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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, April 24, 2026, pg. 7 With the invention of drones and their expanded use in recent years, it has become popular locally to take photographs "from above," showing various aerial scenes of our cityscape, and showing events such as at the "Swingin' at the Shell." Previously, for many years the way to get aerial photographs was to go up in an airplane to do it. There exist numerous aerial photographs of our town taken from airplanes, both private and commercial. Back in the 19th century so-called "Birds' Eye Views" were one method of showing an aerial view of our town. Artists would go block-by-block and draw all of the structures in a way that it looked like a photograph was taken from above. There are two such drawings of Albion that exist, one in the late 1860s by artist Albert Ruger, and another penned in 1890 by artist C. J Pauli of Milwaukee, WI. Another method of obtaining aerial scenes involved photographers perching themselves on the roofs or tops of some of Albion's tallest structures in order to get their shots. There were a few handy locations where some aerial views of Albion were taken. One was on top of the standpipe (water tower) that once stood in Crowell Park. There is a nice wide-angle panoramic photo of the town from 1915 that exists. Another location was from the top of the Jesse Crowell Stone Mill in the center of downtown (City Bank &Trust Company building). There exists a nice photo looking towards the Market Place and Albion College taken in 1873. One other location however to shoot an aerial view of Albion was on the top of an aerial ladder furnished by the Albion Fire Department, which we are featuring this week. In May, 1969, the Albion Fire Department was preparing to celebrate the upcoming Independence Day holiday several weeks later, dubbed the "Spring of '76." On Saturday May 17, 1969, they took their 85-foot aerial ladder and parked it in front of the J.C. Penney store in downtown Albion. Fireman Harold Cornell, president of the local Firefighters union, borrowed a camera that belonged to Robert Thompson at the Austin Studios. The aerial ladder was extended. Cornell climbed to the top and began taking pictures of S. Superior St. From our Historical Notebook this week we present two photographs. The first shows fireman Cornell at the top of the ladder, facing south ready to snap a photo. Our second photograph is an aerial view of the 300 and 400 blocks of S. Superior St. Here we see the Gambles store on the left, with the Rainbow Dairy Bar ice cream store across E. Erie St., with Sears in the distance. On the right we see Park's Drug Store on the corner, with Orwig's Appliance store across W. Erie St. on the right, present site of the Foundry Bakery. Way in the distance across W. Ash St. we view the tiny Texaco gas station sign with its large star in the center. How many of our readers have ever been up in an aerial ladder before?  Fireman Cornell at the top of the ladder.
 An aerial view of the 300 and 400 blocks of S. Superior St.
All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
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