Kids Tour: Bay County History / Things

Besides lumbering... there were many other businesses that built things. And, many of them came into being because of the lumbering boom. There are far too many to mention here. However, I think I've picked some that you'll find interesting.

Shipbuilding.

We have a proud history of shipbuilding because of our location. Shipbuilding had a common desire, to tap the dense forests that onced ran to the edge of the river. The first ships built here were power by wind and they were called schooners. People like James Davidson and Frank Wheeler became famous for the schooners that they built here. Both had shipyards on the west bank of the Saginaw River.

If you've been to Veterans Memorial Park on west side of the river, you may have seen the water canal which is where Davidson built some of his ships. Just north of is a tall wood display that is a rudder that came from one of the ships he built.

Another major shipbuilder, Harry Defoe, who followed after them. His first shipyard was where Wenona Park is now. He began making small craft out of wood and later ships built out of steel. He had to relocate his business When the city decided to build the park. He found a location on the west bank of the river near where the Liberty bridge is today. His business outgrew that yard and he ended up moving across the river just north of Woodside avenue. His biggest customer was the U.S. Navy. He also made many yachts, one was used by several different presidents of our country.

If you would like to take a break from my tour, check out these pages which have some pictures of these shipyards. { Davidson Shipbuilding Company } and { Defoe Shipbuilding Company }.

	Ship Building: This wood ship (schooner) was launched in 1898 by the Davidson Shipyard of West Bay City. The Saginaw River has been a popular place for many boat builders throughout its history. -- Want to {see what it looks like} today?

We made a video of the tall sailing ships that visited Bay City, it takes a little under three minutes to watch.
{Tall Ships Celebration 2003}

In the old days ships used lights (called lighthouses) to find their way into ports. We are fortunate to still have one of the oldest lighthouses on the Great Lakes right here. It's the Saginaw River Range Range Light. If you would like to see some pictures of it, take a look at [Seeing The Light] by Terry and Sue Pepper.

Coal and Salt.

You may be as surprised as I was to learned that long ago we had coal being mined right here. Beneath our county is the largest coal deposit in Michigan. Coal was an important source of fuel that replace wood for generating fire to industrial applications and for heat buildings. Coal was widely used by industries to fuel steam engines. These steam engines powered machines and the trains that hauled people and goods across America. Coal was widely used for heating homes before natural gas reserves were developed for that purpose. Coal is used yet today by Consumers Power for creating the electricity that lights our homes and streets, and powers the appliances we use. However, coal is no longer mined here and they coal they used is hauled in by train from other parts of the country.

	Coal Mining: This is a scene at a coal mine in Auburn around 1913. Wagons pulled by horses are ready to haul the coal away.

Homes heated by coal or wood weren't very comfortable. Home heating furnaces in those days didn't use a heat duck system to distribute the heat every room. Instead they typically had one or two heat ducks that went to the mail floor and to heat the upstairs there was an open grate installed in the ceiling. Getting out of warm bedding back then was truly a challenge.

Salt mining was done here during lumberboom. Our area has natural salt beds along the water's edge and in the early days many of the lumbermills also mined for salt on their property. Salt was sold to other area of the country where salt was scarce.

"Sugar Factories."

Michigan's first sugar factory was the Michigan Surgar Company at Essexville. It was located on Sheurmann street near the river. They made sugar from sugar beets grown by local farmers. And, there were several operating here for many years. Today, Monitor Sugar Company in Monitor towship is one the largest in the county. Farmers from Bay County and the surrounding area grow the sugar beets used by Monitor Sugar. Each Fall they haul their beets to the company by trucks filled to the top with beets. When they hit a bump, a few fall off to the chagrin of the drivers behind the truck. o in our area. Essexville had one of the biggest plants on the river at the foot of Scheurmann street.

	Essexville Farmers and their wagons are lined up to deliver sugar beets to the sugar plant on Sheurmann street near the rivers edge.

Horses, Bikes and Automobiles."

There was a time when no one could imagine horses ever being replaced. For thousands of years people counted on them to get from one place to another and for haul things as well. Most every home owner had a horse and buggy. When bike came into use, people still preferred to travel by horse. After all, horses had to no problem with road conditions. Bike were fine, but hit a bump and suddenly the bike is sitting on top of you instead of the other way around. Things began to change when man invented the steam engine. Soon ships with steam engines replace the schooners on the seas. Steam engines revoluntionized manufacturing processes.

But, for the everyday person it was the combustion engine that directly affect them the most and led to the end of man's dependence on the horse. The first motorized carriage may have amazed those who saw them for the first time, but they certainly weren't as capable as their horse. These new fangled carriages were noisey, prone to getting stuck in the mud, and couldn't go that far. The horse was by far a superior means of getting around, and cheaper to boot.

That all changed as the motorized carriage soon was designed into a true automobile, and people like Henry Ford began to produce them in large numbers at affordable prices.

