all Fran had was a gas car. It presented a great problem
because an electric, all you did when you got in a tight place was pull everything off. Well, that
doesn’t work very well with a gas car. So that every time I’d get any place that was difficult, I’d
stall. The system was very interesting. It has two levers and that’s the two levers and the brakes
is all there is to the whole car really. You had five speeds and of course they weren’t exactly
racing speeds but you could, you’d operate with your right hand you did the steering (changing
side of reel) that’s just what it was like.
Mr. Russell: there was….
Mrs. Russell: And very clean cars. That was the nice part about it, there was no grease or oil or
anything like that about it. The car always, then of course you had to have it charged. We had a
charging arrangement in our garage and it would only go about, oh I think they said it would go
eighty miles on a charge. It never would. Fifty miles was about all they’d go on a good full
charge. So usually when you brought the car in, you put it right on the charge. And tried to keep
it pepped up so that you could use it for where you wanted to go. Fortunately the first one we
had, we lived on Lyon Street and we didn’t have a charger in the garage then. The garage being a
barn, we didn’t have a garage at all; it was an old barn out in back of the house. And our source
of electricity was down on Bond Avenue, that isn’t even there anymore, is it?
�9
Mr. Russell: No.
Mrs. Russell: Bond isn’t even…..
Mr. Russell:
It was the first block east of Monroe but it isn’t…
Mrs. Russell: No, it’d be right in between the gas company and the Old Kent Bank, wouldn’t it?
Mr. Russell: Yes
Mrs. Russell: Isn’t that about where it…
Mr. Russell: It was the first block east…
Mrs. Russell: There was a very good garage there. The best garage in the town and they were
rather, well they were kind of half ahead of their time, don’t you think they were?
Mr. Russell: Well, C.J. Bronson’s
Mrs. Russell: Bronson’s garage, yes, so that when we’d get out of juice, we could start at the top
of Lyon Street hill and make the garage on Bond Avenue very nicely. Just slide into it. Deader
than a doornail, because when an electric car is dead it’s awful dead. It doesn’t do a thing.
Interviewer: Why did he think that electric cars were safer than gasoline cars?
Mrs. Russell: They didn’t go so fast. They were slow, they were slow cars.
Mr. Russell: The highest speed would be thirty, perhaps thirty five, it wasn’t….
Mrs. Russell: Well, then I think they thought they were safer because they had fewer
adjustments; you didn’t have a clutch, you didn’t have to do anything about a clutch, you know.
It didn’t have to mesh or anything of that kind. You could be awful dumb and drive an electric,
and I don’t know, my father thought it was perfectly alright for me to drive that but he wouldn’t
listen to me driving a gas car. I don’t know quite what all that reasoning was, do you?
Mr. Russell: Well, when you’re limited to fifty mile radius you know, you can’t get very far
away from home, because you’d have to be sure to get back.
Mrs. Russell: I wasn’t that far away. I wasn’t trying to make distance.
Mr. Russell: They, they never got up any speed unless you were on the right side of a hill, then
you could do it, so like coming down Lyon Street or Bridge Street. But, then they’re very stable,
they’d climb a hill in great shape….
Mrs. Russell: They’d go through anything.
�10
Mr. Russell: If they were properly charged up.
Mrs. Russell: They’d just, the application, electricity was almost more powerful then gas, the
gas might jump you or something, but electric power just really, in fact I backed right straight
through this garage door once without raising it, so I know what it can do.
Interviewer: Do you remember the first gas station in Grand Rapids?
Mr. Russell: Oh, no.
Mrs. Russell: Let me see if I can think of an early one.
Mr. Russell: I think that would be….
Mrs. Russell: Where’d you get gas?
Mr. Russell: Bronson’s garage was where we…..
Mrs. Russell: Bronson’s the first, there on Bond Avenue. I’ll bet that was as early, did we go
way there for gas? Did you get gas from there?
Mr. Russell: Well at our house, we had a fifty gallon tank and the tank, the gasoline tank wagon
would drive up there and fill it up, periodically and then we’d have to pump out of that ourselves
and fill our tank through a chamois strainer to be sure that no dirt or water or anything else got
into the tank. It was very important to be sure that the gas was pure getting in there. It didn’t get
through any filter, pump or anything of that sort as it does now. It came right off the tank wagon
right into our tank and then we had to transport it in five gallon lots into our automobile tank.
And of course in those days the tank didn’t hold more than about ten gallons anyways so. Our
experience was the first Model-T Ford, ours was number seven ninety-nine of the Model-T. And,
we had that, let’s see, we bought that in nineteen eleven and in about three months, it was so
redesigned that we had to run ours back to the factory and have it rebuilt. They changed the
details of it from a bent bearing to roller bearing from a pump driven circulation for cooling the
motor to a thermo siphon and several refinements so that we sort of felt as if we’d helped them
develop the Ford in an experimental way in having such an early number. And that car basically
was quite reasonable at as I recall about six hundred dollars, but then you had to have the
windshield added and the speedometer and the gas headlights and the gas tank as the acetylene
tank, this was before electric headlights. And we had all these details added up you’re well over
a thousand dollars.
Interviewer: Oh, really?
�11
Mr. Russell: …to get the thing operating. But they’d sell the thing with kerosene lamps if you
wanted but that didn’t shine very far up the road. You really had to have acetylene gas headlights
to give you the real light.
Mrs. Russell: Didn’t you have acetylene gas in your house? We did.
Mr. Russell: Yes, before electricity was….
Mrs. Russell: Before they had electric….
Mr. Russell: Yes, we had….
Mrs. Russell: ….make it out of carbide, didn’t they? Put in big tanks.
Mr. Russell: Yes.
Mrs. Russell: It had something, looked like a furnace, did it?
Mr. Russell: Sort of, Yes and then, there were two systems….
Mrs. Russell: I can remember carrying buckets of carbide.
Mr. Russell: The calcium carbide would be, in one system would be dropped into the water and
then it forms acetylene gas and the tank would fill up. Then the other system was dropping water
on a sort of container of calcium carbide and you’d raised acetylene gas by that method. The one
method was you drop the carbide into the water and the other method was to drop water on the
carbide.
Mrs. Russell: What’s preferable? Why, why the difference?
Mr. Russell: Well, just two different processes. I don’t know, we thought that the best one was
the Davis process that we used at our house. Although at your house you had the Owens.
Mrs. Russell: I think we did.
Mr. Russell: Which was the, it is a….
Mrs. Russell: Do I remember seeing a tank, when it was full rise?
Mr. Russell: Yes, in either case, when the water came in contact with the carbide, it would form
acetylene gas and then the tank would rise and fill up and shut off the operation, so it wouldn’t
go too far. Then as you used the gas, the tank would recede and so the mechanism would start
the process again, dropping more carbide into the tank; or dropping more water on the carbide.
Interviewer: Where, where was the tank located?
�12
Mr. Russell: In the basement.
Mrs. Russell: In the basement, yes.
Interviewer: Was it in a…..?
Mrs. Russell: Looked a little like a furnace in that it was a galvanized iron cylinder sort of,
wasn’t it?
Mr. Russell: That’s right.
Interviewer: I see, it had a support…around it…
Mrs. Russell: And it had a cylinder within a cylinder sort of, isn’t that right?
Mr. Russell: That’s right.
Mrs. Russell: And this one that would rise was the inner cylinder, you see, they’d seed this stuff
into the bottom, didn’t they?
Mr. Russell: Yes.
Mrs. Russell:
And then as it formed the gas it would shove this inner cylinder up and I
suppose create the pressure that’d carry light around your house and was good light. Don’t you
think it was?
Mr. Russell: Oh yes, it was very, very nice…
Mrs. Russell: Very steady, it was a very steady light.
Mr. Russell: Bright light, this was in case you weren’t anywheres near the natural gas main, oh I
mean the city gas company. Where we were out there, we’re a long ways away from service.
Mrs. Russell: Now we weren’t very far. Why would we have had a …..
Mr. Russell: Well up on the hill, you’d be quite a ways from the central supply which was down
on Market and Wealthy, you know.
Mrs. Russell: They used to make that out of coal, didn’t they?
Mr. Russell: Yes
Mrs. Russell: Before the natural gas that they had.
Mr. Russell: Yes
�13
Interviewer: Do you, do you remember where the first parking lot was in Grand Rapids? Do you
remember a parking lot opening?
Mr. Russell: No, no I can’t, I can’t recall that …..
Mrs. Russell: You don’t mean a public one, just any one open to the public but not a city run?
Interviewer: Correct.
Mrs. Russell: Livingston Hotel…?
Mr. Russell: Parking lot?
Mrs. Russell: I thought that, when after that fire, wasn’t there one in which you drove in on the
tile floor. Do you suppose, I’m not real sure that’s right, but you know they had, what kind of a
room would you call it?
Mr. Russell: Foyer for a wagon.
Mrs. Russell: No, down under their basement room was a cocktail lounge we’d call it now but it
wasn’t back then. No. It was, but it was that type of place. They had entertainment there, evening
gatherings.
Mr. Russell: The saloon you mean?
Mrs. Russell: …then after the fire. I thought I remember driving in there on tile floor. They just
left the floor, the floor didn’t burn. Do you remember that or…
Mr. Russell: No, I don’t recall that.
END of Side I – cassette
CD is at Track 2 24:16
Mrs. Russell: I had a funny notion that was about as… I can’t re, I don’t think I remember
parking lots though very much.
Interviewer: Where was the Livingston Hotel located?
Mrs. Russell: The corner of Fulton and Division, the….
Mr. Russell: Southeast corner.
Mrs. Russell: Southeast corner.
Interviewer: Where Davenport business building?
Mrs. Russell: Yes…it, where they used to be, that corner.
�14
Mr. Russell: Yes, then after the Press building went in there and then Herald and ….
Mrs. Russell: Well, they didn’t go in after the Livingston. They were there at the time the
Livingston Hotel was there.
Mr. Russell: Oh, the Livingston didn’t extend up as far as Sheldon then?
Mrs. Russell: Oh, no. The Livingston’s about, a little bit bigger than the Davenport building, and
I think maybe the Herald took part of it and got a little bigger and maybe build...
Mr. Russell: Yes, I guess that’s right. It was …..
Mrs. Russell: But, that, I’m sure that the Press and the Herald were there be, right along with the
Livingston.
Interviewer: Where did you, where did you first live when you were married?
Mr. Russell: On Oakwood Avenue, just north of Coit. And that was, right after we’d platted the
farm out there. You see, we had the Comstock Dairy Farm; it was a hundred and sixty acres,
which is Riverside Gardens now and we had joined with Charles Sligh and Jay Post who had
frontage up on Plainfield and we were able to make our street extensions continuous from
Plainfield down to Monroe, in accordance with the drainage areas, like Comstock Boulevard,
now is the drainage area and Sligh Boulevard. And in that manner you didn’t run into these deadend streets and things of that kind when you were able to plat this in conjunction with the
adjoining owners, Mr. Charles R. Sligh and Jay Post. And this was the first street that we’d
extended from the city up North to the 3 Mile Road, which was the city limits at that time. And
our house was one of the first, three or four that were built on that street to open the plat. And
then subsequent to that, different sections in Riverside Gardens were put on as they could be
absorbed in the market.
Mrs. Russell: Oh, that was your business when I married you wasn’t it for a good many years. In
fact you still have a few lots haven’t you? Very few.
Mr. Russell: Oh, we’re down to about our last half dozen now but it’s pretty well developed up
there now But when we were married there was all open fields and we had one of the first houses
to be built on the plat; although preceding that, my grandfather had built a very substantial
residence on Boltwood Drive and my father and mother Huntley Russell and Clara Russell built
the large pillared house that’s still standing out there now, just off from Boltwood Drive. But at
that time these two houses were separated by the streetcar line that came by the Wealthy-Taylor
car line that ran through there to Comstock Park.
�15
Interviewer: Well now, as I am not familiar with that area of town in terms of the names of the
streets. As you drive on Monroe Avenue towards well out to the Riverside Park area, where the
park is, there’s …..
Mrs. Russell: They gave Riverside Park to the city, they, his family did.
Interviewer: Really?
Mr. Russell: Yes, that was known in our family as the flats and, we used to have to, in order to
raise any crops there at all which was mostly corn, we had to establish dikes, at the river bank to
keep the flood water out of that area. And we had pumps operating there pumping it out if it
broke at all. After, as time went on, we gave up that section for any residential purpose at all and
turned into, dedicated it to the city as a park. And Riverside, Comstock-Riverside Park
developed after that.
Mrs. Russell: Your plat would be directly east of Riverside Park. Isn’t that right?
Mr. Russell: Yes.
Mrs. Russell: The one that Riverside Gardens, that he’s talking about, where we lived. We lived
on one of those lots east of Monroe.
Mr. Russell: So Riverside Park is the property west of Monroe and Riverside Gardens is the
property east of Monroe, which is…
Interviewer: I see.
Mrs. Russell: (?) …and Mrs. Boltwood gave it to the city, isn’t that right?
Mr. Russell: Yes, Mrs. Boltwood did.
Mrs. Russell: Mrs. Boltwood; they were sisters - Mrs. Lucius Boltwood and Mrs. Huntley
Russell. They did, they did quite a lot. Well, this platting was done with both of them together,
wasn’t it?
Mr. Russell: Yes.
Mrs. Russell: It was in their names, of course.
Interviewer: When out in there off of Monroe, there’s a large old home that is totally unlike any
of the houses that are built in that area around it. It’s a huge home…
Mr. Russell: With columns?
Mrs. Russell: The columns?
�16
Interviewer: Did the columns face to the south?
Mr. Russell: No, they faced west.
Mrs. Russell: Yes, west. Let’s see.
Interviewer: Well maybe, maybe they do face west, and I just never….
Mrs. Russell: White is it, a white house, sort of?
Mr. Russell: Green roof?
Interviewer: Yes, right, right.
Mrs. Russell: There’s a drive going in around it.
Interviewer: I’ve never driven over to look at the house up close; I see it from the road
Mrs. Russell: I think that’s his home. That was…
Mr. Russell: Well, the house really faces west, but you approach it off from Boltwood Drive on
the south.
Mrs. Russell: Boltwood Drive. The south would be the entry you, you’d come in off, from the
south. So you probably thought that was the entrance you see. It is the biggest house out there
and it’s startling and it’s a very fine old home. It’s very beautifully built and is yet a beautiful
house. His brother lives there yet.
Interviewer: Oh, your brother still lives there?
Mr. Russell: Charles Russell, yes. And this was originally built on a five acre plot and the old
Comstock home was built on a five acre plot just to the west. And then would be platting and of
course this acreage was absorbed in lots and the lots on which these houses stood were materially
reduced in size. And it looks entirely different there now than it did when they were originally
put in in eighteen ninety and nineteen ten. It was just the days of those two original houses. And,
the farm buildings were at the juncture of Coit and Guild The dairy barn there had over two
hundred head of cattle and they had ran a milk route out of there to supply milk to certain
sections of the city.
Mrs. Russell: Isn’t that the... .wasn’t that right on the edge of the property that is now Riverside
School out there?
Mr. Russell: Oh, where the dairy barn was?
Mrs. Russell: The dairy barn?
�17
Mr. Russell: No the Riverside School is east of there; up on the rise, up on the hill.
Mrs. Russell: But I thought it went down to Coit. Doesn’t it, go way down to Coit?
Mr. Russell: No.
Mrs. Russell: Oh, I thought it did.
Mr. Russell: When you look back and think of that as a farm and supplying milk to the city, it’s
awfully hard to visualize now with all the houses and development that has taken place. But it
was , it was a very good, dairy farm and the property that adjoined it to the north and east, the
Nason farm, was subsequently purchased by the Charles Sligh; not Charlie Sligh, but his father,
with whom we collaborated on platting the property back in the, we were working on this in the
twenties, nineteen twenty.
Mrs. Russell: You haven’t said anything about the waterworks.
Mr. Russell: Well that was a double enterprise that my grandfather Comstock established to take
care of the water necessities of the pavilion and the dummy, which required a large amount of
water. Of course, that’s that was the motor powered thing they had to have plenty of water to
create the steam to keep the dummy going. And in order to keep the dairy farm up; [to] keep
plenty of water flowing to the cattle all the time, he established the water wheel in Lamberton
Creek where it crosses Coit, and pumped out of springs in the immediate locality of where the
stream comes down through there. And pumped up to a ten thousand gallon tank that stood just
south of Northwood, it’s known as Northwood now, and east of Coit. And from there, this water
was distributed to the dairy farm and to the North Park Pavilion. Then as the community grew
up, more people, more houses built and so forth, they attached on to this water supply and [it
was] known as the North Park Water Company. And it gradually grew and grew until at the time,
the city came out there and took it over we had about a hundred and fifty customers that [we]
were supplying out through North Park. And then when the city grew, the city limits was
extended out there, then this company had to be taken over by the city and of course the mains
reinforced and distribution enlarged and so forth.
