A Corner Landmark on
Huron and North Fourth

THE HAMILTON BLOCK FROM HURON AND MAIN STREETS WITH THE FIREHOUSE IN THE BACKGROUND, CA. 1910


THE POSTAL TELEGRAPH CABLE CO., CA. 1890

THE CORNWELL BUILDING, EARLY 1930s
The Hamilton Block, later known as the Cornwell Building, was built in 1882 across from the Cook House Hotel. The first floor housed the Postal Telegraph Cable Co. in the 1890s, a bowling alley for a time, and later the Cornwell Coal Co. When Register Publishing Co. occupied space, it claimed to employ "more hands than all other printing establishments in Ann Arbor combined." Joe Parker opened a popular cafe there during Prohibition. For many years the third floor was a drill hall for Company A of the Michigan National Guard. It later housed an I.O.O.F. temple and a Greek Orthodox church. The building was torn down to make way for a gas station in 1936.


A FIRE DEPARTMENT HOOK-AND-LADDER PASSES THE COURTHOUSE AND THE HAMILTON BLOCK IN A PARADE ON EAST HURON ST. ABOUT 1910. CONSTRUCTED IN THE SAME YEAR AS THE HAMILTON BLOCK, THE FIREHOUSE NOW IS HOME TO THE ANN ARBOR HANDS-ON MUSEUM.

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SPONSORED BY CORNWELL POOL & PATIO
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE BENTLEY HISTORICAL LIBRARY

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