ZIMMERMAN'S MILL
Birmingham's Very Own Baseball Bat Factory
Shown above is an overall view of the mill operated by James N. Zimmerman circa 1900. Although it was often called the Tack Factory by locals, the buildings in the foreground were used for making baseball bats, ax handles, shovel handles and even pointers for Hill School teachers. Some of you are probably old enough to remember the wooden pointers that teachers often employed for showing countries on large maps or items of special interest on wall charts.
The structure in the background, highlighted with an arrow, was the old grist mill located near the waterfall on what is now known as Quarton Lake.
The bat factory was located at West Maple and Baldwin near the bridge over the River Rouge. A white arrow points to West Maple which, at the turn of the last century, was a narrow dirt road.
Mr. Zimmerman often advertised in The Birmingham Eccentric for farmers to bring him their hickory and other good hard woods to be used in handle and bat production. Shown above are piles of lumber curing at the rear of his property.
At the top right of the photo an arrow points to the white barns and outbuildings that were part of the Watkins Pony Farm. The ponies, imported from the Shetland Islands off Scotland, were bred and sold throughout the United States. Mr. Watkins, a Detroit businessman, produced a beautiful slick paper catalog of the animals he had for sale. Watkins ponies were often used on both Bob-Lo and Belle Isle during the summer months for rental to visitors at those two island parks.
Until World War I, the ponies and their carriages were brought to the Birmingham area for the winter and were loaned out to nearby farmers for the enjoyment of their youngsters. One year, your webmaster's Mother and one of her brothers drove a Watkins pony named "Tony" the mile and a half to and from the one room Leonard School at Coolidge and Long Lake Roads. When the going was too rough for the Bob-Lo buggy, they rode in a sleigh specially built for them by Ab Chatfield, a neighbor and blacksmith.
Here is an original "ZIMMERMAN'S LIFTER" baseball bat made circa 1900. It is now owned by Dr. Gregory Zemenick.
This closeup view shows the bat's trade name and manufacturing site, burned into its wood body.
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