Interviewer: Gee, your Grandfather Comstock was into everything, wasn’t he?
Mr. Russell: I guess he was. For one time he had a….
Mrs. Russell: You haven’t told…
Mr. Russell: ….five farms around town...
Mrs. Russell: Fran, I always thought that was interesting that during the Depression, what was
that in ninety-three?
�18
Mr. Russell: Oh, yes in ninety-three...
Mrs. Russell: He issued his own script. He had the Grand Rapids Chair Company, which he’d
built; the buildings still there on Monroe. And…
Mrs. Russell: Baker Furniture now, isn’t it?
Mr. Russell: Yes.
Mrs. Russell: Or else taken over by the….
Mr. Russell: I think….
Mrs. Russell: …subsequent merger, I don’t know.
Mr. Russell: But he originally built those buildings and, it was called Grand Rapids Chair
Company for years. Then across the street, across Monroe, he had a store, a general store, at
which his employees traded and they ran into this, financial difficulty in ninety-three, the panic,
they were shy of cash, as everybody was, but my grandfather established script known as
Comstock script, that he would pay his employees in the factory. And then they’d go across the
street and redeem it for groceries in the grocery store. And in this manner he weathered the storm
there for several months, I really don’t know the exact period. But it was an interim affair that
helped him keep going. He could still manufacture, he could still pay his employees.
Mrs. Russell: And they could still eat.
Mr. Russell: And still eat. It was a sort of self-contained unit there that made it possible for him
to operate during that period. I don’t believe it lasted so very long; but I don’t think it was an
extensive as our nineteen-thirty depression; but I really don’t know because I wasn’t around at
that time. But it was an interesting operation to be able to work this out with himself instead of
just laying these fellows off…
Mrs. Russell: I was resourceful.
Mr. Russell: …paid ‘em in the script so they could still maintain their domestic operation of
families and didn’t starve at all. But he was the mayor at one time, of the city. And he was also a
Congressman in Washington, for one term, on the Whig ticket; and in his memoirs he was quite
put out with the time that was wasted down there. So much time was killed in talk and not
accomplishing things.
Mrs. Russell: You must be talking about now (?)
Mr. Russell: And this, well that book right in back of you that was a written, his memoirs and we
typed them, had them typed and it’s quite, interesting, his….
�19
Mrs. Russell: They’re very historical accounts…
Interviewer: I bet it is.
Mrs. Russell: He was quite outspoken. He had definite ideas.
Mr. Russell: But he…
Mrs. Russell: I think there’s one of those in the library isn’t there?
Interviewer: Think so?
Mrs. Russell: They asked you for one. Didn’t I remember your giving them one? I think there is.
Mr. Russell: Z.Z. Lydens said that he had some good leads out of that in writing this last history
of Grand Rapids.
Interviewer: Oh, yeah?
Mr. Russell: He said he got some good information out of that. But, he wrote that at the time he
was in Congress because he had so much time on his hands down there. I guess he was not much
of a speaker and of course he didn’t have any priority, just being a freshman. And with so much
time on his hands he started writing this and followed through and in good shape so it’s made a
very interesting history for the family to refer to.
Interviewer: That’s it’s a nice…
Mr. Russell: But I think there’s a copy of that in the (library).
End of Reel I (#31)
Mr. Russell: ….That stuff was all by the boards
Interviewer: Where did they bring these logs down from?
Mr. Russell: Well, this is when they were still cutting within an eight or ten mile area say of
North Park, up around Rockford and Belding, Belmont and those places. And they’d, well,
they’re a good size log you know and they’d just pile ‘em on these, actually just runners there’s a front runner and a rear runner, and get a pole connecting them - then these logs would
really form the body of the vehicle. And they’d be stacked up there in great shape and it would
take a good sturdy team of horses, only during the winter of course when they had a good snow
on the ground. And then they’d take a load down there and our bobsled would hook a ride on this
team behind, go down the road perhaps a half mile or so and then catch another team coming
back.
�20
Interviewer: Were those logs white pine?
Mr. Russell: Oh, I really don’t know the composition; it might have been. Might have been oak
or elm or whatever was hanging around p there. You know these good sized trees we have out
here…
Mrs. Russell: Did they ever float them down the river?
Mr. Russell: Oh, yes.
Mrs. Russell: Do you know anything about that?
Mr. Russell: Yes, they floated them down the river and held them with certain booms down at
where the dam is now at, there’s one log jam I remember seeing just a little log[jam] at Leonard
Street when they got jammed up there one season. And there was in the spring when the floods
would come along, that was the time to dump ‘em in there and bring ‘em down to the saw-mill
which was down where the, about where the Grand Trunk Freight House is. And then my
grandfather ran this, saw-mill there and a lumber yard.
Interviewer: That was another enterprise, huh?
Mr. Russell: Well that was in connection with his furniture and so forth. Had to have lumber for
furniture to make pails and tubs; you had to have the lumber for.
Interviewer: Would you tell me that, we were talking before about the fact that the streetcars had
mailboxes on them and people could mail letters on the streetcar. Would you tell me again why
they had the mail boxes on the street cars?
Mr. Russell: Well, because they were afraid of strikes at that time on the railroads, on the street
railways.
Mrs. Russell: Street Railway.
Mr. Russell: And this, I can’t remember who was superintendent at that time, but he got the
bright idea that if we just turned this into a federal operation that would circumvent the strike.
And I think that was basically why it was done. Not necessarily for the convenience of the
populace so much as it was because it’d keep the railroad going. But it was a very handy thing,
particularly to us out there. That was quite… ours was the longest line in town. The WealthyTaylor line came out to Ramona and ended at North Park. That’s quite a distance, going down
through town, way out there and back again. And, it was…
Mrs. Russell: How far…?
Mr. Russell: I think eight miles from end to end.
�21
Mrs. Russell: How far out do you think it was developed out this way really, along the railway
line?
Mr. Russell: Well now you see I didn’t know so much about out here because I was always in the
North End. I was always a North Ender,
Mrs. Russell: Well I can, it seems to me that about at Plymouth the car would just tear through
the greater part of swampland and they’d always pick up speed and go, I thought….
Mr. Russell: Well, that was because there was, there was a slight decline there and …
Mrs. Russell: Then, then kept going.
Mr. Russell: Let’s see take from the intersection of Wealthy and Lake Drive. There’s a slight
decline which was, more accentuated at that time because it’s been filled quite a good deal there
to bring the street up.
Mrs. Russell I don’t think there were very many houses at all….
Mr. Russell: Oh, there weren’t, no…
Mrs. Russell: It was barren land that I remember.
Mr. Russell: It was swampy really.
Mrs. Russell: Between that and Ramona but Ramona was there a long time ahead of any houses,
wasn’t it?
Mr. Russell: Oh, yes. Ramona was an amusement park for the benefit of the railroad to bring
passengers out there, you see.
Mrs. Russell: And what was that beer garden that was there, it was a very famous one that was
there just about at the beginning of Ramona, too. What did they call it? A German name, a real
German name.
Mr. Russell: Oh, yes, that was, that was a good attraction there.
Mrs. Russell: Hubers.
Mr. Russell: Hubers Beer Garden.
Mrs. Russell: Hubers Beer Garden and there was a big one. It was a great big, well it was under
cover, it was a building and very popular. That was quite a place of entertainment…
Mr. Russell: Basically beer that.
�22
Mrs. Russell: ...too you know they’d not hard liquor but basically a beer garden that sort… that’s
what it was, all it was, wasn’t it?
Mr. Russell: And I don’t think…
Mrs. Russell: I don’t think they had food, I think it was just a beer garden. But I remember it
always there on the grounds, and it was right close to Ramona.
Mr. Russell: And then after that there was the Phoenix Beer Garden which stands where the,
which stood where the Yacht Club is now, that on that side of Lake Drive, or Lakeside Drive and
between Lakeside Drive and the lake. That was very popular beer garden too for some time.
Mrs. Russell: I don’t know that one.
Mr. Russell: But you see when they had vaudeville out there, they got a lot of patronage out of
Grand Rapids on the streetcars, those would be filled right up with, right up to the roof.
Mrs. Russell: Do you remember the…
Interviewer: In other words the streetcar owners in that, in those days, were they would devise
ways of getting the people to ride that train as much as possible?
Mr. Russell: Yes.
Interviewer: That’s why he built up Ramona, just to get people taking that long trip back and
forth, huh?
Mrs. Russell: It was done by the railway company, wasn’t it?
Mr. Russell: Yes, they owned the operation out there and ….
Mrs. Russell: Do you remember the Honolulu Car that Mr. Hanchett had?
Mr. Russell: Yes, he….
Mrs. Russell: …had all the wicker chairs in it.
Mr. Russell: Private car, called the Honolulu.
Mrs. Russell: He’d take his best friends out for a ride on the street cart and maybe take ‘em to
Ramona (and), but it was quite a car. It was shorter and smaller than most of the cars and very
nicely decorated. Of course it’d probably look funny now, but it was all wicker furniture and
they called it the Honolulu car. That was known all over town.
Mr. Russell: That was a result of his having taken a trip over to the Hawaiian Islands….
�23
Mrs. Russell: Oh, I didn’t know that.
Mr. Russell: And he brought back a couple of Filipino servants with him, you know.
Mrs. Russell: Well, well they were serving on it probably.
Mr. Russell: Yes.
Mrs. Russell: But I’ll bet that furniture all came from over there too cause it (?)
Mr. Russell: But you see that, it was Ramona at one end of the line and then the best days with
the West Michigan State Fair, or Comstock Park at the other end, gee that…
Mrs. Russell: That was a flourishing line.
Mr. Russell: This was a line….
Mrs. Russell; And skating in the winter, there was lots of skating on Reed’s Lake. And that a
street railway…
Mr. Russell: Streetcars were very…
Mrs. Russell: Streetcar was very busy, it really was.
Mr. Russell: Well just imagine having one go by every ten minutes, as we used to have. Gosh.
Better than any bus or anything else you see [now]. But you had to walk from here to the line to
get it, wherever you were. But when you look back on that, and think of how important streetcars
were gee that old stuff just phased right out.
Interviewer: Looking back and remembering the days when you were growing up and so on,
compared to today which age seems to be more pleasant? A better age to live in?
Mr. Russell: What do you mean is to whether you’d…
Mrs. Russell: Prefer…
Mr. Russell: ...Prefer this age or that age…
Interviewer: Yes.
Mr. Russell: Oh, what age, what age would?
Mrs. Russell: I look back about high school and college as, I don’t know, we had such a lot of
this kind of slow fun. It was slower paced. The whole thing had to be slower paced. You couldn’t
go tearing around at ten things instead of one; you did one thing and made a lot of it. But when I
think of your cottage down there at Ottawa Beach and the house parties that you had there and
�24
the fun we had going down and fooling around on the beach, now that wouldn’t be any fun, I
wouldn’t want to do it you know. Well, because the crowds, the cars and everything else, but
then there wouldn’t be anybody around then.
Mr. Russell: Well, let’s see…
Mrs. Russell: What do you think?
Mr. Russell: I think between fifteen and thirty about, those fifteen years that are between fifteen
and thirty….
Mrs. Russell: Well I think I’ve ….much older than too. I think I’d pick that out too.
Mr. Russell: Liquor wasn’t so important to you. You didn’t…
Mrs. Russell: You didn’t have it.
Mrs. Russell: It wasn’t a bit important.
Mr. Russell: You didn’t have any drugs certainly. And …
Mrs. Russell: No, we lacked that.
Mr. Russell: We had bicycles and roller skates, ice skates and then just boating.
Mrs. Russell: I think we always had boating, lots of sail boating, I, we had lots of fun sailing, of
course.
Mr. Russell: And the river was made much more use of then, with canoes and row-boats and
shells. You know what a shell is, don’t you?
Interviewer: Yes.
Mr. Russell: Single or double and four and so forth. And we had, well the boat club, they had a
two or three eights there, as well as singles and doubles and fours.
Interviewer: Did they have the, what are those, waterfalls, in the river then? Down, down…
Mr. Russell: Rapids?
Interviewer: Well, they were the, where now they’ve got little, I don’t know what you call ’em,
they’re not a dam, they don’t hold the water back but they….
Mr. Russell: Obstructions. Well they, they’ve been there only, I don’t think they’re more than
twenty five years old, I think they’re fairly recent. Because, I can remember a period when
during the summer the riverbeds looked pretty punk there, so many rocks and everything
�25
showing it, dried out rocks and moss and so forth and there was a period when they built five
obstructions you can’t call them dams you see just an obstruction, way across the river to hold
the water back in pools. And I think that’s what we’ve got there now, haven’t we? I don’t think
they’ve, I don’t think they’ve all been carried out. Of course, the big dam up above, (has) always
been something there.
Mrs. Russell: Well now, where it’s at. Where’s the big dam?
Mr. Russell: Well the big dam is at Allen Calculator and right across a …
Mrs. Russell: I can’t place there, I don’t know if…
Mr. Russell: Well, you know where Sixth Street is? Sixth Street Bridge.
Mrs. Russell: Oh.
Mr. Russell: Newberry Street?
Mrs. Russell: Yes
Mr. Russell: Just south of there; halfway between there and Bridge Street.
Mrs. Russell: Bridge Street?
Mr. Russell. Now that dam has always been there; and you know there were canals of either side
of the river, from that dam leading down parallel to Monroe. I can remember when it was open
there; an open canal, flowing under Bridge Street and then over into Bissell’s. It supplied them
with motor power and also to, that was a little bit before my time, Butterworth and Lowe
Machine Shop, south of Bissell Plant. Then on the other side it went down to the mills, to the
milling companies. Oh yeah, then also there was a mill on this side of the river too; the Valley
City Milling the rolling milling company, just north, well right where the post office is. Then on
the other side it was the Voigt Milling that’s just been closed but they were both operated by
what was known as runnel(?) stone; the water coming down this canal and they’d then take so
much of that water off of there and I don’t know how, what the runnel stone is but I just heard so
much about it.
Mrs. Russell: What is runnel stone?
Mr. Russell: Well. Runnel stone is a measure of water power.
Mrs. Russell: Oh.
Mr. Russell: Carried thru the turbines, don’t you see, to in place of steam power.
�26
Interviewer: Did either one of you go off to college, after high school or did you stay in Grand
Rapids?
Mrs. Russell: No, we both did. I went to Vassar, Vassar College out in Poughkeepsie, New York.
And I graduated from there; I was there four years. And you went to the University of Michigan,
didn’t you.
Mr. Russell: Yes, but I couldn’t get my grandson in the….
Interviewer: Who, Bill?
Mr. Russell: Bill, yes.
Interviewer: Where did he go to school? Mr. Russell: He’s down to State now.
Interviewer: He didn’t want to go to the University of Michigan?
Mr. Russell: He wanted to, they wouldn’t take him in.
Mrs. Russell: They delayed so long in deciding to take him in, I think he heard about May or
something like that, April or May and by that time he couldn’t wait that long so in the meantime,
he got set up here. We were very annoyed about it. Terribly annoyed. We’re heavy livers here in
Michigan, heavy taxpayers, and it doesn’t make me feel generous toward ‘em at all. Because he
was a good student, he wasn’t ….
Mr. Russell: Well, they took him in down there at State, he’s nicely located there, and he’s only
been there two weeks or so.
