PAVING THE WAY FOR A SUPERIOR FUTURE

Get ready for "round two." The Michigan Department of Transportation will have another try at it this year as they tear up Superior St. in downtown Albion in hopes of "getting it right" this time. This time they will tear up everything underneath and replace it with an 8-inch concrete base, an inch of special sand, and new thicker paving bricks on top. The project begins on Monday, April 17, so make plans for an interesting summer, indeed. In May 1993, Superior St. was also torn up for a big rebricking project. Unfortunately, the 1940-laid concrete foundation was left intact and the new bricks were laid on top of that which included a thin asphalt layer between the two. That proved to be the street’s downfall as the concrete began collapsing under the weight of heavy trucks, and with it the bricks sank as well.

In order to help alleviate the pain that downtown businesses would endure in 1993, the Greater Albion Chamber of Commerce came up with a promotional campaign entitled "Albion—Paving the Way for a Superior Future." Signs were erected, buttons were distributed and building numbers were placed in the rear of Superior St. businesses so customers could park in the back and use the back entrances. Many of those numbers are still there today.

To help "kick off" the promotion, the Albion Post Office issued a commemorative postmark with the promotional logo, dated May 15, 1993. We all somehow survived that long construction summer. The project was completed on Sunday, October 31, 1993. On that day Superior St. was reopened following an afternoon dedication ceremony, with Albion jeweler Gordon Pahl as master of ceremonies.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present a familiar scene from 1993, in a photo taken on May 12 of that year. Here we see a pile of Superior St. bricks being moved in front of Fedco, ready to be hauled to the city facilities on Brownswood Road where the bricks were subsequently sold for 10¢ apiece. How many of our readers remember the 1993 re-bricking project in downtown Albion? Get ready for a fun summer in Albion.

	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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