A few months ago someone left an envelope on the doorstep of the Meyer School House Museum. Among the items included in the envelope was a certificate from the State of Michigan incorporating “Sparta Builders” on the 7^th day of September, 1945. Also included are stock certificates issued to the original eight members of the corporation. This interested me because while doing research for the book “Sparta Township” I found a photo copy of an article written about this group of men and their desire to build houses, not only for one another, but to address the need for affordable housing in post WWII Sparta.

The article is dated Friday, June 6, 1947. By now, according to the article, “Plugging away Saturdays and every night except Sundays, five Sparta men are helping each other build new homes at low cost in a co-operative project that is unusual in western Michigan in these times.” Although, not experienced builders, these men had two things in common, a housing problem and the will to work. These were all men who lived, worked, and raised their families in Sparta. They had a stake in Sparta’s growth.  They all worked at the Muskegon Piston Ring or the foundry as it was called by most. They were, O.C. Hanson, Carl Rowe, Ed Armock, D.J. Moore, Forrest Burgess, Chester Amburgey, P.W. Gibbs and Lewis Chapman. Each contributed $300. This money was used to purchase building materials. One of the difficulties during the war had been obtaining cement, but by the time the men began building homes, cement was plentiful again. Additional capital was furnished by a local bank when needed. The estimated cost for each home was $4800 to $5000 not including the lot. As the homes were finished each owner obtained a mortgage and paid the corporation. Three of the original eight men dropped out, two for health reasons and one moved out of the area. The remaining five bought their shares in the corporation.

When the men finished their own homes, they went on to build several additional homes around the village. One, at 36 E. Gardner, is typical of some of the concrete homes built in 1947. The home still stands on E. Gardner, two houses behind what was once the site of Badgerow’s Store now the Admiral Station. Built at a cost of $5000, the house features a flat roof and glass block windows. Originally it had a fire place, dining room, kitchen and a “lavatory” on the first floor. The second floor had three bedrooms and a bath. A recreation room, fireplace, laundry and a refrigeration room were in the basement. I’ve wondered about the refrigeration room….sounds interesting.

Toward the end of my research, I asked my parents if they remember these men and the homes they built. I was surprised to learn that not only do they remember, they eventually bought one of the homes. The house where I grew up, 148 Pine St. is one of three homes on that street built by five men with a vision for the future. For their work and dedication to their hometown, I am grateful.

The next time you are out and about, take the time to see these homes. Although, I was unable to find out where other homes are located or how many were built, maybe one of you reading this article know where some of the others are. If so, contact me at wwwspartahistory.org. I would love to hear from you.

In Loving Memory of Barbara Jean Erhart, 1927-2011.

Jayne Heath Paasch  

Sparta Township Historical Commission

Have seen this cook book flying around Sparta? What you might not know is that recipes inside are the favorite choices of the community. It’s your turn to become famous and enter “Grandma’s famous batch of cookies” or “Mom’s famous meat loaf” into the second print edition inserts!

This recipe book is a fundraiser for Harvest on The Ridge held September 15, 2012 in Sparta!

What to do:

Send in the most tasty desserts, appetizer, soup, salad, or  veggie dish from The Ridge or your family to be included in the 2nd edition of the Harvest on the Ridge Recipe Book Inserts. The first edition of the Recipe Book sold out in record time, and due to popular demand, the second print edition will include the option to purchase INSERTS with new recipes that will be coming out summer 2012! To submit your recipes, simply write down all the ingredients and the detailed baking instructions and send it to:

Harvest Those Recipes

PO Box 142 •Sparta, MI  49345

chamber@spartami.org

www.spartachamber.com

(616) 887-2454

Recipes are due by May 1, 2012!

Recipe Submission Form (PDF)

There was a time, in Sparta, when everything you needed was in your own backyard. You may have left school on a Friday afternoon and stopped at Phoebe’s store for a piece of gum or some penny candy. After leaving Phoebe’s, you may have had a book or two to return at the Carnegie Library on N. Union. You may have even stopped at the bridge over Nash Creek to toss a few stones into the water. During the 1960’s you may have had a Brownie or Girl Scout meeting at the Civic Center after school, or stopped for ice cream at the House of Flavors next door to the Civic Center. Some of you may have had parents working at one the many businesses on Main Street. If you lived outside of the village and boarded the school bus, you may have passed one of the many beautiful apple orchards or dairy farms on your way home. If Friday night football was scheduled to be played at Balyeat Field you may have attended with your friends to support your Sparta Spartans. If the year was 1953, you would enjoy watching a championship team. After the game it was a short walk across Roger’s Park to the Hob Nob drive-in where you may have enjoyed an ice cold root beer and a burger, probably wrapped in paper from Handy Wacks.