INDEX
A
C
Adams and Hart Agency · 7
B
Baker Furniture · 18
Blodgett Hospital · 7
Blodgetts · 8
Blythefield Club · 2
Boltwood, Mrs. Lucius · 16
Bronson, C.J. · 10
Bronson’s Garage · 10, 11
Butterworth Hospital · 8
Central Grammar School · 5
Central High School · 4, 5
Comstock Dairy Farm · 15
Comstock, Charles.C. · 1, 2
Comstock, Clara E. · 1
Comstock, Nelson and Matter · 3
F
Fountain Street School · 8
�27
G
P
Grand Island · 2
Grand Rapids Boat and Canoe Club · 2
Grand Rapids Chair Company · 18, 19
Grand Rapids Street Railway · 3, 21
Guild, Cornelia · 1
Phoenix Beer Garden · 23
Post, Jay · 15
H
Hanchett, Mr. · 23
Heald, Henry · 5
Heritage Hill · 4
Hopson, Lucille I. · 1
Hopson, William C. · 1, 5
Hopson-Bennett Company · 6
Hubers Beer Garden · 22
Hydorn, Frankie M. · 1
L
R
Ramona Park · 21, 22, 23, 24
Reed’s Lake · 24
Riverside Gardens · 15, 16
Riverside Park · 15, 16
Riverside School · 17
Russell, Charles · 17
Russell, Francis · 1
Russell, Huntley · 1, 15
Russell, Mrs. Huntley · 16
S
Lamberton Creek · 18
Livingston Hotel · 13, 14
Shriver-Weatherly · 5
Sligh, Charles · 18
Sligh, Mr. Charles R. · 15
Steinman, Mr. · 7
M
U
Mays (store) · 5
Michigan Soldier’s Home · 2
UBA Hospital · 7, 8
United Benevolent Association · 8
University of Michigan · 27
N
North Park Pavilion · 1, 2, 3, 4, 18
North Park Water Company · 18
O
Old Kent Bank · 9
V
Valley City Milling · 26
Vassar College · 27
Voigt Milling · 26
W
W.C. Hopson and Company · 6
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/915db2a09cc37da9ce3a63df7a64951d.mp3
f59ba150004fa7ac70e04596cc1fca86
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Grand Rapids Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Local histories
Memoirs
Michigan--History
Oral histories (document genre)
Description
An account of the resource
Taped and transcribed interviews conducted in the early 1970s primarily of the children and grandchildren of many of the founders of Grand Rapids, Michigan; many of whom were residents of the Heritage Hill neighborhood. Interviews were collected to develop a significant collection of oral resources that would supplement other primary and secondary local history materials. Initially funded as a private project, Grand Valley State College (now University) assumed responsibility for continuing the project until 1977.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Various
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/452">Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf; audio/mp3
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text; Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-23
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1971 - 1977
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-23_30-31Russell
Title
A name given to the resource
Russell, Francis and Lucille
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Russell, Francis
Russell, Lucille
Description
An account of the resource
Lucille Hopson was born May 25, 1894 in Grand Rapids. She was a graduate of Vassar College. Mrs. Russell died on October 20, 1973. Francis Russell was born June 21, 1892. Mr. Russell's grandfather was C.C. Comstock, founder of Grand Rapids in 1853. C.C. Comstock was associated with the Grand Rapids Chair Company. The Russell's owned the Comstock Dairy Farm, which supplied milk to 150 customers until the city took it over. The family gave Riverside Park to Grand Rapids. He died on August 1, 1984.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Michigan--History
Local histories
Memoirs
Oral histories (document genre)
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Personal narratives
Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Grand Valley State University
Women
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
audio/mp3
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1971
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/e40ad5b67829bbf04aaea292f130e2e3.pdf
84860ea792009d09d74cb9ca0f1b4e88
PDF Text
Text
Young
L ords
In
Lincoln
Park
Interviewee:
Roger
Sheppard
Interviewers:
Jose
Jimenez
Location:
Grand
Valley
State
University
Special
Collections
Date:
10/4/2016
Runtime:
01:39:03
Biography
and
Description
Oral
history
of
Roger
Sheppard,
interviewed
by
Jose
“Cha-‐Cha”
Jimenez
on
October
04,
2016
about
the
Young
Lords
in
Lincoln
Park.
Roger
is
a
twin
brother
and
they
were
born
August
8,
1941.
His
mother
came
from
Holland
and
his
father
from
Ireland.
He
was
raised
Baptist
but
baptized
in
the
Christian
Reform
Church.
In
1960,
he
joined
the
Young
Socialist
Alliance
working
to
fight
against
segregation,
by
teaching
and
organizing
White
college
students.
While
young
he
and
his
brother
created
their
own
business
by
buying
newspapers
for
a
nickel
and
then
selling
them
for
six
cents.
They
lived
in
what
was
then
suburban,
Sun
Down
Towns
which
he
said
meant
that
if
you
were
Black
or
Latino,
you
could
not
be
seen
in
the
town
after
dark.
�Roger
has
worked
for
the
IBEW
or
International
Brotherhood
of
Electrical
Engineers
for
over
50
years.
In
1963
he
recalls
marching
with
Martin
Luther
King
in
Chicago
where
he
says
they
chanted,
“to
end
Jim
Crow
Daley
has
got
to
go.”
He
also
met
and
spoke
with
Malcolm
X
and
remembers
Stokeley
Carmichael
on
the
same
stage
with
Bernadette
Devlin
of
Ireland.
He
worked
alongside
SNCC
or
Student
Non–Violent
Coordinating
Committee.
In
1969
he
was
introduced
to
Cha-‐Cha
Jimenez
by
Puerto
Rico
MPI
leader,
Richard
Levins
just
before
the
police
arrested
Jimenez
and
recalls
how
the
Young
Lords
raised
$2500
on
the
spot
to
get
him
bonded
out.
He
said
that
the
Young
Lords
were
about
love
and
caring
and
deadly
serious
about
“consciousness
raising.”
They
had
the
people
with
them.
Roger
himself
was
harassed
and
arrested
many
times
for
protests.
He
is
well
read
and
proactive
in
international
struggle.
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/781ddc4e7fde4fd10fb7d97d16ea53a2.mp4
3290a036948cbaafe82e4dddb619fd7f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Young Lords (Organization)
Puerto Ricans--United States
Civil Rights--United States--History
Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Personal narratives
Social justice
Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of oral history interviews and digitized materials documenting the history of the Young Lords Organization in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Interviews were conducted by Young Lords' founder, José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, and documents were digitized from Mr. Jiménez' archives.
The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection grows out of the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jiménez, José, 1948-
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-04-25
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
spa
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-65
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
2012-2017
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Título
Spanish language Title entry
Roger Sheppard vídeo entrevista y biografía
Descripción
Spanish language Description entry
Historia oral de Roger Sheppard, entrevistado por José 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez el 23/10/2016 acerca de los Young Lords en Lincoln Park.
Sujetos
Spanish language Subject terms
Young Lords (Organización)
Puertorriqueños--Estados Unidos
Derechos civiles--Estados Unidos--Historia
Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Narrativas personales
Justicia social
Activistas comunitarios--Illinois--Chicago
Source
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park (RHC-65)</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-65_Sheppard_Roger
Title
A name given to the resource
Roger Sheppard video interview and biography
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Sheppard, Roger
Description
An account of the resource
Oral history of Roger Sheppard, interviewed by Jose 'Cha-Cha' Jimenez on October 23, 2016 about the Young Lords in Lincoln Park.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jiménez, José, 1948-
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Young Lords (Organization)
Puerto Ricans--United States
Civil Rights--United States--History
Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Personal narratives
Social justice
Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2016-10-23
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/11ea1869008f3d5bdbe74b6eca98ccb6.pdf
39b52b83ffbbfe3c6e9ac2cdbdccd697
PDF Text
Text
1
Grand Valley State University Special Collections
Kent County Oral History collections, RHC-23
Miss Doris Robinson
Interviewed on November 5, 1971
Edited and indexed by Don Bryant, 2010 – bryant@wellswooster.com
Tape # 50 (1:03:49)
Biographical Information
Doris H. Robinson was born 2 January 1893 in Grand Rapids. She was the daughter of Albert
Robinson and Jennie M. Baker. Doris lived in Grand Rapids her entire life. Albert Robinson was
born in Salem, Massachusetts 12 March 1848, the son of Jeremiah A. Robinson and Harriet A.
Brown. Jennie M. Baker was born about July 1858 in Wilbraham, Hampden County,
Massachusetts. Albert and Jennie were married 24 December 1876 in Paw Paw, Michigan.
Albert was a dentist and he died in Grand Rapids on 14 May 1898 when Doris was five years
old. Jeremiah Robinson was also a dentist and he died in Grand Rapids two years earlier on 3
March 1896.
__________
Interviewer: This interview with Doris Robinson was conducted November five, nineteen
seventy-one.
O.K. Fine.
Miss Robinson: Alright, we‟ll begin with Sheldon Avenue where I lived for sixty years. I came
there when I was about a year old, and that was almost seventy nine years ago almost, yes,
seventy nine years next January, My father had built us a house in the second block down from
Monroe, from Fulton Street. Kitty-corner from where the YWCA is now, was next to the corner.
He had decided that it would be, he would leave his dental office down on Monroe Avenue and
have a dental office in a house in which, which he would build. And, the house was completed in
eighteen ninety-four and it was there until nineteen fifty-three when I moved, oh it was there
until nineteen fifty-four when it was taken down by Mr. Ellis for a parking lot and a quick wash.
Sheldon Avenue was very different in those days from what it is now. It wasn‟t a very busy
street and it was quite an aristocratic street and it was a street on which people enjoyed living
because they get down, they could get downtown, quickly and yet it was a very beautiful street.
People today would never realize that it was as beautiful street as it is, as it was then. It was a
street lined with maples and elm and the beautiful homes all along the sides, on both sides. The
street was a dirt street lined with cobblestones and there were many hitching posts and horse
blocks in front of each of the houses where cement parking walks went down from the sidewalk
to the parking lots and that‟s the block. The horse blocks were made so that you could get out of
your carriage easily; there were no automobiles in those days. People would be horrified to see
�2
these hundreds of automobiles parked along the sides of the street and down the middle of the
street.
There were beautiful carriages going down the streets drawn by horses. I can‟t, we had a surrey,
fringe topped surrey, with a horse and a carriage and a sleigh in the winter, the surreys were
more family carriages and not, not so elegant. But down the street came many an elegant carriage
with a coachman at the back, driving it or at the top, with the lady down below.
In those days ladies wore long train dresses. And my, I can remember my mother‟s dress that she
had when I was born, I‟m not, I couldn‟t remember it at that time but she, we kept it for a dressup dress. It had, it wasn‟t, it‟s, with, struts the ground. It was, and it had a bustle at the back. And
there were large sleeves and then, there were trimming around it. It was made by a very elegant
dressmaker; you didn‟t buy your dresses in those days in stores. They were, they, sometimes the
dressmaker came to your house and stayed for two or three days or even a week and had her
dinner there, her yes, a dinner at noon with you, and you paid her so much by the hour. But there
were some very elegant dressmakers too in the house and my mother wasn‟t particularly fond of
clothes but my father wanted her to have very lovely dress, so he, I can‟t, I don‟t remember the
woman‟s name, of course, I wouldn‟t remember at that time. But my mother told me about the
dress, who made it and I think she married a Winegar [Frank B. Winegar married Aurilla Pearl in
1893; lived at 203 Sheldon] who was quite a prominent man woman here, family here. He owned
Winegar‟s store on South Division, right opposite, at the end of Cherry Street. It was a furniture
store. And the Winegars lived on Sheldon. She had a carriage, I think after that with a coachman.
But this dress that I enjoyed so much through my years - I was born in the year after she, she had
it made - and she had to have it made to hide her condition. It was that she had extra piece of
cloth, it was made of red, moiré, I think. It‟s in the museum today and it came, the piece of cloth
from the shoulder down to the waist went over her. Now she was a very small woman and it
came to here, the waist came to a point and was buttoned all the way up to the top. And that was
all hidden, and so then she could let it out with strings. Well, when I used to wear it, I was so
much larger and grew so much fatter than my mother ever was, that was it was very fashionable
to have a small waist and by the time I was a young woman that wasn‟t, of course I wasn‟t so
large as I am now but, I never was as small as my mother. So I had to wear it when I was
dressed up with the, the piece of material that hid the front of the dress and I‟d let all the strings.
I gave that dress to a museum and a lady is wearing it, a figure, in one of the shops in the
Gaslight Station. I got quite a kick out of this. Well. Anyway, I think maybe you‟d like to know
about different people that lived in the first block. On the corner of Fulton and Sheldon was the
Watson home, Major [Amasa B.] Watson, I think he might have been major in the, I don‟t know.
Interviewer: I think it was the Civil War.
Miss Robinson: Was it the Civil War? Mrs. Watson was quite old then. It was a beautiful home
and it looked like a castle with its turrets, sort of, a number of turrets, it faced Fulton Street and
could look across at Fulton Street Park. The side, on the side was a porch and when I would go
by the house, I would often see Mrs. Watson and her nephew Billy Mead, sitting on the porch,
looking down Monroe Avenue because there was a beautiful view looking down the street. And
people liked living downtown. They, they enjoyed that. On the front, between the house and
where the Metz building is, was a large fence, a wrought iron, black wrought iron, and behind
�3
that you could look through and see Mrs. Watson in her garden. There was a beautiful pond on
which she raised lilies, beautiful lilies. It was a lovely, garden and she lived there I think even up
to the time of the Metz building. When I was a little girl, every year at Decoration Day, the
National Guard sent up, or the Watson Post, sent up a military group of people, I don‟t know, it
wouldn‟t be a regiment, with a band and the parade it, this, they would play patriotic music
before the parade began. And often the parade started on Sheldon. Sometimes up around on
Jefferson. And I could, I‟d run down the street and see all the parades, as a matter of fact. Most
of them started up there. Later on the Christmas Parade started up there on Sheldon and would go
down. But that was after Sheldon was getting to be more of a business street. Mrs. Watson could
look out on Fulton Street Park and she could look across the road at the old Godfrey, May
Godfrey home, which was on the corner of Park and Fulton; a lovely old-fashioned home which
should never have been destroyed. That‟s where, they have parking lot now. It…
Interviewer: What was Park Street? Which street is that?
Miss Robinson: Park Street is the street that goes… well there were two Park Streets, Park Street
going down, past Park Congregational Church.
Interviewer: Oh.
Miss Robinson: And, next to the Congregational church was a second Godfrey home. I think it
was Mrs. Godfrey, Miss May Godfrey‟s brother that had that. And there was a Georgia Godfrey
and I don‟t know whether that, she was quite a lot older than I and whether there were some
other Godfreys or not. They moved to California. They were quite wealthy people. May Godfrey
was a very wealthy woman. And so was the Godfrey family. And there was another Godfrey
family that lived up on Fountain Street, right southwest of Lafayette, about two, two or three
houses down. I think it was the house that the Booth people later on, Esther Booth lived in later
on. Yes I‟m quite sure that was the Godfrey built by the Godfrey family, related to these
Godfreys. They owned, I think a block down on Monroe Avenue.
Interviewer: Well the Booth family house was come to be known as, the Booth house was built
by the Shelbys.
Miss Robinson: Oh, it was?
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Robinson: Well, then it was the house next to it because I remember definitely there was a
Godfrey house. But could it, it had been later, before that? I use to go to Fountain Street School.
I went up the hill every day past all those houses.
Interviewer: It was, it could have been perhaps the house….
Miss Robinson: I think it was the Booth house back then but it had gone long perhaps quite a
time before that. And the Shelbys lived on at, the Shelbys that in my day lived on the other side
of Agnes Caulfield or Mrs. McKnight‟s home.
�4
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Robinson: They lived in a brick house on?
Interviewer:
They built this?
Miss Robinson: On Lafayette.
Interviewer: Yes, they built the three homes, they built two facing Lafayette
Miss Robinson: They did? Oh.
Interviewer: And they built the Booth house. Those three are all Shelby houses.
Miss Robinson: Oh, I see, Yes. Well, Mrs, another little interesting thing about Mrs. Watson
was that she, after her husband died, she went into deep mourning. And that was quite customary
of widows in those days. And she wore a veil, a black veil, over her face for quite a while. This
custom was, well, then she was, well, she stayed in mourning for a long time and they, she had a
cemetery up here, Oak Hill Cemetery; a beautiful mausoleum where her husband was buried.
And she would go up there occasionally and have, and look at, he‟s, she‟d have the drawer where
he was placed, opened, and she could look in at him. And that, my father thought was very, what
was the word?
Interviewer: Morbid?
Miss Robinson: Morbid. My father felt that mourning was terrible but they, you would see
widows going down the street in their lovely carriages drawn by horses with docked tails and
mourning ribbons tied on their ears or around their necks. They stayed in
Side one second section:
Miss Robinson: …. mourning for a year. My mother, my father begged my mother never to do
so, so she didn‟t. He would, he wouldn‟t even drive through a cemetery. Well, Mrs. Watson was
the aunt of the mother of well, she was the aunt of Mrs. Tom Carroll [Julia Agnes Mead]. I don‟t
know whether Mr. Tom Carroll was an adopted, she was a Mead. And Katherine Carroll
inherited the Watson home. And that was called the Wa, when they built, a building, they built
the building on there which was called the Watson building. And there were offices in it and
little stores along the side later on. And now it‟s, of course, Jacobson‟s. Then, next door there
were just two houses in that block. Next door to Mrs. Watson, on the other side of the alley that
ran from Sheldon to LaGrave was Mrs. Putnam‟s [Caroline nee Williams; Mrs. Lemuel D.
