1954 CHRISTMAS PARADE

For those who may be visiting Albion this Christmas, you may like to know that these articles are republished on the www.albionmich.com website, going back to the early 1990s and even before that! Check it out. My Albion history books are also available at the Albion Chamber of Commerce. Consider a gift of Albion history this Christmas season.

We were glad to see the Albion Aglow parade tradition has been continued. Albion has had many Christmas parades through the years. They seemed to reach their peak during the 1950s when Albion's population of course, was at its highest.

This week from our Historical Notebook we present a scene from the 1954 Christmas parade. The view looks southwest towards the intersection of S. Superior St. and W. Ash St. On the right is the Albion Theatre, which closed in 1959. In the foreground is a tractor pulling a float entitled "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The two men on the tractor are unidentified. Behind it on the corner at 500 S. Superior St. is the small Sinclair Gas Station called Paul's Service Station, operated by owner Paul Rabakon. The big house behind it of course is the Colonel Joseph Duckworth home.

Behind the float is the large Christmas tree being hauled down the center of Superior St. as part of the parade, to its final resting place for the holidays. This was a tradition here in Albion for many years. High above across the road is a circular Santa Claus decoration. There's one other thing I noticed about this parade: It is moving from South to North. Normally parades in downtown Albion head the other way. How many of our readers participated in Albion's Christmas parades when they were young?

	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