Dying small town

I found a bunch more old pictures of Sheridan Michigan. I had posted that second picture of the milk plant before. I found an even older one when it was Libby's instead of Carnation.
Then there are a few pictures of what's left of it now. Sad sight.
The old depot and elevator are both gone now. They tipped the elevator over and cut it up for scrap iron.
I was working in the field across the lake when they tore down the old water tower. That was hard to watch too.
In the second picture of the milk plant,you can see the HC gas sign. The last picture is of that station. Yep,that's gone too.

rrlund- When I saw the pic of the water tower, I almost expected to see Billy Jo, Bobby Jo and Betty Jo swimming in the top of the tank. LOL

Greg

Does that town have any relation to the auctioneer in Mason? I know they have been into farming/ranching over that way. Just wondering.

Yes, thriveing small towns are becomeing a thing of the past. I was told once that when a co-op came to town the town then started to fall apart but the co-op survived.

Quite the pictures. Brings back lots of memories. I remember getting "security compound" not just sure where. likely not too far from Beardsley Oldsmobile. My dad used it to mix with wheat when stored in a butler grain bin. I still have one of the fire extinguishers they sold back in the day.

I had a distant cousin working at the "Condensery" and recall him telling of work experiences with hot steam.

Ah,Beardslee Olds. I've got a picture of that too.
The old Hudson Manufacturing where they made fire extinguishers was a block west of there. That building is still standing,but it's been empty for quite a while.

I think it was most likely named for the General.

My grandparents are in the cemetery in Sheridan.
Everett

Around here only the small towns with a school have survived.

Similar story to that. The neighbor's family has been around here even longer than mine has. My Grand Dad bought this place from his Great Grand Dad. Jim married a gal from way down in Coloma thinking she wasn't related to him from that far away. Well,I don't know that they are,but they found out that her Grandpa worked at the Carnation plant with his Grandpa and her Grandpa and Grandma are both buried in Sheridan Cemetery.
This must be the center of the world,all roads and ties seem lead back to here.

The schools here merged in 63. Sheridan Rural Agricultural School and Stanton Rural Agricultural School became Central Montcalm Public Schools.

I thought the Libby's plant was interesting. My first full time job out of high school in the 50's was for Libby's. Never knew they were into condensed milk. We always talked about all the stuff that Libby's canned. What years were they there?

I honestly couldn't tell you what year that plant was built or what year Carnation bought it,but my Dad and Uncle always referred to it as Libby's,not Carnation. So it must have changed hands not all that long before I was born in 55.
I was hauling milk and selling to Carnation when the plant closed in July 1975.
I read in a local history book one time what year it opened,but can't remember for the life of me.

That kind of stuff goes on. For example, back in the '70's the governor of Indiana, Bowen, from Bremen put bypass in around Bremen so that it would be a nice quiet town after he was no longer governor and moved back home. It caused Bremen leave downtown Bremen and it relocated and grew up around the new bypass. Go downtown Bremen these days and you will pretty much be treated to tumbleweeds. Take a trip along old Rt. 66 from where it starts in Chicago, to where it ends in California. You will be treated to ghost towns all along the way because interstate highways as convenient as they are, route traffic away from towns, and that affects them negatively.

Where I live, some fella that moved from Chicago to the boonies now runs some sort of business on the main drag, and he started his own version of the greater chamber of commerce, where the local business' pay him to be members. He doesn't like the traffic, especially the truck traffic that passes the bank where he leases space, so he is pushing for a bypass around town. I don't live in town, but often shop there to support the small, stumbling business' as opposed to driving 10 miles to the cheaper big box stores. So I go to a town meeting and point out the fate of Bremen and some other now pretty much ghost towns as...existing fact. This guy says, well for the truckers that stop into the local diners and shops, they will be able to park their trucks outside of town and still come into town to shop and eat. What? WHAT? WHAT?!?!?, I asked. Those guys and people in cars, are going to park outside of town, and come into town how? Walk to town to partake? Call a cab from 10 miles away to come to town to partake? Are you $@&!ing nuts? Last I heard, that idea got shelved, or at least haven't heard a peep about it. And besides, who did that yayhoo plan to pay for the bypass to reroute traffic away from his window? Oh, I knew that answer before I asked, but I just wanted to hear him toss out "Federal" and "state" grants as though I didn't know that the bottomless money pit that they get their loot from is my wallet before I clobbered him in front of everyone again. Wrong...idea. These days, people sure are pretty free about spending everyone else's money, and that of the generations still unborn several generations down the road a piece, or so they think.

Mark

Ya,if you really want to see that in full scale,drive US 127 through Kentucky and Tennessee. They're remaking that highway all the way down through there,taking off mountain tops,detouring around small towns. It's enough to make you cry. I like to skip the bypasses and drive the old down towns. It doesn't seem to take but a few years for the damage to happen. Albany Kentucky last summer was a prime example. The new bypass was almost done. I wouldn't be surprised if was completely done by now. It sure spoils the experience of driving through those areas.

Yes, but in the overall scheme of things, those are small scale examples. Now on a larger, much larger scale, apply that to our nation that USED to manufacture most everything that we needed and used, but now pretty much no longer manufactrers anything. Compare and apply the two examples to each other. Whats the difference between a town or on a larger scale, bigger picture, a nation being bypassed? Think about it.

Mark

Is there still a grass strip runway north of town? Been there a couple of times. Kinda tight. Cousin put a Swift on a stump at the end, but was ok.

Ya,Dick Russell owns it. I don't think he even has a plane anymore,but he keeps it mowed. He sold the hanger out front and that's a body shop now. He's got a new tinker shop up at the north end of the strip where he spends most of his time.
My brother had a plane for a while and kept it up there. The only two times I ever flew in a small plane we took off from there.

