Alger House Celebrates 75Th Anniversary
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".. c $4' S q I' Grosse Pointe ews VOL 46-No 38 Grosse Pointe, MIchIgan, Thursday, September 19, 1985 30 cents ;(flit information " . Alger House celebrates 75th anniversary By Nancy Parmenter mversary 01 the Hallan Renais- time to conductmg VI.'>Jtorsthrough mto rooms trom other rooms We area, keepmg a propnetary eye on Ghostly footsteps In the old Alger sance Villa, which for 20 years the Alger Hou.'>e They WIll be out m have many groues who like to take a gOings-on at the house house, The Moorings, are by now echoed to the shenamgans of three force - and III penod costume - tour when they're here for some Josephme mhenled her mother s covered up by the hvely flesh-and- Alger chtldren and the more digm tor the Sept 22 dcllvltle.'> other function like lunch" love of gardenmg In later yeal s, blood tramping of the VIsItors to fled soclahzmg of theIr elders The "We ha\ e ~o maIn actlvltIe~ at What the docents have to sho\', IS convlllced that The :Yloormgs' 2,000 annual events at today's Al- annual fall open house at the War the War Memonallhat It's hard to a house furnished with donatIOn.'> gardeIl~ \l, eren 't up to snuff, she ger House, the heart of the Grosse Memonal this Sunday Will celebrate !>queeLe III tours," explallls Irene trom the commumty Almo!>t noth- made frequent trIpS to the back POinte War Memonal Wire fire the home's diamond Jubilee Blatchford, chaIrman of the do- mg tram the Alger family remalll!>, yard carrymg III loads of manure But thIS year mark:, the 75th an- Two park pollee offIcers were A corps of 28 docents dondtes cent.'> ~ometlme::. we hdve to peek but Gro::.se Pam tel'S have been ge III her Holls Royce on patrol recently when they nerous wIth 16th century che::.ts The famIly partie.':> entertained started smellIng smoke desk:, and tapestnes For lovers 01 !>ome of the great names of the da} InSIde theIr car European antlque!>, the tour IS d The Joys vli:ated lhere, a.':>did the H seems a "radIO SIren pleasure Wnghts Russell Alger. son of a ;\IJ modular head" m the dashboard A histOrIan m sedrch ot trace!> of chlgan governor and bnefly pre short-CircUited, causing lots of tile A/gel:> Cdll ue d Ull II UMIdtea :>Iuelll 01 Packard !\lotor, look a damage to the wmng In the None of the Alger famll} remalll In grea t mterest III aVIatIOn and fle\\ dashboard of theIr 1985 the area, Blatchford believes Mo::.t dt Kitty Hawk \\ Ith the Wnghts Chevrolet of their furmture, books, photo- "He dIed rather young," Blatch- SIllce they were close to home, graphs and memorabilia have gone ford mused (He dIed at 58) She they parked hastIly near the CI- WIth them Records, as the house outlived hIm 1)\ 32 veal'S But after ty's fire station and let the skipped from the family to the art he dIed, she didn t'want to stav III smoke eaters put the inSide out mstltute to the library to the \Val the house" - It's not much of a story, but Memonal, are fragmented The Algers en]o}ed furlll"hlng then It wasn't much Df a fire A VISitor IS tantaliLed by the their home In the grdnd tradItIOn gleammg bra!>s andirons 10 the gl at old Gros!>e POlllte, the} \\ ent to Jose can u c? ganhc "walk-In" f1l'eplace In the Europe looklllg fOJ decoratl\ e arts It was a dream come true for hbrary Although there are no rec- and found a whole room The DaVid Carroll, of Whittier Road ords to prove It, Blatchford !>ay!> billiard room IS an old English pub, A performer WIth Grosse POlllte she IS prelly certam they belonged \\ Ith solid \\ood panelin~, \\lde Theatre and the Judelalfes, Dave to the family board floors, and \\ mdo\\::. !>etdeep has had one all-consuming pas- "We found them out 10 the Cdr- In a three-foot Ihlck \\ all sIOn and goal for the last three rIage house m a pile of debns," .'>he Blatchford debunked the legend years to smg the national an- saId "They were just black, but \I;e of the pub room's secret passage them at a TIger game recogmzed they were the real There IS a "hidden" door III the Well, old Dave got his chance McCoy and we brought them lOand paneling, leadmg nowhere slllce last Saturday, when the Bengals polished them up " the Fnes Audltonum was bUIlt took on the Baltimore Orioles, The shlOmg lIgures stand three 'We don't know exactly where It We would have had thiS story In feet tall 10SIde the unused library led," Blatchford saId 'It went out- last week's paper so everyone fIreplace, which IS, alas, Itself d Side, toward the rIver It's fun to could go down and cheer Dave fake, as Mrs Alger loved the angi- speculate that he used It to cart on, but he didn't get nohflCatlOn nal so much that she took It With booze III trom Candda dUrIng Pro- until shortly before the game her when she moved to her new hibitIOn, but we don t