Talk:Edmore, Michigan

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Michigan Edmore, Michigan is part of WikiProject Michigan, a WikiProject related to the U.S. state of Michigan.

I moved the following chunk of text here from the article. It looks like much of this might ba able to be used. It needs to be wikified, and of course, some sort of verifiable source cited. older ≠ wiser 03:05, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

Edmore facts and trivia:

Edmore was founded by Edwin Moore in the 1800's at a crossroad of 2 rail lines, one running north/south, the other east/west. This strategic location fostered trading with cities such as Saginaw, Lansing, Grand Rapids, as well as points to the north.

The village has been through boom times and busts, first with timber industry as virgin pines were cut for lumber and shipped to cities south. Several sawmills flourished in the area with machinery driven by steam engines. In one horrific accident a mill worker fell onto a conveyor and was decapitated by the saw. After the forests were laid bare, the woodsmen departed the area. At the turn of the 20th century, oil was discovered in the vicinity, however not enough to make anyone particularly rich.

Finally in the mid - 1900's potatoes and magnets drove the local economy. Edmore is noted for it potato farms and is the home of the Michigan State Potato Festival, held every year since the 1970's. It crowns an annual Potato Queen that represents the area in the Miss Michigan Pagent.

In the 1940's, General Electric (GE) was persuaded to build a plant in Edmore to manufacture magnets for defense contracts, automobile industry and electronic industry needs. It was a strategic locale, in that it was located far away from industrial cities that could be potential targets in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. In it's heyday, the plant employed hundreds of people. As the U.S. automotive industry took a downturn in the 1970's, GE sold the plant to Hitachi Corp, and an infusion of Japanese management and culture took place in this town. Again, East met West globally, as the Japanese influence could be seen everywhere from the plant to the schools, even to the local golf course. Eventually, even Japanese management practices could not overcome perceived labor cost disparities with foreign sources and the plant closed in 2005.

Edmore is home of the Old Fence Rider Museum, created by Carmen Drain. This museum examines the history of barbed wire and other minutia of western expansion.

Edmore supported a local newspaper called the "Edmore Times" from the 1950's to 1980's. Among it's folksy new stories, the paper coined the term "Carmel Brain" to describe the Old Fence Rider.

Edmore schools featured the Panther as a mascot until the 1960's. At that time, Edmore consolidated it's school district with the surrounding communities of McBrides, Six Lakes, Cedar Lake, Wyman, Winn, Blanchard and Millbrook to form Montabella Community Schools. Montabella is named after the 3 counties in the district MONTcalm, MecostA and IsaBELLA. Montabella's mascot is the Mustang and the school colors are navy blue and white.

Edmore's most famous benefactor is Glen Curtis. His impact on the community was profound, including his involvement with education, health/hospitals and community development. There is a park in Edmore named after him.

According to the 1970 census, the population of Edmore at the time was 1,234 or the easy to remember one, two, three, four. Since that time, the population has increased by 10.

Edmore was named winner of the "Best Tasting Drinking Water" in the State of Michigan in the 1980's.

Edmore is approximately 25 miles due west of the geographic center of the lower peninusula of Michigan, also known as the "middle of the mitten."