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This Day In History: July 8, 1920

100 years ago today, our feature here on Tulip City Dispatch when I've run out of ideas or short on research topics, where I do a deep dive into the Holland City News archive because the dates from 1920 match up to 2020, and it's incredibly cool to have a little look into the exact date that a newspaper was published, but precisely 100 years ago.

There's a story on Page 1 about the West Michigan Pike - what grew to be known as US-31.  This little article has a bit of personal importance to me because my grandfather would tell stories about riding with his father from Manistee down US-31 into Holland, and on through all the way to Chicago.  The story talks about how the City Aldermen are promising to not let the West Michigan Pike cross or intersect First Avenue.  I cannot for the life of me find out where this might be - there are two First Avenues currently in the Holland City Limits; one on the north side in the 49424 ZIP code, slightly west of where Wal-Mart and Sam's Club set, and the other on the south side in the 494923 ZIP code in the Lincoln Estates Trailer Park.  Both modern First Avenues are really close to the routes of modern US-31.  And, I know for a fact that the West Michigan Pike only vaguely follows the route of modern 31 (Grandpa alleged that Chicago Drive was part of the West Michigan Pike, and was named because that little ribbon of asphalt used to extend clear down to Chicago itself.  I cannot confirm this).

There's an interesting headline on Page 2 reading "Speed Demons Rampant On The Fourth," wherein it's detailed that there was a rash of speeding drivers on the newly-paved road out to Macatawa.  Several were caught and fined going 35 to 40 miles per hour out to the state park - not fast compared to today's automobiles, but 1920 was a different ball game.  Others were clocked around the same speed driving around the Downtown area; one was caught going 29 on River Ave., another was caught going 30 on his motorcycle along 8th St.

Page 3 opens with a wall of text; a series of legal descriptions of lots of land maintained by the County Drain Commission, and ends with a thriller of a baseball game lasting for 13 full innings!  Apparently the Holland baseball team eked out a victory over Kalamazoo 5 runs to 4.

Page 4 contains a description of Michigan's "singing sands," which can also be found along Lake Michigan in Holland.  Small sand particles, dampened by water, slide past each other under the weight of a pedestrian walking, and create a unique squeaking sound.  In dry weather (hey, like the heat wave we're experiencing in 2020), walk in the dry sand along the lakeshore near the high water mark - that creates the unique conditions by which the sand will sing or squeak.

Page 5 tells us about the planting of brook trout in the Black River, and details a little bit of the process.  Cans were shipped to an Ottawa County Game warden, with "several thousand" youngsters in each.  Only about 10% were expected to survive until adulthood, and the article talks about planting them in slow-moving tributaries.

Page 6 has an informative story if you're into climate science:  The warmest day of the year, theretofore, was June 13th, with an average high of 72 degrees, going back to 1870.  June 13, 2020, was 69 degrees, but according to accuweather.com, the historical average temp had gone up to 79 degrees.

Page 7 draws an interesting pop-culture comparison:  Not The Dukes Of Hazzard, but the Koles of Ottawa.  Two brothers, Marinus and John Kole, were both arrested in separate speeding and racing incidents.  John had taken his car "Lizzie" out to the country, where he was arrested for exceeding the 25mph speed limit.  Details were not given as to Marinus' offenses.

And, Page 8 calls back to Page 1 with another article about the West Michigan Pike, this time, detailing the difficulties one man had in placing road and mileage signs between Glenn and Manistee.  His car caught on fire, and a wheel broke.  Not a huge deal, but when you're manually placing road signs based on your odometer, any small difficulty can add up. 

Works Cited:
Holland City News, "Holland City News, Volume 49, Number 28: July 8, 1920" (1920). Holland City News: 1920. 26. https://digitalcommons.hope.edu/hcn_1920/26 

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