Ya,true enough,but getting it down to a small town scale,especially the 127 example,I75 pretty much parallels it down through there. If somebody's in a hurry,there's an alternative. Plenty of places through there that used to be towns that died out on their own,fun places to see too,but at least they went on their own and didn't get killed by a bypass.

Seems to me the only towns surviving are the county seats where the only jobs are govt.in our town in the last 90 days 7 buisness have left one was a nice older lady who had a cop stop her and ordered her to empty her car. i remember the days of small farmers 1butter manufacture 4car dealers 4 imp dealers 2 shoe stores a barber on every block 4 feedmills coffee shops across the street while you waited your turn fri sat nights town packed sun morning at least 8 preachers telling you what you did wrong last night .i know losing the small farmers was part of the problem people starting to go to the big box stores didnt help either .
Almost forgot we even had two sweet shops one for kids and one for adults

Ya,it's amazing to look at some of the old pictures that I downloaded. I didn't even realize how big of a town this was in it's prime and I've lived here all my life. There was even a big hotel at one time.
Used to be folks would car pool to drive 10 miles to Greenville to work in the refrigerator factories or 15 miles to Ionia for the good paying factory jobs there.
Nowdays,since all the factory jobs are gone,you have to drive to Greenville just for a fast food job. There was a real small group of local guys who car pooled to drive 50 miles to Lansing to work in the Oldsmobile plant. Now folks'll drive that far alone to work jobs that barely pay for the gas to get there.

Just the opposite in my area all of what used to be small towns are now cities.

Wondered where they came from - I still have a couple in working condition. They were nice, 'cause you could reload them with baking soda after you used them and since they were hand pump, you could use what powder you needed, and not empty the whole thing for later cleanup. (Hudson extinguishers, that is.)

Didn't they also make chicken feeders, etc?

Seems like every time I drive through Sheridsn, something's missing from the time before.

pretty sad lots of businesses go where i'm from westinghouse timken gm tappans all good paying jobs at one time all gone and never coming back shell of it's former self i agree with the fellow about america being by-passed

I don't know for sure. I wouldn't be surprised if they were diversified. John and Bonnie Hudson owned the place when I was little. Bonnie was my third grade teacher. I remember she gave those extinguishers to the other teachers for Christmas one year. The building stands yet if you look up to the end of that short street to the north of County Farm across from the public landing.
Do you recognize this location? That's taken right about at that intersection looking east in to town on County Farm. That first house on the left is the one where Jack Benny supposedly stopped in. They say an old woman who was in Vaudeville lived there and he stopped in one afternoon to visit her.

Quote "westinghouse, timken, GM, Tappan, all good paying jobs at one time, all gone, and never coming back.

Interesting, we had things pretty good here in the 60's---80's, then the unions got carried away and the anti-unions decided to kill them by shipping the jobs overseas. Both sides lost. Companies got their stuff made cheaper overseas, but USA buyers have less wages to spend on those goods.

Goes to show, too much leaning toward either side tips the tower and it falls.

(quoted from post at 10:41:37 03/02/14) Yes, but in the overall scheme of things, those are small scale examples. Now on a larger, much larger scale, apply that to our nation that USED to manufacture most everything that we needed and used, but now pretty much no longer manufactrers anything. Compare and apply the two examples to each other. Whats the difference between a town or on a larger scale, bigger picture, a nation being bypassed? Think about it.

Mark

Click to expand...

That's not even close to true Mark. We are the # 3 or 4 manufacturing nation in the world. You can Google it.

Rick

(quoted from post at 08:07:06 03/03/14) Quote "westinghouse, timken, GM, Tappan, all good paying jobs at one time, all gone, and never coming back.

Interesting, we had things pretty good here in the 60's---80's, then the unions got carried away and the anti-unions decided to kill them by shipping the jobs overseas. Both sides lost. Companies got their stuff made cheaper overseas, but USA buyers have less wages to spend on those goods.

Goes to show, too much leaning toward either side tips the tower and it falls.

Click to expand...

Edd, that isn't true either. While the unions did hurt some jobs that is not what moved so many jobs overseas. We the American shopper did that demanding cheaper and cheaper products. We developed that Box Store Mentality. Gotta have it cheaper. When a company, not paying union scale can't compete they go out of business or outsource. And that's exactly what happened. But we have been outsourcing for over a century. So it's not a new problem. While I don't care for unions I will not set back and try to blame everything on them. Bet you were all for the anti telemarketer laws that were passed? Lot of those jobs moved off shore because I can whom ever I want when ever I want if I'm not located in the US. Outside of US borders American laws don't apply. Most telemarketing jobs paid 3 to 4 bucks an hour over minimum wage too and were full time jobs with bennies.

Rick

No Oldtanker, I am for "fair trade" Suggest you occassionally check the facts.

Japan tariff on American rice 775%. We can grow it, ship it, and land a higher quality rice in Japan at a lower price than they can produce it.

Korean tariff on American cars 75%....but Tennessee pays them to come here (assembly is only 10 hours per car at $15/hr.) It is windowdressing.

China import barriers and prohibitions beyond peoples beliefs. Nothing goes in that they can do themselves.

Intellectual property thief is rampant in India and China. You can buy any American movie or software program within a few days for a couple bucks on the black market. They pay no royalties to the artists or producers.

Frequently can not buy US beef...always some trumped up safety (mad cow) ban/blockade.

Too many examples to list. Believe what you want, our borders and markets are open.....theirs open only for what is good for them.

My point was, that life in those little American towns seemed better back when the little unionized factories were running. Make your case to those folks with 15% unemployment. Bet I understand world trade and economics as well as you do. But I obviously see many things differently than you do.

edd in ky very well said