404 W. Main

The Iron Block

The Iron Block was the block behind 207-223 W. Main, bounded by Riverside Drive (formerly West Water St.) and N. Broadway Street. Today it is a city parking lot and the home of Lowell Light and Power.

Part one: (Riverside side)
Numerous people once labored in this triangular shaped area between Riverside Dr. and N. Broadway. There were blacksmiths, wagonmakers, wheel makers, machinists, liveries, horse salesmen, a veterinarian surgeon, inventors, carriage painters, auto repairmen and Lowell Light & Power employees. It must have been a noisy, active part of town. When farmers came to town, they would first “park” their horse in a livery or stand-in barn. Most horse-related businesses from horseshoeing to wagon repair to veterinary calls were in this block.

Lowell’s first log schoolhouse was built in the center of this area in 1838. It was the only school between Ionia and Grand Rapids. It enrolled 14 pupils, nine white and five Odawa children, for the first 3-month summer term. The students were John R. Robinson, son of Rix Robinson; Hiram and Clarinda, children of Rodney Robinson; John, Seth T. and Horace, sons of Lucus Robinson; Jane and Louisa, daughters of Lewis Robinson, and Carl Tracy, Wash-Ke-Mog-a, Nush-cag, Otwain, Gugsmah and Mop-ece. Caroline Beard was the teacher. She married Caleb Page in 1839 when the circuit riding preacher came. After that, she could no longer teach because only single girls could teach. The building was abandoned as a school in 1845. Henry Shephard operated a cooper shop in the building from 1851 to 1856 when it was torn down.
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Starting up today’s Riverside Drive from Main Street the first business you would encounter was a blacksmith shop. About 1850, H. J. Bosworth built his “Smithy” on the corner where Riverside Dentistry currently is. In 1855, Cyprian Hooker built the Franklin House (hotel) to the west of the smithy. The hotel remained along Main Street for 27 years until it burned to the ground in 1882. The current buildings along Main Street were constructed following that fire.

In 1870, Valentine Kraft and Raine Barbin were listed as carriage and wagon makers on West Water St. (today’s Riverside Dr.). Kraft continued as a wagon maker. In 1875, his wagon shop burned and he lost everything including every tool. The next evening a few citizens met to raise funds for Kraft with J. C. Train as treasurer. Before the meeting ended a good sum was raised by fifteen, ten and five dollar subscriptions. The Lowell Journal begged, “Give liberally, put him ‘on his feet’ again.”  Kraft moved an old building from E. Main St. where Huntington Bank is today to West Water St. and used it for his shop. Mr. Kraft and his son both died in 1890 of LaGrippe (influenza).

Raine Barbin’s blacksmith shop was the next building north of Kraft’s Wagon Shop. Mr. Barbin and his wife, Frances Campau Barbin lived in the dwelling across the road from his shop (216 Riverside today). At the junction of Riverside and Broadway Streets was H. Ross, Painter. Ross painted houses, rigs, and carriages, and did “Ornamental Painting, Graining, Marbling, Paper Hanging and Kalanmining.”  Hiram Gott was the final blacksmith in Ross’s building which was at the pointed end of the triangular-shaped Iron Block; it was torn down in 1925.

Lowell Light and Power
In 1894 the people of Lowell decided they had enough of ruinous electric rate charges. In one year the village used 35% of its taxes to pay for lighting the town’s streetlights, which worked out to $75 per light. The villagers decided to develop a municipally owned utility in1895. A new power dam was built on the Flat River about 9 miles north of Lowell and poles and wires were strung to Lowell. Through the years, Lowell Light and Power struggled with many disasters that damaged the facility: floods in 1901 and 1905, decay of wooden gates and flume, fire in 1916, and quicksand in 1917 which caused the office to fall into the river. The building here at 127 N. Broadway was built in 1924 with additions in 1940 and 1946. This became home to a diesel engine generating plant which eventually replaced the waterpower from the dam. In 1963, a substation was erected on the east side of Riverside Dr. and a second substation was installed south of the building in the early 1980’s. Both substations have since been removed.

Images:

This drawing of Lowell’s First School was done from memory by pioneer John S. Hooker. The building was about 18’ x 26’ and 7 feet in height to the beam and 4 feet from there to the eaves. The inside was furnished with long benches made of split logs and desks made of boards along the sides of the room. There was one narrow door, one window on the west side, one window on the east side, and one small window in the south gable. The room was heated by a large stone and clay fireplace with a stick and clay chimney.

Lowell Municipal Electric Transforming Station was built in this block in 1905. Pictured from left to right were Trustee R. B. Loveland, Trustee W. S. Winegar, Supt. F. J. McMahon, Assistant Clyde Foreman and Trustee G. Guy Perry. The fire bell for the West Side was placed on top of the building as can be seen in the next photo of the Stand In Barn.

1885 Map showing the triangular block between W. Water and Broadway.

1940 Map showing the triangular block between W. Water and Broadway.

The arrow on this map shows the location of the electric station.
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