New Era, Michigan
Residents of New Era are asked quite frequently if the
village was named after the New Era potato chip, but it wasn’t. It was
named in 1872 by Mr. Spaulding as a compromise between that and Erie,
Pennsylvania, his former home.
New Era was settled by mainly Dutch people, although only a few miles west
the people were Swedish and Norwegian. This community was named Bradyville
after one of the prominent families.
Since farming was the main occupation, clearing the land was one of the
first major tasks. Until the introduction of the stump puller, farmers had
to work around the stumps. An average size farm was eighty acres. Dairy
and fruit were the main products. At one time potatoes were raised
extensively, as well as dry beans. Jerry Conger bought potatoes and Alfred
Norberg dealt in dry beans.
Although New Era has grown somewhat in size, it boasted more businesses
then than it does now with the Van Dyke hotel and livery stable, three
grocery stores and a butcher shop, a barber shop, a harness shop, two
hardware stores, a millinery shop, a lumber yard, feed mill, creamery,
bank, canning factory, Heinz pickle factory, and a Dodge auto sales
operated by Francis Hesselsweet. Peter Norberg owned the blacksmith shop
where he did not only black smithing, but also woodworking and horse
shoeing. He gave some credit, but he tried to avoid it as much as possible
by placing a sign on the wall which stated
“Since man to man is so unjust, no man can tell which man to trust.
I’ve trusted many to my sorrow so pay today, I’ll trust tomorrow.”
The village had three churches - New Era Bible Church, The Christian
Reformed Church and the New Era Reformed Church. The last two had livery
stables, where parishioners could leave their horses while they were
worshiping. The same three churches currently have services in New
Era.
There were two passenger trains and one freight train daily. The depot
agent received his communication via telegraph. The waiting room was
heated by a pot bellied stove.
Almost every farmer had a flock of chickens, and they traded butter and
eggs for groceries. Two or three grocers operated what were called peddle
wagons. They toured the country regularly selling staple items to the area
residents. Ice cut in the winter from Lake Tahoe was used for
refrigeration. wood and coal were used for heat and windmills furnished
the water.
Large families were the norm rather than the exception. Most people were
able to pay their bills. How? Simple, they purchased only what they
needed, instead of what they wanted. Every boy and girl had a runner sled,
and most had ice skates. In early winter, when the ice was smooth and
before the snow was too deep, there would be many skaters on Lake Tahoe
(Smith’s Lake then) as well as Brown’s pond (Swanson’s then).
In retrospect, some of the changes for efficiency have had some adverse
results. The school children were employed to pick beans, cherries,
strawberries, and to pick up potatoes. Our schools had what was called
potato digging vacation for two weeks in October to help farmers harvest
their crop.
These years are frequently referred to as “the good old days”. Ask
people if they would like to return to them, and most of them would say,
emphatically, “NO!”
Submitted by Henry Postema with slight alterations
|