Putnam] home, that was built up quite high, it was a hill, a slight hill there and it had beautiful
lawn all the way around it. Mrs. Watson is, when I was a little, young girl, was very old, at least
she seemed so to me, and she was very wealthy. And, I don‟t know what her husband did. She
had once been the president of the Ladies Literary Club and at one time I think she was a teacher
at a time when St. Mark‟s had a school for young women. One of…
�5
Interviewer: Was this Mrs. Watson or Mrs. Putnam?
Miss Robinson: Mrs. Putnam, excuse me.
Interviewer: OK.
Miss Robinson: Mrs. Putnam. She was once the president of the Ladies Literary and had been a
teacher in the early days. I think in the Saint Mark‟s School for Young Ladies. One of the first
schools here in Grand Rapids. And, so she was quite old, she had a daughter called Carolyn and
then she, no maybe her name was Carolyn, her daughter was Isabelle [Isabel W. Putnam died 14
July 1901], because the Isabelle home was given in her, the member memory of her daughter.
And, it was a home for old ladies. At first, in the first place it was out on, well, they called it
Central Avenue, and they later changed it to, calling it Sheldon. But when, Sheldon ended at
First Avenue, First Avenue, is it Buckley now?
Interviewer:
I‟m, I don‟t know.
Miss Robinson: I think it is, they‟ve changed all those avenues from First, Second, Third and
Fourth and Fifth.
Interviewer: OK.
Miss Robinson: And gave them the, because on the West side there are also First, First Streets
and so forth and so they, it was often confusing. Well, Mrs.Ca, Mrs. Putnam, was known as the
American Princess. Because she took, she went to Algiers every winter and that was quite a thing
to do in that day. Not too many people went to Europe, as they do today. It was very wonderful
to be able to have enough money to take a European trip. Well, she would take not only herself,
but she took a nurse and a doctor, and a doctor and his wife and a companion sometimes and
they were known as the American Princess, who took this great number of people. Well, I, then
we come to my block, the block I live in. I don‟t remember this but my father bought, I think my
father bought the lot, it was the second lot from Weston and in those days that was called Island
Street, because that street went down to the Island, that had been in the, years ago destroyed but
it went down near the jail. They, I, I guess the market place was on the, you know the market
place.
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Robinson: I think that was, where the island was. Of course that was filled up. Well that
was called Island Street, and I think it should be Island today. It was named after somebody, I
don‟t know who Mr. Weston was, but he sometime or other, the commissioners decided to
change it from Island Street to Weston. Well, I think that‟s too bad because that‟s really a
historical name. And, my father bought the second lot from the corner and on one of the leases it
says it was from Mrs. Putnam, so she must have owned that land in there. They built in eighteen
ninety-three and we moved in there in eighteen ninety-four. His first office had been on Monroe
Avenue where the, above Herkner‟s.
�6
Interviewer: Your, your, I don‟t think we‟ve established your father just for the sake of this tape.
Your father was a dentist?
Miss Robinson: Yes, well, yes, I was going to. He had, he came with my mother from, they were
Massachusetts people originally. Their ancestors were all New England people. And they had
come out to Paw Paw; my father went there to practice dentistry. My Grandfather Robinson, he
wasn‟t, he came and died here in Grand Rapids at our home but I wasn‟t going to bring him in
because he, his home was Jackson. His home was Ca, he was born in Concord and my father had
been born in Salem and they‟d come out to, early days to Jackson. They went first to Ohio and
then up to Jackson and he in those days, dentists did not go to college. There were no college, no
dental college, that‟s what I was going to say. There were no dental colleges. The university, I
don‟t know the year that university established a dental college, but my grandfather was one of
the earliest dentists in the United States, but he began at a time when it was called a trade. And
he was known; he was offered the deanship of the University of Michigan, the first deanship of
the dental school at the University of Michigan. But he wasn‟t able to accept it because it didn‟t
pay enough for him to support his family on. And so, Dean Taft became the first Dean. Well
what it in was. The reason I brought this up was that dentists, dentists as lawyers, learned their
trade in another dentist‟s office and that is how my father learned his trade. He learned it from, it
became a profession, but he learned it from his father. And my, his father taught dentistry to
many another dentists and our family was a dental family, because the uncles and my pr and
cousins become dentists. And, my brother later became a dentist. But he, by the time that he was
ready to become a dentist, the school had been established, of course Grandfather had, it was in
his day that the school was established. And he went to the university and he came back. Well,
then father built this for his office and it was a very nice home, fourteen room home. The Barth, I
think there was a family by the name of Barth that lived next door on the north, on the corner.
We were the second house. The house where the Imperial is today had been the Amberg home.
And, they moved away about the time that we came in. You see, Sheldon apparently was
changing somewhat in its nature. It was a degenerating, deteriorating somewhat. Not, not too
much but a little bit because it was near downtown. And the Ambergs went out to Cherry Street
to live. That was Julius Amberg‟s and Hazel Amberg‟s family. The Hazel A. is named after her,
are on, the boat on the lake, and of course on one of the boats on the lake was named after Major
Watson. The, that was a red brick house and surrounded with an iron wrought…
Interviewer: Fence.
Miss Robinson: …fence in front of it. Then the next home was, belonged to a man by the name
of General [Byron] Pierce. They moved away when I was a small girl and I don‟t remember too
much about them. And the next house belonged to Charlie Leonard. And I think this is a rather
attractive story. They were there when we first moved there and mother said that Mrs. Charlie
Leonard told her that she couldn‟t sleep nights because of [Mr. and Mrs. Clarence] Peck‟s baby,
that‟s Clara, and Johnson‟s cow who lived on, kitty-corner. The Doctor Johnson lived kittycorner from the Leonards and they kept her awake, the cow kept her awake at night and the cow
evidently was pastured between the Johnson home on Sheldon and Division Avenue, in a vacant
lot. Now I talked with Agnes about that, and Agnes said she didn‟t remember anything about the
Johnsons having a cow but I know my mother told me that. But Agnes remembered that, the
�7
[George H.] Longs in the third block up, had a cow and that, just was disturbing some, disturbing
sometimes and they brought it in on, into their yard and milked it at night. And, so you can see
what Sheldon Avenue, how different it is today. The corner, where the Leonards lived, they
didn‟t stay there too long. Across the road was the old All Souls Universalists Church, where I
went to Sunday School. And there were a good many prominent people going to that church. My
mother was an Episcopalian but my family, my father‟s family who had come from Concord and
had, they had gone to the old meeting house, that first old meeting house during, which had been
built there in Concord, the very first one and where the Concord, well Massachusetts had a
provincial congress that met there at that meeting house and they voted to separate from
England, in that old meeting house, and my grandfather had been born there, right next door to
the meeting house. Well, let‟s see, what was I going to tell you? Oh, All Soul‟s Church had in it
Judge [Willis] Perkins and his wife, the [Eilert] Clements family, Earle Clements and Roy
Clements went there. The [Albert] Hicks [family], there was Russell Hicks and Kenneth Hicks
going there. Mary Louise Powers and her mother the per, Powers. She‟s a teacher here. They
went there. She had my, one of the Sunday School classes. The [William] Collins no, the [Ralph
P.] Tietsort family. Yes and I guess Helen Collins. Helen Tietsort and Helen Collins went there
to Sunday School, and the Hilton girls they were friends of my aunts went there and Judge
Perkins was the head of the Sunday School and wait a moment, Marion Sprague, no what was
her uncle‟s, her father‟s name? They lived up here on Madison. He was prominent, I think it was
Sprague. Yes. It was Sprague and very prominent people living up here on Madison Avenue.
They came down to the All Souls Church and one of the early ministers there was a Mr.
[Charles] Fluhrer, and he was very prominent, and mother who was an Episcopalian would go
with Father there and of course they sat, and Aunt Molly [Mary B. Robinson] lived with us.
Grandpa and Aunt Molly came to live with us from Jackson, Michigan. Grandpa, Grandma had
died when I was, the year I was born at eighty-five and Grandpa came to live when he was
eighty-five, and Aunt Molly came and lived with me until I was thirty years old, and I was only a
year old. Aunt Molly was a singer. Well, she went there, she, her name was Robinson, her name
was Mary Robinson and she hadn‟t married. And then, let‟s see who else went there? Of course
there was Mary Perkins and Margaret Perkins and June Perkins; they were all children of Judge
[Willis B.] Perkins. They were down there, and Willis Perkins, they were all down there at that
Sunday School. And it was a nice Sunday School and I remember the chicken-pie suppers we
used to have there and on Christmas night every year Santy Clause always came and I was so
excited because everybody, we all got a box of candy, Christmas candy in a box that looked like
a chimney and a Santy Claus gave us all a gift. Then I‟d go home to my home and mother would
tell me I could have some bread and milk and go to bed because Santy Claus had to come and to,
bring down the chimney and then while I was eating the taking my bread and milk, my brother
who was fifteen years older than I, would go around and knock on the window and I thought it
was Santy Claus that was knocking on the window, and I would jump up, I‟d knock my milk
over and I‟d go to bed. And then when we‟d come down in the morning the grate is the fire, that
we had a fireplace. We had a quite modern house for those days because a lot of my friends tell
me that they still had oil lamps. We had gas and electricity. Electricity was somewhat new and
we had a furnace, a hot air, hot water furnace in the house. It was a fourteen room house and the
pressure from the city was not too strong so it just brought the water into the city water into the
house on the lower floor. And so we had a hydraulic pump in our kitchen. And we had a cistern
and there were two faucets on the hydraulic, pump and one, pump would, one faucet would bring
up, the water to a tank, we had a tank room on the second floor, and the water would be carried
�8
up from that pump to that tank. And then we had our water in the bathroom you see. From the
tank that was on the second floor, in the, just back of the bathroom. And we all, we drew up the
city water, from other faucet. And later the, the cistern we just had to, it grew so commercial
down there, so much smoke that we couldn‟t use the cisterns anymore and we had to disconnect
that. Anyway we disconnected, then we had a new pipe brought in and we had water sent up
from the city without the hydraulic pump. And at the, in that house, it was modern enough so
that we had a switch on the first floor that we could light the electric light in the hall upstairs.
And I think that was, for eighteen ninety-three was quite, quite modern. And we also had, we had
hot water in the winter. We had, in our bathroom upstairs, and later we had, one of those old,
instantaneous heaters over the bathtub to bring hot water. But of course the first years in the
summer, we always had to heat our water in the tea-kettle. In the kitchen we had gas, we had a
range, a wood or coal range, and on one end of it there was a boiler for hot water that we used for
our dishes. We did, and we had to heat our water in the, later we put in a gas, a gas stove. I can
remember having leg aches; they called it growing pains in those days. I don‟t know what, what
it was, I out grew it anyway I used to go and sit with my leg on the edge of that, oven.
Then, up the next block there were, there were the, beyond the church was the Doctor [F.
Josephus] Groner home and then the Foster Stevens. Mr. Stevens, Mr. Sidney Stevens owned a
very lovely home. And he was one of his, the owners of Foster and Stevens stores down on,
down on Monroe. That was a very large and very lovely store. Hardware on the first floor and
beautiful china on the second floor, and the Mr. Rood, I think was the buyer of that china, up
there in that, Foster-Stevens Store. The next, his brother was Wilder, but he didn‟t live on
Sheldon. Next to it was Agnes Caulfield‟s home, or Mr. Caulfield‟s home, Agnes was the
youngest of the children. There was a Mr. Caulfield owned a grocery, wholesale grocery store, a
whole, not store, a wholesale grocery company. And he must have made a lot of his money thru
real estate, throughout the city. And their home was a lovely Victorian brick home, and the
children were; George, Marie, maybe Marie was the oldest, Stella, Agnes and John. John married
Clara Peck, later on.
Interviewer: What, could we, I think this tape‟s about all over so I‟m going to turn it over O.K.?
Miss Robinson: Yes, Alright.
Interviewer: You were saying who married Clara Peck…?
Miss Robinson: Well, John, the youngest of the Caulfield family married Clara Peck after her
tragedy with Arthur Waite. She first married Arthur Waite and, you know that story. I don‟t,
don‟t know whether I‟d better put it in or not.
Interviewer: No, it‟s that‟s alright….
Miss Robinson: No, most everybody knows…
Interviewer: If anybody wants to know they can certainly find out…
�9
Miss Robinson: Yes, but after her tragedy, John Caulfield courted Clara, she had gone to
California to live, and had a very lovely home in Pasadena. Both John Caulfield and Voigt,
Ralph Voigt went out to spend the winter out there and I think they probably both were, maybe
they were, I don‟t know of course their intentions, I don‟t know was, the, I don‟t know Mr.
Voigt‟s intentions, but he was out there with, with John during that same winter and almost
everybody thought that the two people were, courting Clara, but John was the one that married
her. And they lived in California from then on. One of the most prominent members of the
Caulfield family was Anna and she was among, I don‟t know, I think, I don‟t know where she‟s,
whether she was the oldest or not. I, I don‟t know whether George or she. I didn‟t mention her
before did I?
Interviewer: No
Miss Robinson: Or Marie, she was a very attractive woman and a very brilliant woman and she
studied art. And became a very authority, connoisseur would you say of in art. She brought to
Grand Rapids the Alliance Française, or she started one and she also started a dramatic club. And
she was president of the Ladies Literary which was right across from where I lived. The Ladies
Literary Club must have been founded in eighteen seventy for it had its hundredth birthday last
year in nineteen seventy. Agnes, Anna was, wore beautiful clothes and she was a very, gracious
president. I can remember the Ladies Literary Club from a very small child, it had a great many
of the prominent women of Grand Rapids in it and who, numbers of whom were presidents.
Mother was a member and I used to like to go over there when, when there was no club going,
where there was nothing when I was a little girl. And I, if the janitor was there I‟d go in there,
sometimes, I‟d, the club was a little different than it is today, It‟s been made over. It was, it had
a flat floor, today it has a raised floor, for, had a flat floor and all the chairs were caned
bottomed, they were oak cane bottomed. And the platform now you have to go enter the platform
from the back of the stage. At that time it was not as high as it is and it, you could, you could go
up by steps. There were three wide steps that go up. And it was very pretty, very attractive. It had
two lovely tables, I remember and two lovely chairs up there. They didn‟t have as many dishes in
those days. There were two rooms back there as it. It didn‟t it, they haven‟t changed the plan of
it, the auditorium and the stage had been changed. Mrs. [Loraine] Immen was a very prominent
woman there, she had Shakespeariana; she was the head of the Shakespeariana. My mother was a
member of that. Some of the, she‟s given a window in the Ladies Literary, a beautiful window in
the, in the front room. It was given in, I don‟t know, I think she gave it. Her class, she was a very
brilliant woman and her classes were very brilliant. Then there was a Mrs. Fletcher. Now Mrs.
Fletcher I‟m not sure just how she was related to Mrs. Ward and Mrs. Ward is related to the
Corneliuses. But Mrs. Fletcher was the second wife and I think Mrs. Ward was the daughter of
the first wife. I don‟t know, she was the mother of the Corneliuses, wasn‟t she? I, I may not…
Interviewer: Yes?
Miss Robinson: I‟m not very straight on this. They owned the Fletcher block that was on the
corner of Division and Weston, not far from me. Mrs. Fletcher had a Shakespeare group in the
club. I don‟t know whether Shakespeariana was outside the club in those days or not but it is
today. Mother belonged to both of them and Mrs. Fletcher thought that she was her star pupil
because Mother was a very beautiful reader. When I was coming, Mother had to retire from the
�10
Shakespeare Group and Mrs. Fletcher was quite disappointed when she had one of her star pupils
leaving. Well, that, I can remember going down to the Fletcher Block. That was the corner, was a
saloon there later, but I think there were rooms up there that Mr. Fletcher owned. People lived
above buildings in those days. I mean they were not just scum, but quite nice people. In fact, I
think my mother and father on Monroe Avenue, till he got started in his business, had rooms
right in, next to his office, above the Herkner building.
Interviewer: Yes?
Miss Robinson: And, other people lived all those rooms are all empty now you know, but they,
and there was a restaurant, a quite a stylish restaurant down there under the Herkner. But I‟m
wandering, the Fletchers, I lived there and I used to like to as a little girl, run up into the
Fletchers. I‟d go up the back door, on Island Street and Mrs. Fletcher would give me maple sugar
candies. That‟s how I remember Mrs. Fletcher. But she was a very bright woman and carried on
the Shakespeare group in the Ladies Literary Club. They had, at one time; Mrs. Russell was the
president, Mrs., what was his name? She was a Comstock.
Interviewer: He was a Comstock, Mr….
Miss Robinson: No, a Mrs. Russell was a Comstock, Mr. Russell, and Mrs. Boltwood was her
sister. They were Comstock sister, Comstock was named hot little town, he owned all that land,
out there now….
