JOSEPH A. BALDWIN - Historical Albion Michigan

I do hope you are making plans to attend my guided tour of the south portion of Riverside Cemetery on Sunday, October 2 at 1 p.m. We will be meeting at the Veteran’s Memorial, and then will make the trek to 50 selected interments or mostly 20th century Albion individuals. Bring the whole family, and plan to have an enjoyable afternoon together.

One of the gravesites we will be visiting on the tour will be that of Joseph A. Baldwin (1895-1949). Baldwin served as a state senator in the 1930s and 1940s, and was a 1919 graduate of Albion College. Baldwin was a co-partner with his brother Richard, and Walter S. Kennedy in the Albion Recorder, serving as its business manager. He also was president of the group that raised the funds to erect the Parker Inn Hotel in the 1920s.

He became interested in law, and attended law school in Washington, D. C. He opened his law office in Albion in 1933 during the Great Depression, and in 1934 ran for the state senate and won. He was the first Albion resident to be elected to the state senate in 78 years. He served until 1936 when he was defeated, and then ran again in 1938 and won, serving then until 1943 when he left to serve in World War II. Baldwin served in many capacities in Lansing, Calhoun County, and in Albion.

A Republican, Baldwin was known for his championship of Americanism, in the days of the fear of Communism during the rule of Joseph Stalin. Baldwin was co-sponsor of a measure requiring public school teachers to take anti-communist oaths. He also co-sponsored a constitutional amendment which permitted admission of firearms as evidence in criminal court cases.

Baldwin died here in Albion in January, 1949, and is buried in Riverside Cemetery, just east of the Veteran’s Memorial on the south side of the cemetery. His gravesite will be the first stop on our tour October 2. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photograph of Joseph A. Baldwin.

	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