Evelyn Hauer's Detroit Friends, 1910-1913

1. Evelyn Hauer and the New Palace Roller Rink Boys
Detroit, Michigan - ca. 1910
(click to enlarge any photo in this post)

These photographs belonged to my grandmother, Evelyn Hauer. She appears in the photo above, a small snapshot which doesn't seem to be related to the group of photos below. I'm not sure whether any of the men in the photos below appear in the one above. All of the photos below were printed as post cards, with the exception of #2, which was printed on lighter weight paper approximately the same size as a post card.

2. Allan Stone - Alanson, Michigan - 1911 - no studio imprint
3. Unidentified - although the woman on the right seems tiny
enough to be Evelyn Hauer, I'm not convinced it is she,
but I think both men appear in photos below

4. Rhien - 1912 - Cornell Studios, Detroit & Toledo
5. Rhien - 1912

I searched the Social Security Death Index for the first name Rhien, and there were no results. Evelyn was notoriously creative when spelling names, so I tried a couple of variations. Spelled Rhein, there were 3 records, but none which appeared to have a Michigan connection. The first name Rhine, however, produced a list of 60 records, almost a third of which had Michigan connections. Assuming the gentleman above is in the 18-25 age range, maybe he is:

• Rhine Cramer
  
• Rhine Fogt
• Rhine Klunder
• Rhine Newman
• Rhine Schmaltz
• Rhine Schram

Maybe someday one of Rhine's descendants will be able to recognize him in these photos. If so, I hope he or she will leave us a comment with his proper identification.

6. Stuhl - Annie Long - 1912
7. Dave Mullen - Louise Mullen

8. and 9. Unidentified - but some of these faces are identified in the other photos.

10. Bertha Rickman and Joe - 1912
A "Drop The Dip" roller coaster is visible in the background.

11. Bill, Paul and Stanley - 1913 - Electric Park, Detroit

12. Rhien, Joe and Buster - 1913 - (below this identification,
Evelyn also wrote "Stanley" at an angle)
13. The Jolly Bunch - 1912

Evelyn worked at the New Palace Roller Rink when she was in her late teens. Although I haven't yet been able to determine the address of the roller rink, I believe it was part of Electric Park, an amusement park which was located on Jefferson Avenue at the Belle Isle Bridge from 1906 until 1928. Evelyn's family lived just across Jefferson at the time, so it would have been a short walk to work for her. There was a Palace ballroom at the park, but I haven't found any mention of the roller rink. You'll find a lot of great photos of Electric Park here (scroll down past the article).

New Palace Roller Rink Programme
Evelyn wrote on the back, "Select Party - Nov. 5, 1912"

I think Evelyn (bottom right) and her friends must have had
some wonderful memories from that time in their lives!