***** This is what W Maple St used to look like long ago. You'll notice the old Rayner Opera House on the left, horses in the muddy road, and a 3-story hotel at the corner of State St, Maple St and Park St. (taken from Jefferson St looking west)

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***** SE corner of E Ash St and S Jefferson St in about 1910. On the corner is a bank. On the left side of the photo is a store ran by Elias Culver, a jeweler. On the right of the photo is a building where Los Tres Amigos is now - it was a livery stable and feed barn - convenient to the patrons of the hotel across the street.

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***** Original Mason High School - In 1921 a fire started in Mason High School overnight. Before it was extinguished, the fire caused a total loss. Students were without a school for more than two years. While a new school was being constructed, classes were held in buildings throughout the city, including the local churches and the Ingham County courthouse.

***** Bottom Pic: MASON HIGH SCHOOL located on Jefferson St. served Mason students until the late 1970's. This split view shows an earlier bulding (top) before fire destroyed it in 1921, and the 1925 replacement (bottom) which currently serves the community as a senior citizen apartment complex. Composit photos of classes who graduated fom the building still hang in the hallways.

Rebuildt Mason High School -

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***** Maple Grove Cemetery once had a spot that literally served as a park over 100 years ago? It's hard to see in this real photo postcard, but there is even children's playground equipment, and headstones visible in the background (up the hill near the main entrance to the cemetery). Of course, the "Cemetery Park" was in the low-lying area next to Sycamore Creek, near where the recently replaced bridge is now. The second image of "A Shady Nook" must have been from nearby.

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***** Interior of Mason High School (1904-1921) with portrait of Mason founder Charles Noble on the wall.

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