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this is Michigan Moments rediscovering
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the pioneering moments of the Great
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State in the early 1900s Standish
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Michigan was a crossroads of lumber rail
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industry the town grew from logging
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roots into a center of farming dairy and
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later oil each era marked by change but
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held together by strong civic
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identity main Street told the story
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businesses like Keller and Amsbury in a
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Hansen's hardware supplied everything
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from hand tools to horse tac locals did
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their banking at the brick-fronted state
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bank of Standish the building seen in
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old postcards stood as a symbol of
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stability until the depression forced it
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to close its doors like so many rural
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banks of the time the arrival of the
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Michigan Central Railroad in 1871
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transformed Standish by 1889 local
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farmers helped Tallstone to build a new
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depot a grand arched station that became
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the pride of the community it served as
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a link to Bay City Sagena and
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downstate today that same structure
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remains as the Stish Historic Depot and
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welcome center stish's economy expanded
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beyond timber farms on the outskirts
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raised beans wheat and dairy cattle
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these products were processed at
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facilities like the flower mill and bean
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elevator on the town's edge and the
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Michigan producers dairy company which
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stood near the water tower milk butter
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and cheese left daily by rail the town's
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social life grew too the UR theater
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showed films to packed crowds among them
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Three Loves as Nancy a romantic comedy
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next door Weaver's Gas Station sold
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high- test fuel for just 17 cents a
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gallon travelers along US23 might stop
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at the log cabin trading post or grab a
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meal at the summer trail in the 1930s
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oil rigs went up one postcard captures a
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dramatic gusher black crude rocketing
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skyward standish was part of Michigan's
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short but intense oil boom for a time
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petroleum joined beans and butter in
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supporting the town then came the floods
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in 1922 the Pine River overflowed
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washing out the local dam and damaging
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homes and farms it took time to recover
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but Standish held on today a few
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buildings remain most notably the old
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depot through old photos and quiet
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corners of town you can still sense the
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days when Main Street was unpaved the
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train whistle was the soundtrack of
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daily life and this small Michigan town
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straddled the line between forest and
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this has been Michigan Moments offering
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bite-sized morsels of Michigan history