	An early car: Take a close look at this car. See how many things you can find that are different from today's cars.

Around the 1920 automobiles caught on and not too long afterwards horses began to fade from the cities. We even built some automobiles and trucks here for a few years. But, these factories closed as other companies like Ford Motor attracted most buyers. The former bike factory off Woodside avenue in Bay City and was used by one of these auto companies. Today, the same property is where the General Motors Powertrain Plant which has been making parts for automobiles for a very long time. You probably have gone by their plant several times and may even know someone who works there. It's the biggest plant in Bay County.

Another auto related business was the Prestolite Company that made electrical parts used by the automobile and other industries. They were located on the west side near the Lafayette bridge.

"Big Cranes and Shovels."

In downtown Bay City is an area off Saginaw street near Columbus avenue is old industrial area that being redeveloped. You may have noticed the giant size buildings standing there. Many years ago, the world's largest lifting cranes were built inside of these buildings by the { Industrial Works }. There cranes were used around the world for digging canals and channels for waterways, for loading dirt, sand, stone and other materials and for lifting heavy objects.

Not many cities were as fortunate as us to have a crane manufacturer, and even fewer had two. Yup! We had two right here.

The other was Bay City Shovels which had their plant on Center near the fairgrounds. They specialized in making shovels that pushed and moved dirt, stone and other materials. They also made some cranes but these were considerable smaller the those of the Industrial Works. Today, Bay Cast, Inc., has a foundry business operating at the former property of Bay City Shovels.

The Trolley Street Cars & Buses.

Trolly Cars: This is a what a trolley car looked like. This is how many people got from one place to another before cars and buses became popular. This trolley is loading passengers in Essexville that are heading into downtown Bay City. Our community museum located in Bay City has one on "wheels" which they use for tours. Ask your parents to take you on a ride -- they are fun! Buses: Buses replaced trolley cars. Balcer Motor Company located on Lincoln street south of Lafayette. Today, our bus system is run by Bay Metro which is located on the east side just south of the Independence Bridge.

"Food and Beverages."

Do you like potato chips, pop, ice cream and other snacks? That's a silly question... of course you do!

Well we made many of them right here in our hometown. On Euclid avenue potato chips were made by the Made-Rite Company. I have a friend who actually saw them being made there, said he even got to taste "warm" chips as they came off the production line and they were great! Today, the same building is owned by the Better Made Company, but they no longer make chips there. It is now a storage center from where chips are delivered to stores around this area.

Over on Broadway avenue there was a Coca Cola bottling plant. Back then pop was sold only in "glass" bottles or from a soda fountain. In those days the company promoted their product each summer by loading six-packs of Coca-Cola on trucks that traveled through neighborhoods selling them for only the 2 cent deposit on the bottle, or 12 cents for a six-pack. Now that was a real bargain!

City Dairy ice cream was the best. They made milk and they had several dairy stores around the area where you went to get ice cream or milk. The stores had counters with seats where you could sit with friends as you enjoyed your treat.

	Milk Man: One of the fun things in the old days for kids was the presence of horses in their daily lives. Horses pulling delivery wagons for milk, ice and vegetables was very common. Kids had to be careful playing in the streets to avoid the mess left behind by horses.

People got their food at "neighborhood stores" because there wasn't any large super market stores at that time. Each neighborhood had it's own local store where they bought meat, canned goods and other food products. They also had a section for us kids filled with "penny candy".

Many families had vegetable gardens in their backyard. where they grew fresh vegetables. These would be "canned" to preserve them for the winter months when vegetables were scarce. Duirng the summer some farmers loaded up there vegetables in a horse drawn wagon and took them to town to sell at a farmer's market, or even, go through neighborhoods to sell their goods.

Before our modern refrigerators existed, "ice" was used to preserve food. Ice was harvested from the river and bay, and kept in a large storage building. Each day, blocks of ice were loaded onto a horse-drawn wagon for delivery through neightborhoods. The ice blocks were sized to fit into homes that had an "ice box."

Cooking was done on "wood burning stoves" like the one shown here. Mom's baking on this type of stove had to constantly check to make sure the food didn't burn or that the wood fire box was still hot enough.

"Many Other Things Made Here."

Many more things have been here. Too many to mention here. But, I'll list a few that you may want learn more about at school or the library:

Auto parts Beer Boats Bicycles Bricks Buggies (carriages) Canned goods Cigars	Clothing Electricity Electric signs Electric transformers Flour Furniture Ice Ice cream	Meat processing Pool tables Pre-built homes Saddles Trucks Welding machines Wood boxes & barrels Wood cabinets Wood roofing shingles

You probably noticed there are a lot of horses in the pictures above. Horses and humans go back a very long ways. Until cars were invented, they did many things to help us.

Can you name think of some other ways that horses helped us in the old days?