The Black Building at Christmas

The Black Building has played a big role in two of my history books, plus it's an art gallery now and has a historical mural on the side, so ... cool! I took these photos during the Albion Christmas parade.

It's called the Black Building because it, and two others on the same location before it, were built by the Black family, early Albion business people.

And now, as I said, it's an art gallery. There's an antique store down the street, and two historical murals on the same block. If you look closely, I believe you can see the gallery's owner through the window. His wife was taking much better photos than mine, from the roof!

Go there to see lots of paintings and other kinds of art and, yeah, my books.

It Was a Great Day … For a Book Signing … Indoors

Many thanks to Dan and Lori Gagen for hosting us at the Noble Art Gallery yesterday. Emily was able to make it despite her cold, and although it was cool and wet outside, we were nice and toasty warm inside and got to sign books and speak to several great people.

Images of America: Albion and Noble County will be available to sale there, as it also is at Albion Village Foods, Black Pine Animal Sanctuary, Doc’s Hardware, and the Noble County Historical Society (which runs the Old Jail Museum). But you can get all our books at the gallery! They’ve got their own book table amongst the art.

Now, to spend the next week harassing (ahem, asking) everyone to visit us—all of us, six authors—at two author appearances Saturday, October 10, in Kendallville and Auburn. The Facebook events page has the details:

https://www.facebook.com/events/441398042728462/

Those are our last book signings scheduled before spring—with one possible exception that hasn’t been confirmed yet.

But remember, Christmas shopping season is coming … and when you don’t buy enough books, Santa gets overworked and ends up needing bypass surgery. Keep poor St. Nick off the operating table.

One last appeal, until the next one

We'll see you all tomorrow afternoon, from 1-7 at the Noble Art Gallery in downtown Albion. (You can't miss it--green three story building with a mural on the side. Well, you could  miss it, but don't.) 

And I do mean all of you: I rented a U-Haul and brought in a semi load of books, just in case. Emily has caught a cold, and visitors to our author appearances are like vitamin C for her … don't let the virus win.

 

Stage, Screen, and Snakeoil Salesmen

If you haven't caught it in a newspaper or maybe Time Magazine, here's the press release I sent out about the book signing this coming Saturday. Let me know what you think of it. (No, it wasn't in Time Magazine ... although I did send it out to about three dozen newspapers, radio and TV stations, and snake oil salesmen. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find a good snake oil salesman outside of Washington, D.C.)

As authors Mark and Emily Hunter promote their book about Noble County history, it was inevitable that they’d find their way back to an Albion location where they’ve already held two book signings—a building that also appears in their newest book.

The Black Building in downtown Albion can be glimpsed several times in Images of America: Albion and Noble County, a photo-filled history book that’s part of Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series. The building is at the junction of State Routes 8 and 9 in Albion, a location once called “Black’s Corner”, across from the Noble County Courthouse and within feet of what was once the geographical center of Noble County.

Currently the Noble Art Gallery, the building held numerous businesses over the years before being purchased by Dan and Lori Gagen. The Gagens invited the Hunters for a third appearance on Saturday, October 3^rd, from 1-5 p.m.

Mark and Emily were there before with copies of their other books, including a history of the Albion Fire Department, a humor collection, a young adult adventure, and Mark’s two romantic comedy novels. But Albion and Noble County has a direct connection to the Black Building. In fact, there’s also a photo in the book of the building that used to be in that location, which was also built by the Black family.

Owen Black arrived in Albion in 1856, and built a general merchandise store at Albion’s main intersection, Orange and Main Streets. When fire leveled the whole block in 1867 Black rebuilt, only to lose his dry goods business to another fire in 1879. Black persevered, this time building a fire-resistant three-story brick building, which has stood there for over 135 years. The Black family also stayed, operating several businesses in town and getting involved in local projects and organizations.

The Hunters appeared September 12^th at Stone’s Tavern, another location mentioned in Albion and Noble County, during the Stone’s Trace Pioneer Festival. One of their two book signings on October 10^th will be at Joanna’s Dealicious Treats, in historic downtown Kendallville. (The other is at the Cupbearer Café in Auburn.)

Albion and Noble County collects well over 200 images of towns, locations, and people in the area. The Hunters’ website is at www.markrhunter.com

Books and Art at the Black Building

As much as I’d like to think it’s all about me, Dan Gagen says he’ll have some new art on display at the Noble Art Gallery when Emily and I put in our third author appearance there on October 3^rd, from 1-3 p.m.

The view from inside Noble Art Gallery is just as historic as the view from outside.

 

(“Appearance” may be better than “book signing” because, even if you don’t want a book signed, we’ll still be there to talk. Besides, the jury’s still out on whether my signature adds or subtracts to a book’s value.)

As far as I know this will be our last signing (ahem, appearance) in Albion before our new book comes out, which is projected for the spring of next year. (We do have the appearances the following Saturday, October 10^th, at Joanna’s in downtown Kendallville and the Cupbearer in downtown Auburn.) (Am I overusing the parenthesis again?)

But this one is special because Dan’s business is in the Black Building, an historical Albion structure that shows up more than once in Images of America: Albion and Noble County. The same building also appears in our previous historical work, Smoky Days and Sleepless Nights: A Century or So with the Albion Fire Department. It’s a star!

The Black Building around 1914, during the Albion Street Fair. Just to avoid confusion, the J.D. Black and Sons company name is plastered across the Orange Street side. It pays to advertise.

  So stop by the see the art and the history and say hello, and remember: Every time you ignore history, all the White House furniture in the Lincoln Bedroom levitates six feet, four inches into the air. Don’t let the furniture levitate: You don’t know who might be sleeping in there.