Move Of Ypsilanti State Police Post Will End An Era

YPSILANTI - A year from j now 216 E. Michigan Ave., a pistol shot from the heart of Ypsilanti, may be just anóther parking lot. But for the past four decades it's been a State Pólice post. When the troopers finally abandon the aging, two-story, brick-faced cracker box from which 13 commanders have sent out patrols, an era will Ihave ended. Sgt. Bruce McGlone had eight troopers in his command when he became the first ranking officer lat the newly-erected post in I '32. Lt. Fay Johnson, the current commander, has 40. In the intervening years the Ypsilanti post has been the starting point for dozens of State Pólice officers who eventually wound up with gold braid on their caps and top commands as their jobs. But the old building on Michigan Ave. has outgrown fts usefulness and after numerous appropriation delays the state legislature finally approved funds to begin consteuction of a new post. Ground-breaking is scheduled within the next two months. ancl completion in about a yeair. Otriginally the establishment of a post here came almost as ! an afterthought. With headquatters for state forces in the Lansing área and a post in Detroit, some believed there was Mttle need of another post in wbat was long considered simpfy a western extensión of WaviwCounty. But hackers pointed out that Michigan Avenue, Ypsilanti's main sttreet, had long been the east-wesst passage for crimináis of very type moving between Detroit and Chicago. In I the '20s US-112, as Michigan Avenue sed to be called, was the direct route taken by bootleggers between the Windy City and the Motor uiy auu the pólice chases along that highway tod become almost legendary. A Michigan Sta te. Pólice post in Ypsilanti would pay dividerads in crime prevention and Aprehensión of, crimináis as they approached or left the Detroit área, boosters of the new post argued The nation was still in the I midst of the Great Depression when it was decided to erect a permanent building for the State Pólice here. Funds were; scarce and it is probable there would have been no building constructed had it not been for the late Henry Ford. Always fond of the State Police, the dynamic auto builder offered to obtain land and I erect a building for the post in Ypsilanti. The offer was accepted and soon a spot on the southwestern corner of E. Michigan Avenue and Park Street, at the east edge of [ Ypsilanti was selected. A J grove of pine trees was clearea trom wuai a. un had been a park area and in a I few months the new brown I brick building was completed. I t -ter posts were built I through the aid of Works Progress Administration (WPA) ] personnel and materials but that government subsidy was not iet in operation when Henry Ford stepped in 10 ww Thf new building consisted of a fi?st floor which housed equipment and material for the daily operation of a pólice headquarterswhilethesecond floor comprised private rooms and a dormitory room tpr onduty troopers. In the 30s I State Pólice officers were required to live at the post where they were assign ed during their tours of duty In I addition, troopers had to re main single for the firsttwo voars of their service and then could marry only with théprF I or permission of their comI manding officer. "It was the philosophy ofí I the day," Lt. Johnson says.' "It was feit that pólice work I to be learned properly should occupy the greater part of a I man's time and that having a I wife and family would detract I from that type of dedication. In those days there was no I such thing as overtime pay, I compensatory time or things I like that. When you were assigned to a post even when I you were supposedly off duty I you were called on many I times." I While the Ford-built post I proved adequate at the time it I was built, the overall operaI tion locally has long since outI stripped available space in I the building. Today records I are jammed into jammed filI ing cabinets in the first floor I cubby hole which serves as a I combination office and radio I dispatching center. The pubI lic, waiting to do business at I the post, waits in a tiny lobby I next to the office and duty ofI ficers type up their reports in I converted quarters at the I south end of the building. I Om. the second floor the; B"dorïhitory" and private Irooms, no longer needed by Btroopers who now may live at home, have been converted in to the post detective bureau, I commander's office and interS view rooms. I But worse than the cramped I space is the traffic congestión I which virtually swallows up I the post area. Hamburger I joints, insurance offices, car I lots and gas stations have I blossomed along that section I of E. Michigan Avenue where I the post building is located I and the Ypsilanti city limits I have long since encompassed I the entire area. A supermarket and a department store now lie immediately to the rear of the post and incoming and outgoing traffic 'from