A Proud Tradition....  A Promising Future....

BUILDING OF “THE ARCHES” : READ ABOUT IT AND PASS ALONG THIS STORY OF PERSEVERANCE TO THE NEXT GENERATION

In the 1940’s in the little rural town of Springport, Michigan the whole town came together to build a community building/gym using all volunteer labor and donated materials. It took two years, working mostly on Sundays to accomplish this feat.

Teachers worked beside farmers. Local doctors mixed cement. The pharmacist helped log donated trees out of nearby hedgerows. The high school students laid the gym floor. The women of the community fed work crews of between twenty and seventy men who worked tirelessly to give back to their town a building that, for a time, was the best in the county.

Everyone who gave any donation (right down to Bill Hammond who contributed .05) was considered a shareholder with a vote and was invited to meetings about the process. This is a story of commitment and community service. That building still stands today and is used as an elementary gym.

Read about it in the book THE LITTLE TOWN THAT DID: SPRINGPORT BUILDS “THE ARCHES” –It just might convince you that anything is possible when a group of dedicated individuals think outside the box and work together.

Price is ten dollars. Shipping is $3.50. ($1.00 will be donated to the local SAFE foundation which gives scholarships to graduating Springport seniors) Send a check to Jill Cline at 5109 Eaton Rapids Road, Albion, MI 49224 or pay her using your Paypal account. Please allow two to three weeks for delivery by mail.

Contact Jill Cline at theclines580@msn.com to order your copy. Prepaid orders only please. Allow two to three weeks for delivery. The book will be signed on request.

Prepaid books may be picked up at the Springport Signal office or the Superintendent of Schools office.

The arches weighed 7200 pounds apiece and came to town in halves on the train.