Fun family history Find...Location Questions

**Wintersmommy** · February-12-12, 08:16 PM

So at my moms house tonight I had ants in my pants and decided to clean like a mad woman..this led to polishing 100 year old silver trophy's that belonged to my fathers family. I grew up with these in the house but never paid much attention, until tonight. Turns out one of them is from Detroit [[my fathers family was from Toledo area) and I have had a bit of fun with looking up the details tonight. But some questions remain

the Trophy has 2 sides.
Side A has the following inscribed

Burns Hotel
International Inanimate
Target Trophy
[[image of man shooting)
Jack Parker
Won By
John S.Schmidutz [[my fathers relative)
25 Straigaht
April 27th 1911

Side B

Donated By
J.D.Burns
and
A. Jas, Singelyn
Detroit MICH
1911

On the bottom its stamped Traub bros. 110 Woodward Ave Detroit

Now looking up Traub Bros. I came across this wonderful image
http://www.encore-editions.com/detro...aub-bros-store
its my understanding that the Traub bros jewelry store became, Grand Trunks ticket office and is now Foran's...unless I am wrong about the address? Was the Foran's location [[612 Woodward) once 110 Woodward? or did the Traub bros store also have a seperate location?

I came across this info for the Burns hotel which explains the 2 names on the Trophy [[sorry dont know how to make these links smaller)
http://books.google.com/books?id=2i3...etroit&f=false

Does anyone know how i can find more information about an International inanimate Target competition in 1911? I am coming up with a big fat zero on google..

Wondering how Jack Parker fits into all this as well...was the trophy in honor of him? was he a Detroit figure?

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**jcole** · February-12-12, 08:55 PM

Here is a link to a newspaper from 1902 that discusses the Jack Parker shooting event in Detroit. It's not much but it's a start:
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL4003019.pdf

**jcole** · February-12-12, 09:01 PM

I found three entries in "The Sporting Life" paper from 1902, 1898 and 1896 mentioning Jack Parker's shoots in Detroit. Apparently at the time, trap shooting, bird shooting and target shooting were quite the gentleman's sports around the country
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL3015021.pdf
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL2722020.pdf

**Wintersmommy** · February-12-12, 09:23 PM

Thats a start! wonder if it was called the sporting life something or other..off to google i go

**Wintersmommy** · February-12-12, 09:27 PM

OMG I Found it !!!! Thanks JCole

here is the article from when he won the trophy !!
http://www.la84foundation.org/Sports.../SL5710030.PDF

1st column near bottom

**jcole** · February-12-12, 09:56 PM

That is so cool that you found that. I'm glad I could help in some small way

**Wintersmommy** · February-12-12, 10:04 PM

Now does anyone know about the Traub Bros. address?

**jcole** · February-12-12, 10:37 PM

110 Woodward would have been what is now 550 Woodward which is part of the Comerica Tower.

**jcole** · February-12-12, 10:50 PM

According to the 1908 Book of Detroiters, Traub Bros Jewelers was at 118 Woodward and the 1914 version has them at 110.
118 would now be 612 Woodward and that would be Foran's

**Eastburn** · February-13-12, 08:52 AM

The amazing JC!

**Wintersmommy** · February-13-12, 11:33 AM

Thank you for the address info..i will try to find that online next!

**gazhekwe** · February-13-12, 01:16 PM

Interesting info. There was a big Tournament, one of the biggest shooting events of the year [[1892), held on Des-Chree-Shos-Ka Island at the mouth of the Detroit River. The well known Jack Parker of Detroit was in charge.

Now I have questions. Is that island still there, and if so, does anything go on there? What is it called these days?

**Downtown Lady** · February-13-12, 02:06 PM

Originally Posted by gazhekwe

Interesting info. There was a big Tournament, one of the biggest shooting events of the year [[1892), held on Des-Chree-Shos-Ka Island at the mouth of the Detroit River. The well known Jack Parker of Detroit was in charge. Now I have questions. Is that island still there, and if so, does anything go on there? What is it called these days?

This is what I found:

In the early [eighteen]nineties there was open for a few seasons a summer resort on Fighting Island, a few miles further down the river, under the name of "Des-chree-shos-ka," an Indian term meaning "a place to catch good fish." A large casino was built for the summer trade and for a few seasons the resort was well patronized. The ferry company ran a line of boats to the island until the place was closed.

http://www.archive.org/stream/ontari...auoft_djvu.txt

Fighting Island is the largest Canadian island in the Detroit River, and is opposite Wyandotte.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Island

Owned by BASF Corporation, Fighting Island has been recognized by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity as a success story as the island is being revitalized to become a Wildlife Reserve in the midst of a heavy industrial geographic area. BASF Corporation has actively promoted this project since the mid-1970s.

http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/fighting_island/

**Mikeg** · February-13-12, 02:31 PM

Click here to view the Traub Bros. ad that appeared in the jewelers advertising section of the 1911 Detroit City Directory.

"No Fancy Prices"

**Ray1936** · February-13-12, 04:22 PM

Great thread! Ain't things like this fun?

