Photo by Andy Rogers
Old Jail Still Standing.
August 15, 2004
Leave a Comment
By: Stephen Kent

It was a noisy week... off and on that is. On Tuesday we reported that the jail was coming down. As of the weekend it was still standing, although progress had been made.
As long as the library stands, we continue to see reflections of other images as we look at the building. Andy Roger's picture at right may remind some readers of the 1959 episode of the Twilight Zone called "Time Enough AtLast". Burgess Meredith played a book loving bank teller who becomes the last living person after a nuclear war. He finds a bombed out library filled with all the books he could ever desire.
As the episode closes Meredith, arms loaded with books, emerges from the library entrance onto the steps littered with bricks. The Twilight Zone twist comes as Meredith stumbles and drops his glasses which shatter,leaving him with "Time Enough At Last" but without the ability to see.

As demolition projects go, this one has not been all that exciting. The jail is just not that old. When the old buildings on the river front came down a few years ago the work uncovered what may have been the remanents of the fabled catacombs that connected the bars in "Hell's Half Mile". Another recent project uncovered a long burried tile mosaic floor from an old building.
Still, there have been few surprizes. Before the area was closed off, Rogers was able to peek inside the front door and catch the photo shown at left. It was just a quick, offhand flash shot looking straight into the dark entrance. Only later did we notice the ceiling, revealed by the flash, and what seems to be a stars and stripes mural.
MyBayCity.com would like to know more about this mural. Anyone with information is invited to send an email to
support@mmcctech.com. We hope to get permission to photograph the ceiling in more detail before it is destroyed.
Stephen Kent
|
|
Steve Kent and his family have lived in Bay City for 40 years. He is VP of Technical Services at MMCC which produces MyBayCity.Com. Kent is active in many Bay City civic organizations.
More from Stephen Kent
|
Send This Story to a Friend!
Letter to the editor
Link to this Story
Printer-Friendly Story View
--- Advertisments ---