Rest In Peace -- Mill End Store
September 9, 2012
1 Comments
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I really like Bay City, Michigan.
I've done business and made a living for the past 35 years promoting what is good about Bay City, Michigan.
It's not always easy to keep an open mind when it comes to what's right and not right in your own home town.
The best example of this "perspective" is when I hear people talking about the beautiful Saginaw River that separates the East and West sides of our city space.
Newbies in town for just the first time, always see the visiting majestic Tall Ships, or the Appledore sailing vessels and maybe the Princess Wenonah party boats as they cruise the water with party-goers -- enjoying the trip across the water.
To me . . . it's the
Saginaw River . . . that's too often closed by the DEQ for sewage overflow . . . To me . . . it's the
Saginaw River . . . which for years was so polluted that it could not freeze over in the dead of winter . . .To me . . . it's the
Saginaw River . . . that once actually caught on fire because it was so polluted with oil-based refuse . . .Back in 2005, I walked through Downtown and basked in the "good stuff" about my home town.
Here's What I Wrote Back on May 1, 2005
Norman Bates
Should have buried his Mom.
The Mill End Store (Bottom)
is neither Achitecture (Middle)
or a Classic (Top)
In 2005, I could only find three things wrong with Downtown Bay City.
The knee-jerk reaction is always . . . save the building . . . so many memories . . . how could anyone possibly justify tearing down such a landmark.
One of the best examples of this Restoration process was the work done at the Pere Marquette Depot.
First, the PM Depot was used as a railroad depot and then a Greyhound Bus Station.
The Pere Marquette Depot is three things. (1) Architecture (2) Classic and (3) Worth Saving.
The Mill End Store is more like Norman Bates' Mom.
You could gut the walls of the Mill End Store, repaint and polish the tarnish but it would still be a dead building -- like Mrs. Bates.
Norman Bates kept his mummified mom "alive" but there was really no purpose . . . and in the end . . . there was nothing gained and Norman Bates was left standing alone and "crazy."
Almost anyone left in town has a warm, fuzzy memory about the Mill End Store.
We all bought electric crap, glassware, cheap toys and fishing gear in the basement of the Mill End Store. But those were different times. Now . . . there's e-Bay and a flea market on every corner.
It was hard for Norman Bates to let his mom go. Norman Bates had many fond memories of good times spent with his mom.
But everyone could easily agree, Norman would have been better off if he had just buried the dead.
Bay City will be better off when the Mill End is gone.
Mill End Store -- Rest in Peace!
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mgaken9517 Says:
On September 10, 2012
at 04:50 PM
I agree, but I loved the Mill End store, no the building. I visited the store as a kid. Long before I moved to the area, we would camp t he state park and shop at Mill End.
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O. J. Cunningham |
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