'Having so much fun!' The 97-year-old message in a bottle that details 1900s Michiganers' trip to the fair found by diver

Two girls aboard the Tashmoo Steamer wrote the note on June 30, 1915

The message, written in pencil, was still intact inside the bottle

Historical society president is looking for descendants of the note's young authors

Two young girls who threw a bottle into a river in 1915 could not have expected that it would take nearly a century for someone to find their treasure.



Selina Pramstaller was 17-years-old and Tillie Esper was 23-years-old when they visited an amusement park on Harsens Island in Michigan alongside the St Clair River in 1915 and decided to commemorate the day with a message in a bottle.



That message- 'having a good time at Tashmoo'- was found almost 97 years later by diver Dave Leander.



Message in a bottle: Nearly a century ago, Selina Pramstaller and Tillie Esper of Detroit wrote a simple note as they enjoyed a day at a popular amusement park on Harsens Island

Gone but not forgotten: They stuffed the message in a bottle, corked it and threw it in the waters of the St. Clair River, where it sank to the bottom where it lay for 97 years to be discovered

Message from the past: 'Having a good time at Tashmoo' the message can be clearly read... written in neat cursive script

WHO WROTE THE NOTE ?

Selina J. Pramstaller was born on January 18, 1898

Married Stanley L. Kellum, a switchman for the railroad, in 1921; she is a Dictaphone operator.

Listed as divorced in the 1930 census and living at her parents’ house with her 8-year-old daughter, Elizabeth (Marie).



By the 1940 census, she is living with her widowed father and her daughter, 17. She is a private family nurse.

Matilda 'Tillie' Esper was born in September 1893 to Mathias and Caroline Esper, as the youngest of nine children



She married Joseph J. Schaefer, a saloon-keeper, in 1917.



She was a milliner or ladies’ hat maker.

The couple had nine children



Last listing for Matilda is an obituary for Tillie Schaefer, who died at age 91 on Jan. 26, 1984 in Wayne.

Source: Michael Brodzik’s article in the October 2012 issue of Antique Bottle & Glass Collector Magazine

Diver Dave Leander found the bottle tucked in 4 to 6 inches of dirt in about 30 feet of water.

After bringing his discovery home, Leander and his wife, Pam, didn't remove the message, but simply let the bottle dry out and replaced the cork.

The message was written in pencil and even included the writers' addresses on Wabash and Maybury Grand, about nine blocks apart, in Detroit.



As such, it was also possible to find other information such as when the writers were born, their parents, their marriages and their occupations.

The bottle used to hold cherries or olives and was too heavy to float as it was dropped into the river.



Michael Brodzik is the president of the Metropolitan Detroit Antique Bottle Club and said that the find was a curious one given the busy nature of the area.



'I do a lot of research on bottles in the Detroit area. This was just an interesting aspect. You have names and addresses. This is kind of an interesting project to do,' he said.



Members of the club have said they are trying to find living relatives of Pramstaller and Esper.

The note was written on the back of a White Star Line deposit ticket.

Hot fun in the summertime: Tashmoo Park was an amusement park in Algonac, Michigan. Opened in 1897, it closed in 1951. The writers of the message in the bottle had spent the day here

A bygone era: Tashmoo Park offered visitors an escape from the oppressive heat and humidity of packed, sweltering Detroit in the summertime. Tashmoo Park had picnic tables, a baseball diamond, swings and rides, as well as a casino and a dancing pavilion

Tashmoo was a popular amusement park on Harsens Island, but it closed in 1951.



It was a favorite summer destination for Detroiters with a dance hall, amusement rides, bathhouse and swimming beach.

Though the girls' note does not go into much description about their time at the park, the Harsens Island St. Clair Flats Historical Society has a trove of old photos the give a glimpse back in time to the area's heyday.



Heyday: This female reveller was just one of the hundreds of thousands of visitors who came to Tashmoo Park before it closed in 1951

Bringing in the crowds: Steamships from Detroit and Port Huron, Michigan made frequent trips to Harsens Island

Fun in the sun: Rides (left) and swims in the river (right) were great summer activities for the visitors