Some more on old Dowagiac.

1901: Sunday baseball, which had been started in Dowagiac, came to an abrupt end when Prosecuting Attorney C.M. Eby and Deputy Sheriff Dewey warned teams that if a game was attempted at Rickey Park, a complaint would be made under the law forbidding such amusement (I wonder where Rickey Park was in Dowagiac).

1901: Fred C. Lee and his daughter, Mary, left Dowagiac to visit the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, N.Y.

1904: Paving Day was planned for Dowagiac. A day sometime soon after the completion of the paving, Dowagiac business people and citizens will be so happy over the realization of Dowagiac’s long cherished hopes.

1909: A strange auto touring car labeled Danville to Detroit passed through Dowagiac yesterday with a  load.

1913: A new beach has been opened at Twin Lakes called “Apple Beach.”

1923: Good scores were made at the Dowagiac Gun Club at Heddon Aviation Field.

Some of the scores, Jarvis McCoy, 17 out of 25; Gene Corwin, 82 out of 100; B.F. Snyder, 17 out of 25; and Grover Kimmerle, 89 out of 100. (Side note: Gene Corwin was my neighbor and I bought his old long-barrel blunder buss 12-gauge shotgun. It was probably the one he had used years earlier in his shooting contests. It served well for old Charlie for years.)

1911: Dr. W. Parker received his patent on his new model gas engine. He was considering the best method of development and manufacture. It was reported to be a promising machine for both auto and marine work (but as far as I know it didn’t happen). Here is something we kids used to do. We would take empty condensed milk cans that had been punched a couple of holes with a beer can opener to pour the milk out and put a dent in them so we could clamp them on our shoes and make a lot of noise clomping down the street.

“Cardinal Charlie” Gill writes a nostalgic weekly column about growing up in the Grand Old City. E-mail him at cardinalcharlie@hotmail.com.