Interviewer: I think that, I think that the way it was, was because I‟ve interviewed the Russells is
that Mr. Russell was the Comstock and Mrs. Russell was a Hopson.
Miss Robinson: No that‟s, you‟re talking about the son. I‟m about the, Mrs. The older people.
Interviewer: Oh, OK, I see.
Miss Robinson: Mr. Russell and Mrs. Boltwood. Mrs., that Mrs. Russell was the father of
Francis Russell, and Francis Russell married Lucille Hopson and they went to school with me.
Interviewer: I see.
Miss Robinson: Francis Russell was in my class in high school. And Lucille Hopson was
probably the next class down, a year or so later. And no they‟re my, but this is the older group.
They lived up, they lived out at North Park, not North Park, near the Soldier‟s home and we, in
Mrs. Russell‟s home they had a very beautiful, ballroom and gave many, a young parties out
there for the young people of the town. There was Francis Russell and his older brother, Charles
Russell, he, they still live out in that home out there. And then, Mrs. Boltwood lived on the, there
was Wealthy-Taylor bus that went out, out there and went right between those two houses. The
Boltwoods on, near the river. Now the Boltwoods and the Russells owned all that river land and
they gave it to the city and it, it‟s a park land. It was given on condition that they would redeem
it from the swamps; it was in the swamp land. And maybe, at this time I‟m diverging from
Sheldon Avenue but during the war, Lucius Boltwood was in the army. I suppose Francis was
�11
too, I don‟t know, but I knew, I knew Lucius. And, Lucius was, tried to get in the army. He was
turned down many times and then he was, he wanted to go into the Navy and he couldn‟t get in.
This is the First World War. And then he went into, he finally got, he was finally drafted. He‟d
been turned down time and again and during this time, he was engaged to a Marian Berkey, who
married him and before, I think he went to war. Yes, I‟m sure because he died in the war. And
she was, became Marian Boltwood. You see and then later, she‟s Mrs. Whinery now. She
married Ingles Whinery, after a number of years after Lucius Boltwood‟s death. Well, I was
telling, the reason I brought in the Boltwoods and the Russells on Sheldon Avenue was because
they were, Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Boltwood were both presidents of the Ladies Literary Club at
different times and as a little girl, the Ladies Literary Club, when it was first new, you know that
was one of the first big clubs in the ladies clubs in the United States. It was known all over for its
wonderful programs, they brought in such marvelous people and Anna McKnight, Anna
Caulfield McKnight when she was president, brought a great many of the, she brought Mr.
Roosevelt and Mr. Taft and many prominent people before, while most of the ladies clubs of the
country were just having well, programs among themselves.
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Robinson: What do you call them, what‟s the word I want to use, homemade programs,
current events and so forth. Well, mother would go over to the Ladies Literary. I can remember
this first, they had a janitor just half a day in those early days and we were right across the road
and very convenient, and they didn‟t have many dishes and they would be going to serve the tea
so or they would be going to put, bring flowers down. And they would come down to our home
and they couldn‟t get into the club because the Janitor wasn‟t there so they would say “can we
leave our things in your vestibule?” And they‟d leave a lot of these different dishes and /or vases
in the vestibule and I always thought of it as well I think we were kind of an annex to the Ladies
Literary Club. And then after the membership after the club was over, a lot of mother‟s friends
would come over and we almost had a reception there, following the Ladies Literary Club. Well,
then when Mrs. Russell and some of these people that mother knew became president, then she,
they weren‟t quite so strict about letting people in those days, she would think of me , I was
thirteen or fourteen years old and she would think of me and think, oh I wish Doris could go over
and hear that program. So she would go up to some one of the ladies and say, “Can I get a ticket,
a guest ticket for my daughter?” And they‟d say “Just bring her over.”
So I remember that when Mr. Roosevelt, that is what happened when Mr. Roosevelt came to
town. Anna McKnight was then president. Anna Caulfield McKnight and she gave mama
permission to bring me over, and I sat on my front porch at the time be, before mother came
over, and up the street came Mr. Roosevelt in a very elegant carriage, with someone driving and
some prominent man beside him. And he went in to the club house, and then I, Mama came and
got me and I went over and I heard Mr. Teddy Roosevelt talk and he was very much impressed
with Mrs. McKnight. She was a very gracious woman, very, very educated, very cultured and a
connoisseur. I told you before in art.
Later Mrs. Knight, Mrs. Cau, of course Anna, she was Anna Caulfield; she married Mr. [William
F.] McKnight, a prominent lawyer here and they built up on the, or they bought up on the corner
of Fountain and Lafayette, right next to the Shelby home. That is where Anna, is living to, that is
�12
where Agnes is living today. A Mrs. McKnight went later to France and lived there quite a while
and met very prominent people there and she had photographs of many prominent people there
where she had her, photographs of many prominent men that she had met here in America when,
Agnes has them there I think on their grand piano. They‟re very, it‟s quite, I would say a very
valuable collection of pictures. Well, then across the road, let‟s see if I can think of anything
else, George, oh well Marie, Marie was a very attractive, oh I know what I wanted to tell you
about, I can remember Marie and Stella, she, Stella was one of the children. Stella and, she was
a friend of my mother‟s though quite younger, they, they would pass our house and I was a little
girl and I can just see those girls with their trains and their lovely, full skirts, ruffled skirts and
lovely picture hats with lovely parasols. Every, these girls in those days carried parasols and they
looked just beautiful, I can remember that so well. And of course, John was older than I, oh I
would say he was quite a bit older than I but he was and he was younger than my brother. My
brother was fifteen years older. My brother, I think, maybe I‟d tell a little bit about my father and
my brother in my home, there before I go get through. My father had been a prominent dentist
and when he came to Grand Rapids, there were just nine dentists in the town. And he was quite
aggressive in a way, he was, I think he was a popular man, I think he was very much liked
because he died when I was five and I can remember him but I had so many people, Mrs.
Russell, Mrs. Boltwood use to come to me and say, your father was such a nice man. And he had
quite a big (practice?) at the time on Sheldon he had built his practice up to quite a good practice
of quite prominent people. There the Voigts that came to him and the Russells and the
Boltwoods, but of course I was so young I can‟t remember all the rest, I just remember my
mother telling me, and I can remember that he died of diphtheria.
Interviewer: How did he catch diphtheria?
Miss Robinson: Nobody in this city no, had it and we don‟t know but we think it might have
been a carrier because he practiced, you see, he was practicing dentistry and he worked over their
mouths and he might have had it and it was very, very, virulent black diphtheria in those days.
An antitoxin was just new. And I was taken out, I had had the grippe, and I had a nurse, and that
nurse went right over to my father who had colic, they called it colic but what I think it was
appendicitis. I don‟t think they knew what an appendicitis was, and I think he had actually, every
once in a while he would have an attack of colic, and I think it must have been his appendix that
were not right. And then so this, he had colic and then he went down to Dr. Randall,
no
Rankin. Dr. Rankin was a prominent throat man and a doctor, no he didn‟t go... Yes, Dr. Rankin
operated on his throat. And I think, that was the worst thing in the world that may, he may he had
throat trouble, and he didn‟t go for his colic but he went down there evidently for this throat that
would, left a raw place and he had, he had, black diphtheria starts in the nose and they didn‟t
recognized it and he was very, very ill when they recognized it. Well, they took me out and they
took me to the Bradley, to the Bradford home, and it was a farm out on West Leonard that was
all farmland there, no none of these houses. And the [Charles] Bradfords were very good friends
of my mother‟s and father‟s and one of the Bradfords married an Afkin and the other Bradford,
Leona, of course she was a child older than I at that time but, she married Mr. [Arthur M.]
Godwin of the bank. What‟s his first name?
Interviewer: I don‟t
�13
Miss Robinson: Mrs. Godwin, Mrs. Per, Mrs. Godwin was here, Lillian, Lily Godwin, she was a
Perkins, she married a Perkins and Mable Perkins is her sister-in-law. Well, Mr. Godwin‟s first
wife, he was vice president of the Grand Rapids Savings Bank and his first wife was Leona
Bradford. And that‟s where I was, out there on that Bradford farm at the time of my father‟s
death. But I was five years old and, in those days it was, of course, that was quarantined. They
had two nurses then and so Dr. [D. Emmett] Welch became his doctor and Dr. Welch was one of
the prominent doctors in the throat, ear, nose and throat. He married Fanny McCrath, a very
prominent family here who lived on Cherry Street near Jefferson. And right up on in the
cemetery where my father is buried in Oak Hill, my family plot, is in McGraths, a large
tombstone for the McCraths. Dr. Welch is buried there and Mrs. Fanny McCrath Welch is buried
right next to where all my and then the Davises are, that live on Fountain are right next to us, and
the Waters mausoleum is right there. I grew up there, I don‟t go very often, my father didn‟t like
it, didn‟t want anybody to go. We go once a year.
Well, now what else oh, I‟m up on the corner of the Caulfield house, I diverged there and told
them a little bit about my family. Anything I want to tell anymore about that, I guess not. Across
the road from the Caulfields was Johnny Burns home, now that, remember that‟s an older family.
That isn‟t the John Burns that died later, that, the mother of Mrs. Alexi Burns, that‟s her
grandfather. Well, they were a prominent family and they had a daughter, a son John Burns and a
daughter who was Mrs. Hollow and they had s son, he, the grandson lived there. Well, he was
quite a gay young fellow. They had a lot of money, they were very wealthy people you know the
Burns. You know Mrs. Burns, don‟t you? She just died. Don‟t you know who Alexi Burns is?
Interviewer: No.
Miss Robinson: Oh, they were prominent people here and they were very prominent and very
wealthy. An Irish family and there are I „m thinking why I‟m smiling a little bit, he was quite a
friend of the McGurrin boys who lived up in the block on another side of the road. There was
Mickey McGurrin and I can‟t think of the names. Tom sometimes I used to know him by, but
that isn‟t the name I know. The Woodcocks lived on the corner and the Woodcock boys were
Harold Woodcock and Robert Woodcock, they never married. But that was a big brick house,
very in that this is the block that‟s just this side, that‟s I‟m talking about that‟s just this side of
the Catholic Church. And this block had a number of Catholic families in it; quite wealthy
Catholic families.
Interviewer: Now that is which street?
Miss Robinson: What?
Interviewer: Which street is that?
Miss Robinson: It‟s Sheldon.
Interviewer: Sheldon.
�14
Miss Robinson: It‟s on Sheldon, the corner of Sheldon and Cherry. The Woodcocks, and they
were a wealthy family, they were across Cherry Street from the Caulfields. Johnny Burns was
across the road from, on Sheldon Street. He was on the corner of Cherry on the west, the
northwest corner of Cherry, and then the Turners who was the, who started, who owned the
Eagle newspaper. Lived on the, I think his name was Aaron Turner, and who lived on the north,
we, the southwest corner. Burns‟ lived on the northwest corner and Turner lived on the
southwest corner and the Woodcocks and with their sons Harold and Bob, who many people will
know here in this town, the one just died recently, lived on that other corner. The second house
next to the Woodcocks was the, was the McGurrin House and there was Mickey McGurrin and
we‟ll call him Gerald McGurrin. Gerald McGurrin. I think he‟s known by Tom too. Mickey
McGurrin was quite a friend of Bern Halls. Burn Hall was the grandson of John, the Burns. They
were, he was about my age, a little older, these and they had a gang. And up here on Cherry, on a
Fulton Street lived Brandt Walker and Brandt Walker told me they had a gang. Brandt is dead
now, he lived between Lafayette and Prospect and they had a gang. But they were not quite; they
were a little milder than the McGurrin gang. And they were scared to death for fear the
McGurrin gang would come up and attack them. And they had their barns filled with stones
they‟d collected stones and they were ready for an attack. And sometimes they did, the two
gangs got together, I guess and had good little fights. Well, Irene McGurrin became a music
teacher in the schools and Mr. McGurrin was General McGurrin, a general in the Army during
the War of 1812. Oh, the war, Spanish-American War. The Spanish-American War. And later he
was made head of the Soldier‟s Home, out on the North end where the Veterans are now. It was
the Soldiers‟ Home and he was demoted, well he was Colonel because that was the actual title
that went with that home, that office. They were quite a colorful family, I think, and I can see
him riding horses during the parades that came up Monroe Avenue on Decoration Day, he
always led a company. There‟d be the coming those parades would have soldiers of the, GOP is
it?
Interviewer: G.A.R.
Miss Robinson: G.A.R.
Interviewer: Grand Army Republicans
Miss Robinson: Grand, yes Grand G.O.P. is Republicans.
Interviewer: Republicans.
Miss Robinson: Grand Party of the Republican and then, they kept getting older and older each
year and then they finally couldn‟t march anymore and they‟d come in carriages and then finally
there were none at all. And then, there would be the second, army thing would come up would be
a regiment of the Americans, Spanish-American War, and I can remember when that war ended,
and all the Dewey‟s pictures that would be in all the windows and I can remember when Mr.
McKinley died. They had his picture in the window draped in black. He was, of course killed by
an anarchist at Buffalo. I can remember I was seven years old I think and I ran out and told the
people next door that Mr. McKinley was gone.
�15
Interviewer: How did you get the news?
Miss Robinson: My mother. Newspapers, extras would come out, all the different newspapers;
we had two, three papers in town. There was the Herald which had been the Eagle. Mr. Turner so
got old, made his money I guess, he was the head of the Grand Rapids Eagle and he sold it or it
became the Herald, I think he lost his money and he had something to do with and William
Alden Smith was a Newsboy I think on that paper and they knew him quite well through that and
he I think Mr. Turner lost his money and Mr. Smith recommended somebody to buy it and he
sold his paper to him and he never got his money out of it.
Interviewer: Yes?
Miss Robinson: It was beautiful where he lived in that beautiful white house on the southwest
corner. I don‟t know, I can remember one or two incidents that Mrs. Moser, she was the daughter
of Mr. Turner and lived in that house.
Interviewer: Now that house on the southwest corner of….
Miss Robinson: Yes, Cherry and Sheldon.
Interviewer: OK.
Miss Robinson: Across from Johnny Burns on one corner and Mrs. Woodcock on the other, and
Gerald McGurrin, they were good Catholics and Gerald was full. Harry as I told you was the
head of a gang and he went up in, he used to go up in that church and he‟d, the Catholic Church
and he‟d get into pull the belfry bell and the priest would go after him and he‟d run and one day
he ran down Sheldon Street and he got into the Turner home and he ran right through the front
door an out the back door and down to Division and after, the priest, Mrs. Moser told me. She
said we never gave Gerald away to the priest but he was the one that pulled the rope. Then there
was another family on that side, another two families. There were the [George H] Longs right
next door to the [Aaron B.] Turners. . Mr. Long was a lumberman and he made a great deal of
money thru lumber. It was a beautiful red brick house trimmed in white and there were a number
of daughters. He was quite, I don‟t know what to say here in public about him. Because he had a
daughter, maybe you better put that out but he had a very lovely wife and very lovely daughters.
There was Emma and she became Mrs. [John P.] Homiller. There was Helen, I can‟t remember
what her name was but her daughter is Mrs. Kendall, out here. And then there was Anna and she
married Alex McPherson and their daughter is Anna, Margret McPherson the music teacher here.
And the youngest was Louise. I can remember Louise better than the others. Though I did meet
Mrs., they were grown up you see when I was still little. But I can see Louise passing our house
and she was educated in France, I think. And he was very strict with his daughters but, in some
ways they were afraid of him, I think. They were a colorful family. Now I can‟t go into the all
the details I‟ve just heard it repeated you know.
Interviewer: OK.
�16
Miss Robinson: Doctor Sinclair a homeopathic doctor was our doctor and he lived next door to
the McGurrins, the third house down. It was the Woodcocks, the McGurrins and the Sinclairs.
He was a doctor M.C. He had a brother in town here by the name of Dan. D. S. I guess Doctor D.
S. and M. C., Sinclair and he was, I just loved Dr. Sinclair, he was, they don‟t have homeopathic
doctors anymore. He was didn‟t believe, they didn‟t believe in the other, other doctors were
allopaths and their idea, oh I think it was to give medicine that was of the same type. I‟m not
sure, I might get it mixed up, but I know their medicines tasted good. There never was anything
bad in that you tasted, they tasted of sugar and they even when they were water, put it into a
glass of water they never tasted bad. He was a lovely man. And Jean his daughter married Mr.
Curtis who was president of the Old Kent Bank at one time. And they lived up on Fulton Street
here and Douglas Sinclair was the son.
Interviewer: I think that‟s about it
Miss Robinson: Alright.
Interviewer: I think that was a very good interview though
Miss Robinson: Was it?
Interviewer: Yes.
