Looking Back at St. Clair Shores

St. Clair Shores Public Library 22500 Eleven Mile Road, St. Clair Shores, MI 48081-1399 Phone: (586) 771-9020 Fax: (586) 771-8935 Director: Rosemary Orlando

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Monday - Thursday
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Friday - Saturday
9:00AM - 5:00PM
Sunday
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Holiday Hours
Saturday, November 11
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Looking Back at St. Clair Shores
2020 Articles

Looking Back at St. Clair Shores is a series of historical articles featured most months in the St. Clair Shores Sentinel newspaper. Unless noted otherwise, the photographs used are part of the St. Clair Shores Historical Commision's Photograph Collection. These photographs, along with many others, are available to view through the Digital Media Archive.

Previous articles can be found by clicking on the year.

2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018
2019	2020	2021	2022	2023

Santa and the St. Clair Shores City Band

Santa and the St. Clair Shores City Band

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high resolution version.

In this photo from the 1940s, Santa visits the St. Clair Shores City Band. The visit was organized by Roy Kaul, owner of the local funeral home. In this time period, Mr. Kaul sponsored visits by Santa to local events where children would be present. The City Band operated from at least the 1940s into the 1950s. Photos from the early 1950s show that band membership was open to both boys and girls. Mr. McKenna was the director of the band for at least a few years; he (with the mustache) is standing to the right of Santa in this photo. The City Band should not be confused with the St. Clair Shores Symphony, which was established in 1962.

First Mayor of St. Clair Shores	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
Robert E. Harrison was the first mayor of the city of St. Clair Shores. He was sworn in to office on January 15, 1951 along with the new council members and other city officials at the city offices at Blossom Heath. From 1925 to 1951, St. Clair Shores had been the Village of St. Clair Shores. Robert Harrison was born in England in 1902. He married his wife Clara, a Missouri native, in 1924 in Detroit. By 1940, the couple, with their son Charles, were living at 22432 Statler Street in St. Clair Shores. Mr. Harrison did not stay in office long. He was succeeded in the office by Thomas Welch in April, 1952. Mr. Harrison died in 1984. In this 1951 photo, he can be seen (fourth from the left) next to his wife (third from left).

Memorial Park, St. Clair Shores	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
What is now Veterans Memorial Park at 32400 Jefferson Avenue in St. Clair Shores opened to the public on August 24, 1945 as Memorial Park. The Women’s Civic League of St. Clair Shores was instrumental in the establishment of the Park, but the space as a place of leisure and enjoyment of the outdoors had started decades before. By 1920, the Masons (a fraternal order) had an 18-hole golf course on the south side of Masonic Boulevard, between Gratiot Avenue and Lake St. Clair. On September 21, 1921, the cornerstone of an impressive country club was laid at Masonic and Jefferson. The 18,729 square foot clubhouse was opened May 11, 1923 and featured a dining room that could seat almost 400 people. Outdoor facilities included tennis courts, swimming facilities, a quarter-mile track, and the chance to ride horses. Skating, ice-boating, and hockey were featured winter pastimes. There was also a quarter mile long boat dock, a water slide, an outdoor screened-in dance pavilion and a grandstand with seating for 800. There were baseball diamonds on the grounds and a petting zoo was added for children at a later date. In 1926 a second 18-hole golf course was begun on the north side of Masonic Blvd. This course opened in August, 1929. In 1927, the club’s name changed to the Lakeshore Country Club. But by 1929 damage from storms to the property and the stock market crash had badly damaged both the club’s finances and membership as well as the grounds. The Club dissolved in 1932. By 1942, after other sale attempts, the Village of St. Clair Shores received the land in lieu of back taxes. In 1944, the club building was damaged by fire and torn down. Both golf courses continued to operate until 1945. The south course was allowed to go to seed and Masonic Heights Elementary School was built on the property. After much public discussion, the Women’s Civic League championed the idea of a park to honor those who had lost their lives in World War II and the grounds of the former club were reconfigured as a public space. This photo shows the entrance to the Park in 1978.

St. Matthew School	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
St. Gertrude Roman Catholic Parish was established as a mission of Sacred Heart Parish (Roseville) in 1873, when the area was known as Erin Township. St. Gertrude was elevated to parish status in 1914 by Bishop Michael James Gallagher and on November 18, 1920 the parish began welcoming students to its new elementary school. The Official Catholic Directory of 1921 listed St. Gertrude Parish in L’Anse Creuse as having a school by the name of St. Matthew’s that was administered by the Dominican Sisters from Springfield, Illinois. The Sisters of St. Joseph took over the school at the beginning of the 1927 academic year. Over the course of the 1920s and through the 1940s, the name of the school varied in Church and local records, sometimes being listed as St. Gertrude’s School, other times being called St. Matthew’s. Regardless of the name, the three story brick building saw thousands of children begin their educations at 28851 E. Jefferson Avenue, until the school closed in 1971. The location is now part of Lakeshore Senior Living, an apartment complex for adults over the age of 55 that opened in January, 2018.