Saturday evenings may have been spent on Division Street, also known as Main Street, the heart of downtown. Families would have been doing their weekly grocery shopping, possibly at Reeds or Finch’s. You may have stopped at the Federated Store, later to become Walstrom’s, for a new dress or fabric to make one. Next door, at the Ben Franklin you were sure to find that new toy or game you had been saving for. You may have enjoyed a concert at the band shell across the street that once stood where Choice One is today. If you were lucky, you enjoyed a soda, milk shake or the famous green river at the soda fountain at Wolf’s Drugstore. Dad may have needed a new shirt, or tie from Gass Menswear or a quick stop at Roger’s or Johnson’s Hardware where he could buy a supply of screws or nails directly from the bins that lined the isles. There may have been a Bing Crosby or, later, a Rock Hudson movie playing at the Sparta Theatre. Next door was the Sparta Cleaners, where mom may have picked up her dry cleaning. After an evening of shopping and family fun on Main Street, you piled into the car or pick-up and headed home, but not until you stopped at Leon Parker’s or Bill Noller’s to fill ‘er up and check the oil.

In Sparta, on Sunday, you may have attended Sunday school at Sparta Baptist, Sparta Methodist, or if it were before 1947, you may have attended Mass at the old Town Hall as a parishioner of Holy Family Parish. If you lived in the country, specifically on “The Ridge”, you may have attended Mamerlund Lutheran, Trinity Lutheran, or Ballards Church of Christ. After church, during the summer months, you may have packed a picnic lunch and with the family loaded into the car, you made the trip to Camp Lake, Long Lake, or Olin Lake for a picnic and a swim.

Some things never change. Everything you need is still in your own backyard. Enjoy Main Street this shopping season. It’s been there all along. Happy Holidays!

In Loving Memory Of

Leonard “Bose” David Feerick Jr.

2-8-25 – 9-13-11.

Member of the Sparta Township Historical Commission

Jayne Heath Paasch and JoAnne VanderWerff

Sparta Township Historical Commission.

Harvest on the Ridge Apple Festival is a celebration of the bounty and variety of products that are available fresh from the fields, orchards, and businesses in this great state that we call home!  Join the Harvest on the Ridge Tours on Saturday, September 17, 2011 and have a real experience of  farming “The Ridge” in Apple Country!

Michigan is second only to California for the US states in diversity of its agriculture.  Michigan is a leading grower of fruit in the US including blueberries, cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches.  On September 17, visit downtown Sparta and these great places on “The Ridge” to kick off the Harvest season with your family and celebrate the best of what our area has to offer! The Sparta Harvest on the Ridge Apple Festival offers something for everyone including music, kids activities, family activities, 5K walk/run, sidewalk sales, Michigan Beer & Wine tasting, arts & crafts show, Antique Tractor Show, William Tell Archery Competition, and more!

Details about each market below! 

Riveridge Packing Shed  10:30 am

7777 Venture Ave Nw, Sparta – South of Sparta on M-37 & 9 Mile

See the new technology of Apple Packaging with a packing line that completely manages the quality of each apple as it cleans, sanitizes, weighs, checks the apple for color,  defects, and even individual sweetness levels! The expanded facility ships all over the world. Free half hour tour through the packing shed.  www.riveridgeproduce.com

Schwallier’s Country Basket 11:30 am & 2 pm

1185 9 Mile Rd. NW Sparta, MI 49345

Tour a family owned business dating back to 1989 and can be found in the heart of the apple capital, “Peach Ridge” of Sparta, Michigan.  Fall activities  include pick your own Apples, slide, cow train rides, wagon ride, shelled corn play area and more.   www.schwalliers.com

Ed Dunneback & Girls Farm Market 8-5 pm

3025 6 Mile Road, Grand Rapids, MI

Experience picking your own apples at the U Pick Gala’s, Honey Crisp & more at this family farm since 1925!  Check out the interactive “Trivia” 5 acre Corn maze featuring questions about sports, entertainment, history & more!  Test your trivia knowledge to make the correct turn in the maze! $6.00 for adults & 12 & under $5.00; Family Four Pass for $20.00.  

www.dunnebackfarm.com

Jacobsen’s Greenhouse   4 pm

271 North State Street, Sparta, MI 49345

Tour the 8,000 sq. ft. of greenhouse and learn about the roof vent system & landscaping tips to prepare your gardens for the winter.  See the mums in production for Fall and learn pruning tips on mums in your yard.  Hundreds of poinsettia’s will be on display in a just “pinched” stage, see what they look like prior to display in a store.  Question and answers after the free tour.  www.jacobsensfloral.com

Fruit Ridge Hay Rides

Open from 12-9 pm for family fun down on the farm.  Featured activities include horse drawn hayrides through the woods and orchard, pony rides, donuts, cider and our  ‘Down on the Farm’ corn maze adventure, with 3 interactive games and a maze look-out bridge…fun for all ages.  www.fruitridgehayrides.com

 “Wanted,”Sparta Rugby coach, football coach and community leader, Greg Peak, announced at a recent Concert in the Park as a 1960’s era green couch rolled around the bandshell, “Old Runners.  Fast Couches.”  The crowd giggled and cheered as they looked on to see Rotary President Tom Dupont lying on the couch being pushed around on wheels and four team mates.  The J. Couch Race, Peak commented, is a unique and fun family fundraiser for the Lymphoma Society and local families affected by Lymphoma.  The race is scheduled as part of the Harvest on the Ridge Festival on September 17.  “The J. Couch Race will delight spectators with fast, funny, & uniquely created couches— all on wheels— as their five person teams race downtown Sparta on North Union Street,” Greg added to the crowd.