**Mikeg** · February-13-12, 05:37 PM

Wintersmommy, I checked Shorpy.com for that interior photo of the Traub Bros. but it has not been posted there. So I then went to the Detroit Publishing Co. portion of the Library of Congress web site and downloaded the TIFF file of that image, cleaned it up, and saved it as a high-resolution JPG file, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Look closely at the items on the upper right display case.

**Wintersmommy** · February-13-12, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

Click here to view the Traub Bros. ad that appeared in the jewelers advertising section of the 1911 Detroit City Directory.

"No Fancy Prices"

How fun! Thank you for this

**Wintersmommy** · February-13-12, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by Mikeg

Wintersmommy, I checked Shorpy.com for that interior photo of the Traub Bros. but it has not been posted there. So I then went to the Detroit Publishing Co. portion of the Library of Congress web site and downloaded the TIFF file of that image, cleaned it up, and saved it as a high-resolution JPG file, which can be viewed by clicking here.

Look closely at the items on the upper right display case.

Holy hell that could be it, but i suspect it could also be the one on the far right bottom shelf. the top embelishment looks similar !! wow, just wow thank you so very much Mikeg..

**Wintersmommy** · February-13-12, 06:02 PM

Originally Posted by Ray1936

Great thread! Ain't things like this fun?

this has been super fun for me! and successful beyond my imagination.

**Mikeg** · February-13-12, 06:45 PM

Originally Posted by Wintersmommy

Holy hell that could be it, but i suspect it could also be the one on the far right bottom shelf. the top embelishment looks similar !! wow, just wow thank you so very much Mikeg..

Here is the LoC page for that image, which indicates it was taken sometime between 1900 and 1905.

**Mikeg** · February-13-12, 07:16 PM

This Shorpy.com panorama of three Detroit Photographic Co. photos taken in 1907 includes the exterior of the Traub Bros. at the far right of the image.

**gnome** · February-13-12, 07:35 PM

What a great thread, thank you everyone.

However, I have a couple of questions about the location of Traub and Co.; in that interior shot, I noticed a window rather high up on the right wall. That would suggest that Traub & Co. were located in a building on the end of a block and not sandwiched between a couple of other buildings.

Here is a pic from 1916, if Traub was indeed next to the Misfits store, how do we account for that window. Also, it looks like a little rehab is going on: ... ?

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9674?size=_original

**Patrick** · February-13-12, 07:52 PM

One of the Traub brothers lived at John R and Arden Park ina home designed by Hans Gehrke before moving to Bloomfield, to a Pewabic-filledmanse.

**Mikeg** · February-13-12, 10:51 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

What a great thread, thank you everyone.

However, I have a couple of questions about the location of Traub and Co.; in that interior shot, I noticed a window rather high up on the right wall. That would suggest that Traub & Co. were located in a building on the end of a block and not sandwiched between a couple of other buildings.

Here is a pic from 1916, if Traub was indeed next to the Misfits store, how do we account for that window. Also, it looks like a little rehab is going on: ... ?

http://www.shorpy.com/node/9674?size=_original

Foran's Irish Pub has this history page on their web site which includes the same interior photo with that window on the upper right near the stairs to the balcony, so there must have been some sort of ventilation/lighting shaft between the buildings at 118 and 116 Woodward.

After searching the Detroit City Directories from 1900 through 1917, here are the dates and occupants for the addresses occupied over time by the Traub Bros. businesses along Woodward:

118 [[612) Woodward [[just south of Misfits Clothing)
1900-1909 Traub Bros & Mich. Plating
1910 [[vacant)
1911-1917 Grand Trunk Western ticket office [[was at 124 Woodward)

110 [[550) Woodward [[southeast corner of Congress)
1900-1909 Brown Drugs
1910-1915 Traub Bros. & Michigan Plating
1916-1917 Central Drugs

205 [[1281) Woodward [[southwest corner Grand River)
1916-1917 Traub Bros. [[was previously a branch office)

864-878 [[4602-4624) Woodward [[near Garfield)
1916-1917 Traub Bros. Mfg. [[most likely their plating operations)

Here is their ad from the 1913 Detroit City Directory. Note that this ad actually shows a photo of their store at 110 Woodward. Even though they had already moved from the 118 address to 110, their 1911 ad still included a drawing of their previous building's exterior with only the address number at the top having been changed.

The 1916 Shorpy photo captures a portion of 110 Woodward at the far right edge [[it matches the exterior of the building in the 1913 ad). However, because of the scaffolding out in front of 118 Woodward, I suspect that the 1916 Shorpy photo was actually taken in 1910 while it was being renovated for the GTW ticket office [[the Foran's Pub history page mentions that the first two floors were gutted and the ceiling was raised). A similar dating problem exists with this alleged 1912 photo on Shorpy, which was probably taken in 1909 or early 1910 after it was vacated but before renovations began [[that's because Misfit first shows up at 120 Woodward in 1909).

**gnome** · February-14-12, 12:06 PM

I think I've found a pic of interest.

not sure if everyone can see it so here is the url fro Virtual Motor City
http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...tart=;resnum=2

-----

Mikeg, interesting theroy on the light well, and not that I don't believe you, I'm just needing some more proof. In looking at a Detroit rooftop pic from shorpy, I'm seeing a lot of skylights but not light wells ...
http://www.shorpy.com/node/10983?size=_original