Those were the days, my friend...

Old Time Curlers at The Rookery

When two or more curlers gather for a friendly chat, sooner or later the conversation will be directed to a discussion of certain characters that frolicked on our ice in the days of yore.  As a friendly warning to the current membership, be careful of what you say and do because in another fifty years or more, you may be discussed in the same way.

And so, let’s talk about some of the old boys.  As starters we can consider John and Horace Dodge fresh out of Niles, Michigan, who were making more money that they could spend.  Their idea of a fun evening was to wreck the Ponchatrain bar and then cheerfully pay for the damages the following day.  In all fairness you couldn’t call them the “good guys with white hats” in those days. 

Another favorite haunt of the Brothers Dodge was our own hallowed halls.  A well authenticated story has it that one night, following a close game and while they were relaxing as curlers have always done, one of the brothers decided we should have a new club house.  This seemed like a good idea and so after another hour or so of elbow bending, one of the Dodges took out his ever ready check book and wrote one payable to The Detroit Curling Club in the tidy amount of $50,000.00.  The story should have ended there but it did not.  One outsider in the group – not a Dodge – took the check in hand and after the rink had called it a night, tore same up, probably figuring that brother Dodge had not known just what he was doing and would probably have stopped payment in the clear light of the following day.  This particular boy scout has never been identified, which is just as well, because he no doubt would be remembered today in infamy.  A few days after this incident, the writer of this check dropped dead.  In the light of subsequent events, would the Dodge estate have ever missed this one little item?

The above story is from the unpublished writings of John W. Taylor (Past President 1942-43).  It is printed here for the first time. 

Lang may ur’ lum reek,  Angus

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Where to Curl in Detroit

That depends upon when you lived in or around Detroit…

1832 –   Pine Lake & Orchard Lake:  Orchard Lake Curling Club (wooden ‘stones’)

1843 –   Detroit River:  Detroit Curling Club (iron ‘stones’)
1845 – Milwaukee Junction (near East Grand Blvd & St. Aubin):  Detroit & Milwaukee Railway   employees
1864 –   Woodward Avenue Skating Rink: Granite & Thistle Curling Clubs (iron ‘stones’)
1868 –   Woodward Skating Rink:  Granite CC (covered building)
1868 –   Jefferson Avenue Skating Park: Thistle CC (granite stones from Waterloo, Ont. replaced irons)
1870 –   Woodward Skating Rink hosted The Western National Curling Tournament:  Milwaukee City Club,     Buffalo Queen City Club, Detroit Thistle CC, Buffalo Caledonia CC, Orchard Lake CC, Detroit Granite CC,   Cleveland CC, and Hamilton CC.
1875 –   Peninsular Cricket Club (Woodward Ave original site of the Detroit Athletic Club):  Granite CC (covered building 160 x 35 feet)
1884 –   Detroit Zoo (Michigan Ave. Corktown):  Granite CC, Thistle CC
1885 -    The Granite Rink:  Granite CC
1887 –   Detroit Athletic Club (Woodward Ave.):  Detroit Curling Club
1888 –   Forest & Gold:  Detroit CC
1895 -    Forest & Fourth Ave:  Detroit CC
1898 –   Belle Isle:  Detroit CC (International Bonspiel)
1898 -    Pontiac (not sure where):  Pontiac Curling Club formed
1902 -    Detroit East Woodbridge St:  Detroit Racquet & Curling Club
1916 -    Grosse Pointe at the home of Horace E. Dodge on Lake St. Clair:   Detroit CC
1941 -    Ann Arbor (U of M Coliseum Ice Arena):  University of Michigan
1958 -    East Lansing:  Michigan State University (42 DCC members attended)
1970s – Birmingham Skating Rink:  Birmingham CC
1970s – Southfield (Beechwood Ice Arena):  unknown if a club existed
1980s – West Bloomfield (Drake Rd.):  Detroit CC
1980s -  Jackson:  Cascades CC
Present – Ferndale:  Detroit CC
Outside the greater Detroit area curling clubs have been or still are in:
                Toledo, Lansing, Flint, Midland, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lewiston, Sault Ste. Marie, Port Huron

Can you name another place or two?  Please send us a message.

2013 Men's International Bonspiel

The Bonspiel is ON

“FOURTEEN CLUBS REPRESENTED IN THE COMPETITION”

The Detroit Free Press January 7, 1897

“Unfavorable weather caused the committee of the Detroit Curling Club to advise several of the teams entered in the Bonspiel not to come, but a change in the atmosphere occurred just in time to bring the near-by teams here for the opening.  The Club held off until Tuesday morning before being certain of ice, and then it was too late to reach some of the teams in time to bring them on, yet fourteen are on hand and the play will continue through two more days at the rink on Forest Avenue.

“The ice was made under difficulties and had to be built almost sheet by sheet.  There was not time to flood the place and be sure of its freezing; hence on the opening yesterday the surface was not as smooth as is desired.  The cold of last night, however, allowed the flooding of the rink, and the ice will be all that can be asked when the merry Scots assemble this morning.

“The Bonspiel is the greatest ever undertaken by a club.  The prizes are the finest and attracted some of the best curlers in the United States and Canada.  The curling began late yesterday morning and continued throughout the day.

“Windsor and Grand Rapids have new clubs and the games between the rinks representing them were interesting.  The Windsor club is but two weeks old, and the victory over Grand Rapids will materially help the organizers. 

“There was not only good curling but plenty of fun watching and hearing the curlers.  The play will resume this morning and continue all day.  The rink is located on Forest Avenue, between Sixth and Seventh streets.”

Ed Note:  The drawing above appeared in the Free Press with the article.  It is the only image of the inside the original Detroit Skating & Curling Club that we have seen from the 1800’s.

Good Curling, Angus MacTavish