On the eve of the twentieth century, the village of Rochester was in a bit of a crisis. The year was 1899, and what had been a quiet farming community was changing rapidly. An interurban line (later to be known as the D.U.R.) had just laid tracks through the heart of town along Main Street. The Detroit Sugar Company was building a huge processing plant on Paint Creek, and business was booming in anticipation of all the new economic activity that these ventures would bring. There was one … [Read more...]
Dillman & Upton: A Centennial Business
July 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Dillman & Upton, one of Rochester’s oldest businesses, is a company that was made in a marriage – sort of. The story starts in the late 1890s, when auctioneer Charles W. Upton came to Rochester just as the village was beginning to boom with the arrival of the interurban line. After spending a few years selling windmills and wire fencing to farmers, Upton started a coal and wood business in a former wagon shop on the corner of what is today West University Drive and Oak Street. Upton and his … [Read more...]
