Thursday, 7/8

 I wonder how many people would recognize the place if they were plopped right in the middle of it?

One of the zillion projects I'm working on this summer is a short video for the 50^th reunion of the Marquette Senior High School class of 1971, showing just how Marquette has changed in the half-century since they graduated. It's a compare and contrast piece, looking at how things have evolved around here (as an example—the Spear Coal Yard to Lower Harbor Park). But while working on it I've started to wonder--

If you took someone who lived in Marquette 100 years ago—1921--and plopped them in the city today, would they even know where they are?

It's actually a serious thought, and one that pops up every once in a while when Loraine and I are strolling through the city. If you took someone from 1921 and put them at the entrance to UP Health Systems, would they even know they're in Marquette? Aside from a few hills, there's nothing they'd recognize—no DSS&A Roundhouse, no Our Own Bakery, not even a visible Whetstone Creek. All they'd see are multi-story buildings, a multi-lane highway, and a bike path where a rail line once ran.

And that's just one place. What would residents of 1921 think of all the coffee places on Third Street? All the dispensaries on the outskirts of downtown? Or even (gasp) all the condos on the lakefront where docks and dirt used to be? Can you just imagine what would be going through their minds?

Assuming, of course, those minds weren't totally blown.

Of course, the fact that things have changed so much over the past century isn't necessarily a bad thing. In many projects I refer to Marquette as a constantly evolving organism. It's always changing, and always growing, which is the sign of a healthy, thriving community. I think that's one thing that people who reflexively oppose any kind of development don't understand.

You can't have the same city you had in 1921, or whenever it was that you were a kid. That world doesn't exist any more. And the city that was built for it wouldn't last (in a healthy way) for very long.

After all, a lot of change takes place in 100 years. It's a statement with which I'm sure any one of those mythical visitors from 1921 would agree.

(jim@wmqt.com)