I realize I'm probably the only one who
cares, but a piece of Marquette history is now gone.
If you've driven past Graveraet in the
past few days, you'll notice that they're putting in a drop off lane
in front of the school--
That's a good thing. It'll be safer
for the kids, safer for drivers, and safer for everyone. So that's
cool. But you'll notice that they had to tear out part of the
sidewalk to do it; specifically, they tore out one of three remaining unique chunks of sidewalk in Marquette. You know how you
come across all kinds of pieces of sidewalk that say “Do not spit
on the sidewalk”? Well, the one they tore out in front of
Graveraet said this--
That's right; there are (were) a couple
of chunks of sidewalk around the city that had an extra verse to a uniquely Marquette
piece of poetry. The one pictured above is on South Fourth Street,
and there's another in South Marquette, that say “”Do Not Spit on
the Sidewalk. Spit on the Side”. For those of you who don't know
the story behind this, when the cement sidewalks were first installed
in Marquette in the early 1900s gentlemen would spit their chewing
tobacco out, usually on the sidewalk, after which women would walk by
in their long dresses of the era and have hems of said dresses pick
up all the tobacco juice just spit out by the men.
So when you see “Do Not Spit on the
Sidewalk” stamped in cement, that's why. And those rare ones that
also added “Spit on the Side” added extra guidance for the
gentlemen of the era. Now you know.
It's funny; when I saw that they were
doing work in front of Graveraet I actually contacted the Marquette
City Engineering Department to see if they could save the piece of
sidewalk. But since the city wasn't doing the work, they told me I
needed to get in touch with the company doing it for the school.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to it in time, and now that rare piece of
Marquette history is gone.
Excuse me a moment while I shed a tear
or two .
(That's okay; you can look at this line
of type, and spare yourself the embarrassment of being around me as
I'm crying over a piece of sidewalk).
Like I said, there are still a few of
the original long-form pieces left in Marquette, although the way the
city is ever-changing they may not be there for long. Maybe that can
be a project when I get back from Europe—visit the remaining
pieces, make sure they're still there, and also check and see if
there's any construction scheduled to be near them. Who knows—in
the end, maybe one of them can still be preserved for posterity.
(jim@wmqt.com),
who really DOES need to get a hobby, you know? 8-)
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