1935 ALBION CENTENNIAL PARADE

Happy Independence Day, everyone! From July 1 to 7, 1935, Albion celebrated its centennial. This was a massive celebration which attracted thousands of persons to our town from Southern Michigan for various festivities that were held each day. On July 4, a massive Centennial Parade was held, dubbed "The Parade of a Century," according to the official Centennial program. J. H. Tate was the chairman for the parade; he was the manager of the local Vaughn & Ragsdale clothing store.

The program stated, "Parade forms at Victory Park and proceeds on the following streets in order: River, Superior, Michigan, Jackson, and S. Hannah, returning to Victory Park. The parade will be the most outstanding spectacular of its kind ever witnessed in this city. A five-mile, two-hour procession with more than 150 units, including complete military equipment, ten musical units, 100 soldiers, drill teams, world’s heaviest ox team, pioneer stagecoach and 100 historical, commercial, industrial, and comic floats."

From our Historical Notebook this week, courtesy of Parks Drugs, is a photo of that historic parade at the intersection of Erie and Superior Streets. Banners and signs post the anniversary years of 1835-1935. Moving past the crowd in this photo are the floats of the Ladies of the Modern Maccabees Union Hive No. 9. Their "hive" was located above 414 S. Superior St. In the distance on the corner is the Jack Frost Dairy Store, managed by Loren Skinner. Subsequently it was renamed the Sullivan Dairy Store, also managed by Skinner. How many of our readers remember eating ice cream at Sullivan’s in Albion?

	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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