Milestones on Mainstreet: November 2008

Sparta Booming in 1876
Today, Sparta is a booming town which boasts a hotel in downtown Sparta, a large, two story building situated on the corner of Mill and Division Street. The town is growing due to the railroad bringing in businessmen and travelers to and through the area. The depot is located near to the large elevator owned and run by Mr. E. Bradford where grain is stored in large quantities. Plans are in sight for some folks to build another Railroad Depot with the future Toledo, Saginaw, & Muskegon rail line that will be installed in about 10 years. It will be difficult, say many folks, to have the T.S. & M. rail line actually reach Toledo or Saginaw as many small railroad companies are starting up but not many seem to be surviving.

A Future School
The property that will eventually have the Myers School Museum building was recently sold three years ago for $50 by Hiram & Barbra Myers to build a school. It will eventually serve Algoma and Sparta area as a one room schoolhouse. The schoolhouse will have students K -8 for many long years ahead. Perhaps eventually, the school location will become a museum for students to see what it was like to be a student in the Sparta area in 1876 in the future.

Businesses in Town
Throughout town there are many established businesses, including a few doctors offices including Dr. Emmons, Dr. Hinman, and Dr. Babcock, and a saloon, Ostrom and Sons meat market, Olmstead & Sons saw and grist mill, a “fair” country store, Betterley cigar and tobacco store, and many more businesses throughout downtown. A new type of soda pop called “Root Beer” came out this year, and many kids and adults alike have taken a liking to the new type of Soda pop.

Baseball here?
Baseball’s National League was founded. According to the newspapers, before the organization of the National League, amateur games were riddled with illegal practices such as bribery and betting. The creation of professional teams, subject to one set of enforceable rules, resulted from the foundation of the League. Some day we may have a professional baseball team in Michigan, but that probably won’t occur until after the turn of the century.

A Passing Trend
Instead of neighbors walking to meet at a coffee shop or at church, the new invent of a contraption called a telephone, by a Mr. Alexander Graham Bell, has been patented this year. Some of the locals are worried that if folks are able to talk to each other by a wire in real time, they will not need to leave their house again! We will see how quickly this passing Trend moves on or if people in Sparta will have the contraption hooked up to their homes.

The Country
Much as changed in these United States since the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War has ended. Over the past 10 years, Nevada, and Nebraska have joined these United States and there is even rumor that Colorado will join these United States yet this year. Though it will take a while for a copy of the book to reach the hands of many here in Sparta, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” has been published and sold by subscription. Most likely, the book will become a best seller.

Milestones on Main Street is produces specially for Sparta Today. Input and contributions to this column are welcome. Please send your ideas to Dean Lettinga at hlet@hetnet.nl or contact Joan Lettinga at 887-0013.