SPRINGPORT - Historical Albion Michigan

It was sad to learn of the news that the only bank in Springport is scheduled to close in the middle of November. There has been a bank in Springport dating back to the 19th century, and for many years the old Springport State Savings Bank was well known in our area. A town without a bank is like a city without a hospital--it effects everyone and you have to drive 10 miles to the nearest one in order to receive the type of service you use to receive locally. We wish Springport the best in wooing another financial institution inside its borders to fill the void the closing will create for those in the Springport-Duck Lake area.

The history of Springport is covered in the out-of-print book “From Oyers Corners to Springport,” published in 1976 (of which yours truly still needs a copy). We did a feature about this village in the August 12, 2001 edition of this column, focusing on a 19th century photograph of the downtown district and the large “Undertaker” sign which was once prominent there. This article is also published on the www.albionmich.com web site.

Through the years I’ve accumulated bits and pieces of information and memorabilia about this community located 10 miles northeast of Albion. In looking through my Springport file, I find several items included, such as: 1) an obituary from 1916 bearing a front page headline that states: “Springport Woman Burned to Crisp” which we won’t reprint in this family column; 2) a 1913 check that was cashed and stamped on back by the “Springport State Savings Bank, W. J. Deyoe, Cashier;” 3) several original photographs of the 1911 tornado which hit the Springport area; 4) a colorful 1939 advertising letter from the Virginia-Carolina Chemical Corporation of Cincinnatti, Ohio encouraging people to purchase their products at the Springport Elevator Company; 5) and a 1971 calendar from the Springport Health Center.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present a 1939 advertisement of the Springport State Savings Bank, whose motto was “A Home Bank for Home People.”

	Frank Passic — Albion Historian An Albion native and 1971 graduate of Albion High School, Frank Passic has been researching and writing Albion history since 1976. He is the creator of the Albion Historical Notebook, with hundreds of articles appearing weekly in the Morning Star and The Recorder. Frank maintains an extensive personal archive including Riverside Cemetery records, family surname files, genealogies, photographs, city directories, and high school yearbooks. Support his 2026 research at the Historic Albion Michigan Facebook page. Historical Notebook \| From the Archives \| Subject List \| 100 Years Ago \| Alphabetical Index \| Frank Passic Home Page \| Albion History Books \| Contact Frank
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	Robin James — Indices Unlimited Robin James is the editor of the Albion Historical Notebook and has kept Frank Passic's thousands of articles organized and searchable for decades. A trained librarian and archivist, Robin specializes in back-of-book and online indexing, multimedia collection management, and corporate information distribution. He also enjoys strange music and is a contributing editor for Igloo electronic music magazine. For more about his indexing services, visit Indices Unlimited.
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