Monday, September 15, 2014

{genealogy} 301 N. Shiawassee St, Corunna, Michigan

My great-grandparents, Earl and Grace Durham, were both pharmacists.  They operated a drugstore in Corunna, Michigan.  Earl began working there circa 1908 as an entry level employee, and then gradually worked up to partner and then operator.  I am not sure if the Durhams ended up owning the building.  I also have a letter from Grace's grandmother, written in 1906, indicating that she owns a building in Corunna and that she understands it is being converted into a drugstore, a change she approves.  Is this her building?

I have this photo, which I am just guessing was taken in the 1930s.



And the same building in 2013, courtesy of Google Earth:


To find it on Google Earth, first I had to figure out the address.  I found an old city directory that contained this entry:


Which is how I found the address of 301 N. Shiawassee.  And evidently he drove a Pontiac.  For some reason everyone's name was followed by a make of car.  Weird.  First time I've seen that in a city directory.

Some time ago I bought a Corunna city history on ebay, and I lucked out and found this photo of the interior of the drugstore.  The photo wasn't labeled, but I recognize my great-grandparents' faces.  Earl is behind the counter on the left, and Grace is behind the counter on the right.  Earl served as mayor for a few years, so it makes sense that the city would have taken pictures of him (though it could also be a coincidence and they happened to want a picture of the drugstore for historical purposes).



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