INDEX
A
F
Alliance Française Club · 10
Amberg Family · 7
Fletcher, Mrs. · 10, 11
B
G
Godfrey Family · 3, 4
Boltwood Family · 11, 12, 13
Booth Family · 3, 4
Burns Family · 14, 15, 16
C
Carroll, Mr. and Mrs. · 5
Caulfield Family · 4, 9, 12, 13, 14
Clements Family · 7
Collins Family · 7
D
Davis Family · 14
H
Hicks Family · 7
I
Immen, Loraine · 10
L
Ladies Literary Club · 5, 10, 11, 12
Leonard Family · 7, 14
�17
M
Russell, Mr. and Mrs. · 7, 11, 12, 13
McKnight, Anna · 4, 12, 13
S
P
Shelby Family · 3, 4
Perkins Family · 8
Perkins, Judge · 7, 14
Putnam, Mrs. · 5, 6
U
R
Robinson, Albert (Father) · 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14
Robinson, Jennie M. Baker (Mother) · 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12,
13, 14, 16
Robinson, Mary P. (Aunt Molly) · 8
Roosevelt, President Theodore · 12, 13
University of Michigan · 6
W
Ward, Mrs. · 10
Watson, Major Amasa B. · 2, 4, 5, 7
Winegar Family · 2
Woodcock Family · 15, 17
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/2b7f136dcd276cee4d38435a209846b9.mp3
309fb3e1b9ad60260bb1524891f55f12
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Grand Rapids Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Local histories
Memoirs
Michigan--History
Oral histories (document genre)
Description
An account of the resource
Taped and transcribed interviews conducted in the early 1970s primarily of the children and grandchildren of many of the founders of Grand Rapids, Michigan; many of whom were residents of the Heritage Hill neighborhood. Interviews were collected to develop a significant collection of oral resources that would supplement other primary and secondary local history materials. Initially funded as a private project, Grand Valley State College (now University) assumed responsibility for continuing the project until 1977.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Various
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/452">Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf; audio/mp3
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text; Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-23
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1971 - 1977
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-23_34Robinson
Title
A name given to the resource
Robinson, Doris
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Robinson, Doris
Description
An account of the resource
Doris Robinson was born in 1893 in Grand Rapids, where she lived her whole life. Her father was a dentist. She once saw Theodore Roosevelt at the Ladies' Literary Club when she was fourteen years old.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Michigan--History
Local histories
Memoirs
Oral histories (document genre)
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Personal narratives
Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Grand Valley State University
Women
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
audio/mp3
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1971
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/145fb00f99760eee21652c558afaea9a.pdf
a685440e19ad71a0518ef87b24bf10db
PDF Text
Text
Young Lords
In Lincoln Park
Interviewee: Rebecca “Buffy” Vance
Interviewers: José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez
Location: Grand Valley State University Special Collections
Date: 4/20/2012
Biography and Description
Rebecca “Buffy” Vance was friends with “Stony,” who was a white southerner and one of the main
Young Lords from the Wieland branch of the group before they became human rights activists for
Latinos and the poor. Stony was about 17-years-old then and lived across from Wieland on North
Avenue. His sisters became members of the auxiliary group, the Young Lordettes. Wieland culture was
completely different from the culture at Halsted and Dickens and Burling and Armitage where the other
main group of Young Lords hung out. The difference was that on Wieland and North Avenue, they did
not have to share space with the other Puerto Rican Clubs of Lincoln Park. Pockets of Puerto Ricans left
behind from the destruction wrought by urban renewal in the Puerto Rican barrio of La Clark were still
around then. Wieland Street was one of the streets that still survived. Masao Yamasaki, a man of
Japanese descent, became friends with Stony and other Young lords and tried to help them with
counseling and guidance. Mr. Yamasaki did this through the YMCA, where Young Lords would go for
swimming and basketball. He owned a factory and started providing a few of them, including Stony, with
jobs. And Stony remained in his packaging company for years, becoming a supervisor for the company.
Ms. Vance was never in the Young Lords but grew up in Lincoln Park and attended Alcott Elementary at
2625 North Orchard. Alcott School then had an after school program that would supervise the youth at
night to keep them out of trouble and off the streets. A few of the Young Lords attended Alcott and
�spread the word about the program. They would have to walk 8 to 10 blocks to attend but it did help
some of them as they participated in sports, arts and crafts, and other activities. There were also the
social dances, where youth danced to tunes such as “Wipe-out,” “Twine Time,” “Monkey Time,” and
“Louie Louie.” Today Ms. Vance today works at the University of Illinois Circle Campus as Assistant to
Communications and Development and Alumni Relations. Prior to joining the College of Law, she
worked as a development Secretary for Will AM-FM-TV. Ms. Vance has also worked at Amdocs Inc. and
in benefit planning.
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/6c6e9d7f290f4672e8eb4132feb3895b.mp4
415dcc2beccd119eb3f262d68b8299db
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Young Lords in Lincoln Park Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Young Lords (Organization)
Puerto Ricans--United States
Civil Rights--United States--History
Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Personal narratives
Social justice
Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Description
An account of the resource
Collection of oral history interviews and digitized materials documenting the history of the Young Lords Organization in Lincoln Park, Chicago. Interviews were conducted by Young Lords' founder, José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, and documents were digitized from Mr. Jiménez' archives.
The Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection grows out of the ongoing struggle for fair housing, self-determination, and human rights that was launched by Mr. José “Cha-Cha” Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords Movement. This project is dedicated to documenting the history of the displacement of Puerto Ricans, Mejicanos, other Latinos, and the poor from Lincoln Park, as well as the history of the Young Lords nationwide.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Jiménez, José, 1948-
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park collection (RHC-65)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2017-04-25
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
spa
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-65
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
2012-2017
Oral History
A resource containing historical information obtained in interviews with persons having firsthand knowledge.
Título
Spanish language Title entry
Rebecca “Buffy” Vance vídeo entrevista y biografía
Sujetos
Spanish language Subject terms
Young Lords (Organización)
Puertorriqueños--Estados Unidos
Derechos civiles--Estados Unidos--Historia
Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Narrativas personales
Justicia social
Activistas comunitarios--Illinois--Chicago
Source
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/491">Young Lords in Lincoln Park (RHC-65)</a>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-65_Vance_Rebecca
Title
A name given to the resource
Rebecca “Buffy” Vance inerview and biography
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Vance, Rebecca
Description
An account of the resource
Rebecca “Buffy” Vance was friends with “Stony,” who was a white southerner and one of the main Young Lords from the Wieland branch of the group before they became human rights activists for Latinos and the poor. Stony was about 17-years-old then and lived across from Wieland on North Avenue. His sisters became members of the auxiliary group, the Young Lordettes. Wieland culture was completely different from the culture at Halsted and Dickens and Burling and Armitage where the other main group of Young Lords hung out. The difference was that on Wieland and North Avenue, they did not have to share space with the other Puerto Rican Clubs of Lincoln Park. Pockets of Puerto Ricans left behind from the destruction wrought by urban renewal in the Puerto Rican barrio of La Clark were still around then. Wieland Street was one of the streets that still survived. Masao Yamasaki, a man of Japanese descent, became friends with Stony and other Young lords and tried to help them with counseling and guidance. Mr. Yamasaki did this through the YMCA, where Young Lords would go for swimming and basketball. He owned a factory and started providing a few of them, including Stony, with jobs. And Stony remained in his packaging company for years, becoming a supervisor for the company. Ms. Vance was never in the Young Lords but grew up in Lincoln Park and attended Alcott Elementary at 2625 North Orchard. Alcott School then had an after school program that would supervise the youth at night to keep them out of trouble and off the streets. A few of the Young Lords attended Alcott and spread the word about the program. They would have to walk 8 to 10 blocks to attend but it did help some of them as they participated in sports, arts and crafts, and other activities. There were also the social dances, where youth danced to tunes such as “Wipe-out,” “Twine Time,” “Monkey Time,” and “Louie Louie.” Today Ms. Vance today works at the University of Illinois Circle Campus as Assistant to Communications and Development and Alumni Relations. Prior to joining the College of Law, she worked as a development Secretary for Will AM-FM-TV. Ms. Vance has also worked at Amdocs Inc. and in benefit planning.
Contributor
An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource
Jiménez, José, 1948-
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Young Lords (Organization)
Puerto Ricans--United States
Civil Rights--United States--History
Lincoln Park (Chicago, Ill.)
Personal narratives
Social justice
Community activists--Illinois--Chicago
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Moving Image
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
video/mp4
application/pdf
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2012-04-20
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/18c365546a932e069d6a5ab3e13666b3.pdf
d7b3db4290006fea9fb15690ae91823a
PDF Text
Text
1
Grand Valley State University Special Collections
Kent County Oral History collections, RHC-23
Miss Mabel Perkins
Interviewed on September 16, 1971
Edited and indexed by Don Bryant, 2010 – bryant@wellswooster.com
Tape #11 (45:50)
Biographical Information
Mabel Helen Perkins was born 26 July 1880, daughter of Cyrus Edwin and Della A. (Foote)
Perkins. Mabel died November 1974.
Cyrus E. Perkins was born 9 October 1847 in Lawrence, Massachusetts, the son of Cyrus E. and
Lydia M. (Birney) Perkins. He died 23 May 1918 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and is buried in
Oak Hill Cemetery. Della Antoinette Foote was born 24 Aug 1848 in Olcott, Niagara County,
New York to Elijah and Olivia (Luce) Foote. Della died in Grand Rapids in 1936. She and Cyrus
had been married 20 September 1876 in Kent County, Michigan.
___________
Interviewer: Miss Perkins, you’ve lived here all your life, and it’s more than ninety years now,
what did your father do, where did your father come from?
Miss. Perkins: Oh, my father came from the east, Massachusetts, directly from Boston, but he
was only nine years old when he came here with his family. They came over, on the train as far
as Jackson and then over corduroy road into Grand Rapids.
Interviewer: A corduroy road?
Miss Perkins: Yes.
Interviewer: What is a corduroy road?
Miss Perkins: A corduroy road is, is logged, they’re logs laid side by side, dirt put over the top.
Interviewer: Why did your father’s family come to Grand Rapids, what brought them here?
Miss Perkins: Oh, because they were having a hard time making a living off their stony farms in
Maine and Connecticut and they came out here to get their farming land. My grandfather
however wasn’t a farmer, he never farmed, he worked in the city. I don’t know what he did.
Interviewer: What did your father do… what kind of business?
Miss Perkins: My father, well, he studied law here with one of the lawyers in Grand Rapids,
Judge Harlan, I remember, and then he was a lawyer, and for his first, he became judge of
probate when he was just a young man, before he was married. And he was judge of probate for
many years here.
�2
Interviewer: Where did you grow up as a child?
Miss Perkins: Here in Grand Rapids, oh, in Boston up to nine. He was nine years old when he
left.
Interviewer: Oh, I see. Where did you grow up as a child?
Miss Perkins: I?
Interviewer: Yes, what part of the city?
Miss Perkins: I?
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: You were talking about me?
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: Why, I grew up right on Washington Street, that’s where I was born in the house
on [327] Washington Street.
Interviewer: I used to live next door to you, I don’t know if you remember that, I used to have a
red sports car, and I’d be out polishing my car, I remember you used to come outside, and just
look at the car, and it always seemed to me there was a gleam in your eye when you looked at
that red sports car.
Miss Perkins: I don’t remember, no. I don’t hear awfully well, you better talk a little louder.
Interviewer: Alright, what was it like living on Washington Street, what was it like living there
as a child?
Miss Perkins: Very pleasant, it was a very quiet, charming street then, beautifully shaded in
trees, just convenient to Downing[?] Street, you see, wonderful neighborhood and everything
was very pleasant. School, Fountain Street School. I always walked to school. Wasn’t so
dangerous crossing Fulton in those days. We used to slide down Fulton, as a matter of fact.
Interviewer: During the wintertime?
Miss Perkins: Yes, during the winter. It was just, we generally started it then, Prospect Street,
went down to Jefferson Avenue. It’s good, steep hill.
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: But the favorite hill of the town was Washington Street. They use to come from
all over the city, big boys with great big bobs, and slide down Washington Street hill, because
�3
there wasn’t so much traffic crossing it, you see, and this, had the, it sanded just before it got to
Jefferson Avenue.
Interviewer: Oh, I see.
Miss Perkins: Jefferson Avenue was a big street in those days. We used to have horse races every
Sunday, did I tell you that when you were here before?
Interviewer: No.
Miss Perkins: Every Sunday they had horse races during the winter on Jefferson Ave. Cutting,
the horses drawing their cutters, you know. My father used to take me down and we’d stand, on
the sidelines and the watch men go by. Oh, it was such fun. Just one horse and a cutter, you
know. And they always had foxtails on their ropes, and the foxtails all floated out behind. I
thought it was wonderful. Quite a sight.
Interviewer: Did your father ever race any horses himself?
Miss Perkins: Oh no, no, father didn’t but he was very much interested. My father lived on
Jefferson Avenue as a boy, before he was married.
Interviewer: Where abouts on Jefferson?
Miss Perkins: Oh, the house has been gone for a long, long time. It was a red brick house that sat
way back from the street, I remember. And it had chickens, everybody had chickens or cows or
things around town then. I’d wake up in the morning and hear the cows mooing, and I just loved
it.
Interviewer: Was Jefferson Avenue quite a residential area at one time?
Miss Perkins: Oh, yes, that was one of the main residential areas; the rich, richest people in town
lived on it. Jefferson Avenue.
Interviewer: That would be on Jefferson, approximately where those stores all are now, yes?
Miss Perkins: It would be beginning for about Island Street, I remember, the big house. There
were two big houses on each corner. They don’t call it Island Street now, Weston.
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: Is it Weston?
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: Two big houses on either side and then the big houses stretched on down towards
Wealthy.
�4
Interviewer: Well, that was, when you were growing up that was the days before the automobile?
Miss Perkins: Oh, heavens, hadn’t even dreamed of an automobile. It was the days before
bicycles, the bicycles came in. And the, Washington Street was one of the first streets paved in
the city. They paved State Street, they put up cedar blocks on State Street, that was the first
pavement, they tried out the cedar blocks. And on Washington Street they tried out asphalt. And
so asphalt, it was the first pavement in front of our house. And oh, how we used to love to ride
our bicycles on that. We had bicycles by the time that was down. The whole, everybody and
anywhere in the neighborhood, oh anywhere in that quarter of the city, came to ride their
bicycles on that pavement.
Interviewer: Must have been pretty crowded at times.
Miss Perkins: Oh, we had a lot of fun.
Interviewer: Did people used to go up and down your street in horse and carriages and things
like that?
Miss Perkins: Oh, surely, surely. There was a young girl living across the street from me that
knew all about horses. I didn’t, I was afraid of horses, but we’d sit on the porch, on the stoop, as
we used to call it, and she would blindfold her eyes and then she would tell what horse was
coming up the street, and who the coachman was. And who was driving, and all about, “Here
comes Mr. Fuller” she’d say, with his foot hanging out the side, as usual and old Molly on
ahead. Molly was… she knew the names of the horses.
Interviewer: How did she tell who the horses were, and so on?
Miss Perkins: Oh, she knew it, she could tell by the fall of the, that ole horse had a particular
gait, you know. She knew that old klop, klop klop….. and, she would, she would on, she knew
Mr., Knot.(?), lived on the top of the street, you know, and he’d be coming along with his blacks,
he had a wonderful pair of black horses, always with coachman driving, she knew that, and Mr.
[Samuel] Jenks, who lived on the corner, he had, he had bays, she knew them. She could tell by
the gait of the horse.
Interviewer: Who are some of your neighbors in those days?
Miss Perkins: Who were some of the neighbors?
Interviewer: Yes. Who lived along Washington Street and up on College and so on?
Miss Perkins: Well, it was Judge [Loyal E] Knappen. That lived right across the street, and then
later it was Mr. Wylie, the bank president, and Mr. [Edward] Fitzgerald lived across the street on
the corner. He was also a banker, and went to California later, the whole family went to
California, after his death, so we don’t recognize that name in Grand Rapids anymore, but it was
a very prominent family. Mr. [Edmund D.] Barry had a house next door, that house is still there,
�5
well, both those houses are. And, he was a son-in-law of the banker. And then the Knappen’s. I
don’t remember who lived right across from me, when I was a little girl it was a man named
Donnelly, but he was the only Democrat on the street. And when Cleveland was elected and the
Republicans were just defeated from one end to the other, there wasn’t a Republican elected, oh,
Mr. Donnelly was right in his…element. I remember him calling upon by father, you see, who
was running for Judge of Probate, and that was the only time that he was defeated.
Interviewer: I wonder why, why was that, why did the Democrats sweep everything that year?
