Sixty-fifth Anniversary Of Jacob Volland In The City

ir waa glxty-flve years ígot Wednesday sinee Jacob Volland, tlie wel] known harneas maker, fírst settlod in Aun Arbor. He is the only one of the okl-time busloess men of the city yet in business in Aun Arbor. For sixty years he bas run a business for himself here and ie has customers whose grand fathers when young men traded with him. Everyone has seen Mr.'Volland, who though M years old lasi December, söli attends to business as faithfully as when he was ;i young man. He walks erect and easily. Sight, hearng au devery faeulty is as of .vore. He does nol eomplain of the ailments peculiar to those who feel that they are growing old and his reminlscenses of the olden times are always interestlng. But he does not live in ho pasi. He keepa abreast of tlie present. Mr. Volland came from Germany, niien a boy in 1837. For eight monthS he lived at Lake Pleasant in l-';vrdom township. Even at that early date Freedom had a large settlemeni of Germans. Sixty-flve years ágo today he came to Ann Arbor to learn the harneas maker's trade with Solon Cook and he stayed with Mr. Cook for four years. when he went into business for himself and has continued in it ever since. He carne nero ;it the very beginning of the University. When lie carne in on the middle Ypsilanti road, men were at work on the building now occupled by the dental college. The rallroad had not yet reached Ann Arbor. Coming out froin Detroit to I'reedom when lie first arrived he saw a gang of men at work on the rallroad about eight miles out from Detroit After the railroad was built to YpsUanti, it took a year for it to reach Ann Arbor and then a year for it to be extended to Dexter. They lid not build more than a mile of road In a nionth. Sin)) rails were used and . walkers used to walk over the road l'w.i or three times every day to keep the rails in shape. When the road was coinpleted to Dexter a celebration was held at which a dinner ,vas given by a Mr. Davis and Pete Hawkins, one of the old Washtenaw Guarde was ealled on for a speech. He got off the following rhyuie: Davis' pie was made of rye, It was stuffed with stinking meat; It was rough enough and tough enough, Aud more than we could ea t. Mr. Volland joined the Ann Arbor tire company and lielped water the trees now on the court yard lawn, which were set out soou after he eame liere. Solón Cook, who was afterwards the nroprietor of tlie CooTí house, liad a liarness shop on Hurón street, where a saloon has recently been located, and where Mclntyre's grocery forruerly was. Sixty-five years ago there were no business houses south of Hurón street except on the córner where the State Saviugs bank now ís there was a frame buiding where a man named Fuller kept a book store. Beach & Abel had a dry goods store where Brown's drug store is and Philip Bach clerked for them. Afterwards Mr. Baeh formed a partnership with another Abel and the firm of Bach & Abel succeeded to this business. x The brick stores in the Fifth ward were then erected and the business of the original town had been done there. Where the opera house now is was the Aun Arbor Exehange, a large hotel and adjoining it on the sonth was the Mundy block, a large building used for a store. The Maynarda had their store where the Duffy block is. The Goodrich hotel stood where the II 'iniing block is and the old dweilpart of which was moved away to make room for the Y. M. C. A. building was thp dweiling of the Goodrlches. The Lafayette hotel stood where the Cook houso ;. A man by the name of Petteo r1 a grocery on the west next to wli 're Sawyer's office now is and noxt io him the father of Senator Kempf bad a meat market. In these days meat used to be carried to the houses on sticks cut out of shingles. In the same block were a couple of saloons run by John and Thomas Gilshannon; a man by the name of Branch kept a grocery store; William O'IIara ran a tailoring establishment and a Mr. Everest ran a shoe factory einploying 25 or 30 men. A man by the name of Ward kept a store on the corner of Huron and Fourth where Caspar Rinsey now is, In the same frame building whlch was moved and now stands just east of Rinsey's grocery. At that time they were building the Hawkins block where the Ann Arbor Savlngs block stands. Later when William McCormick built on the corner of Main and Washington where Hoag's store is, people considered that he was building way out of town. After a while other business carne in. Mann & Eberbach established their drug store. George Granville ran a drug store where Goodyear's drug store is, and Mr. Martin had a cabinet shop where Goodspeed's shoe store is located. Fifty-three years ago the big fire in Ann Arbor occurred. It started in where Goodspeed's shoe store is and rarned rapldly In both direetions. It seemed iuipossible to save anythlng and Mayor Sédgwick ordered a keg of powder placed ander Volland'a harness shop then on Hurön stro.et to blow it on in ui effort to save the Cook house. The fuse dldn't work and about Ihat time tho wind changed and it did not burn (urther in that directlon. Mr. Volland states that he does uot remember anyone now here being in Aun Arbor when he flrst carne here. WUIlam Wagner started in busi after he dld. The late Calvin Bliss was here In the jewetry business, and his brother Alonzo had a 1 babery. Tho famous Kaiulolpli Rogers, the sculptor, was here thcn clerking in the rgrocery kepi by Pettee and when Pet' tee went to New York Rogers accompanied him. Sixty-iive ycars in ■ business is a period. It long antedates base ball teams In Ann Arbor. The Argus was here in those days as it is now, but it was not publlshed as a daily. Through all tlie various ebbs and tides in the city's llfe, Jacob Volland baa pursned tho even tenor of his ways. lie has arrived to a happy old age. And the Argus extends to him earty congratulatlons on the slxtyfifth annlyersary of his residence In Ann Arbor.