RIEGER PARK SIGN Morning Star, August 6, 2010, pg. 3 We see that plans are going ahead with plans to turn the Rieger Park pond into a four-feet deep swimming area. It will be welcome to know that ice skating will be available again in the future, and swimming available for the first time. It was in the summer of 1954 that the City of Albion dug out the area for the pond, on what had formerly been the abandoned Consumer‘s Power Company "raceway stream which fed the power plant across the street. The Albion Exchange Club helped put together the skating shelter in September, 1954. This gave it that rustic log cabin "up north look. The American Legion donated the fireplace. The pond was enlarged further during the summer of 1955. The park was named in honor of retired Albion City Engineer (and future mayor) Hugo A. Rieger in August 1955. There was a sign at the entrance to Rieger Park near E. Erie St. which also had that "up north rustic look. From our this week we present that sign as it looked when it was installed in 1955. There was a plaque on it which stated, "Dedicated in honor of H.A. Rieger, Albion City Engineer 1931-1955. Plaque presented by Albion Exchange Club. FYI: I drove by there the other day and noticed that the original sign base was cut, and a new lower sign was placed in front of it along with the plaque. There was a ceremony at the Albion band shell in Victory Park in August 1955, in which the sign was unveiled before being placed in Rieger Park. From our Historical Notebook this week we present a photo of that presentation. Left to right: Hugo Rieger; John Bentley, city clerk; Laurence Burden, assistant fire chief; and Vernon Baldwin of the Albion Exchange club. Ceremony at the Albion Band Shell in Victory Park, August 1955 Rieger Park sign, ca 1955 The last time I was in the skating shelter at Rieger Park is when I went skating sometime in the 1980s. I wonder how it will look when it is remodeled and updated? Next: 1978-79 RIVER DREDGING Back to the Top of this Page All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic  |  Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026 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