Saginaw: Labor and Leisure

By Roberta Morey

Saginaw boasts a rich and colorful history. After the early explorers and small Native American villages came the lumbermen, shanty boys, and a bustling commercial center. Later the coal, salt, and sugar beet industries replaced lumbering in the economy. Many of Saginaw’s businesses were known worldwide and are still important after more than 100 years. Saginaw was home to a bevy of famous and infamous characters. Among the early ruffians were Fabian Fournier (Saginaw’s Paul Bunyan), Silver Jack Driscoll, and the Opera House Rogue, Warren Bordwell. Saginaw’s more illustrious residents include “King Clothier,” Little Jake Seligman, educator Alice Freeman Palmer, boxer George “Kid” Lavigne, and many others. Many of the postcards in this book represent the businesses and personalities that made Saginaw’s distinctive character what it is today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jul 19, 2006
• ISBN: 9781439632987

Roberta Morey

Roberta Morey was born in Saginaw, attended Saginaw schools, and is a graduate of Michigan State University. She has been married for 46 years, and has three grown children and four grandchildren. She is now retired after teaching in Bay City and Saginaw elementary schools for 30 years.

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INTRODUCTION

Unlike Lefty Frizzell, who sang about being born in Saginaw, Michigan, those who actually were born here have many wonderful memories of their hometown. In fact, many of them proudly gathered at the majestic Temple Theater in the summer of 2005 to join in singing Lefty’s hit song, Saginaw, Michigan.

Since the book Saginaw, in Vintage Postcards was published, many letters, e-mails, photographs, and memorabilia have been received from current and former Saginawians who related their thoughts of growing up here. Many said that the scenes depicted in the book brought back memories of places they had not recalled in years.

Some correspondence indicated memories of long ago, such as riding downtown in the family Hupmobile or of going to Riverside Park for a day of fun. Others have thoughts of more recent times in the heart of the city. Folks went downtown to look at the animated figures in the windows of Morley Brothers at Christmastime. Others remember having a glass of ginger ale at the Vernor’s store or watching the person dressed as the Planter’s Peanut man walk along East Genesee Avenue.

Many residents were reminded of their first jobs. Some of the girls worked at ladies’ shops, such as Winkelman’s, Robinson’s, or Feldmann’s, all located on East Genesee Avenue. The boys enjoyed being soda jerks at places like Pankonin’s drugstore or the Strand Barbecue, making extra-thick milk shakes for their friends.

Recollections of school days were shared. The four intermediate schools were Webber, Central, North, and South. The east side students attended Webber or Central, while the west siders went to North or South. The North School students wrote poetry that was published in The Echo. The South School boys and girls participated in the Spendless and Seemore Circus, an annual event. In 1955, Webber School students wrote to the governor and suggested the white pine be chosen as Michigan’s official tree.

Days at the local movie theaters brought back memories. An early memory of the Michigan Theater was of seeing the Clare Tree Major Players present fairy tales for Hoyt Elementary children. On Saturday afternoons, it was watching weekly serials of The Perils of Pauline or Superman, along with a double-feature movie at the Mecca or the Center. Admission to the Northside Theater was 9¢, and on Saturdays cowboy movies were shown all day. Up in the balcony of the Temple Theater, young couples managed to get a few kisses in before the usher shined a flashlight their way.

The stores we shopped at when we were young were awesome. If a girl needed saddle shoes, the place to buy them was Granville’s on Potter Street. The shoes had to be Sandler’s of Boston, with red soles. One of the joys of shopping for shoes was putting them on and then looking at our feet in the x-ray machine where we could see the bones in our toes. We were all exposed to x-rays every time we got a new pair of shoes.

One of the most interesting memories was from the man who, as a youngster, bought a red light bulb at the local five-and-ten cent store and placed it in a lamp on the roof of his house. With his family he had visited a local airport and observed a tower with a red light flashing to keep the planes away. He did not want an airplane crashing into his house, so he devised a plan to keep them away. Unfortunately, the family home was a block east of the city’s well-known red-light district. Imagine his father’s surprise when there were heavy footsteps on the porch and loud knocking on the front door. The next loud footsteps were those of the father walking up to the second floor and retrieving the lamp from the roof.

Because we were raised before many families had a television and personal computers were not even thought of, we spent most of our spare time outdoors. We played ball with the neighborhood children at the park, playground, or in the street. We rode bikes or walked to school, catechism classes, music or dance lessons, corner grocery stores, swimming pools, or skating rinks.

Many of the businesses we recalled were those at which our parents worked or shopped. There was Sunshine Biscuit on North Michigan Avenue, where Art Sample Furniture now stands. There was the Saginaw Furniture Shop, and Columbia Mills, both located on South Wheeler Street. One made beautiful cabinets, and the other manufactured window shades and Venetian blinds.

Along with the General Motors factories, our parents may have worked at Lufkin Rule, Herzog Furniture Shop (which was later the Sonora), Gase Baking Company, or Baker Perkins, a manufacturer of baking equipment. Saginaw workers also worked at Raymond Products Company on Rust Street. This was one of the nation’s first manufacturers of mobile homes. And then there was the Daily Pickle Factory on Maple Street. In the fall, the smell of the cucumbers in the vats of vinegar wafted over the neighborhood until the harvest season ended.

Shopping with parents took us to places like Walz Hardware on East Genesee Avenue, where a family could buy anything from hammers to harnesses. At the Liebermann Trunk Company we could purchase anything leather. Having our names or initials imprinted in gold on sets of luggage, zippered notebooks, jewelry boxes, and billfolds was a real treat. At Feldmann’s we shopped for gloves, hosiery, and fuzzy anklets that had to match a new sweater.

On the west side we visited Stroebel’s Grocery, where the live chickens squawked in their cages waiting for a buyer. Along with the chickens, a shopper could buy bulk foods, dry goods, shoes, and Atlas soap, which was manufactured in Saginaw. Saginaw Show Case and Mirror Works on Hamilton Street later became the manufacturing plant for Spic and Span, a cleaning product invented by the Stenglein family.

After a day of shopping, a family could enjoy a scrambled hamburger on white bread at Doyle’s Hamburgers, or a burger on a bun at the Hut. For an ice-cream treat, we had M and B Ice Cream Company on North Water Street, and Mooney’s and Watson’s on the west side.

Relating