Person:Johann Stadel (1)

Johannes (called John) Stadel was a brother of Johann Gottlieb, whom the family always called Godfrey. Godfrey and John were sons of Johann Gottlieb and Christiana Catherina (Eckstein) Stadel, who emigrated to Freedom Twp, Washtenaw, MI, in 1853. From there, they went to Waterloo Twp, where the widowed Gottlieb lived until about 1881. He then went to live with his sons, Godfrey and Emanuel and their families, in Campbell Twp., Ionia County. Several associated families remained in Jackson County, primarily Bartig, Monagle, Moore, and Hatt.

From Volume 13, Number 9, Old West Side News, November 1983 (Old West Side Association, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48107)

History of the Stadel property

In 1855, a man named Jacob Stadel immigrated to America from a small town near Stuttgart. Ten years later, he built a modest home, on what was then the outskirts of Ann Arbor, on Seventh between Lutz and Madison. The house is no longer standing, but Jacob's grandson, Elmer Stadel, lives on land that was part of the original property.

When Jacob Stadel built his house, Seventh was a curbless dirt road. The German speaking Old West Side neighborhood ended across the street from his house. Behind his property was Eber White's farm.

In 1859, Jacob Stadel married Christina Eckhard and together they raised nine children. Jacob supported the fmaily by working as a section hand on the Toledo, Ann Arbor, and Grand Trunk Railroad. Since the land that went with the house on Seventh was equivalent to eight city lots, the family was able to provide much of their own food. They gardened and raised farm animals, including cows, which the Stadel daughters would take to graze in a field near what is today Allmendinger Park.

After Jacob's death, his two unmarried daughters, Katie and Pauline, continued to live in the family homestead. Next door was the home of Jacob's son, Sam, a contractor and carpenter who, around 1900, had built a house on a section of his father's land as a residence for himself and his new bride. This house still stands on the corner of Lutz and Seventh. Another son, Emanual, father of Elmer Stadel, moved deeper into the Old West Side on Jefferson and Second Streets.

In the 1920's, Eber White's heirs were dividing his farm into house size lots and laying out streets. Two of these new streets, Lutz and Madison, came to the western edge of the Stadel property, but no further since Eber White's farm went only a few lots past what is now Eberwhite Boulevard.

By the 1930's, it was obvious that either Madison or Lutz would have to be extended to Seventh. The Eber White subdivision was becoming settled, yet there was no entrance to this new neighborhood in the stretch of Seventh between Liberty and Sunnyside. The problem was that to extend either Lutz or Madison, an already existing house on Seventh would have to be torn down.

It would have been more logical to extend Madison since it continued east of Seventh while Lutz did not. However, Lutz was the street which was actually lengthened, mainly because the cost was less. The house block-... [rest of article was missing]