Ida Backyard History

12/14/2022

Artifact #19/150 - This is a mini wooden baseball bat with a carving of Betty Whiting swinging her bat at a baseball. Above her is Grand Rapids and Chicks, 1945, and 2 chicks below her. The back of the bat has her name (Betty Whiting) and 1st base. Betty was a member of the class of 1944 and was a player in the All-American Girls’ Professional Baseball League from 1944-1952. Researched by Abigail Arnold

12/05/2022

Artifact #18/150 - The 1989 Ida softball team happily wades through the flooded parking lot from the Ida bus at the MHSAA state championships in Lansing. The team was making its second consecutive trip to the state finals. In the semifinals, Ida defeated Lake Fenton and former Ida grad Jerry Cowan. Ida then took care of Homer 7-5 to win the school's first-ever state championship. Brian Cousino as the coach of the team. He would end his career coaching in 4 state title games, while winning two (1994).

12/04/2022

Artifact #17/150 - The Progressive Music Series was a book that schoolchildren would use to learn songs. It was published in 1915, produced by Silver, Burdett and Company. This particular book was third in the series and is described as being the ‘enlarged’ edition on the inside of the book. The songs are simple 2 or 3 part arrangements, and there are patriotic and devotional songs included. The songs were used to teach children music, which was a little more important back then. Researched by Elizabeth Rosas.

12/03/2022

Artifact #16/150 - This school ledger is from the Federman one-room schoolhouse located on Ida West Rd. The earliest entry is from Christmas day, 1871. The last entry was from 1924. All entries were handwritten. The entries recorded how much money was spent on such things as teacher salaries, supplies for the students, and even the cost of building the building! The schoolhouse still exists today and is a private residence. Researched by Abigail Arnold.

11/29/2022

Artifact #15/150 - This interesting artifact was made in about 1968. It is a seat cushion for people to sit on during games. The cushion was sold by the Ida Athletic Boosters for Ida fans. It has various businesses on the back of it, some of which are still around today, such as The Ida Tavern and Capaul’s Funeral Home. Researched by Westin Phebus.

11/27/2022

Artifact #14 in our quest to present 150 artifacts of Ida Schools. This is a page from the attendance book at Ida High School in 1927. According to the book, Ida started the year with 49 high school students, including just 6 seniors! Many of the surnames listed here are still found in the school system today, including Younglove, Stotz, Schafer, Schlump, and Drodt.

11/04/2022

This is a picture of the Ida High School Commencement of 1922. These were books that showed where graduation was and who graduated. In this one there were 8 people who graduated: Magdalene A. Barkenquest, Erwin J. Kleinert, Harold J. Rosswurm, Norman E. Schafer, Russell Schafer, Ella C. Scheid, and Luella C. Weipert. In 1922 they held these graduations inside of the High Schools Auditorium on May 25, 1922 at 8:00 P.M. Now we have a ceremony during school and an average of 100+ people graduate compared to 8. Researched by Tyler Kitts.

11/03/2022

Mr. Wagner was a math and English teacher at the high school from 1974-2005.

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10/31/2022

This was a picture of the first Ida basketball team to be named “Blue Streaks”. The Blue Streaks got their name because their jerseys were blue and they were on a long winning streak. This picture was taken in 1937. The team won the class D district championship that season. They were 15-4. Holding the District championship trophy is Fred Degner. Other players included (not in photo order) Eugene Blackman, Galyn Manore, Ray Beasley, Roy Beasley, Gordon Van Riper, Robert Knapp, Erhard Stotz, Ed Nagel, Lawrence Billmaier, Jack Parker, Metz, James Weipert and Don French. Walter Nickel was the coach. If you can identify which each of the specific players in this photo are, please let us know! Researched by Westin Phebus.

10/24/2022

Artifact 11/150 - Pictured here is a little league Braves jersey. The jersey is number 4. It was used in the 1960s or 1970s and was used in our area by the 12u Braves little league team.The jersey is heavy and made of a thick cotton. Ida Recreation had these high quality jerseys made up for all its teams. This Jersey was made by the McGregor company which was founded in 1921. Artifact researched by Cooper Roderick.

