• Sunday-What'sUP July 1 - 04:06 pm

For this week's Shoebox Memory we set the way-back machine to 1905, a little crossroads north of Iron Mountain and east of Crystal Falls known as Sagola. Mary Broadland (in the middle of the road with the flag over her head) is joined by eight of her friends to ride in the Fourth of July parade, rembering the Revolutionary War. That's the Sagola Lumber Company store in the background.

Near the beginning of the twentieth century, no doubt these folks still had fresh memories of the Spanish American War. If they could have seen the future, they would be facing two World Wars. On this quiet and peaceful Sunday morning, the first day of July '07 in the 21st century, it's hard to realize just how much conflict has been a part of human history. Freedom and independence is certainly something we can't take for granted.

Thanks to all who stopped by to say hello yesterday at PastyFest in Calumet. The journey we have enjoyed for over a decade of bringing this website has introduced us to thousands of new friends along the way, and we appreciate each one.

Have a good week :o)

The old bicycles remind me of some of today's bicycles.

Good morning from Mishawaka IN. How could the women ride in their dresses?

They used girls bikes.........

Even with girls bikes I would think that the skirt of the dress could get caught in the back wheel or at least get dirty.

The picture is great! Can you imagine how warm and uncomfortable the ladies were in those long dresses and undergarments?

My father is 94, he grew up in Sagola, and I have shown him other pictures, he started working in the grocery store in the background after he graduated in 1932.

I agree, NKR, those skirts would've presented a problem.....too bad they couldn't "peg" their skirts! Am I aging myself, or what? ;-)

Looks kind of bare out there then. No trees or bushes?

The photo is a gem!

Can you imagine the B.O. dressed like that all the time with their once a week baths or sauna's.......ouuuuuuueeeeee When is the last time you saw a man riding a bike in a suit...????

ahhhhhhhhhh the good ole days......Awesome picture, gotta love it!!

God Bless ya'll and have a great week....

I think the 5th lady over in the dark skirt is giving us her sexy look..........lol

OPPS.....6th lady

Speaking of war and peace, I've just added up the number of years the United States has been at war since 1776. It comes to 42 or 43, depending on how you count, out of 231 years in the nation's history (as of our collective birthday this Wednesday). That's a little over 18 percent of our entire history at war! Almost one-fifth of our history! Amazing.

The ladies were able to ride the bike because they would tie string back and forth from the front to the back of each side of the rear fender - sort of like a tennis raquet. This would stop the skirt from getting into the rear wheel. If you enlarge the photo you can barely see the string on one of the ladies' bikes. My mother had this on her old bike.