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this is Michigan Moments rediscovering
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the pioneering moments of the Great
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State at sunrise on a summer day in 1912
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the village of KPAC Michigan stirred to
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life with the long familiar whistle of
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the Pair Marquette Flyer a daily event
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that brought passengers parcels and
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gossip from Detroit to the depot the
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town's wooden platform filled with
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farmers salesmen and children craning
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their necks toward the horizon across
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the road the Palmer House stood as a hub
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of local life this three-story brick
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hotel welcomed travelers with striped
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awnings an inviting porch and the quiet
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authority of a building that had seen it
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all by midm morning the streets echoed
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with the clatter of wagon wheels and the
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crackle of conversation but on Monday
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June 17th 1912 the town wasn't talking
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about trains or trade word had spread
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that the KPAC Bank had closed its doors
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a crowd began forming outside its main
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street location next to the hotel debert
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their voices rising with concern for
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years the KPAC Savings Bank founded in
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1898 had been a trusted institution but
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it had absorbed a failed private bank
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run by George and Fred Moore which
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collapsed just days earlier on June 12th
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the collapse was blamed on a string of
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bad loans tied to the lumber industry in
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the wake of its closure depositors
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panicked lines grew hands clutched bank
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books farmers merchants and homemakers
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demanded their savings it was a run on
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the bank into this crisis stepped
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Michigan State Treasurer Albert Sleeper
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he was visiting town and quickly rallied
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with local business leaders they raised
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the money needed to cover withdrawals
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and restore calm thanks to their efforts
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and the confidence of the community the
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run was stopped and the bank was saved
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meanwhile the work of the town rolled on
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down at the stockyards cattle were being
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herded into shoots beside the tracks the
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scent of manure mixed with the hiss of
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steam engines as livestock was loaded
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onto rail cars bound for Chicago kpack's
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economy was still firmly rooted in the
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land and in the rail that carried its
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goods away the Vanest Brothers Chory
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Mill roasted and packed its product a
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bitter root often blended into coffee at
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the edge of town the Kpack Paper Company
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processed Pete into pulp factories like
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these kept people employed and powered
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the town's modest growth on Main Street
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Lang brothers sold buggies and farm
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implements to a steady stream of
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customers a new filling station run by
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JW White's Mutual Oil Company stood with
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a single shell pump a symbol that the
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auto age was beginning to arrive one
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dusty tire at a time storefronts bore
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painted signs children peaked into
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windows and in the evening as lamps
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flickered on and trains departed west
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the day closed much as it began with
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hard work quiet pride and a strong sense
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of place kpack was a town in motion
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steady determined and in 1912 it proved
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that even in moments of uncertainty a
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community could hold together this has
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been Michigan Moments offering
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bite-sized morsels of Michigan history
