Pere Marquette Union Station Was The Center Of Bay City Commerce Old Rail Center Revival Plan Recalls Glory Days of the 1950s Downtown
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The move to restore the old Pere Marquette Union Station in downtown Bay City recalls the glory days of the 50s and 60s.
Oldtimers may recall that the area surrounding the depot was the Rail Development Center. Some may be aware that thiswas one of the first urban shopping centers in the nation, preceding the ubiquitous malls.
With the depot serving as the headquarters for the New York Central System's management, the center was a shiny, sparkling jewel in a classic 1920s style downtown. National news media featured stories about the center, noting that it was setting a trend that etail developments in other communitoes were bound to follow. The contrast with "old Bay City" was dramatic.
After all, only a couple blocks away was the Bay City Cash, with its web of wire cages clicking and clacking. Clerks took the customer's cash and sent it with the bill to a central accounting area overlooking the huge retail store. Was it that management didn't trust the clerks to make proper change? Or was it just a more efficient way to gather the cash in the pre-computer days?
Nearby also was the Ford Clothing Co., with the courtly Howard Ford presiding. The town's burghers trouped into Fords religiously to be fitted for suits, sportcoats and topcoats, capped by the ever-present Homburg or maybe a porkpie hat. Oppenheim's and Mays were the challengers to Fords, as Knepps was to the Cash. W.R. Knepp Sr. held sway at his department store establishment, his popularity exceeded only by the effusively polite jeweler Florian Hiss. Across the street was Tommy Tabor's Paris Hat Shoppe, commanded by the distinguished former Canadian soldier with the ever so slight British accent. Next to the Herman Hiss Jewelry Store was the ever-bustling Busy Bee Sandwich Shoppe, with retired wartime Rosie the Riveters dishing out hamburgs by the dozen and coffee by the potsful.
Intruding into this closed retail society was a new, strange operation -- a shopping center. Brand new light colored brick stores all hooked together fronted on Adams Street and Fifth Avenue, with a huge parking lot backing up to them all. The A&P and National supermarkets, innovative marketing wonders in a town with dozens of neighborhood groceries, and a new F. W. Woolworth five and dime store, anchored the center.
A loan company, pet store, shoe store, and other small retailers were sandwiched in between the major stores.
The Pere Marquette Center was brought to Bay City by Henry Briggs, president of the New York Central System, in 1952. Mr. Briggs was married to Peggy Sharpe, daughter of Edward Sharpe, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court.
It was a dynamic business move on the part of a huge railroad company with much surplus land. Previously, a huge 400 foot long freight warehouse fronted Adams Street. The East Michigan Tourist Association log office dominated the corner of Adams and Fifth, handy to the target of much of its publicity work, The Bay City Times. The last two of the legendary managers of the E.M.T.A. were Barry McGuire and Jim Hall. They represented hundreds of businesses, mainly "up north" tourist attractions. The E.M.T.A. promoted conservation along with regional economic development and was a major force in Northeast Michigan until it fell in the early 90s to political machinations.
In the depot itself, offices of insurance companies and other tenants were located along with the Rail Development Corp., headed by sophisticated New Yorker Ernie Matthews.
Thus, the depot was the nerve center of modern retail operations in Bay City, and the Rail Development Center prevailed as the most innovative marketing site until the K-Mart store opened in the 1960s at Wilder and Euclid. An important figure in Bay City business suffered a heart attack in the crush of people at that opening, posing an ominous portend for downtown Bay City business.
Ten years later the focus shifted to the Hampton Square Mall, an enclosed shopping center which has faded with time and competition although it is still physically viable.
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