1964 Superior Street Sidewalk Project

With the current Superior streetscape project in full swing, we are reminded of the last time something of this magnitude was performed on our downtown sidewalks. During the late summer of 1964, all of the sidewalks in downtown Albion were torn up and replaced with new ones. Fifty-two new street lights were installed, replacing ones that had stood since the 1930s. The cost of the new sidewalks at the time was $27,000.

One controversy with the project was the filling in of the underground basements beneath the sidewalks, which merchants had used for storage. Some were even used for basement barber shops. Some buildings had basement entrances from the sidewalks, and these were removed, too, as part of the project. The underground spaces were originally used to store coal for heating the buildings in an era before natural gas was piped in.

Some merchants did not like being forced to fill in (at their expense) their "caverns" beneath the sidewalks in front of their stores. The city maintained that these were a safety hazard and could cave in. When workers tried demolishing one under-the-sidewalk site, the found that the "roof" was made and reinforced by steel rails which would have withstood just about anything, but the merchant was forced to part with his extra room anyway.

In addition to new sidewalks, new curbing was installed, with some minor widening around some corners. Drinking fountains were added, and decorative trees were planted, some of which were just removed here in 1996.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present a 1964 photo of two "old-timers" who recalled earlier construction projects in downtown Albion. On the left is pharmacist Floyd Parks (1890-1967) of Park’s Drug Store, speaking with (right) Hiram McCullough (1882-1969) about the days when Hiram was foreman of the street department and supervised WPA projects here. In the distance we see the equipment of the Titus Construction Company of Galesburg removing sidewalks and curbing.

Take a good look at the decorative street light in the distance. These were quite attractive but were replaced by the plain ones that have stood for the past 30 years and are now being removed.

	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