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When I look through historic photos of downtown Alpena, there are times where I wonder: Is this really our downtown?
While some still-standing downtown buildings grace the photos and center my perspective, there are some views that are unrecognizable to the downtown I know.
Over the years, the field of downtown revitalization has sought to answer the question: How do our downtown cores stay relevant? How do they compete within a changing economic landscape? How do they remain attractive to the "modern" consumer?
As shopping malls, supermarkets, and automobiles rose to popularity throughout the 1960s and 1970s, our downtowns strove to compete. Facades were "modernized" with metal siding and original architectural details were removed. Buildings were torn down to make way for new projects under the guise of "urban renewal" or "planned business district revitalization." By the time I was born a few decades after that, many of those decisions had permanently altered the downtown landscape.
While many buildings are still intact, many did not survive those modernization efforts, leaving our streetscape with gaps like teeth missing from a smile.
Two particular buildings come to mind. The Masonic Block, located across from the present-day Nicolet Bank, an imposing three-story brick building with intricate stone arches above its windows. Spanning 115 through 119 S. 2nd Ave., that 1890s building could have rivaled the Center Building in its prominence downtown. By 1971, it was torn down and "modernized" to the one-story building that sits on the site today.
The Culligan Block, known today as Culligan Plaza, stretched the corner of 2nd Avenue and Chisholm Street. With its iconic turret and large, arched windows and decorative cornice along the roofline, the building was home to a variety of businesses over the years since its 1880s construction, including a pharmacy, a shoe store, and a bar. Its facade was heavily altered and "modernized" throughout the years until its 1980 demolition that transformed the lot into a parking lot and plaza.
Just two examples that were lost in the name of modernization.
I often wonder what our downtown would be like today if those buildings still stood. What businesses would be there? How excited would the community be to see their brickwork restored? Would the second story be the prized apartments downtown?
Nearly half a century later, it seems we have come to our senses about the value of historic preservation, realizing not only the economic value that those old buildings possess, but the tangible cultural heritage they represent.
On a physical level, the craftsmanship of these buildings can never be replicated. On a cultural level, the significance and shared memory they represent no longer has a physical manifestation within the community.
While memories of that place and within that place remain, it no longer holds physical space within our community.
Over the last 20 or so years, we have realized the value of our historic buildings. "Old fashion fix-up takes on momentum in downtown Alpena," headlines a 1999 article published in The Alpena News discussing the restoration of the Center Building.
Downtown Scoops, Red Brick Tap and Barrel, the Professional Building. Thunder Bay Theatre, the Sanctuary Cinema, the State Cinema, and the Vaughn on the way. The list grows of historic properties that will have been restored downtown.
Seeing those old photos reminds me that historic preservation was not always a given, nor is it an assumed priority. There is positive momentum as the community is recognizing the importance of preserving its historic assets. That our historic buildings are vital to our community's identity, reflecting Alpena's changing economy and the people who made (and are making) Alpena what it is.
Lest, as Joni Mitchell sings, "they pave paradise and put in a parking lot."
Anne Gentry graduated from Brown University with a degree in comparative literature and has studied in Italy and South Australia. She is currently executive director of the Alpena Downtown Development Authority.