Circa 1880’s image of Alexander C. Richards. Photo Courtesy Anthony Perkins
Alexander Richards was born on September 26, 1844 in Quebec, Canada to Lambert and Serafine (Serois) Richards, Alex was the eldest in a sibling group of eight children. Little is known about his early life in Canada. He immigrated to Michigan in 1866 at age 22 and resided at Fayette where he operated a butcher shop. Richards married Roxanna Knapp in Delta County on January 2, 1869 and seven children were born from this union.
The family lived in Garden, Michigan for a time, but moved to Manistique in 1876. While living in Manistique the family resided in a large home on the corner of Cedar and Walnut Street, which was the future site of the A. S. Putnam drug store. Eight people lived in the home, including a servant. The servant was a necessity, as Richards’ wife Roxanne had gone blind. Richards was very kind to all his children, and only reprimanded them when they moved items in the home which made it difficult for Roxanne to move around and find things. He had a playhouse built for his daughters in the back yard complete with a toy cook stove.
During the late 1870’s and early 80’s Richards drove the stage daily from Manistique to Garden and also delivered the mail. In addition, he owned an ice cream shop and a livery stable on Pearl Street. Imagine owning an ice cream shop in the days before refrigeration and what a special treat that must have been in the pioneer village.
The above is a rare image of Pearl Street and the Flat Iron Block from the mid 1880’s. Richards’ Ice Cream shop is pictured on the left. The building in the center is the Keystone Saloon. Photo courtesy of Anthony Perkins.
Richards was one of the few individuals who had title to property in the pioneer village. He did not share the prejudices of the stockholders of the Chicago Lumbering Company who owned nearly all the land in Manistique. The lumbermen were strong believers in temperance and sought to keep the town free of saloons. The deeds to all the property owned by the lumber company prohibited use of their land for the sale of alcohol, to wit:
“It is understood and agreed between the respective parties hereto that all lands herein mentioned shall never be used by the party of the second part, its successors or assigns, for the business of manufacturing, storing or selling intoxicating liquors, whether distilled or fermented, nor for a house or place of prostitution or assignation, nor for any business or occupation prohibited or punished by the law of the land.”
When Dan Heffron and his brother Dennis were seeking property on which to build a saloon, Alexander Richards obliged. The Heffron brother’s Arcade Saloon soon stood at the busy intersection of Pearl and Water Streets ready to serve thirsty workers going to and from the Chicago Lumbering Company sawmill. All the lumber company’s efforts to keep Manistique a “dry” community had been thwarted by one man, Alexander Richards.
The Arcade Saloon owned by the Heffron brothers stood at the corner of Pearl and Water Streets on the Flat Iron Block.
The Richards family lost three of their seven children while living in Manistique. A daughter Mary died in infancy in April of 1877. Twenty-one month old Anna died in March of 1881 and four year old Mary (the second child bearing that name) succumbed from small pox in June of 1882. One year later, in 1883, Alex Richards moved his family from their home on Cedar Street to a farm east of Manistique in the Wood’s District. His nine year old daughter Ellen remembered feeling sad about leaving the home where she had enjoyed so many happy times, but the move to the farm allowed their father to spend much more time at home with his wife and children. Fear of losing more children to contagious diseases such as small pox and scarlet fever may also have been a factor.
Richards passed away on October 18, 1893 at the age of 49. The cause of his illness had baffled the doctors attending him. His funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Manistique with hundreds of citizens joining the procession to Lakeview Cemetery. The Pioneer reported that nearly every livery rig in the city had been pressed into service for the solemn procession.
Richard’s daughter, Ellen (Richards) Burns wrote in 1960 that “regardless of the seeming faults of my dad, he did many kind deeds for children and for many who had trouble, but he never allowed anyone he helped to talk about it. I have always been very proud of my father, Alex Richards, and God Bless him. I know he is resting in peace.”