10/19/2022

Artifact #10/150 - This is the Ida Sounds of '66 Record. It was directed by Charles Neal, the band director at the time, and includes songs like the Ida Fight song, Hey Look Me Over, You’re a Grand Old Flag, and The Alma Mater. The songs were all performed by the Senior High Band, but there are some songs performed by the Junior Band as well. which included Norwegian Folk Song, Tonight, Were You There, and Safety March. A highlight from the record is the final song, a medley of songs from The Sound of Music, which came out in movie form in 1965. Artifact researched by Sean Kreps.

10/18/2022

Artifact #9/150 - This is an early edition of the Ida Hi-Lites newspaper. The high school newspaper started in 1931. The newspaper staff was infamous for printing sometimes scandalous things (in mostly-good fun) concerning the students at Ida High School. The second photo shows an advertisement page for many of the businesses now long gone from Ida. The Ida Hi-Lites later became the Observer, then the News Streak. The high school continued publishing newspapers until 2012. Artifact researched by Elizabeth Rosas.

10/13/2022

#8/150 - Pictured here is an Ida agriculture textbook from 1916. The picture shows the cover from the book and a page with a picture on it about farming. TOne of the most interesting chapters is this one: The Three Cs: Cows, Corn and Clover. The book was published by Row, Peterson&Co and was used here at our village school by the junior high and high school kids in the '10s and '20s. -- by Cooper Roderick

10/07/2022

Artifact #7/150 - This is the draft of the class will that was written by the graduating class of 1943 to the incoming seniors of 1944. The will was read at the 1943 graduation ceremonies and was written by Cecelia Gorzelewska and Roselyn Cousino (Sagan). A class will would often "will" a small item to each incoming senior as a tongue-in-cheek gesture. Future professional baseball player Betty Whiting is featured on page one of the will. In a funny twist, the fellow being referred to in the Betty Whiting paragraph would eventually go on to marry Roselyn Cousino, co-writer of the will.

10/05/2022

#6/150 - Congratulations to the Ida Football team as it records the 400th program win in school history! On Friday, September 30th, Ida defeated Onsted, 49-22 for the milestone victory. The Football program started in 1938 under Art Vapley, but did not record its first win until 1939 against Petersburg High School. Win # 100 came in 1965 under Ron Hampton against Erie Mason. #200 happened in 1984 under Tom Overholser against Dundee. #300 happened in 2006 against Willow Run. Tom Walentowski was the coach. Congrats to the team - this is well-deserved! Photo courtesy of David Phillips.

10/04/2022

Artifact #5/150
A Time For Us. That was the yearbook theme of 1971. When looking through the book you see many clubs such as Future Nurses Club, Future Teachers Club, Ski Club, and many more. There are about 160 pages. You may also see businesses in Ida that aren’t around anymore like Mann Pharmacy and Coney Island but you may see businesses that still are around Ida such as Carl’s Hide-a-way and the Ida Tavern. I think It’s really cool to see these old yearbooks and you may even find relatives in them. Presented by Preston-Coblentz-Erb

09/30/2022

#4/150 - This is the first football program produced by the Ida Backyard History Class. It's called the Tailgater and it's actually the second issue because the first one went missing. It was produced starting in the 2004 season. There were only seven different sections in the first one compared to the average of nine that now run in the Tailgater. The entire time that the Tailgater has been run it has been managed by the Ida Middle School Backyard History Class. The original students that produced the Tailgater include: Ashley Bugg, Justin Fuller, Kaitlyn Hoppert-Fox, W***y Jeffers, Erin Mayes, Courtney Miller, Hannah Moore, Dustin Sielski, Byran Spotts, Chris Koch, Mackenzie Lein, Joel Oerther, Jacob Stotz, Tyler Walentowski and Kyle Wallace. A total of sixteen students, now the current 2022 Backyard History has twenty-two students. Published by Matthew Weber

09/29/2022

#3/150 - The first Ida Middle School yearbook from 1973. It is a paperback yearbook, with a cover designed by Garth Slafinsky. It has just 28 pages and is relatively basic compared to the books we have today. Before 1973, the middle school students were included in the all-school yearbooks, along with the elementary students. Posted by Abigail Arnold.