Courtesy Photo The Nowicki’s Sausage Shoppe building at 1224 N. 2nd Ave., Alpena, is seen in this undated photo. The building has more than a century of different owners, including a German hall and a Coke bottling plant.

ALPENA — Alpena offers dozens upon dozens of historic commercial buildings.

Washington Avenue has an array of historic structures as you head from Chisholm Street just past 3rd Avenue.

From the intersection of Chisholm Street and 2nd Avenue, a number of buildings are revitalized or in the process. Heading north on Second is the former Royal Knight Theater/J.C. Penney building, the Center Building (which was once Montgomery Wards department store), and the State Theater. Across the street is the former Vaughn department store, and over the Thunder Bay river is the Thunder Bay Theater, formerly Alpena Candy and Cigar.

Heading farther north on the corner of 2nd Avenue and Hueber Street is a building currently occupied by Nowicki’s Sausage Shoppe.

Standing for nearly 120 years, the building offers a varied and rich history of former occupants.

Brian Petersen, principal and owner of Nowicki’s, has assembled a brief history brochure profiling former occupants.

Information from Petersen and the Alpena County George M. Fletcher Public Library’s Special Collections Department noted that, in June 1870, the German Aid Society of Alpena was founded.

Records indicate it was formally known as the Albeiter Unterstuetzung’s Vereirn, loosely translated as the German Benevolent Society.

The Society’s first meeting was conducted at Society President Charles Golling’s paint shop. In 1891, the Society, with $11,000 in hand, constructed a hall at the present Nowicki’s building site.

In reviewing a 1900 Society report, the membership was driven by a $1 monthly membership fee. Benefits included access to the Society’s activities. In addition, a weekly sick benefit of $5, and a $75 death benefit. For a slightly more annual fee, one could buy “a specially appointed physician of the Society to provide medical attendance.”

Associated with the Society was a Ladies’ Society, which was founded in October 1899. That division provided programs designed for women and offered a $50 death benefit.

Petersen indicated in his research that a 1904 fire destroyed the original building. The new structure was opened in February 1905 on the current Nowicki’s site.

The Society remained intact until April 1931, when assets were sold and distributed among the remaining members.

The building then became available.

There is scant information on the subsequent building owners, The American Christian Church Union of Alpena. According to research conducted by Petersen, the church acquired the building in the early 1930s by Dr. J.W. Purdy for $15,000. The purchase was based upon a land contract with a $6,000 balance. Several sources allege the church was a Ku Klux Klan affiliate.

The building was then sold decades later to the Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Alpena.

History obtained from the Atlanta-based Coca Cola Company indicates the roots of the Coca Cola Bottling Co. of Alpena go back to 1928, when Fred J. Duby established the bottling branch.

Duby’s first plant was located on Alpena’s south side, which he constructed from a salvaged home’s lumber. The bottling works began operation in 1932. He was recognized in Northeast Michigan for his unique and successful beverage promotions with grocery stores and automobile service stations.

After World War II, Duby realized he needed to have a much larger facility for production, storage, distribution, and general administrative services. In 1949, he acquired the former American Christian Church Union of Alpena building.

The multi-story structure offered 11 rooms and a second floor that he reinforced with steel girders. Duby added a massive, L-shaped cement block addition for truck storage, vehicle and beverage cooler servicing, and general storage space. The original first floor remained for production and general offices.

In a posting from the Alpena County History Facebook page, numerous members recalled viewing the glass Coke bottles whizzing past the building’s windows and being delivered from large yellow- and red-lettered trucks. In addition, many remembered purchasing a bottle of chilled Coke for 5 cents and returning it for a 2-cent bottle return deposit.

One of the unique aspects of Coke bottling plants across the nation, including Alpena, was that on the bottom of each glass bottle was the name of the original city where it was bottled. Alpena bottles were found across the nation by current and former residents.

In 1987, the Coke bottling complex was sold to Ludlow Enterprises, known at that time for Lud’s Burger drive-in, a number of northern Michigan Big Boy restaurants, ice cube distribution, and restaurant and hospitality supplies.

In 2010, Phil and Michelle Nowicki rented the then-unoccupied building from Ludlow Enterprises. That relocated the then 90-plus-year-old Nowicki’s Sausage Shoppe from its longtime Rogers City home.

Brian Peterson, the son of Michelle and Phil Nowicki, purchased the Nowicki Sausage Shoppe company in 2018. Then, in 2020, he purchased the historic building.

Nowicki’s maintains retail stores in Alpena, Rogers City, and Gaylord. In addition, they conduct a significant mail-order distribution business and serve restaurants throughout the region.

Peterson added, “Nowicki Sausage has undertaken an effort to restore the building’s historic second floor ballroom back into an event gathering space.”

With the building nearing 120 years old, the old Arbeiter Hall has gone full circle from being a German heritage gathering site to producing Polish and German meats.

Jeffrey D. Brasie is a retired health care CEO who frequently writes historic feature stories and op-eds. He is a former Alpena resident and resides in suburban Detroit.