Farmhouse Restoration	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
The “old Green farm house” stood at the corner of 11 Mile and Grant Roads in St. Clair Shores since its construction in 1868. Threatened with demolition because of the I-696 / I-94 interchange, the log building was moved behind the St. Clair Shores Public Library in 1975. Restoration of the home began in the late 1970s. Part of the restoration work included filling the spaces between the logs from the outside of the building in a process known as “chinking” and “daubing”. Chinking is a two-part process: first, a dry, bulky, rigid blocking, such as wood slabs or stones are inserted into the space between logs, followed by a soft packing filler such as oakum, moss, clay, or dried animal dung. Daubing is the finishing step, when a wet-troweled finish layer of varying composition, often consisting of a mixture of clay and lime or other locally available materials, is applied over the chinking. The chinking is the least durable part of the process, and it was common for buildings in the 18th and 19th century to have cladding added once the daubing was dry. This was both to protect the daubing and for beautification. In this photo from 1978, two of many volunteers help with the daubing at what is now the Selinksy-Green Farmhouse Museum.

Harper Cruise	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
As summer wanes in St. Clair Shores, the Harper Cruise takes place. Held each August since 1994, the Cruise has grown over the years, both for the crowds it attracts and for the distance on Harper Avenue that it covers. The length of the route has grown, but the Cruise remains a charity event, sponsored by the Shorewood Kiwanis. All profits from the annual event benefit local charities, with an emphasis on assisting children and teens. This photo is from one of the earliest Cruises (1996) and features a 1929 Ford Model A Roadster. Ford produced over 4.8 million Model A cars from 1927-1932. Originally available in four colors and a range of body styles, the cars sold for $385 to $1,400, depending on the style. The top speed was about 65 mph. The Shorewood Kiwanis was founded in 1959, with 31 charter members. The 2020 Harper Cruise has been cancelled.

Happy Anniversary, O’Brien Ford	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
On March 14, 1946, Roy O’Brien opened his car dealership at the corner of 9 Mile Road and Mack Avenue in what was then the Village of St. Clair Shores. The location was made famous by the jingle which has become a signature theme for the dealership. The jingle debuted a few years after the dealership opened, urging customers to “get on the right track, to 9 Mile and Mack”. At first, things were slow for the fledgling business. It was difficult to get new cars in the post-World War II era; on opening day, there were no new cars available for sale. Often, the 10 employees had little to do. The bookkeeper was known to knit at her desk. This image shows the original sales and service building, about 1946. The building had previously been home to a Hupp Motor Car Company and a fire station. While this building was demolished as part of a larger dealership renovation in 2017, the O’Brien Family continues to serve their customers at the same corner as Roy O’Brien did 74 years ago.

Kaul Funeral Home	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
In 2020, the Kaul Funeral Home in St. Clair Shores celebrates 93 years in business. It was in 1927 that Roy J. Kaul opened a funeral home on Jefferson Avenue (at Martin) in St. Clair Shores. He had gotten his experience being “associated with the Harry P. Pequignot Company in the undertaking business” on Pine Street in Mt Clemens, according to a newspaper account at the time. Mr. Kaul was born in Mt. Clemens on October 20, 1896 and attended St. Mary High School. He served in the Infantry in World War I, spending two years in Europe, including a year with the Polar Bears in Russia. The “Polar Bears” were the American Expeditionary Force, a contingent of about 5,000 troops that landed in Russia as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. Mr. Kaul also served as Treasurer of the Village of St. Clair Shores and completed two terms as Macomb County Coroner. He died February 21, 1970 and after services at the funeral home and St. Gertrude Church, he was buried at White Chapel Cemetery in Troy. The Kaul business has been located 28433 Jefferson since it opened; it is pictured here about 1952. The business added locations in Roseville (in 1937) and Clinton Township (in 1985), but Kaul’s continues to serve the people of St. Clair Shores from the original Jefferson Avenue location.

St. Clair Shores Hockey	Click the image to view a high resolution version.
The St. Clair Shores Hockey Association was established in 1957. Almost 200 boys attended the first clinic. Eight teams were established in two divisions (under 12 and 12-14 years). Over the next several years, more divisions were added. The big problem was finding ice. Frequently outdoor rinks and out-of-town arenas were used. By the early 1960s, three of the four divisions played all of their “home” games in Windsor, Ontario. The solution was a new rink, and it would be under a roof. In 1964, Gordie Howe Hockeyland opened at 33101 Harper Avenue in St. Clair Shores. The rink was larger than some professionals used: 85 by 185 feet. Initially, the ice could be rented for $25 an hour, and there was seating for 700. The right wing for the Detroit Red Wings was listed as “chief instructor” for the Gordie Howe Hockey School which held classes at the arena. There were participants from age five to 20 years in a range of divisions. This image shows the interior of the arena in its first year of operation.