Peak was inspired by a friend, John Couch, who was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma to start a fundraiser for the Lymphoma Society.  The event came to a surprise to John.  “I had no idea what he was doing”, Couch said.  “One day, Greg called me up and asked, ‘Hey, can I use your name?’.  Greg is a pretty trustworthy guy, so my immediate response was ‘sure’.”  At that point Peak started explaining to Couch the details and inspiration behind for the J. Couch Race in honor of John Couch himself.  “He was talking 100 miles a minute and finally I simply said, ‘Greg, go ahead, I trust you.” 

With the go-ahead, Peak began pulling other community leaders and building excitement.  What started as a brainstorm by Greg Peak has turned into an event the community is rallying around.  Teams are already signing up to build their couches and talking about their creative costumes they are going to create for the 150 yard race.  Fundraising will include donations and support from businesses and families in addition to the crowd participants purchasing a vote for the People’s Choice and Best Decorated couches.  A traveling Trophy will be awarded to the “fastest” Couch Team.  Registration forms are located at www.spartachamber.com. 

Downtown Art Revue!

This new exhibit features 14 unique pieces of art placed at locations of close proximity for walking through downtown Sparta or enjoying a short car cruise. The artwork was developed by local and Michigan artists from a conceptual design competition. Each artist submitted a concept that best depicts Sparta, which may be through its rich agricultural history, unique community characteristics, or community involvement. The exhibit started in June 2011 and will run through September 2011. Take your time to explore the Art in Sparta!  

Art Revue 2011 Brochures  (PDF)  

The art pieces will be auctioned by Silent Auction through the Sparta DDA Office.  To put in a bid to showcase your favorite art piece downtown, please contact the DDA office at 616-887-2454.  Auction will open August 1 and end in September.  More details can be found here later this summer on the auction.  

Join us on FACEBOOK as we update artists concepts, photos, and discussions about this project!

 Recently, some Sparta high school actors have let their star power shine on video.  Several students played prominent roles in a promotional video for Baker College, while other current and former Spartans helped promote the Wood TV 8 Show Maranda Where You Live by lending their smiling faces and positive voices to a commercial.  This past July Bria Volkhardt, Colleen Klein, Briana Cordes, Carri Cordes, Danny Eggerding, Jen Crane, Jill Klein, and Nolan Bronkema spent ten hours filming on the campus of Sparta High School to finish the project for Baker, which the school uses for informational and recruitment purposes.  The video ends with Bria Volkhardt uttering the catchphrase, ” I choose Baker College.”  Taylor Ostman and Jake Siegel had the NBC spotlight shine on them when the local affiliate, TV 8, aired their commercial showcasing Maranda’s latest project.  “It was a fun experience and I’m on TV,” Seigel said.

For more information about volunteering at a food truck or about sponsoring part of a food truck, please contact Sparta Rotary President Tom DuPont at 616-887-3113.

Mr. Doug Kleyn, a Sparta American History, English 12, and World Perspectives teacher, went to four high schools. He moved to Michigan from Canada when he was 17-years-old, at the end of his senior year. He graduated from Wheaton College, finished a master’s degree at GVSU, and he also attended Kingston University in London, England, where he studied International Politics. He likes to encourage others to pursue their ambitions – it’s his number one joy as a teacher. In his spare time he likes to do a lot of running, biking, skateboarding with his children, playing ice hockey, tennis, and reading about politics, ideas, and history. “Please consider the incredible advantage that you have to be in this country, in this school, with these resources. There are one billion people in the world today who would go through great hardship to trade places with you. Consider the amazing good fortune that you have to be in this place at this time, and use that encouragement and energy to accomplish great things,” Kleyn said.

Musician Loren Matulis has been a part of Sparta’s band since 5^th grade.

She is a member in solo & ensemble, solo & quartet, and jazz band. Her week consists of practice for 1 ½ hours, five days per week. Her inspiration came from her mom playing the clarinet. Along with being an active musician, Loren is the captain of the soccer team, the head of the dance committee in Student Council, a member of National Honor Society, and the president of Interact. Next year Lauren will be heading to Calvin College where she will continue to play the clarinet. “I’m sad I won’t have a whole year with Ms. Mroczek, and all the people and experiences of learning to play and how to march,” she said.