Frederick Soop & The Cass Avenue Hotel

Detroit Free Press, January 12, 1958

The Eisenlord House hotel was built and opened in 1861 by William
Eisenlord.

Detroit Free Press, December 30, 1885

It became the Windsor Hotel in December of 1885 when it
changed hands to John White and his lessee R. J. Wilson. By 1886 it had
been sold to E. C. Harvey & Son and was being billed as the Cass
Avenue Hotel.

Detroit Free Press, June 15, 1886

It went through two other owners before Frederick Soop
took proprietorship sometime around 1890-91 and held it until September
13, 1895 when he supposedly retired. The building sat vacant for close to
a decade before being purchased by a Kansas City firm which re-billed
it the Hotel Morgan.

Detroit Free Press, July 29, 1903

The Morgan was torn down in 1929 to widen Bagley
Avenue. One highlight from Soop's tenure was the hosting of jurors from
the Hull murder case in 1891.

I did find several adverts from the fall and winter of 1896 stating
that Soop and his sons were running the St. James Hotel in Cadillac
Square at Bates Street.

Detroit Free Press, October 21, 1896

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A Dudley Randall Poem in Milestone 2

I bought this Milestone 2 poetry Magazine at a Livonia estate sale this week. Milestone was the literary publication of Wayne (State) University and this second issue dates to 1949. While I don't recognize most of the names, Dudley Randall was both a nationally known poet and the librarian for the Wayne County General Hospital at Eloise via the Wayne County Library System. The poem featured is The Southern Road which was a revised version of the completed poem from 1948 that h as a handful or two of word differences between the two. I don't know if Randall edited the poem for later collected works editions or earlier but this link features it in its likely final form in 2009. Neither version particularly enchants me but the block print in the magazine is an added bonus.

A Cabinet Card of a Dead Man Lying in Repose From Wayne Photographer Susan Doolittle

The City of Wayne, Michigan was not a large village at the turn of the 20th century so it stands to reason that there wasn't a glut of photographers practicing their trade there. As such, the 3 cabinet cards and carte de visites that I own represents roughly a quarter of the early ones. Considering that the wives of Frank Hickok and William Corlett, first Village President of Wayne, took over after Frank's death in 1892 the list grows smaller beyond those two families. Had I snagged the Doolittle dead man cabinet card I'd be even that much more Wayne-rich in photographs. Speaking of Susan Doolittle, of whom I have learned very little about, it is interesting to note that Wayne had three women photographers in an era oft dominated by men in that very field. This photograph of a corpse is a startling example of her work.

Frederick Soop: Not An Equal Opportunity Restraunteer

Detroit Free Press , March 28, 1890 If you don't want to hear a racist tale of a suburban namesake then close your eyes now. As early as 1876 Frederick Soop had left his Belleville farm once again, having done a stint at the Hawkins House in Ypsilanti during the Civil War and the City Hotel in Detroit thereafter, and ventured off to Chatham, Ontario to run the Rutley Hotel , which was conducted as a Temperance House. Detroit Free Press , August 17, 1879 In 1879 he was searching for a good restaurant or small hotel to operate. Eventually he ended up on Washington Avenue near State Street running a dining hall which he ran until around 1890. Detroit Free Press , April 16, 1890 It was in 1888 when the aforementioned racial incident occurred at his dining establishment. It was then that William H. Haynes, a black doctor, sat down with his former classmate S. W. Barkwell for dinner. The men ordered but when the food was served none was placed before Mr. Haynes who, ironically, ha...

The Nankin Township Historical Society

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