Remembering Our Ancestors Through Genealogy

A History of Iron County Michigan by Jack Hill Published in 1955, "A History of Iron County Michgan" gives the history and other interesting facts about this Upper Peninsula county. The book was originally printed in two columns. In order to improve the readability of the pages on a web browser it was converted to single column by combining every two original lines. With this exception the transcription was done without changes or corrections. Chapter 18 - Caspian Village And City

HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     105     Chapter XVIII   CASPIAN VILLAGE AND CITY      Like most of the odd numbered sections in the Iron River district, the greater part of the lands embraced in Section One upon which the City of Caspian is situated, were selected as grant lands by the Peninsula Railroad Company for the construction of railway lines in the upper peninsula. This company, which was shortly in- corporated into the Chicago & Northwestern Railway system, selected these lands for a proposed railroad to be built from Marquette Township to some obscure point on the state line near the mouth of the Menominee River. The grant was made in the year 1863 and five years later, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company was compelled to return these lands back to the State as unearned, whence they reverted back to the Federal Government and became again a part of the public domain.    The first record of settlement on Section One is the arrival of Alois Dober. Mr. Dober, a native of Switzerland, arrived in America in 1871. Two years later, he entered the upper peninsula, settling in Negaunee where he as engaged in the iron mines. In 1881, he came to Iron River where he helped in the clearing of the townsite. The following year he filed a homestead claim on the Northwest quarter of the section. With the development of the Isa- bella Mine on adjacent property, considerable pressure was brought to bear on Mr. Dober to relinquish his claim. This, however, he re- fused to do and received a delayed patent on same in 1894.    In 1883 came the Frank Grieninger family who filed on the North east Quarter and Joseph A. Brady who entered the Southwest Quart- er, the former being of German descent, the latter of Irish-Ameri- can lineage. Contemporary records of the Southeast quarter show the forty acres in the northwest quarter thereof as in the possession of Elisha Morgan and the southeast forty in that of Patrick Fogarty, with the remaining two tracts of forty acres de- signated as swamp lands of the public domain.    At the turn of the century, practically all the timber had been removed with the exception of a border of conifers along the river bottom and some scattered hardwood trees on the Brady lands. The trail leading to Spring Valley meandered through the present townsite in a southeasterly direction from the bridge on the south end of the canal to the bridge near the early Calliari Hotel. A small section house now serving as the Palatka depot occupied a site on the railroad near its intersection with Caspian Avenue and   106     HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN   a log cabin adorned the flats near the present school structure. These were the only signs of habitation.    With the development of the promising Caspian Mine in 1903, the Youngs 1904, and the increase of operations at the Baltic that was opened in 1901, a need was felt for additional housing facilities to ac- commodate the families of the increasing mine employees. By the year of 1907, the mining companies had undertaken to relieve this con- dition somewhat by the construction of homes and boarding houses near these mines. At this time, a small business center also sprang up on the section line, midway between these mining locations along the eastern limits of the Fogarty property. In 1908, it con- sisted of the Sherrard Hotel, the grocery of Prosser & Loomis, the John Berquist Hotel, the clothing store of Jake Drey, the Andrew Webber saloon, the livery Stable of William Young and the small shop of an unknown shoemaker. To these was added during the year, the Post Office of Palatka.    Spurred by the development of the Berkshire Mine at this time, a group of local business and mining men conceived the idea of laying out a village on available lands to the west. Securing title to the forty acres adjoining the Fogarty land on the west, the company proceeded to subdivide the land for a village to be known as Palatka. The lots, however, were mostly along the river, did not provide good homesites and thus failed to find ready buyers. The only family known to occupy this plat at the time was the Cal- liari family who erected a large boarding house, hall and bakery in the extreme southeastern corner thereof.    The oldest settlers on the site of Caspian and whose descendants continue to make their homes there are the Fedrizzi and Tes- sadri families. In 1908, Angelo Fedrizzi and Albina and Emil Tes- sadri purchased the Northwest Quarter of the Southwest Quarter from the Brady Estate. In the ensuing years, the two families clear- ed their lands and built homes, the Fedrizzi family moving to their farm in 1909 and the Tessadri family following one year later.    In 1909, a second and more successful attempt was undertaken to launch a village. At this time the Caspian Realty Company was or- ganized by a group of local men who purchased the forty acre tract defined as the Northeast Quarter of the Southwest Quarter, these being a part of the original Brady lands. This acreage was imme- diately platted as the proposed Village of New Caspian and as the lots were ideally situated for homesites, they were readily dis- posed of. In 1910, John Melchiori constructed the first residence of the west end of Caspian Avenue. The second structure was the home of Victor Dennis which was completed several months later.    The success of the Caspian Realty Company encouraged other enterprises to enter the real estate ventures in the area. Among these was the partnership of Joseph Konwinski, A. J. Pohland and E. J. Van Ornum of Iron River who purchased the lands of the Fedrizzi and Tessadri families in 1911. These lands were platted in due time and became known as the Konwinski Addition.    The Village which now was referred to as New Town or New Caspian to differentiate it from the old Caspian location, grew steadily. In the early months of 1913, the post office of Palatka was moved to a new site at the Caspian location beside the store of Mr. Drey, who had moved his business to the more advantageous location during the previous year. Following the destruction of the store and postoffice by fire in 1915, the postoffice was moved to the new village where it has remained, being moved from the Mascotti building to its present quarters in the Eusebio Block in the year 1931.    