both contribute to the daily snarls on I Michigan Avenue. I Troopers sent from the post ■ on emergency calis have for years dodged rush hour traffic, swept around slow-moving I warehouse-bound trucks and I crept through red traffic sigI nals on missions of mercy. I There has never been an acI counting of what the nerveI wracking delays may have need has certainly had its own particular personal hazards for officers. The new $350,000 post to be occupied in 1974 will have a working relationship with the old building: both are products of private philanthropy. A "modern Henry Ford" has seen to it that the state of Michigan has not had to spend a cent on land acquisition for I the new building. Fred Palma, an Ypsilanti businessman, and his wifej Sally, have donated to the State Pólice a four-acre section of land on S. Huron Streef south of 1-94 and near the Na tional Guard Armory in Ypsilanti Township. Original plans had been to erect the building on the grounds of the Ypsilanti State Hospital in York Township but both Col. John Plants and Lt. Johnson recommended that the Palma offer be acceptéd for the site. The new post will have all the advantages the old one lacks. Troopers will be working in an expansive, modernly-designed building with plentiful parking space and top facilities for pólice operation. More important, officers dispatched from the post will no longer have to battle downtown traffic but can move on to east or westbound 1-94 a half-mile away or drive to side county roads to reach their assignment. But even though the troopers who will be moving to the new post in a year will be happy with the modern accommodations, there will be some who preceded them who will alwáys have a warm spot for the old building on Michigan Avenue. Fred Davids, now chief of security at the University of Michigan, began his State Police career at the Ypsilanti post as a motorcycle patrolman. In the years which followed Davids would rise through the ranks until finally he was named commissioner of the Michigan State Pólice. He retired from that position to accept the U-M post. Paul A. Gaboury, who served as the sergeant commander of the local post in the mid-50s, was a lieutenant colonel when he retired several years ago. One of Gaboury's classmates in the recruit group which was graduated in 1937 was Joseph W. Liebherr whose first assignment was to the Ypsilanti post as a trooper. He returned here as a trooper in 1944 and carne back a third time as a detective four years later. His final Ypsilanti assignment was as sergeant and commanding officer in 1957. Liebherr spent a total of 11 years at the Ypsilanti post. After retirement he served as sheriff of Calhoun County and is now Civil Defense director in that county. One of the most colorful commanders to serve the Ypsilanti post was John J. "Mickey" Mongiat, Liebherr's successor as sergeant here. Mongiat received much of his early education in Italy where he moved after both his parents died in Michigan's Upper Península. He returned to Michigan as a teen-ager and supported younger brothers and sisters with a variety of jobs before joing the State Pólice in 1934. - - Although most commanders I at Ypsilanti had tenures of less than three years, Lt. Johnson's predecessor, Sgt. I (now lieutenant) Cari Freeborn had five years at the local post before being promoted and transferred in 1970. After retirement Mongiat worked as a security officer at Willow Run Airport and at the University of Michigan. He is now on the staff of the Fifteenth District Court in Ann Arbor. While most troopers and commanders are transferred to other posts after three years, Roy A. Tanneí1, now an investigator for County Prosecutor William Delhey, set some kind of state wide record by serving at the Ypsilanti post for more 'than I 20 years. He was a detective much of that time. , Lt. Johnson's predecessor as commander, Sgt. (now lieutenant); Cari Freeborn spent five years here until his 1970 promotion and transfer. Lt. Johnson who is expected to officially close down the old post here and open the new one off 1-94 next year is a Traverse City native whose hobbies are flying and music. He started both while in high school in Traverse City, learning to fly and organize a dance, band in theose years. An accomplished saxophonist, Johnson has managed to log 2,500 hours in small airplanes and still keeps up both interests in his off-duty hours. Lt. Johnson and Detective Kenneth Taylor, now stationed at Ypsilanti, were in the first two recruit classes in 1950 and 1951 in chich married men were accepted as new officers. The no-marriage rule for recruits had been maintained diligently until 1950 when it was decided the regulation was no longer in step with the times. While few will question the need of the new post soon to be erected near 1-94 the days when the little brick building at 216 E. Michigan Ave. spawned a generation of police leaders will not easily be forgotten.