AMERICAN LEGION E. MICHIGAN AVENUE LOCATION

We all know about the excellent work our local Patrick Leo Hanlon Post No. 55 of the American Legion is doing for our community, from its location at 1230 Edwards St. They have been at that location since building its facility in 1969. Did you know however that they used to be at 211 E. Michigan Avenue for twenty years?

It was in December 1948 that our local Post purchased the former John Fisher Funeral Home for its new location. The Legion opened in its new home several months later in May, 1949. Note: After Mr. Fisher's retirement in 1939, the funeral home became the Miller Kingsley Funeral Home, and subsequently the Eugene Lundeen Funeral Home until the business was closed at the end of World War II.

The new Legion home replaced their original home at 210 S. Clinton St. at W. Porter St. that was demolished to make way for the new Michigan Bell Telephone Company office on that corner in 1948.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present a postcard photo of the American Legion building on E. Michigan Avenue shortly after its acquisition. After the new facility on Edwards St. was completed, the old Legion location on E. Michigan Avenue was demolished to make room for more parking space for the new Burger Chef restaurant next door at 215 E. Michigan Avenue. That building is presently the Bigbee Coffee establishment. How many of our readers remember the American Legion on E. Michigan Avenue?

	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
	Michigan Prints by Maggie LaNoue Michigan Prints offers limited-edition archival Giclée prints, miniprints, notecards and boxed sets featuring Michigan landmarks, nature, resorts and nostalgia. Each print and card includes a legend on the back with stories about Michigan history. Albion scenes include the Kalamazoo River waterfall and the Blizzard of 1978. Find Michigan Prints online and at local shops. Michigan Prints \| Albion Scenes \| Custom Cards \| Zazzle Gifts
	AlbionMich.net — General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net is a hub for community life in the greater Albion area, featuring current news, city council updates, river restoration stories, parks and trails. See Albion's beautiful Kalamazoo River waterfall as it looks today — and follow the story of its future restoration. Includes news from The Recorder and stories about Albion's 17 parks. AlbionMich.net \| Albion Blog \| Frank Passic on AlbionMich.net
	General Guide to Albion AlbionMich.net offers two General Guides to the Albion area — one covering community life including city council, veterans, history, youth and wellness resources, and one covering the outdoors including roads, rivers, parks, trails and downtown. Both guides feature stories by local writers including contributors to The Recorder, sorted by topic for easy reference. General Guide — Community \| General Guide — Outdoors
	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.
AlbionDesign.com — Communications Specialists Since 1981 \| Advertise on AlbionMich.com