The picture below was taken in Bay City in 2005. Do you know what the same picture looked like over 100 years ago?
View east down Center Ave. in Bay City. Mouse over image to view past!
Old pictures are fun to look at and they let us take a peak back in history. Your family probably has an album with many old pictures in it that might be fun to look at too!
To the far right in this picture is the entrance to the Wenonah Hotel which was destroyed by fire many years ago. It was one of Bay City's finest buildings in it's history. See the tall steeple justing up into the sky? That was the First Baptist Church on Madison and Center avenues, it's gone too!
Do you know what replaced the Wenonah Hotel? What other things would be different today? The next time you go downtown see if you can find this spot where the pictures were taken.
Change Is Important To Growth.
Things are changing all the time. At the end of each day we add a new page to our history. We record history so that we will know what things were like before now. If we didn't, you and I wouldn't know much about the old days other than what was passed to us by family members.
Recording history is important, it's kind of like a school report card -- by recording our grades, we know how much we have progressed in our learning about subjects. The same is true with history, we not only know how much progress has been made, but how it happened and who made it happen.
An Example of Recorded History.
In 1872, (More than 130 years ago!) two photographers climbed all the way up to the tower of the First Baptist church to take some pictures (You can see the church's tower jutting up high in the sky in this picture.) Thanks to them, we have an important image of what Bay City looked like when it was still a very young town.
Back then, people lived very close to each other and the main part of the town because they didn't have cars or buses to travel long distances. They mostly walked to stores or took their horse and carraige if they needed to haul something. Most homes had fences surrounding them to keep their their animals from wandering off. It was very common for families to raise chickens and ducks, and to have a garden for growing the vegetables they ate.
Much has changed since then. Many of these old buildings made from wood are gone (Including this church.). As the city grew -- churches, schools and people moved further from the center of the city to make room for new business buildings.
To see these pictures you'll need to "open a window" in the main section of Bay-Journal, please remember to close it when you are done. I'll wait here until you return!
View Pictures Taken From Tower
We Have A Rich History.
We have a lot to be thankful for because we live in Bay County:
Lots of good schools and teachers to help us become as smart as we can be.
Lots of play grounds and parks where we can do fun things.
Lots of good leaders and friends to help us grow.
And, my favorite... lots water for boating and swimming!
Can you think of some other things that makes Bay County a great place to live? One of my favorites things is exploring all of the rivers, streams and marshlands around the bay.
Things Important To Learn.
I'm going to share some interesting things about the history of where we live. However, there is more history than I can possibly cover on this short tour. Some good places to learn more about our history is from the library, your school, your church, the museum, and from your parents.
The following are some of the things that I'll be sharing with you because I think are important to know.
- Our location and names that define who and where we are.
- The role of nature in developing the land where we live.
- The natives and settlers that lived here before us.
- The importance of lumbering to our community.
- The historical life and things made in our community.
The main section of Bay-Journal is also a good place to learn more about our history. I'm learning new and interesting things all the time. Things like who lived here before us, where our old buildings came from, and why people chose to live here.