Mostly clear. Low 56F. S winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph..

Mostly clear. Low 56F. S winds at 10 to 20 mph, decreasing to less than 5 mph.

Pictured is Popcorn John next to his motorized circus-style “chariot,” which was purchased in 1915 after an explosion destroyed his old popcorn machine in 1912.

Pictured is Popcorn John’s confectionary stand, which he parked at the intersection of Harris and Mitchell streets for business at the beginning of every spring.

Pictured is Popcorn John’s motorized “chariot,” which was purchased in 1915 after an explosion destroyed his old popcorn machine in 1912.

Pictured is one of the earliest images of Popcorn John, shown in center of photo next to his popcorn-making machine.

John Johnson arrived in Cadillac in the fall of 1890. He was a carpenter by trade and pursued his vocation until Oct. 29, 1891, when an accident occurred that changed his life.

Pictured is Popcorn John next to his motorized circus-style “chariot,” which was purchased in 1915 after an explosion destroyed his old popcorn machine in 1912.

Pictured is Popcorn John’s confectionary stand, which he parked at the intersection of Harris and Mitchell streets for business at the beginning of every spring.

Pictured is Popcorn John’s motorized “chariot,” which was purchased in 1915 after an explosion destroyed his old popcorn machine in 1912.

Pictured is one of the earliest images of Popcorn John, shown in center of photo next to his popcorn-making machine.

John Johnson arrived in Cadillac in the fall of 1890. He was a carpenter by trade and pursued his vocation until Oct. 29, 1891, when an accident occurred that changed his life.

CADILLAC — If ever there was a story of perseverance, bravery and the ability to make lemonade out of lemons, it is that of Cadillac’s confectionery truck operator John D. Johnson, who during the late 1800s and early 1900s was better known by his nickname, “Popcorn John.”

According to Cadillac Evening News reports, Johnson was a native of Edinburgh, Scotland, born June 5, 1866. When he was 7 years old, the family moved to Canada.

He arrived in Cadillac in the fall of 1890. He was a carpenter by trade and on his first walk up the main street, he noticed an unfinished building. Applying to the man in charge of construction, he obtained work.

The building later housed the office and plant of the Cadillac Evening News and Mayor Perry F. Powers was the man who first employed Johnson.

Johnson pursued his vocation in Cadillac until Oct. 29, 1891, when an accident occurred that changed his life.

An initial terse notice of the accident appeared in the Cadillac News and Express and read as such: “John Johnson, a T (and) A section hand, was seriously injured between one and two o’clock today, by attempting to stop a runaway team. The exact nature of his injuries have not yet been determined.”

Subsequent reports painted a picture of selfless heroism on Johnson’s part: he was on Lake Street when the team belonging to Albert Schang, a farmer living south of town, ran away from the front of a grist mill on Mason Street. The horses were frightened by a switch engine and galloped madly down Lake Street, endangering many pedestrians and other vehicles.

Johnson ran into the street, caught one of the horses by the harness and was swung behind the animal. The horse kicked Johnson in the mouth, causing him to let go and be hurled beneath the wheels of a wagon which passed over his back and hip. The wagon was loaded with grain and the weight of the load caused a fracture of the hip and spine.

Johnson rolled to the side of the road and tried to rise. He couldn’t get up and from that day until his death in 1935, he never walked again.

He was helped into the Park Hotel by Frank Blood and others and was taken to his home where it was found that his legs were paralyzed.

The next few years tested Johnson’s courage. Unable to work, he cast about for some light occupation whereby he could make a living. Selling popcorn appealed to him as a business that he could handle, and he set up a stand in the fall of 1893.

The Cadillac community fully supported Johnson’s endeavor, including lumber baron G.W. Cummer, who presented him with a surprise gift of a 7 X 9 building at the northeast corner of Mitchell and Harris streets, (near the present location of Huntington Bank).

Johnson operated his business at that corner with special permission from the Cadillac City Council for 18 years, until 1912, when the popcorn machine blew up; Johnson barely escaped with his life.

With the same sort of tenacity that Johnson showed after he was paralyzed, however, he rebuilt his stand and continued to prosper.

In 1915, helped by a philanthropic Cadillac resident, Johnson bought a large motor car that resembled a circus wagon and fitted it with all the conveniences desired to run his business.

The next couple of decades were fairly uneventful for Johnson — at least in terms of the record left by the Cadillac Evening News.

That changed in 1934, however, when Johnson’s popcorn stand exploded for a second time.

On the afternoon of May 17, without warning, the small copper boiler that supplies steam to the miniature engine on his ornate popcorn motor truck exploded with sufficient force to hurl debris and glass many feet away, some of the pieces being seen to rise as high as the adjoining buildings near which the truck was customarily parked on Mitchell Street. Some of the broken scraps of wood and asbestos insulation were blown clear across the street and lodged in a motor car belonging to Leona Johnson and the doorway of John English’s news stand.

The concussion of the blast shook downtown buildings and caused a crowd to gather about the wrecked machine.

Through it all, Johnson sat in his place just over and behind the location of the broken boiler. He was splashed in the face with water and oil and was “nicked” somewhat, he said, but not hurt, although he confessed he was shaken by the experience.

The truck motor was not damaged and the vehicle was driven off under its own power. It was considerably damaged but would be repaired, Johnson said.

While he soon got back to work at his corner like he had for the past four decades, Johnson less than a year later, on Jan. 29, 1935, died of “general infirmities of age.”

By that time, however, Johnson had become a legend and an institution in Cadillac, and also a perennial harbinger of warmer weather.

“Spring has come,” residents often would quip. “Popcorn John is downtown again.”

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