THE MORNING STAR

The Morning Star shopper has been around a long time in Albion, dating back to 1940 when it began as a mimeographed/stencil style publication, 8½ x 14"in size. Published on Thursdays, it contained at least six pages of print consisting of three sheets of paper stapled in three places on the left margin. The Morning Star was begun by the husband/wife team of Rollin and Coral Davis in their home at 1002 E. Porter St. when they moved here from Litchfield in 1940. The philosophy for the Star was that it was distributed free to Albion residents, in contrast to the Albion Evening Recorder where only subscribers/purchasers received that publication. The Morning Star originally contained just advertisements; there was no news nor feature articles in it.

The Davis’moved their business to 121 N. Superior St. in the early 1950s. A few years later they sold it to Willard Snyder and John Gilbert who moved it to 108 W. Porter St. where it remained for many years. Such is the early history of the Morning Star.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present the cover of the July 3, 1941 edition of the Morning Star, featuring an advertisement from Driscoll’s fruit and vegetable Market, 204 S. Superior St. Notice that they were open on July 4. Driscoll’s had a reputation of being the only store in Albion that was open on a holiday. That meant they did a fantastic business on those days for people who needed milk, bread, eggs, and other commodities.

The display ads artwork for the Morning Star in the early 1940s was etched by Robert Benjamin (1921-2006), a student at Albion College from 1938 to 1942 who graduated with two majors: art and math. His art skills came in handy for earning money during his school years. He was paid about 50¢ an hour for his work. Robert would also do artwork for the College newspaper, the Pleiad, as well as paint some signs on business windows. The artistic family traits has carried over to another generation, as Robert’s daughter Maggie LaNoue, a well-known Albion artist, produces the colorful "General Guide"calendar of events listings which is inserted in the Morning Star.

Today the Morning Star name has continued as part of the Salesman Publications. How many of our readers have old copies of the Morning Star from the 1940s?

	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.
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