Miss Perkins: I’ve forgotten, of course I was just a little girl, I’ve forgotten the ins and outs, but
there was an absolute clean sweep. Not a Republican was elected. And, of course, this was a
Republican state. But, there was a man, there was a well, I won’t say anything about it, because
they have relatives in Grand Rapids, but this man was also a neighbor, lived around on Lafayette
Street was elected, and then, the end of the first year he skipped with a lady and all the money
that was in the office. So then they had a Democratic governor, but everybody in Grand Rapids
got up an enormous petition, every, everybody, Republicans, Democrats, everybody signed and
sent it down to the Democratic governor to have father reappointed Judge of Probate, and the
Democratic governor appointed him Judge of Probate. So he got his old office back, and that was
his only defeat.
Interviewer: Was the Waters’ estate built then?
Miss Perkins: Oh, yes, oh, the Waters’ estate I don’t know when that was built, but that was
built long before I was born.
Interviewer: What was it like up there? Did you ever go up there and play as a child?
Miss Perkins: Oh yes, did I tell you about the time I ran away with the little boy across the
street?
Interviewer: No.
Miss Perkins: We dragged our sleds up there, it was in the middle of summer, but we wanted to
go sliding on those hills, so we dragged our sleds up there, and we were so surprised, oh, it was a
perfectly charming place then. It was a little rustic bridge that crossed a little ravine and, you
went over the little rustic bridge and, there was a perfectly charming little summerhouse, with
lattice windows all around it and it had iron French furniture on the porch. Thought it was
wonderful, just simply wonderful. And , but finally we had to go home, and when we were going
home the cook in the big Waters house saw us going by and knew that we were little runaways
and she called to us and said, “Children, would you like a little bit of ice cream?” Well, you can
imagine…And so we went up there and she took a trap door up from the back porch and way
down in the coolness of the underneath the porch in the, in the, well there was a sort of a well
�6
there, she pulled out this ice cream and gave it to us, each a dish. It was wonderful. But my
mother didn’t like it at all, and I got a severe scolding when I got home.
Interviewer: For running away or eating ice cream?
Miss Perkins: For running away…
Interviewer: Oh.
Miss Perkins: For running away… Should never have done it. She looked for me and she didn’t
know where to find me, and it frightened her, of course.
Interviewer: Was there, were there houses, was Gay Street built at that time? Did Gay Street run
between Washington and Fulton?
Miss Perkins: No, no, that was an apple orchard. You see, that property on Fulton Street was the
Campau property, and Mr. Campau had intended, in fact he did build a big house there, but
before he finished that house his bank failed, the River, Grand River Bank, it failed. And he felt
so terribly about it, that he stopped all the building of the house, he never moved in and he lived
in his little house where he was living at that time and gradually paid off everybody that had
invested in his bank.
Interviewer: Is that right?
Miss Perkins: Yes.
Interviewer: He must have been quite a man.
Miss Perkins: He was, but we used to love to go in the, this was, it was all empty, great big
staircase running up, and on the top was a cupola, you know, one of those lookout places and we
used to go up there, we loved to go up there, it was so romantic, and the whole, the whole cupola
was painted with the Grand River Valley Bank Notes. Never been used, you know, they weren’t
even cut up. They were all together in a block, and he painted the cupola with those old
worthless bank notes.
Interviewer: When did that Campau house come down? The house that’s built on the property?
Miss Perkins: Well, I don’t know, that’s very recently.
Interviewer: Is it?
Miss Perkins: Yes.
Interviewer: What a…
Miss Perkins: Very recently, I suppose, must have been twenty [or] thirty years ago.
�7
Interviewer: The Gay, people, furniture company, built that big green house?
Miss Perkins: Yes.
Interviewer: That stands on their property now?
Miss Perkins: They did, and that, I was going to say about the orchard, the orchards sloped down
from this Campau house, that was Campau property. That whole section is the Campau addition,
that’s the way it’s, it’s on the city books. And my brother and Arthur Vandenberg used to play in
that orchard a great deal. It was wonderful to have that for a playground for boys, and they built
cabins there and had caves, they had a wonderful time. They had a cave, that was their first
project, they made a cave and my mother was worried about that she had my father go up and
look at it to see if it was safe for the boys. My father said no, they couldn’t play there. So they
must build a cabin on top of the ground. So they did.
Interviewer: In your neighborhood when you were growing up, did people have a lot of activities
together?
Miss Perkins: No, as a neighborhood, no, not especially, no they didn’t.
Interviewer: Did people spend much time on, their porches?
Miss Perkins: Oh, yes, everybody sat on their front porch and did embroidery.
Interviewer: Did embroidery?
Miss Perkins: It was embroidery rather than knitting, everybody was doing embroidery in my
childhood days.
Interviewer: Was that a peaceful time, was that a peaceful day?
Miss Perkins: I didn’t hear you.
Interviewer: That period of time, was it, was it more peaceful than it is today, do you think?
Miss Perkins: No, I don’t think there were more people.
Interviewer: No, peaceful, peaceful?
Miss Perkins: Peaceful?
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: I get you. You were always extremely peaceful, you couldn’t have asked for
anything more peaceful. It was just quiet as could be and every morning the, the man came
around with his wagon all full of vegetables you know, and you went out and bought your
vegetables, your fresh vegetables. Milkman came around first thing in the morning. Oh, it was
�8
peace itself… Cocks were crowing. You could hear crows cawing in the winter. It was much,
much more like a village and less like a big city. However, it was always, always a considerable
size, but I mean people did have room to have their own cows. Now, for instance, where I am,
where we are now there was always a cow there behind the Ledyard property, we’re on the
Ledyard property now. And, Mr. and, well it was Katherine Lockwood’s grandfather that lived
next door, can’t think of his name now.
Interviewer: Not Pantlind? The one before Pantlind?
Miss Perkins: No, Pantlind was her…. Her name. her father’s name was Pantlind and I don’t
connect him with Grand Rapids. He came here as a hotel man, you know.
Interviewer: Let’s see, Aldrich, was it Aldrich?
Miss Perkins: Aldrich, that’s what I mean, the Aldrich family was next door. It was Mrs.
Aldrich, Mrs. Aldrich’s daughter, that gave that fountain out there on the corner that’s been
stolen.
Interviewer: They recently moved that, they removed that statue over to John Ball Park.
Miss Perkins: Oh, did they?
Interviewer: Yes, they put it over there now.
Miss Perkins: Well, I thought they were going to take it over there, but somebody told me it had
been stolen again.
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: It was lost for a long time, you know, they found it, in Fisk Lake, I guess
Interviewer: Oh, where did the country begin? What was out in the country in those days?
Miss Perkins: Beyond the east, Eastern, we took, you got a streetcar as far as Eastern, and then
you got off of the streetcar and on a little dummy line, that went out to the lake, and the country
really began about there.
Interviewer: Were there farms out in that area, were there mostly farms?
Miss Perkins: Well, I don’t remember farms exactly, I don’t really truly remember much about
what was in that part of the country. But it was all open land, it must have been farms.
Interviewer: When you, you went to the public schools in Grand Rapids?
Miss Perkins: Fountain.
Interviewer: Yes, where did you go to college?
�9
Miss Perkins: Vassar.
Interviewer: Did many, many girls, the daughters of the people living in this area, go off to
eastern schools?
Miss Perkins: Well, the first went, the first young woman that went to an eastern school went to
Vassar. I think she was Eleanor Withey, Mr. Lew Withey’s sister, who was a very up and
coming girl and she, nobody had been there, if they’d been away to school at all it would have
been to a finishing school. But she wanted to go to college and she found out about Vassar, and
she went to Vassar. And she was so enthusiastic about Vassar, she, she loved every brick in its
buildings, and she induced a lot of Grand Rapids people. At first, anybody going away to college
didn’t think of anything but Vassar. Then gradually Smith came in and later Wellesley. But the
first girls that went from, that went east to college, went to Vassar. And Mrs. Willard is the one
that induced me to go to Vassar.
Interviewer: Who is Mrs. Willard?
Miss Perkins: . Willard was the, she married Mr. Willard, she was Eleanor Withey…the only girl
in the Withey family and quite important. She was very, very smart, and after she came back
here, she wanted to study art and she went to, the Art Institute in Chicago. Don’t think she did
much in the art line, but she was, she stayed on as a volunteer in the art gallery, and learned all
about managing, how it was managed and so forth. So when we started our art gallery here, Mrs.
Willard of course was one of the prime movers and she was the first director of the art gallery;
and because she knew more about art than any other of the women that was instrumental in
starting it, she organized the Grand Rapid’s Art Gallery on the line of the Art Institute in
Chicago. Everything was just the same and it has been all these years, they have changed the
directors and increased the work and it’s grown in importance in various and sundry ways. But
fundamentally, it’s just , it’s worked out just as Mrs. Willard organized it.
Interviewer: When, when was the art gallery founded?
Miss Perkins: I ought to know, but I think it was, I think it was nineteen thirteen, or somewhere
around in there.
Interviewer: Were you active in the art gallery from the beginning?
Miss Perkins: Oh, all my life, all my life, cause my mother was the one, one of the prime movers
in starting it. She, she’d been put on some committee to start some sort of work for the city, that
would be in the interest of the city, and after long deliberation they hit upon starting an art
gallery for Grand Rapids. Wasn’t any great demand for an art gallery at the time, I thought, but
my mother said there would be, and we ought to have an organization, we ought to have
everything ready for the time it was coming, when they would want and would need an art
gallery. So we began and believe me it was uphill work.
�10
Interviewer: What, can you tell me about some of the problems that you had in starting the
gallery?
Miss Perkins: Well, there was always one problem, money, money, money, money. Everything
came back to that. And unfortunately there, the women who started it, none of them had any
amount of money to turn in, to give to the city, so we started out poor, and it’s been a very, very
difficult job. Because as it grew stronger, as its influence grew wider, by that time men weren’t
giving their money in that sort of way. There were all these foundations came into being, and
that’s another matter. A man gives his wealth to a foundation instead of giving it to different
organizations, you see. And that made a great difference.
Interviewer: How did it make a difference exactly?
Miss Perkins: Because there were also of men that would have given to the art, you know they
didn’t know where to put their money. And they would say to the lawyer “Now, let me see. I
ought to give away a certain amount” in making their wills, you know a lawyer would say “How
about this and that organization, they need it.” I know the lawyers have told me that was the
procedure many times. And, then, the donor would give a good sized gift to different
organizations in this, in the city, different civic movements. But by then, but then this business of
having a foundation came in, and you give to the foundation. The foundation is supposed to give
to the different organizations, but you can see the difference, if a , if you had control of the
money, you know how you could spend it as you wish, but if you’re going to get it from a
foundation, and the foundations have been very generous to the art gallery, there’s no question
about that, but you have to have your project lined out, you have to go and ask for the money,
you see. You can’t, you don’t have the freedom that you’d have if you had control of the money.
You can’t count on it. You always have to ask for it.
Interviewer: Well, then in other words, when the art museum was in its founding days, the
people with a great deal of money in town, the great amounts of money, weren’t particularly
involved in it?
Miss Perkins: No, they weren’t. Mr. [Blodgett?] tried to get them interested but they all had their
own ideas. Blodgett’s for example, Mrs. Blodgett was on the first board, she was very much
interested in founding the gallery, working it up. But they had their big Blodgett Hospital that
they were putting up.
Interviewer: Oh, they had their own little projects then.
Miss Perkins: Yes.
Interviewer: Were clubs and organizations important to people back then?
Miss Perkins: Cultural? Well, you know the Ladies Literary Club was the first organization of
that kind in the country. And it was a very, it was the first one to own its own building. It was
�11
very important. That really was the big cultural movement for the women in the city, and it was
good, it played a very important part in their lives.
Interviewer: What what kind of a role did it play in their lives? Why was it important to them?
Miss Perkins: Well, I’ve heard my mother always, she wasn’t able to go away to school, she said
she didn’t know anything about these schools outside of Grand Rapids, you know, and she found
it very, very educational. It gave her an outlet that, at the beginning the ladies all worked up their
own papers, you know. They did a great deal of hard work, and my mother always thought it was
a wonderful, educational opportunity.
Interviewer: Is the Ladies Literary Club still thriving?
Miss Perkins: I don’t, I, well the Ladies Literary Club it had so much competition in the
Women’s City Club, for example, and there, there’s a great deal more in the cultural life now
then there was then.
Interviewer: I see.
Miss Perkins: There are all kinds, well, look at all the colleges sprung up here, and there. Every
college had some classes that are open to the public, they have different lectures, and well, it’s a
different place entirely. I think it’s amazing how much cultural opportunities people have in
Grand Rapids now, if they take, if they avail themselves of them. It didn’t used to be that way.
Well, it started first with courses and lectures and courses in music, you know, the St. Cecilia
Society came in there.
Interviewer: Was that an important organization?
Miss Perkins: That was very important when it was begun, and it was begun by some very
important, society within Grand Rapids. It was very much a society thing to belong to the St.
Cecilia.
Interviewer: That’s not true anymore though…
Miss Perkins: Not more than the, not more than the Literary Club. That was, that was the main
movement here.
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: Do you suppose that’s heard what I said?
Interviewer: That’s an amazing thing isn’t it, that machine would hear this and pick it all up and
put it down on tape. I hope so, want to see? Would you like to see if it’s picked it up?
Miss Perkins: Yes.
�12
Interviewer: Alright.
[Track 2: transcribed directly from CD to Word]
Interviewer: One impression that I have gotten from talking to the various people I have
interviewed so far is that there was a way of life in the city that is no longer in existence, a style
of living. A question that I have asked everybody is what, in their opinion, they think ended that
style of living? Where the way that people lived before began evolving into the kind of living
we have today, for example. Do you have any idea, what do you think it was?
Miss Perkins: Well, I suppose it’s the wars, they changed everything.
Interviewer: How did they change things?
Miss Perkins: We were so very peaceful before, there was no trouble. Everything moved along
slowly, smoothly, pleasantly. And I don’t remember any troubles at all. Then the wars came and
the sadness and the disruption. I think that after the wars, life was changed.
Interviewer: And the wars had quite a profound impact on at least Grand Rapids?
Miss Perkins: East Grand Rapids?
Interviewer: No, on the city of Grand Rapids.
Miss Perkins: Oh. Well, I think it must.
Interviewer: Yes.
Miss Perkins: At least it was about that time, that life seemed to change. It was gradual, you
know, it wasn’t all at once.
Interviewer: Yes. Was your family, would you consider your family, the Perkins family as
having been a member of the society?
Miss Perkins: Well, there was no Perkins family, we were the only Perkins that were. Well there
were other Perkins too, but they weren’t related to us. They weren’t our family.
Interviewer: Ok. I was thinking of your mother and father, for example were they members of
society?
Miss Perkins: Yes, I suppose you might consider them such, especially my mother. My father
was always a very quiet man, very dignified.
Interviewer: Yes, what did? Pardon, excuse me. Go ahead.
Miss Perkins: I suppose you would consider, they knew everybody and everybody knew them if
that is what you consider society. I wouldn’t know what you really consider society.
�13
Interviewer: Yes, I don’t know, I don’t know what society is either. There were a number of
people that lived up on the hill, that were members of the diplomatic corp. weren’t there?
Miss Perkins: Diplomatic? Oh, Mr. O’Brien was, but he was the only one. Mr. Gilbert wasn’t
and he was a businessman but from the south and that seemed to make all kinds of difference. He
was a southerner and married a Miss Gilbert and so came to live in Grand Rapids. They were
definitely society people.
Interviewer: Why do you say that?
Miss Perkins: They sort of ruled things. There were some outstanding people. I remember when
Mrs. Wonderly, she is Mrs. Pantlind’s aunt and she lived here on Cherry Street, Just about where
we are sitting, no at little farther down. And she had a tea, a reception we called it in those days.
She had a reception and she invited four hundred people. Those four hundred people were
considered society. I happen to remember especially because there was one lady in Grand Rapids
who was very ambitious and really did a great deal for herself and was very well known in many
directions. Oh, she wasn’t invited and she wanted to be invited. I remember because I was just,
you know a young girl in beginning high school and she came to my mother and wanted my
mother to ask Mrs. Wonderly to invite her. Of course, mother wouldn’t, didn’t feel she had any
business to do that. But that made an impression upon me. I was so young you know it made a
deep impression to think this lady felt that it was so important to be invited to tea at Mrs.
Wonderly’s.
Interviewer: When you were growing up as a young lady, were there very many parties?
Miss Perkins: Oh, all the while, all kinds of parties.
Interviewer: What were the parties like?