By the year of 1917, the population had reached 1860 and agita- tion for the formation of a separate village government was general. In this connection, it will be remembered that the people of Cas-   HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN     107   pian have taken a keen and active interest in political affairs at all times. The matter was placed before the electors on January 21, 1918 when incorporation was overwhelmingly approved. At the same election were chosen a board of charter commissioners consist- ing of Charles E. Lawrence, John Deyman, John Hardy, George Mas- cotti and John Melchiori. The meetings of this Board were held in the offices of the Verona Mining Company, the first being held on Jan. 29, when Mr. Lawrence was selected Chairman and John Deyman Secretary.    The proposed charter was placed before the electorate on April 8. At this time two tickets were also entered, the Taxpayers Ticket headed by C. E. Lawrence and the Independent by Arthur Cal- liari. The election was a heated one and two hundred ballots were cast. The charter was approved by a 128 vote margin and the Tax- payers Ticket won handily. Other members elected to the first coun- cil were John Deyman, John Melchiori, Samuel Pascenti, Nestor Salminen, George Mascotti, and George Novak as trustees, Joseph Michela, Clerk, Gust Angeli, Treasurer and John Hardy, Assessor. For Mr. Lawrence, this was the beginning of an uninterrupted period of service as president of the Village Council that remained unbroken until his defeat by Charles Hanold in 1932.    The first meeting of the Council was held at Rigoni's Hall on the eleventh day of April. This meeting was unique in that the first act of the council following the administration of oaths was the adoption of a lengthy resolution offered by trustee Melchiori and seconded by trustee Mascotti, pledging itself unreservedly in loyalty and support of the government in its prosecution of the war and the sons of the Village who had answered the call to arms.    Other business transacted at this meeting was the appointment of August J. Waffen as Village attorney and the inauguration of a cleanup campaign. This spirit of cleanliness and orderliness has been maintained by the residents to this day and is a source of great civic pride.    At the second meeting of the Council, the hall of Joseph Rigoni was rented for the purpose of holding Council meetings and elections for the sum of $3.50 per meeting and action was taken on the in- stallation of speed limit signs for the guidance of the increasing automobile and other motor vehicle traffic. Dr. Edward P. Lockart was appointed Village Health officer for the year, Samuel Schwartz and John Hardy as members of the Board of Review and Guy Salvatori as Marshall and temporary Village Manager and caretaker. The salary of Mr. Salvatori was set at $100 per month and from the record it appears that one of his main duties was the extermination and disposal of unwanted dogs.    All Village work was done by manual labor and horses, laborers receiving wages of $3.50 per days and team with driver, $7.00. Ar- rangements were made at this time for fire protection with the Villages of Iron River and Stambaugh until such time as adequate water works facilities could be secured.    The first assessment roll revealed a Village valuation of $3,897,- 454.00. A levy of one-half of one per cent was made for general purposes and one-quarter of one per cent was made for general purposes and one-quarter of one per cent for highway, making a total of $29,230.90 for all purposes for the first year.    In the month of May, action was taken through the Postmaster General to change the name of the post office from Palatka to Cas- pian.    In July and August, work was placed under way on a water works system with the approval of expenditures for the purpose from current tax collections. In October, the Hicks Engineering Company was awarded a contract for the construction of a concrete water tank thirty-five feet in diameter and eight feet high, for the cost of $1,775. Concrete sidewalks   108     HISTORY OF IRON COUNTY, MICHIGAN   were also provided for during the summer when Barnum & Couni- han of Iron River were awarded a contract for their construction at a cost of $10,119.00.    On June 16, 1919, a special election was called for the pur- pose of voting on a $50,000.00 bond issue for the purpose of complet- ing the water system as soon as possible. This was approved and the work was carried on into the late winter. In anticipation of the early completion of the water works, John Deyman and Fire Chief Henley of Iron River were authorized to proceed to Kenosha during the month, for the purpose of securing a one-ton Nash truck to be used for fire protection. Joseph Scarlotti was engaged as pumpman and caretaker of the fire equipment and the building of John Melchiori, on the west end of Caspian Avenue was pre- pared to house the equipment. A volunteer fire department was al- so organized with Louis Greenwood as Chief, Arnold Giesen, Assistant Chief and Joseph Scarlotti, Captain.    Other improvements were added as the finances would permit. Chief among these were the construction of the City Hall, the de- velopment of a sewer system and the prosecution of a paving pro- gram. The hall structure was built in 1923 under an award to the Proksch Construction Company of Iron River, at a cost of $50,- 290.00. The sewer system including the disposal plant was es- tablished in the years of 1925 and 26 and was financed through cur- rent revenues. Street paving was undertaken in 1927 when Caspian Avenue was hardsurfaced under a contract awarded to the Holmes Contracting Company or Crystal Falls. This program was carried on intermittently over a period of years with the result that all the principal streets and many of the alleys are paved at this time.    Adequate outlets have been provided in all directions from the community. This work was begun with the opening of the South Brule road in 1920 and completed with the improvement of the Cas- pian Cutoff, the Dober and the Gaastra roads in the years of 1927 and 28. Until this time, all major traffic to Stambaugh and Gaastra and all points north and east, was compelled to take the circuitous route through the Caspian location.    With the expansion of settlement beyond the limits of the original plats, annexations became necessary. Thus the Brady and Comin- ski Additions were made on the south and the Morgan Addition on the East. Settlement to the north, however, has been restricted to the boundaries of the mining interests.    Action on the modernization of the village government to a Com- missioner-Manager form was ratified in an election held on Nov. 12, 1949.