Category Archives: Saginaw History

I found this old photo at the Saginaw Public library archives from 1860 of the plank road. It said this is Genesee Street. It looks more like a movie set from a Clint Eastwood western, than downtown Genesee Street. Norman Little (click Here to read about Him) built the first plank road that went from Saginaw to Flint, creating the growth of Saginaw. Downtown sure has changed a lot since 1860.

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The Building on the corner of Lapeer and 2nd with the tattered awning that says Club Smooth looks like an old fire house to me. I have had some other people ask me that too. So I decided to do a little research to see what I could find. I could not find out what year it was built, but looking in the 1915 and 1921 Polk Directory is said it was a Meat Market owned by Andrew Fink. I imagine back then it was a bustling neighborhood, and people lived up stairs, maybe even Mr. Fink and his family. I bet they looked out over Saginaw in the windows of the turret on the corner.

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Ruggles Motor Truck Company was the most successful vehicle manufacturer in Saginaw. Frank W. Ruggles started the company in 1921 after managing the Republic Truck Co. in Alma for several years. He had originally purchased the old Union Park and surrounding property in what is now the Northmoor district in north Saginaw between State and Weiss street. Before he started building his plant, the Saginaw Shipbuilding company in Carrollton struck a deal with him to use the facility on Carrollton road near Zilwaukee. The shipyard did not have any contracts to build new ships, so they sold the factory to Mr Ruggles in exchange for $500,000 in stock of the newly formed company. It was an excellent site for building trucks, and being along the Saginaw river supplies could be brought in by ship. The Old Plantation bar on Carrollton Road was the offices for the factory, The original building burned down several years ago, the current bar is a newer building.

Frank Ruggles was the president with local Saginaw Businessman William J. Wickes as vice president and Walter C. Hill was the treasurer. The company had a sales office in the bank building at 109 N. Washington and would display one of their trucks out front. Interestingly Frank Ruggles never lived in Saginaw, he had a beautiful mansion in Alma, and continued to live there and would commute to Saginaw in his Paige motor car ( I have an interesting article about Paige you may like on my lost In Michigan page HERE). Alma is a little bit of a drive in a modern car on paved roads, I can only Imagine what it was like back in the 20’s.

Ruggles built several different models of trucks, from a ¾ ton “go getter”, a dump truck, all they way up to 29 passenger buses. They sold trucks to several municipalities throughout the country and to the U.S. Navy. Sales were doing good up until 1926 when the market was flooded with trucks returning back from WWII, at that time the company was struggling. It was re-organized and Frank Ruggles was forced out and former congressman Joseph Fordney became president. The final blow that ultimately doomed the company was a the 1928 hurricane in Florida. The company had over 200 trucks in inventory at Coral Gables Fl. that were destroyed and the company was never able to recover from the loss. There are few Ruggles truck remaining to this day, I am guessing the WWII scrap drive melted down most of them. The San Diego Auto Museum has a 1922 Ruggles truck on display, there is a pic of it HERE

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There must have been a real sense of pride when the old courthouse was built. It must have been one of the most magnificent courthouses in Michigan, ( I have pics of some of the other courthouses in Michigan which you can see HERE) but I guess it was decided that Saginaw needed a new courthouse, and the old one was demolished in the name of Urban Renewal to show that Saginaw is a modern and progressive city. I am not old enough to remember the old courthouse, I think it was razed in the 60’s, but I wonder what Old Town would be like today if this majestic building still stood on the corner of Michigan and Court streets.

p.s. I had this pic on my hard drive but I can’t remember where I got if from to give credit. from the cars in the pics it looks like it was taken in the forty’s, I like how you can see the Ippel’s sign on the left of the pic.

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On the Science Channel, there is this show that I watch called What On Earth, where people have found strange patterns, or objects in satellite photos.  Experts decipher the photos, and try to determine what they are looking at in the photo, yeah I know its not Game of Thrones , but that is the kinda shows I like to watch. While doing research for my baseball post a few months ago HERE. I was looking at the satellite pics HERE for the corner of 2oth and Holland Streets, where the old ball park, Veteran’s Memorial Stadium, built by Ike Bearinger was supposed to be. I noticed an “L” shaped pattern in the grass and now I am wondering if that was the outline of the old ball park. If my grandfather was still alive I would ask him, since he lived a lot of the history in Saginaw. Since he is not around, I am asking if anyone knows for sure where the ballpark was? and would this be left over from the old stadium?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the T-Shirt Giveaway HERE

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The old abandoned fairgrounds on the corner of Genesse  and Webber streets may see some changes in the near future. I recently saw a post on One Week One Street’s facebook page about the Saginaw Fairground’s Project.  A fey years ago the Webber street gate was added to the National Register of Historic Places.  The only other gate in Michigan to be on the Registry is the Hurlbut Gate in Detroit ( you can see that on my Lost In Michigan website HERE)

The Gate was built in 1929 as the entrance to the Saginaw County Fair and in the 40’s and 50’s one of the largest fairs in the country. In 2002 the fair moved out to its current location near Chesaning, and some of the old fairground property has been converted to housing, but the old racetrack and grandstands have been sitting abandoned for years, it would be nice to see the area around the beautiful historic gate be landscaped and become something useful again.

MSU students, through the Sustainable Built Environment Initiative, will give a presentation on Tuesday June 7th at 6:00 pm at the New Beginnings Enrichment Center 2609 E. Genesee. They are also looking for ideas and input from the community. you can find out more at the One Week One Street’s facebook page HERE

I hope you will take a look at my T-Shirts I have for sale they help me with expenses to do this website, you can get one HERE They make for a great Father’s Day gift

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