Sometime in 1929 the company went bankrupt and the Arborphone brand was done. Occasionally one sees a reference to a fire which burned the factory a few years later on January 5, 1931. I visited the Bentley Library in Ann Arbor to inspect the old fire department log books to see if anything interesting was logged about this fire.
The Ann Arbor fire department had three calls that day. The Arborphone factory (Wildt & W. Summit) fire call was at 7:10pm. The log states the owner of the building was M Frisk Estate (or close to this, it was a bit difficult to read the hand writing) and the occupant to be Mr. Vershor (spelled as in the log) of CAVAC Consolidated Radio. The facility was described as a single story brick factory building and the fire was extinguished in the spray booth.
Engine #5 was on the scene for 1 hour and Engine #2 was on the scene for 3 hours. 2700 feet of hose divided between 5 lines feed by a 40 gallon tank were used to fight the fire. The building was valued at $25,000 and insured for $10,000. The contents were valued at $45,000 and insured for $20,000. There is a comment that says “Mistake 2nd to Beaks St”. Not sure what that means. Maybe the fire department got lost on the way.
There is a photograph of the Arborphone factory building in the April 3, 1953 edition of the Ann Arbor News . The photo was taken around 1910 when the building was an automobile factory.
The Ann Arbor fire department had three calls that day. The Arborphone factory (Wildt & W. Summit) fire call was at 7:10pm. The log states the owner of the building was M Frisk Estate (or close to this, it was a bit difficult to read the hand writing) and the occupant to be Mr. Vershor (spelled as in the log) of CAVAC Consolidated Radio. The facility was described as a single story brick factory building and the fire was extinguished in the spray booth.
Engine #5 was on the scene for 1 hour and Engine #2 was on the scene for 3 hours. 2700 feet of hose divided between 5 lines feed by a 40 gallon tank were used to fight the fire. The building was valued at $25,000 and insured for $10,000. The contents were valued at $45,000 and insured for $20,000. There is a comment that says “Mistake 2nd to Beaks St”. Not sure what that means. Maybe the fire department got lost on the way.
There is a photograph of the Arborphone factory building in the April 3, 1953 edition of the Ann Arbor News . The photo was taken around 1910 when the building was an automobile factory.
The top photo shows a factory building with a marque on the roof line of “Machine Specialty Co.” and a sign on a fence that says “Home of Precision Products”. When I first saw this photo I thought it might be the factory that burned in 1931. But this building still exists in a dilapidated condition at 1200 N. Main St in Ann Arbor, about ½ mile from the Wildt and Summit intersection. The railroad tracks are still there and that is Argo pond in the background. It would be impossible to photograph this building from the same location today because of the tree growth on the bluff to the west of Main St.
The photo of the buildings rear was taken from about the spot where the front of the locomotive is in the older photo. As you can see the chimney is still standing and the lean to is still there as well. The front of the building has been modified with a façade hiding the roof gables. The alarm bell is still on the front of the building. Someone, a Steve Jobs fan most likely, painted “Thank You Steve” on the boarded up left window.
The photo of the buildings rear was taken from about the spot where the front of the locomotive is in the older photo. As you can see the chimney is still standing and the lean to is still there as well. The front of the building has been modified with a façade hiding the roof gables. The alarm bell is still on the front of the building. Someone, a Steve Jobs fan most likely, painted “Thank You Steve” on the boarded up left window.
