Wanted: a construction date for the bandshell

By Rhonda Westfall

It seems like finding the construction date for the bandshell at the St. Johns City Park should be relatively simple.

And, it probably is - if you have access to the information, or can ask the right people.

After more hours of research than the story is probably worth, the only fact we're certain of is when it was not built - before 1937.

A wonderful account of the June 18 dedication of the 'new' city park and its accompanying structures and athletic fields that year is found in the 'Clinton County Republican,' where the famous newspaper publisher, Schuyler Marshall, delivered the main address.

"Roads have been built, city water mains and sewer systems have been extended to the property, modern sanitary conveniences have been installed, a pavilion and caretaker's home have been erected, a tourist park has been fitted up, together with public picnic grounds, and a splendid athletic field has been constructed including four concrete tennis courts, baseball and softball diamonds and football gridiron," Marshall said.

A lot of neat facilities - especially given the time period - but no mention is made of a bandshell.

The mystery is made harder to unravel due to the fact that the newspaper's bound volumes for the following years, 1938-39, are missing from our shelves, along with intermittent volumes from the 1940s.

Two St. Johns residents with long-standing ties to the community, Jeanne Rand and Ken Munger, believe the bandshell was built before the start of World War II. In fact, Jeanne thinks it may have been constructed during her senior year at Rodney B. Wilson High School, 1939 - but she's "not sure."

Ken recalls working on the WPA city park project during 1935-36 when the athletic fields were developed, and assumes construction of the bandshell took place in the closing years of that decade.

"There was a high mound where the swimming pool now stands and we had to haul all the dirt by wheelbarrow down to fill in the baseball field - because it was a WPA project, we couldn’t use power equipment," Ken says with a laugh of work on the athletic fields - although, it wasn't nearly as much fun at the time.

While we've come up empty-handed so far on the bandshell, we did unearth some interesting tidbits about other portions of what hopefully will become a stellar performing arts area. As was the case for many WPA (CWA, PWA) projects in the 1930s, salvaged materials were used in the construction of both the main pavilion at the park and of the caretaker's house.

A photograph in the 1934 bound volume shows workers leveling the old Hayes Motor Wheel factory which was built in 1895 and had housed the St. Johns Manufacturing Company and St. Johns Table Company. Bricks from the factory were used "for the construction of a pavilion built by CWA labor at the city park."

A story in March 1934 noted the "40x60 pavilion will provide shelter for hundreds of picnic parties," adding that "1-1/2 miles of fine gravel drives have been built through wooded sections. St. Johns will have one of the finest and best equipped picnic grounds in central Michigan this coming summer."

In June 1935 when the caretakers house was completed and Mr. and Mrs. Linus Russell had moved in, the paper reported that "park visitors may purchase refreshments or make reservations for picnics and reunions at the office in the northeast corner."

So, the hours of research weren't completely for naught - but the mystery of the bandshell remains unanswered.

Perhaps the photo that accompanies this article will jog someone's memory. Who knows, maybe the guys pictured are still around - most likely, not doing heavy building construction anymore, however.