Miss Perkins: There were a great many women’s parties, just luncheons almost every, sometimes
about every day in the week you would be going out to luncheon. And you always had your
afternoon dresses and so forth and now no one knows what an afternoon dress is now. But we all
had them in those days and we very much dressed up when we went out to luncheon. They were
very elaborate luncheons with lots of different courses. Life is much simpler than it was in those
days. Much simpler.
Interviewer: Today life is much simpler?
Miss Perkins: You see, it was service; there was always plenty of service in those days.
Everybody had their own cook and maid, and entertaining was easy, simple. And people
entertained a great deal.
Interviewer: Were there very many dances?
�14
Miss Perkins: Not so many dances; that was a little more labor. We used to go down to dances at
the Pantlind. I was away a good deal of that time. I was abroad and traveling and in college, but
when I came home I was so surprised to find these big dances down at the Pantlind. And then
they used to have dances in the St. Cecilia Ballroom, when St. Cecilia was first built. It was quite
a thing to go to a St. Cecilia dance.
Interviewer: How?
Miss Perkins: There were ballrooms in people’s houses on the third floor.
Interviewer: Did you ever go to any dances that were on those third floor ballrooms?
Miss Perkins: Well that, yes, but they were more crowded and they were smaller, you know.
Interviewer: Yes,
Miss Perkins: But they were fun.
Interviewer: Were there any women in business, in those days, that had their own businesses?
Miss Perkins: There weren’t many, there weren’t many. One of the first women that went into
business was Grace Remington. Now Grace Remington, her father built the big red brick house
on Washington Street the one with the pillars in front of it? That was the Remington house. It
didn’t have pillars in those days. Mr. Remington was a lumberman and he made a fortune and he
had a big house on Cherry Street. He lost that fortune, he made another fortune and built that
house on Washington Street. But he lost that money and how I don’t know, but at any rate his
daughters went into business for themselves. And Grace Remington formed the first ready to wear
dress shop in Grand Rapids. Up until that time everybody employed a seamstress in their home.
There dresses were homemade. Oh, there one or two women that’s right there were women that
had dressmaker shops where they made dresses to fit you. But Miss Remington had the first shop
where dresses were made outside at some factory or other and brought in.
Interviewer: Where was her shop?
Miss Perkins: It was down on the corner of LaGrave and Fulton Street in that little house. It is
still there, I guess. It was a little brick house and it was owned by an old man named Mr. Blake
and he had little gold earrings in his ears always and he kept a little candy shop, it was a candy
shop there were windows, across the front with shelves with stick candies were in jars. I can
remember my father taking me to that shop and said, “Now, Mabel I want you to remember what
this little shop looks like, it is a little English shop. It is just like a little shop in an English
village”. And he said “You will never see another in Grand Rapid like it.” My father was always
doing that, taking, pointing out something that I should remember. And I never forgot that little
shop. It was just as quaint as it could be. That was the shop where Grace Remington started her
dressmaking store. She brought in ready to be made, the clothes already made from New York.
�15
She was killed on that train wreck from New York to Grand Rapids. She and her principal
workwoman, her buyer, they had been to New York and they had bought a new supply of clothes
and they were coming home when that accident occurred [about January 12, 1919]. You know,
Grand Rapids had the last sleeper on the train and it was always filled with Grand Rapids people.
And there were a good many Grand Rapids people that were killed in that accident, because the
other train plowed right thru that car. So Miss Remington and, I forget the name of that woman
that was really her partner and worked with her. They were both killed. Frank Leonard was on
that car, Harold Sears. I don’t know of anybody else.
Interviewer: What was downtown like when you were growing up?
Miss Perkins: It was like any little town, of course Monroe Street was a principal street, but
there were all kind of shops, grocery shops now there was no grocery shops, it had bins out front,
with things displayed on the street. There were all kinds of different shops. What I remember
especially about early Grand Rapids downtown was the specialty shops. Mr. [John P.] Platte for
example had an umbrella shop, didn’t sell anything but umbrellas. Beautiful umbrellas down to
cheap umbrellas, you know. And then, there was one man that had nothing but beautiful
material, Mr. Cole was his name, he had simply exquisite material because you made your own
dresses. He had wonderful, wonderful silks and brocades and beautiful buttons and everything
that went with them and he just loved his wares himself. He would hold it up, you know and
enjoy looking at it just as much as you did. But the trouble was that he bought such expensive
things and gradually people began buying their things readymade. And he failed and it was just
tragic when he failed and all those beautiful, beautiful things had to go for next to nothing. Broke
his heart. There were glove stores and there were all kinds of little shops that specialized in one
thing. You could get very beautiful things.
Interviewer: Yes, that’s interesting. What about entertainment, was there entertainment
downtown?
Miss Perkins: Of course, there was the theatre.
Interviewer: Tell me about the theatres.
Miss Perkins: I’m trying to think of the name of that theatre?
Interviewer: Powers?
Miss Perkins: Powers, yes, it is now a movie house, of course. Everybody went down there and
you went in a hack, that was the way you, it was the most popular way of getting there. Of
course if you lived near enough you walked. They brought some very good shows. The shows
came from New York, the theatre. We had a lot of Shakespeare. We had excellent, excellent
theatres. And then music was given in Hartman’s Hall as a rule.
Interviewer: Where was Hartman’s Hall?
�16
Miss Perkins: Well, it disappeared from the scene a long time ago. I’ve forgotten just where it
was [west side of Lyon between Fouantain and Pearl streets]. I think it was, you know that
garage, Shephard Garage I think it was in that neighborhood. Great big hall.
Interviewer: What kind of effect do you think the automobile had had on the society?
Miss Perkins: Oh it changed it completely. I think the big change in Grand Rapids came with
automobile. It dispersed people. People began moving away from the center of the city. They
began going away to live in country houses you know. It opened up the world but it also ruined
the cities.
Interviewer: If you could compare the ages of living which age of living would you say is
preferable, the way we live today or the way you lived when you were growing up.
Miss Perkins: Well, that is difficult to say, there is a great deal to be said for the world in which I
grew up, a great deal is to be said for it. But also it is pretty wonderful now, I think. With all the
opportunities that are open for everybody, you travel, everybody ought to be much broader
minded then they were, and I think they are. But no better, worse, seems to me we didn’t have
the wickedness or crime in my day.
Interviewer: Grand Rapids was a safe city.
Miss Perkins: Never even locked the front door when I lived on Washington Street, never
thought of it. No, of the two ages I’m very glad that a large part of my life lay in the first stage. It
was a lovely time, really.
Interviewer: Good.
Miss Perkins: But now it is more inspiring, it is more exciting, there are so many more
opportunities; you can do anything you want really. And I suppose people, of course I was a
child and too young to know, but I suppose people were very narrow-minded and thought along
certain grooves and didn’t have as much opportunity to live a broader life. No excuse for people
being narrow-minded now is there?
Interviewer: Okay.
INDEX
A
Aldrich Family · 8
Aldrich, Mrs. · 8
B
Barry, Edmund D. · 5
Blake, Mr. · 15
Blodgett Family · 11
Blodgett Hospital · 11
�17
C
O
Campau, Mr. · 6, 7
Cole, Mr. · 16
O’Brien, Mr. · 13
D
P
F
Pantlind Family · 8, 13, 14
Perkins, Cyrus Edwin (Father) · 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 13, 15
Perkins, Della Antoinette Foote (Mother) · 6, 7, 10, 11, 13,
14
Platte, John P. · 16
Fitzgerald, Edward · 5
Fountain Street School · 2
R
Donnelly, Mr. · 5
G
Gilbert, Mr. · 13
Grand River Bank · 6
H
Harlan, Judge · 2
Hartman’s Hall · 16
J
Remington, Grace · 15
S
Sears, Harold · 15
St. Cecilia Society · 12, 14
V
Vandenberg, Arthur · 7
Vassar College · 9
Jenks, Samuel · 4
W
K
Withey, Eleanor · 9
Women’s City Club · 11
Wonderly, Mrs. · 13, 14
Knappen, Judge Loyal E. · 5
L
Ladies Literary Club · 11
Leonard, Frank · 15
�
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/fb1c894f72540c2c9f1d11a1ca22dde1.mp3
845a43161b84e86e4cecc93d41e4717b
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Grand Rapids Oral Histories
Subject
The topic of the resource
Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Local histories
Memoirs
Michigan--History
Oral histories (document genre)
Description
An account of the resource
Taped and transcribed interviews conducted in the early 1970s primarily of the children and grandchildren of many of the founders of Grand Rapids, Michigan; many of whom were residents of the Heritage Hill neighborhood. Interviews were collected to develop a significant collection of oral resources that would supplement other primary and secondary local history materials. Initially funded as a private project, Grand Valley State College (now University) assumed responsibility for continuing the project until 1977.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Various
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
<a href="https://gvsu.lyrasistechnology.org/repositories/2/resources/452">Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)</a>
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf; audio/mp3
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text; Sound
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-23
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
1971 - 1977
Sound
A resource primarily intended to be heard. Examples include a music playback file format, an audio compact disc, and recorded speech or sounds.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
RHC-23_11Perkins
Title
A name given to the resource
Perkins, Mabel
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Perkins, Mabel
Description
An account of the resource
Mabel Perkins was born on July 26, 1880. She received her B.A. degree from Vassar about 1900. Her mother is considered the founder of the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Miss Perkins was President of the Art Museum which remained her chief interest all her life. She was a noted collector of prints, and gave many of them during her lifetime to the Art Museum. As a girl she developed a strong interest in the works of Albrecht Durer. She died in 1974.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Subject
The topic of the resource
Michigan--History
Local histories
Memoirs
Oral histories (document genre)
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Personal narratives
Heritage Hill (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
Grand Valley State University
Women
Language
A language of the resource
eng
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Sound
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
audio/mp3
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Grand Rapids oral history collection (RHC-23)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1971
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/21bbfdc22f56e6216574f7ed3b331b88.pdf
d0c84b846dd76624addb339cbab436b3
PDF Text
Text
PD Day 5
by windoworks
Yesterday CB and I entered the world of online grocery shopping. This morning as our shopper JF began
assembling our order from our grocery store of choice, we have had an interesting online chat about
substitutions and items I forgot yesterday. She will deliver our order soon, ring the doorbell and leave the
bags on the front porch. It is very heartening to know that we can still get needed supplies with little extra
charge. AB, my son in Melbourne, told me that they had to suspend online grocery shopping there as
people were hoarding. I don’t think our service would allow that.
I could tell you how many cases of the virus we have in Michigan and what new restrictions have been
put in place but I’m sure you are following the developments where you live and may be heartily sick of
more scary information from me. So, with that in mind, i want to talk briefly about Facebook. Many
people have badmouthed it and many people have taken themselves off it, but for me over the past few
days, it has become a source of amusement and wonder - and a lifesaver. Locally, Meijer Gardens, our
beautiful gardens and sculpture park which features a stupendous butterfly exhibit in their greenhouse
each March, has put the butterflies online in a streaming video. I will not be able to see the butterflies in
person this year but I have already watched them on my iPad and its a reasonable alternative and it makes
me smile.
In Chicago at the Aquarium they let one of the little penguins out of the enclosure and he happily
wandered around looking at the other big fish tanks. Museums around the world have sent out online
coloring books of their masterpieces as well as virtual tours of their museum. Many meetings, classes such
as Mindfulness are being offered online. My Women’s City Club is offering online games and activities on
a weekly Wednesday post and they’re working on online Thursday programs for our members.
Another advantage of Facebook is that we get to talk online to faraway friends. It’s so reassuring to find
that we are all trying to stay afloat in this together and cheer each other up - and commiserate when
necessary. None of us are experts at staying inside and away from friends and family.
In two developments to be aware of for us in the US (and Michigan), as we are all using our credit cards
for online shopping more than usual, be aware of credit card fraud - my company is overzealous in
checking purchases. And secondly, all bars and restaurants will close for in-house dining at 3pm today. I’m
sure we all saw that coming.
�Finally, here is a new daily feature: a randomly chosen photo from much happier times. AB and I on a
bridge In Edinburgh in 2016 on our way to visit Edinburgh castle. I loved Edinburgh with its old
multilevel twisting streets and its stunning castle on the hill above the city. We ate extravagantly and in
particular I will always remember the fabulous meal that AB bought us at a tiny restaurant called the
Gardeners Cottage (I think). We sat at a long shared table and ate what the chef had cooked that night. It
was wonderful. Such a happy memory to take out and enjoy again.
Until tomorrow then. You know the drill - stay home and stay safe.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Journals
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled.
The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
COVID-19_2020-03-16_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-05
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Benjamin, Pamela
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-03-16
Title
A name given to the resource
PD Day 5
Description
An account of the resource
Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress.
Subject
The topic of the resource
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Personal narratives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng
-
https://digitalcollections.library.gvsu.edu/files/original/93ad08734cb72f9a9e2db085f310c8cf.pdf
e66c0319315e1ffdfb9bff278557f1a4
PDF Text
Text
PD Day 4
by windoworks
Outside my tv room window it is amazingly quiet. Our dog, Miss Murphy Brown, sits at the
window and gazes out but the only thing she sees is the occasional bird. Yesterday CB moved
the double bird feeder to outside this window so I could watch the birds too. It is a cold but
sunny day and I would walk outside in the fresh air but the really strong antibiotics I am taking
say little or no exposure to sun. So here I am safely inside while looking longingly out.
I have taken to waking at 3am. I wake from a deep sleep and for a moment I think it is like any
other middle of the night and then I remember its not. It takes some time for me to go back to
sleep. Last night I wondered if we had enough cheese or bread or eggs and in the coming days
would we be able to shop for them. This morning CB and I discussed a food shopping service I’m not even sure they’re still operating.
I read online, and lets face it, I can’t stop myself. Anyway, I read online that college students on
Spring Break have flocked to Miami Florida and are partying like there’s no tomorrow. In
Austin Texas life continues as normal - no one has taken any precautions. In other states you
have to line up for the grocery store and every sporting, entertainment, bar etc are closed.
But also online are wonderful posts. Go to Cincinnati Zoo and Wildlife Park to see a very
cheering video of Fiona the Hippopotamus swimming like a whale or porpoise. You can’t help
but laugh. I try to keep in touch with family and friends and wonder how everyone is doing.
Yesterday a young man walked along our block and knocked on doors to get people to sign a
petition. I don’t think anyone obliged him. I felt very sorry for him as I know this is his job, but
we’re isolating. Why would we sign anything with someone else’s pen?
Thank goodness for my Kindle and the 45+ books I have on there. Thank goodness for Netflix,
Amazon Prime (and all its partner subscriptions) and YouTube. Thank goodness for a warm
comfortable house with clean sheets on the bed and clean towels in the bathrooms. Thank
goodness for CB and his unfailing support and steady reassurance. Thank goodness for
neighbors who talk over the fence at least 6 feet away. Thank goodness for my cell phone and
my friends who I try to speak to regularly. And thank goodness for FaceTime and being able to
see loved ones far across the globe.
It’s another day and we’re above ground and breathing.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
COVID-19 Journals
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries
Description
An account of the resource
This collection of journals and personal narratives was solicited from the GVSU community by archivists of the University Libraries during the events of the 2020 COVID-19 global pandemic. During this unprecedented crisis the university closed suddenly, following federal and state guidelines of social distancing to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus. The university closed its campuses on March 12, 2020, and quickly moved students out of campus housing. Faculty swiftly transitioned to fully-online teaching for the remainder of the Winter 2020 semester, and all campus events, including commencement, were cancelled.
The purpose of the COVID-19 Journaling Project was to document the individual and personal experiences of GVSU’s students, staff, faculty, and the wider community during this time of international crisis. Some project participants were university student employees who were compensated for their journaling. Other participants were granted stipends or extra credit for submitting entries to the archives. Still others participated without any compensation or credit. The University Archives remains grateful to all who submitted journals, for helping us to understand the impact of this crisis on our community.
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Subject
The topic of the resource
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
College students
Personal narratives
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University. University Libraries. Special Collections & University Archives
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
COVID-19_2020-03-15_BenjaminPamela_PD-Day-04
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Benjamin, Pamela
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2020-03-15
Title
A name given to the resource
PD Day 4
Description
An account of the resource
Daily journal entry of Pamela Benjamin, spouse of GVSU history professor, Craig Benjamin, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally self-published on WordPress.
Subject
The topic of the resource
COVID-19 pandemic, 2019-2020
Epidemics
Grand Valley State University
Grand Rapids (Mich.)
Personal narratives
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
University Archives. COVID-19 Journaling Project
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Grand Valley State University University Libraries. Special Collections and University Archives.
Rights
Information about rights held in and over the resource
<a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">In Copyright</a>
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
application/pdf
Language
A language of the resource
eng