Bay City and Beyond in Vintage Postcards

By Leon Katzinger

Throughout its history, the Bay City area has been a fascinating place to explore. Its early 20th century role as a lumber and shipping center helped it develop into a charming place to live, work, and raise a family. While thriving industry contributed to the development of Bay City itself, neighboring communities like Auburn, Essexville, Kawkawlin, Linwood, and Pinconning were developing into smaller agricultural and residential villages.

This book, a companion to Bay City: 1900-1940 in Vintage Postcards, uses archival postcards to document the progress and growth that have taken place in Bay City and its surroundings. Bay City and Beyond takes readers on a captivating tour of the streets, businesses, schools, homes, people, and events that have shaped the Bay City area as it is known today.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jul 23, 2003
• ISBN: 9781439613870

Leon Katzinger

Leon Katzinger is the principal of Auburn Elementary School and author of Bay City: 1900-1940 in Vintage Postcards, also published by Arcadia. He is a past president of the Bay County Historical Society, and has long been a collector of postcards, stereoview cards, and other artifacts related to Bay City history.

Book preview

City.

INTRODUCTION

Bay City is a town rich in history, traditions, and memories. The positive comments, conversations, letters, phone calls, and cards that I received after writing Bay City in Vintage Postcards led me to write this second volume of the history of our city, again using postcards. I have chosen my last chapter to share some of those letters. The responses have given me a perspective about Bay City and I want to share that perspective with my readers.

In the introduction to Bay City in Vintage Postcards (now Volume I), I painted a brief picture of the development of Bay City and the importance of the Saginaw River. I’ll continue that here.

The Saginaw River and Valley take their name from a Sauk Indian saying, O-saug-e nong which meant The Land of the Sauks. According to The History, Commercial Advantages, and Future History of Bay City, Michigan in 1875, 500 years ago the Sauks were a powerful tribe who controlled much of eastern Michigan and were in fierce competition with the Chippewas and Ottawas. There was a major battle near what is now the south end of Bay City and the Chippewa tribe gained control of the future Bay City site.

The Trombley House (now located in Veterans’ Park) was built by Joseph and Mader Trombley at what is now the corner of Water and Twenty-fourth Streets in about 1837. This area was called Portsmouth. From there the population spread north along the river, with pioneer families named Rogers, Miller, Willson, Marsac, Barclay, Pierce, and Munger settling near the east banks of the Saginaw River.

The Savage was the first ship to navigate the waters of the Saginaw River on a commercial basis; it ran from 1831 to 1837. A load of potatoes was the first farm product shipped to Detroit in 1821. The Bay City and Alpena ship passenger line started in 1858. Major ship builders included the Wheelers, Davidson, Brooks, and the Defoe Company.

The first wooden bridge across the Saginaw River was built at Third Street/Midland Street at a cost of $35,000 and opened in 1875. That was followed over the years by the Cass Avenue Bridge, the rebuilt Third Street, Belinda, Veterans, Independence, and Liberty Bridges, and several railroad bridges.

Bay County was organized in 1857. The village of Bay City became a city in 1865 and elected its First Common Council and Mayor. The Council also appointed the first Board of Education. The federal census of 1870 showed Bay City to have a population of 7,064 and Bay County to have 15,900. Three years later, both figures had doubled, showing how fast the area was growing. Areas tended to attract certain migrant groups. Poles grouped in the South End, French in the Banks (west side), and Germans in Salzburg, with other nationalities mixed in.

By the 1880s, there were numerous jobs in the sawmills and shipyards that lined both banks of the Saginaw River. An 1874 map shows 109 sawmills. The Gates History of Bay County of 1883 lists 560 private dwellings, 23 hotels, 90 stores, 16 livery stables, 98 offices, 4 churches, and 101 saloons as paying taxes in 1883.

People started sending postcards for commercial purposes in the 1870s. The first picture postcard was from the Columbian Fair of 1893, and until the installation of telephones, postcards were the best way to say, I made it! wherever you were going. People sent postcards extensively from the early 1900s through the mid-1930s and people still send them today, but are more likely to use a cell phone or send an e-mail.

Bay City and Beyond shares many more of those early cards, including ones that feature buildings that are no longer standing. The pictures and the memories in people’s hearts are all that are left of these bygone buildings. Bay City businessman, Tom Tabor, told me that my first book reminded him of when he had attended the dedication of the County Building as a young boy. When I asked him to tell me about the ceremony, he couldn’t. It seems a brick had fallen off the newly constructed building and that he was out cold for the entire ceremony! Mrs. Millie Stachowiak sent me a letter after reading Bay City in Vintage Postcards saying:

"Your book is like ‘Somewhere in Time,’ a time of class, modesty, honesty and hard work. I remember so many of those old buildings that are no more. They’ve been replaced with glass and steel. Each building seemed to have its own style and character. I remember World Star Knitting Mill. We would send customers there for union suits. The lady in the Tanner and Daily picture could be Meta Knop who started to work there in her early teens, worked until she was 65 and then joined us at Knepps Department Store until her 80s.

I had my first sundae at Frantz’s Drugstore in 1934. Wenona Beach was our own Disneyworld. What great fun. The water was clean enough to swim in. The Jack Rabbit was scary. Friday nights were special to Ed and I. We would go to the Casino and enjoy Harry Jarkey. I could go on and on.

That’s what I hope to do with this book: paint a picture of how things were and what our fair city once looked like, as well as the changes it has undergone. Hopefully, you will get a similar feeling to that of Millie Stachowiak and gain an understanding of what it was like to live in Bay City many years ago as you stroll through the pages of Bay City and Beyond.

One

THE SAGINAW RIVER

DE REMER IN WRIGHT MACHINE OVER THE SAGINAW RIVER. The Saginaw River was and is the biggest geographical attraction to many area communities. This 1912 postcard shows a Wright Brothers plane piloted by Bay City’s first flyer (the 115th licensed pilot in the country), Lionel H. DeRemer, in a Wright Brothers Model B, No. 15. Stacks of lumber can be seen on the eastern side of the river indicating the importance of lumber to this community. (Courtesy of Tom Sullivan)

SWING BRIDGE. Concern for the condition of the Saginaw River is not a new thing. The message on the back of this card