Jackson Michigan News and Information, News for Jackson MI
A very Merry Christmas to my readers of this column. I thank you for your support of donations of Albion memorabilia which helps me discover new topics to write about. Be sure and tell your friends about this column.
There was one prominent parade in Albion’s history that happened during the month of December that wasn’t a Christmas parade. It was the “Eagle’s Parade” held on December 1, 1913, 80 years ago. Located at 410 ½ S. Superior St., the Eagles had just erected a new Eagle Temple at 204 W. Center St. Their march downtown to their new headquarters was a major celebration.
According to news reports at the time, the event attracted between four and five thousand persons who lined downtown Albion. Three hundred members of the local Eagles marched in a double line in back of the marching Boos Brass Band from Jackson, preceded by several automobiles filled with dignitaries. The new Eagle Temple became so packed at the end of the parade (an open house was held with food), that people were turned away, unable to get in. One news accounted stated that “the crowd was the largest ever brought out to such an affair in Albion.”
We all know that the sun sets early in Albion during the month of December (and in Jackson, too), and so any photographs of this event were taken in the dark utilizing street lighting and camera flash bulbs. You don’t normally see nighttime photographs of Albion, but there were several postcards produced from this event that featured just that. It should be noted that this parade was coordinated with the City of Albion by the inaugural turning on of newly-installed “boulevard” type globe street lights in downtown Albion. If you look today in front of the former Temple building on W. Center St., you’ll see the only globe lights that remain here today.
From our Historical Notebook this week we present one such nighttime photograph of the Eagle’s Parade, looking at the west side of the 400 block of S. Superior St. Above the first floor at 410 S. Superior St. on the far left is a small round sign, stated “F.O.E,” meaning “Fraternal Order of the Eagles.” Moving closer, a banner is placed stating “Eagle Fair In the New Temple.”
On the street level in front of the People’s Cash Grocery stands the anxious crowd of winter-clothed persons, politely lined up on the sidewalk awaiting the coming parade. Notice that most of these persons stood on the sidewalk or on the top of the curbing, and not on the street itself. How many of our readers like winter parades?
