Water Power at the Mill – 1878

Water Power at the Mill – 1878

By Denis LeDuc In the early 1800s much of Macomb County was thickly forested wilderness; but by the 1840s, what had been the frontier, was yielding to the axe, plough, and the relentless push of the pioneers westward. Log cabins were giving way to more comfortable...
Alan J. Groesbeck

Alan J. Groesbeck

The more things change, the more things stay the same. Before the 1920s, most Michigan roads were nothing more than dirt and gravel. Even new roads back then soon became near impassable in the spring due to rain and cold weather damage. Again, the more things change,...
Riding the Rails – 1912

Riding the Rails – 1912

(from the Spring, 2016 issue of Macomb Now Magazine) By Denis LeDuc For me there are a lot of things that just can’t be duplicated. Many of them are from my childhood, my Great Aunt Katie is one. Around her, my brother and I definitely sat up straight, elbows off the...
The Interurban Rail – 1901

The Interurban Rail – 1901

(from the Summer, 2017 issue of Macomb Now Magazine) By Denis LeDuc As a very young boy growing up in the 1950s, I was close to my grandparents. They lived in the flat above my parents and my older brother and I in our two-story house on Balfour Street in Detroit....