I spent a lot of my younger years in this building at 137 E. Bridge Street
in downtown Plainwell. It's the former home of the Rideau Workroom and more
recently, a motorcycle repair shop. But its first use, and for nearly 20 years
it was home to Ace Engravers, Inc., my family's business.
A flood of memories came rushing back to me when a man
approached the Plainwell Planning Commission, of which I am a member, and
presented a new request to use the building. As we discussed his application I
realized that while I have a very large collection of old photos of Plainwell,
I didn't have one of this building. But, thanks to local historian Sandy Stamm,
I now have this one. The photo shows the new building at 137 E. Bridge St.
My grandfather had been involved in the graphic arts since
his youth when he went to work for Gage Printing Company in Battle Creek . Later, he worked for
photoengraving companies in Detroit and Kalamazoo . Both of his
sons, Bill (who was killed in World War II) and my dad, Bob, worked with
him at Crescent Engraving in Kalamazoo .
He later became manager of Artcraft Engraving in Kalamazoo , and my mother went to work in the
office there.
By the early '50's, my grandfather and my dad decided to
start their own company, and Ace Engravers was born. At first it was located in
a large, old building on the south side of E. Bridge St. in Plainwell... a building
which was razed to make way for construction of a new bank building at the
corner of E. Bridge and S. Anderson . I can
almost remember the old building. Faced with the need to make way for new
construction, Ace moved into a new building across the street, built for them
by Bob Gray, owner of Gray Electric, who would remain their landlord for nearly
two decades.
I'll have more about time I spent in this building in a
later post.
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