At the beginning of the tour Monday
night I showed everyone a picture of downtown Marquette from 1863, to
show just how ramshackle and frontier-like the place looked five
years before the fire. Specifically, I showed them THIS picture--
It was taken of what is now the 400
south block of Front Street, and was shot from approximately where
the Father Marquette statue now sits. Since this block sits just
south of where the fire ended, it wasn't affected at all by the
blaze. So, at the end of the tour, as we were standing in the
parking lot right next to where the picture was taken 155 years ago,
I pulled the picture out again and pointed something out. There is a
building on that block that actually bore witness to the Great Fire
of 1868--
Specifically, the white house in the
middle of this picture I took yesterday morning from the same place
as the photo taken in 1863--
Don't believe me? Take a look for
yourself, side-by-side and 155 years apart.--
That's right; there's still a building
existing downtown that was in Marquette during the Great Fire. There
are a few more windows in the building now, and the front door has
been moved, but it's the same structure. I don't know for sure, but
based on what people told me afterward and based on comments I've
seen since, that one fact may have stuck with people more than any
other. Apparently, several minds were blown that there's a building
that old in downtown Marquette.
Who knew that would be one of the big
takeaways of the whole thing?
It's funny, too, when you think about
it. It's never been an important building or a building of which
people have fond memories. Nope; it's just been a building that's
held everything from meat market to a tobacco shop to a surfboard
store (seriously) to what it is these days; a hair salon. It has a
couple of apartments in it, too. It's never been an iconic building,
but it's the one building still around that was present when (most)
of Marquette burned to the ground.
I'm guessing the people living there
don't even know that.
So the next time you're driving down
Front Street or you happen to be visiting the Father Marquette
statue, look across the street at the unassuming white building.
You're looking at (at least) 155 years of history.
You're looking at the only building
still standing in downtown Marquette that was there when the city
burned in 1868.
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