At today's gather of lunch gang members, ManCave and OM show their excitement about this weekend's beer tent festival out in depot station. For those of you who have little to no knowledge of depot town read below. OM gave a very graphic description of time in the outhouse while on his Canadian fishing trip. The mosquitoes were so big; they lifted you off the seat while pinching-the-duce. He also stated to the group he and some friends are headed up to Indian River for a dad's weekend (aka: boat, booze, 60 ring cigars, etc…did OM win the lottery and not tell us?).
ManCave on the other hand is into real estate dealings with Barber Rich; Trying to pimp some property for a haircut. Must stay, ManCave’s cut this week is pretty good "Semper Fi" like (The Marine Corps adopted Semper Fidelis as its official motto in 1883 (Semper Fidelis is also the title of the official musical March of the Marine Corps). Translated from Latin, Semper Fidelis means "Always Faithful." The U.S. Marines use an abbreviated verbal version, "Semper Fi," to voice loyalty and commitment to their Marine comrades-in-arms). Barber Rich’s property in the great North Country he has to get rid of it very soon. I think ManCave could get us a good price for this 10 acre estate and could be a place of interest to "the lunch gang" for offsite meetings of the "Circle-of-Trust". Noticeably missing today is Bago and The Professor. Must be chowing down with their other group of friends and leaving the Lunch Gang sitting in the cold. Very Nice guys; very nice.
Watch the channel 9 news for more reports on this…very shocking story about O-Canada (the Viking boat captain). She’d been stopped at the bridge for trying to smuggle OM's Pashto in. "Mr. Sausage" will be part of a renaming ceremony at today’s press conference the Lunch Gang will be holding @ 11:30 am to officially announcing a members name change. "Mr. Sausage" is now Picky Skywalker. Also, it has been brought to the attention of the group by OM there's a new character to be added to the list: Trowel Dropper. That's right, Trowel Dropper. Apparently according to OMs observations, this guy drops trowel all the way to the floor while taking a dump (what is he, 5 years old?) That's all I'm going to say about that.
Depot Town history (http://www.depottown.org/)
long before the depot, there was the River: Native Americans congregate where the Great Sauk Trail crosses the River in what is now Riverside Park.
long before the depot, there was the River: Native Americans congregate where the Great Sauk Trail crosses the River in what is now Riverside Park.
1680: French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle, cuts across the lower peninsula from Lake Michigan to Detroit, entering the River near today’s village of Dexter, passing through this region, to a position just downstream of Belleville. They continued to Detroit by land.
1809: Three Frenchmen, Gabriel Godfroy, Francois Pepin and Romaine La Chambre, establish a trading post, “Godfroy’s on the Pottawatomie Trail,” on the site of the present Edison (DTE/Riverside Arts Center) Building.
1823: Benjamin Woodruff, William Eiclor, Oronte Grant, and Hiram Tuttle, arrive at Monroe, establish Woodruff’s Grove (Ford Lake at Grove Road). They are joined by David Stiles, Willard and George Hall, and Captain Fair. John Bryan and his wife arrive from Detroit by ox team, presumably the first ox team and wagon to follow what will be called the great Chicago Road. The Bryans’ newborn son is recognized as the first white person born in Washtenaw County.
1825: Father Gabriel Richard surveys and opens the road from Detroit to Chicago to aid influx of settlers expected from New York’s Erie Canal. Woodruff’s Grove pioneers move settlement a mile upstream to the Great Sauk Trail/Chicago Road (Michigan Avenue). Judge Augustus Woodward, John Stewart, and William H. Harwood design new village to be named for Greek Civil War hero, General Demetrius Ypsilantis.
1834: Mark Norris and Daniel Cross design first addition to the village establishing the East Side as far north as Forest Avenue.
February 8, 1838: First train arrives from Detroit on the “Central Road.” 53 nineteenth century mills are established along the Huron River between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. Mill owners’ stylish and stately mansions arise along Huron and River Streets.
1850s: Wooden depot is demolished to allow tracks to continue to The West. Commercial district develops around new MCRR depot. Depot district becomes staging point for Michigan militias in the Civil War. Hotels, lodge halls, groceries, taverns and other small businesses serve the local workingman’s community for one hundred years.
1950s: Railroad traffic declines with the end of World War II. Neighborhood goes into steady decline as Interstate highways and shopping malls spread the population to suburbia.
1976: Local merchants and residents organize the Depot Town Association to create a plan to renovate, restore, and repair the old commercial district. Promotions, street festivals, and parades help to revitalize the commercial district. Association incorporates, and establishes nonprofit status.
2007: The Depot Town Association incorporates its 501 (c) (3) nonprofit status into a Community Development Corporation (CDC) with the mandate to raise private and public funds for economic development, housing, parks and recreation for Depot Town and the City of Ypsilanti.