kno\'. that' home on Provencal Road Among those cheering was The Alger House The house IS made entirely of Dave's daughter, Katy, a Upstairs, the aIry. ~unht corner slone, concrete and steel and em- sophomore at Michigan State bedroom that was Mr~ Alger's IS bellished WIth occasIOnal wood UniverSity now gIven over to the Garden panelmg, OWIllg to the Algers' fear Interestmgly enough, Dave Special ed services relocated Center French doors open onto a of fire They once- had a summer tOlls for a company called flat roof where Mrs Alger hked to cottage m Canada that burned to FranklIn-Whlttler, a trainmg and walk and admire her formal gal- lhe ground Although nobody was development fIrm that helps den A portIOn of It can stilI be seen, hurt, Blatchford said their fears Illdlvlduals set and reach their from parochial to public schools exactly as III ItS onglllal state It led them to construct a totally fIre- goals By Mike Andrzejczyk once stretched to Lakeshore Road, proof dwellmg Whatever they saId to Dave, It her on a bus for a 10- to 15-mmute teachers m the pnvate schools to but has had to gIve way before the "It was bUIlt to last forever, 'she Parents and pubhc school OffI- nde for a 30- or 60-mlnute seSSIOn help WIth problems that come up practIcal eXigencIes of War Me- looks hke It worked CIals began making the best of a saId "But when the pIpes burst. While It'S not the best SItuatIOn, It dunng the day monal park 109 you have a problem The lean green bad SituatIOn thiS week, complYIllg should get better as time goes by as "We are probably as dIstressed Turmng the other way, 1\11':>Al- With U S Supreme Court rulings VISItors Sunday may adiTIlre the prmclpals from parochial schoob about that as the parochIal school ger would have seen the green ex- marble staircases, the ornate It's a puzzlement to us here at that have moved speCIal educatIOn meet With the speCial educatIOn the Grosse Pointe News_> - services out of paroch1al schOOls pal ents are," Hunt said tend:ng down to the shore of the plaster ceiling medallions, the con- services departmenl to come up But the state's mandate that dls- lake, On Sundays, the fam\ly hked Somebody somellme early throughout the country Ql'ete ce\\m&- cunnmg\y- p~unted..\o_ WIth better ways for thlllgS to work, tIICtS campI} WIth the rulmgs to entertalll friends WIth bowhng on resefnble-'Wdbd"15eal11s, and the Thursday morning crept into the At least one state has told the Hunt saId could have been eased had the dIS- the green, daughter Josephme once glonous birch panelmg that some- newsroom and left an envelope federal government It won't com- Some parochIal school parents tncts been given a year to work out remInIsced The men bowled. whIle addressed to Sports Editor Peggy ply With the rulings untIl next year one once pamted green - untillhe aren't happy WIth the arrangement \~ays to solve the problems, Hunt the ladies In their fancy Sunday mdefatIgable Josephllle saw to 11 O'Connor on the desk of News But Michigan's Department of and have asked the public schools hald "That, to me, would have dresses admired thelr prowess EdItor Pat Paholsky Education has deCIded It WIll be the that It was restored And mavbe, to come up WIth an option other been a senSible way to go II Now the view Illcludes the Tnal Once delivered and opened by pubhc schools that WIll carry the too, they will hear an echo of those than busing their chIldren to public That's not an optIOn the state Gardens, planted and mamtallled "gay years" when Grosse Pomte Peggy, out tumhled a $20, $10 and burden of transport1Og parochial school buildmgs They also com- feels It has, aCCOldlllg to Dr Ben- by a group of garden clubs under $1 bIll InSide was a pr10ted note- school students to public schools \I;d!>young and the Algers bowled plam of teacher changes and lack son Herbert. a superVIsor In the the rubnc of the Garden Center In 'SurprIse I EnJOy I" for certam servICes on the gl een of access to lllstructors fOl paro speCial education dlvl.'>IOn of the the middle of the colorful plots lies We don't know who the EvaluatIOns and consultatIons chlal school students educatIOn department the ongmal mIllstone from the mill benefactor IS and moreover, why with teachers can sltll be done in Durmg the lay-offs at the end of "We can't excuse school dlstqct!> at WmdmlJl Pomte It was $31 An even $30 would parochial schools, but no therapy Winner the last school year, the public from provIdmg that service," he The three children's bedrooms The Grosse Pomte News won seem to make more sense may be prOVided, accordmg to the school system dId lose a speech saId "We can't excuse ourselves are sca ttered strateglca lIy near Peggy debated about half a se- state's speCial educatIOn d1V1slOn an award in the 1985Michigan therapist, Hunt said In addItIOn.