Published in the Bay City Times on September 7, 2005. Copyright Judith Kerman 2005.
A lot of people say that Bay City is a jewel in the rough, an interesting small city of “churches, verandas and bars.” Much of what gives Bay City its reputation as a comfortable place is our architecture. Our buildings help make Bay City a great place to live.
Bay City feels like a real place. Our neighborhoods, which grew out of ethnic and religious communities clustered around churches like St. Stan’s and market streets like Johnson Street, Broadway and Columbus Avenue, still have that feeling of home and history. A lot of this comes from the fact that Bay City’s property-owners have done the right thing. In particular, we have preserved our architectural heritage. But we didn’t always know we were doing that - sometimes we just didn’t tear things down. We were lucky. We are blessed. Now we need to be wise as well.
Although the gems with the most sparkle may be “lumber baron mansions,” most of Bay City’s interesting buildings were not built by famous architects. The “setting” that makes the jewel complete is our neighborhoods and commercial streets, ordinary stick-built houses designed by immigrant master carpenters, brick-layers and stonemasons or their descendants, as well as cast-iron storefronts and kit-houses of all sizes from Bay City’s own Aladdin, Lewis-Liberty and Sterling Homes companies. Bay City is one of those rare places that has an outstanding collection of buildings dating from all periods of its history. It was built by a rich blend of different kinds of people: wealthy people and working people, Irish, Polish, German, Italian, French, Native American, Jewish, Black, Mexican, and other Americans, many of whose families still live here.
Between its 19th century settlement and recent years, Bay City grew without destroying its authenticity. New buildings built among the older ones give it a variety and richness that new towns and urban-renewal projects can never duplicate. Our wealth as a place is more than money - it is the mix of people, history, buildings, values and traditions, and in many ways it is most visible in our architecture.
As we look to the future, descendants of those old families and new arrivals share the need to preserve what makes Bay City special while developing our economic base. Our historic architecture is one of our best assets. This makes it essential that every property-owner try to preserve what makes his or her property a link between our rich past and our promising future. The key is historic preservation, not just for the buildings considered important, but for all Bay City’s properties.
Historic preservation is not an expensive luxury, but rather an opportunity to maintain and enhance the value of what we already have as individuals and families and as a community. Those who preserved our houses, commercial and industrial buildings, churches and farms left us a gift, which we can pass on to future generations.
Every Bay City property is the product of its time, construction methods and sense of style. Houses large and small, commercial storefronts, churches, schools and even factories reflect the history, purposes and values of our people over time. All our properties and neighborhoods are grand in their own way, because of their place in our history and their influence on the people who lived, worked, studied and worshipped in them. We are lucky that we still have them, mostly in good shape, all over town.
How can residents and property-owners keep our buildings healthy and sound in a way that respects their period and style? We have to think about their original purposes but also what we can use them for today. It is not necessary to spend huge amounts of money to preserve the architectural and historical value of our Bay City buildings. In fact, it is often less expensive to follow historic preservation guidelines and restore or repair existing materials, such as windows and structural details, than to replace and modernize them. Historic preservation preserves and enhances property values, especially if the whole town is committed to keeping its culture intact.