I Remember... A Quiz on Culver  

by John William Houghton
published in the Culver Citizen ca.1974-1974

This column is intended to provide a quiz with something for everyone: there are some easy questions at the beginning, whose answers I have put at the end of this space; then there are some questions whose answers I don't know. These latter questions are the real CONTEST; I invite anyone who knows the answer to one or more of them to jot, the answer down and send it to me at THE CITIZEN (neatness isn't important): I'll print the names of the earliest and most thorough answers in my June column.

EASIER QUESTIONS:

1) Where was "the old Methodist church"?

Where the N.IP.S.Co. office is now, just North of the Library

2) What prominent local family (whose name is the same as that of a spring holiday) lived next door to that church?

The Easterdays

3) One of the town's smaller church buildings either is, or is built on the site of (I'm not sure which) the town's first jail. Which church is it?

The Rollins chapel, on Coolidge St

4) Is the Osborn Block North, South, East, or West of Osborn Square?

South: it makes up most of the West side of the-first block of South Main Street.

5) A photography studio "opposite the post office was operated by a set of brothers." What was their name?

The Keen Brothers

6) What street was the Post Office on in those days?

Main Street

7) There was, not so long ago, a doctor's office upstairs from what is now Verl's barber shop. Who was the doctor?

Doctor Howard

Zelta (Mrs. Floyd) Deck: Your answer to number seven was true, but it wasn't the whole story. Dr. Mackey's office was "above what's now the Kelly Shop (not Verl's barber shop -- there was a barber shop over the undertaker's there)" over 50 years ago: he later moved to the house just east of where Mrs. Jerome Zechiel lives, long before Culver ever heard of Doctor Howard ( I've also been told Dr. Powers started out here -- Ed).

8) Where did that doctor move his practice after he left the office described in (7)?

The Lake Shore Clinic

9) In the days of ice-boxes and home delivery, was milk brought to your door in the early morning or later in the day in the winter-time: that is, in December, could you wake up bright and early and find a bottle of milk waiting for you on the front step?

Milk was delivered later in the day in the winter, so that there would be someone awake in the house to take it inside before it had a chance to freeze.

10) The green pavilions in the park — those shelters at either end with picnic tables under them — were originally used for something else. What?

They were, or else they are copies of, the shelters over the passenger loading platforms at the Train station.

11) What is the oldest house still standing in town ?

Zelta (Mrs. Floyd) Deck: beginning with the one about the oldest house in town. There are several houses which I can remember as being quite old when I was a kid. One is at 452 South Main Street, the home of Charles Riccardi; my great aunt, Elizabeth Duddleson, lived there for many years and was a teacher in Culver 's school: that addition to Culver is named Duddleson's Addition for her and her parents. Another old house is at the north end of Harding Court: people used to call in the "Lord's Property," and I think, John, that your grandparents used to live there

12) What were the names of the two boats whose partly burned h ulls used to be seen in the lake near the outlet?

Zelta (Mrs. Floyd) Deck: "I'm not sure about both of the sunken boats you asked about in question 12, but one of them was the "Aubenaubee."

13) There used to he a restaurant where Kline's TV and Appliance store now is...Who started the restaurant?

Zelta (Mrs. Floyd) Deck: "The restaurant that you remember across from the bank may have been started by a woman named Alva Porter; she was a very old friend of my parents, and used to run a restaurant in the building where Kline's TV is now.*

14) Ruhnow's heating supply business is now located in building which once held a blacksmith's shop, I think: the doorways and windows are shaped like horseshoes. Was this really a blacksmith's? Who was the smith? When did he go out of business?

Zelta (Mrs. Floyd) Deck: You're right in guessing that Ruhnow's shop was once a blacksmith's. Walter Fishburn and his brother Arthur had a smithy there for many years; this was where my father, Zina Duddleson, took our horses when they needed new shoes. I can remember watching them shoe the horses here as we walked to and from school.

15) When did the last passenger train come to Culver ?

16) Who was the first school teacher in Culver ?

Zelta (Mrs. Floyd) Deck: "I think my great-aunt Elizabeth may be the person you were looking for when you asked about Culver 's first school teacher: she was certainly one the first "school-marms" in the township

17) Why do so many of the streets at the south end of the town have Spanish names (Obispo, Batabano, Prado)?

Zelta (Mrs. Floyd) Deck: "The reason that so many of the streets in the south end of town have Spanish names is that they were named by Oliver and Rosa Ferrier, the grandparents of Charles Ferrier, after a visit they made to Florida and Cuba.

18) Was there a celebration of Culver 's centennial in 1936? If so, what went on?

19) How many flowing wells and springs are there around the edge of Lake Maxinkuckee? Where are they?

20) What was the biggest fish ever caught in the lake? Who caught it?

Well, those questions should keep everyone busy for at least a month; remember, if you have even a guess at an answer, leave a note for me about it at THE CITIZEN.

tenn'annkennuva

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I Remember...the Answers

I have received some answers to the questions I asked in my last column, including a letter from Mrs. Floyd Deck, my great-aunt Zelta. With a few comments (all in parentheses), I reprint here Aunt Zelta's letter.

"Here, I hope, are a few answers to your "A Quiz on Culver ,"...

"While you were searching for people and things of long ago, I wonder if anyone has ever heard of Liona A. Dean. When we tore down the old house, we found that a tombstone with that name on it was supporting the south-east corner of the building. We now have the stone in our rock wall along the east side of our yard."

Besides the things aunt Zelta has mentioned, I should mention that I've been told that the Keen brothers moved their photography studio from Main Street to Lake Shore Drive.

Well, with thanks to Aunt Zelta, that's it for now. Next time, "Fun and Games." Until then, tenn'annkennuvar