On a beautiful fall day in the fifties, Mary Fisher photographed the home of her grandfather, Frank D. Baker, who founded Baker Drugs in 1882 and also served as sheriff and postmaster at one time. The white house at 410 E. Third Street was in the heart of a leafy neighborhood near downtown. Jane Fisher, Mary's daughter, remembers her great-grandfather's house: "It had a massive front porch, and I remember a back staircase that had velvet curtains on either end so that it was completely dark in the stairwell. This house had a coal chute in the basement. It may have even had a Michigan basement, but I mostly remember the coal on the floor.
A view of tree-lined E. Third Street in the fifties.
The Baker house in 1973, shortly before it was torn down to make room for a parking lot.View Larger Map
A satellite shot of E. Third Street today. The location of the Baker house is identified with a red marker. At least some of the trees are still there.
