Hitching post added to courthouse lawn

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – This hitching post was installed this morning on the courthouse lawn by the county highway department. It’s the third hitching post added along Main Street in Albion in recent months.

Two others were put by a village parking lot next to the Presbyterian Church. A fourth hitching post is planned for near Main Street on East State Street, also by the Presbyterian Church.

The Albion Main Street Alliance raised the money to buy the four posts, which were originally property markers from a century ago. Rings were made for the posts and holes were drilled into the posts so the rings could be secured.

Photo by Tom Rivers

An interpretive panel about hitching posts and carriage steps was also added by the two on the north side of the Presbyterian Church. The panel notes that Albion and Gaines have many of these horse-and-buggy artifacts, which have endured partly because they were made with a superior building material – Medina sandstone. Many residents, especially on the village side streets, have kept their hitching posts and carriage steps, even though they are long obsolete.

The one on the courthouse lawn is near a historical marker erected last year for William McAllister and his wife, pioneer settlers in Albion who built a log cabin where the current County Clerks’ Building stands.

This hitching post was set so the unfinished stone work could be observed, trying to show the contrast with the finished stone, highlighting the skill of the quarrymen.