VICTORY PARK SPRING

One of Albion’s assets from the beginning has been the flowing spring at Victory Park. When the Park was developed in the early 1920s, a vertical iron pipe was placed at the spring, with a horizontal pipe inserted at the top from which the water flowed. In the 1930s, Victory Park received updates as part of Works Progress Administration projects. A small pond was constructed surrounding the spring, and a casing installed that still remains there today with a continually-flowing spigot. The casing was completed in 1941 and states on top, "SPRING WATER." The Victory Park spring has been a source of drinking water for Albion residents for many years.

A 1939 Calhoun County Health Department report by George Fassnacht about Albion’s sanitary conditions gave the following information about the spring: "The drinking water supply in Victory Park is the pet of the city fathers and the pet gripe of the Calhoun County Sanitarium. A flowing well on the river bank has been walled up with seven feet of 24-inch V. C. tile. It is entirely unprotected, but as usual it is "the best water in the county." One either dips water with a bucket or drinks horse fashion with his face in the spring. It is much preferred to city water from a nearby spigot."

Fassnacht continues, "The last time I saw the spring it was pretty well supplied with apple cores and a crop of filamentous green algae which undulated with the flow. Small bits of foreign matter were rising with the water to flow over the crest. It looked so bad that I felt safe in taking a water sample. But I had no luck. The sample came back sterile."

From our Historical Notebook this week, we present a picturesque postcard photo of the spring during the 1920s, when a vertical pipe came up from the ground into another smaller horizontal pipe from which the water flowed. This is before improvements were made in the 1930s. The caption at the bottom reads, "Flowing Well, Victory Park, Albion, Mich." How many of our readers have visited the Victory Park spring recently?

	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
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