Tecumseh
as some of you might know, i grew up all over the damn midwest. my dad had the hankering for upward momentum, so when he got a better job, we would move. it makes answering the question, "so where did you grow up?" kind of hard. but i say that i spent my formative years in Tecumseh, MI.
we moved there when i was 6 or 7. 1981. it's a small town between ann arbor and the ohio border, almost at the junctions of M50 & M52. at the time i was there, it had about 7 inhabitants. and it's always had a rich history. it may have been there that i found my love of old, beautiful things.
when i was about 11, my friend brook and i used to ride our bikes all over the city. we had a map, modes of transportation and nothing but time. we would follow old train tracks, search abandoned buildings, and basically go as far as our legs could take us. one day in 1985, we rode past this old, empty building on Evans street. not really having the eye for empty buildings i have now, i had no idea that it was the old train depot. looking in the dirty windows, there was a motorcycle, a can of gasoline, and some random construction odds and ends. Bare wooden walls, no lights, nothing. it looked like a sad old extra building from Little House on the Prairie. brook and tried to get in, but it was locked up pretty tight and breaking windows was beneath us. so we looked around and then carried on with our exploring elsewhere.
little did i know that we were peering into a huge piece of Tecumseh history.
it was the old train depot. and if i had bothered to look around, i would have noticed the defunct train tracks and old abandoned crossing signs feet away from it. built in 1885, the building was a station for the Detroit, Toledo and Milwaukee Railroad and the Lakeshore, Michigan-Southern Railroad in its early days. From 1914 to 1968, it served the New York Central Railroad, and that was that.
but in October 1986, the Tecumseh Historical Society received the old building as a gift from Tecumseh Plywood, and they decided to move it and renovate it. I don't know why I wasn't one of the kids watching them move this huge building, but i must have been sleeping that day. actually, i didn't really know they moved the building until just before we moved away in 1987, but the renovation wasn't complete. but imagine my surprise when i noticed that building brook and i tried to break into placed on a prominent spot on Chicago Boulevard. my 13-year-old brain said, "huh. look at that." and that was all.
when i came to visit about a year later, my friend jenni and i visited the building, which was turned into a visitor's center and gift shop. all painted and brought back to its original glory, it was really was a sight to behold. and there began my love of historical societies and people who see the beauty in old things and enjoy bringing them back to life instead of destroying them.
Depot in 1905.
Taft taking the train through Tecumseh.
The Depot today.
we moved there when i was 6 or 7. 1981. it's a small town between ann arbor and the ohio border, almost at the junctions of M50 & M52. at the time i was there, it had about 7 inhabitants. and it's always had a rich history. it may have been there that i found my love of old, beautiful things.
when i was about 11, my friend brook and i used to ride our bikes all over the city. we had a map, modes of transportation and nothing but time. we would follow old train tracks, search abandoned buildings, and basically go as far as our legs could take us. one day in 1985, we rode past this old, empty building on Evans street. not really having the eye for empty buildings i have now, i had no idea that it was the old train depot. looking in the dirty windows, there was a motorcycle, a can of gasoline, and some random construction odds and ends. Bare wooden walls, no lights, nothing. it looked like a sad old extra building from Little House on the Prairie. brook and tried to get in, but it was locked up pretty tight and breaking windows was beneath us. so we looked around and then carried on with our exploring elsewhere.
little did i know that we were peering into a huge piece of Tecumseh history.
it was the old train depot. and if i had bothered to look around, i would have noticed the defunct train tracks and old abandoned crossing signs feet away from it. built in 1885, the building was a station for the Detroit, Toledo and Milwaukee Railroad and the Lakeshore, Michigan-Southern Railroad in its early days. From 1914 to 1968, it served the New York Central Railroad, and that was that.
but in October 1986, the Tecumseh Historical Society received the old building as a gift from Tecumseh Plywood, and they decided to move it and renovate it. I don't know why I wasn't one of the kids watching them move this huge building, but i must have been sleeping that day. actually, i didn't really know they moved the building until just before we moved away in 1987, but the renovation wasn't complete. but imagine my surprise when i noticed that building brook and i tried to break into placed on a prominent spot on Chicago Boulevard. my 13-year-old brain said, "huh. look at that." and that was all.
when i came to visit about a year later, my friend jenni and i visited the building, which was turned into a visitor's center and gift shop. all painted and brought back to its original glory, it was really was a sight to behold. and there began my love of historical societies and people who see the beauty in old things and enjoy bringing them back to life instead of destroying them.
Depot in 1905.
Taft taking the train through Tecumseh.
The Depot today.
posted by mikraas at 9:41 PM
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