From an article appearing in the Blade-Crescent
Tuesday, May 19, 1987
About 3 1/2 miles east of Unionville on Bay City-Forestville road stands a square-front building that was obviously built as a store. Nearby are a couple of other buildings of suspicious architecture, and a bump in the road where railroad tracks were removed and replaced with generous amounts of cement.
There's a sign, too. It reads "Ashmore", and it's all that remains of a town that once boasted bustling businesses, growing families and a town of nearly 100.
Lifelong resident "Doc" (Gerald) Bedore once said he remembered the town when it was known as "Culbrook". Someone else tried to hand the name "Cars Corners" on his hometown, and in a loose connection with the Rieck family, the crossroads was occasionally known as "Rickville". Somehow the popular name "Ashmore" stuck, but what it means or where it came from is lost in the long ago.
Agriculture was the sustenance of the little hamlet, and the railroad was its lifeline. Linked with its southern sister, Colling, and therefore to Caro, Saginaw, and all points beyond, Ashmore enjoyed its heyday as a rural commercial center.
In 1910, life was good in and around Ashmore. Twice a day, the train pulled into the depot, dispensing freight and passengers. Farmers lined up at not one but two weigh stations, and then deposited those welcome pickle and sugar beet checks at the bank.
Competition was keen among the 3 general stores, and if business or fun encompassed long hours, there was a 2-story hotel built by Crist Hiser. One old description of a Saturday night in Ashmore was succinct: "There was a saloon for the thirsty, and a dance hall for the frisky".
Time eventually left Ashmore behind. While other towns grew, expanding their economic base and population, Ashmore began dwindling.
The bank locked its doors in 1915, and shortly after, the Post Office quietly disappeared. Patrons were forced to travel to Unionville and Colling for their financial business.
Peter Hiser was the unlucky owner of the Hiser Hotel when Prohibition came in, finishing off what was left of his clientele. He sold the business to Mrs. Joseph Howe, who converted it to a grocery store and pool hall. In 1924, she disposed of the property, and the building was finally torn down in the 1930's.
Only a handful of loyal survivors who still acknowledged Ashmore as their home were in residence by 1926. Fifteen years later, their crossroads village was just a crossroads.
New business came to town in 1950 when Al Goslin bought the town's only remaining general store. He operated it for nearly 2 decades, raising 10 children in the process. Eventually even he sold out, establishing a new business at a busier M-25 location.
Ashmore doesn't appear on a state map, and if travelers have no knowledge of its history, they whiz right by without realizing where they've just been. But the roadside sign remains to remind passersby of one more little Thumb-area town that lived briefly and died slowly, leaving behind people and their memories.
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