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Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
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Morning Star, December 21, 2014, pg. 11 A very Merry Christmas to my readers of this column! From our Historical Notebook this week we present a 1954 photograph showing Santa Claus arriving in Albion via the Albion Fire Department aerial ladder truck. He had just purchased a bag of toys for all the good little girls and boys in Albion, paid for with his Christmas Club check he had received there at the Commercial & Savings Bank in downtown Albion. His check was signed by Hershel Fox, the president of the Bank. I would like to take the time to thank all of you for your support of this column over the past year. Your donations of Albion High School yearbooks, City Directories, Albion photographs, postcards of Albion and other materials make it possible for me to research and write this column each week. You may contact me at (517) 629-5402, or Albionfp@hotmail.com if you have any such items you don’t want. For many years the Albion Evening Recorder used to print annual chronologies of local happenings of the past year. Items included were taken from the newspaper day-by-day. In the 1920s they were prepared by budding journalist Gwen Dew, while those in the 1930s and beyond were prepared by George Mather. In a special arrangement, these chronologies were also reprinted in the Albion City directories through the 1960s. This is one feature that made getting a city directory desirable. The numeral date given at the beginning was the date the event was published in the Recorder, and not necessarily the exact day the event happened. Also featured was a separate necrology, listing the people who had passed away that month. So, from our Historical Notebook this week we present the chronology from 60 years ago, December, 1954. How many of these events do you remember? Enjoy! 1-Russ Miller sold Chevrolet agency to William Benincassa and associates of Flint. 6-Don Copeland elected president of Albion Merchants Assn. 10-Winter tax collections begin here on $483,083 levy, at $32.32 tax rate per $1,000 assessed valuation, up $4.20 over 1953. Corning Glass Works and AFGWU-AFL signed new labor contract including six cents of package increases. 11-Maker Supermarket opened on N. Clinton St. 12-Costly fire in Concord business district. 14-Alvin Knuth farm barns at Condit burn, destroying 64 head of cattle and much machinery, loss estimate at over $50,000. 15-Vernon G. Baldwin named Albion Exchange Club president. 16-Janice Anderson revealed as 1955 high school DAR good citizen. Union Steel Products Co. and AFL Stove Mounters avoided strike by reaching agreement on revised labor contract. City darkened at supper hour by power failure. 17-Glenn C. Shattuck, 50, formerly of Albion, killed on M-99 north of Eaton Rapids. 21-Minor freight wreck on railroad main line west of Marengo. School board decided to seek repeal of special district charter at 1955 legislative session. NECROLOGIES. 2-Mrs. John Winchell, 65; 10-M.O. Lewis, 85, in Grand Rapids. 12-Bert Hanlon, 67. 15-Mrs. Nellie Winchell, 80. Herbert A. Beilfuss, 67. 16-Emil F. Holtz, 68. 17-Mrs. Ernest Kabel, 78. 20-Benjamin Baker, 93. 21-John G. Hopusch, 88. 25-Herman A. Bender, 64. Lonnie Banks, 58. Dr. W. N. Armstrong, 85, of Concord. 26-Hoyt A. Howell, 51. Arthur Galloway, 68. 27-Seth Whitcomb, 72, of Homer. 28-Mrs. Louise Shaffer, 64. 29-Ray G. Broas, 71. Mrs. J. F. McCarty, 72. All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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