Tri-Cities Photo of the Day

[bobjgumby]

didnt there used to be a messed up little fake building there?

Yeah like most of the vacant storefronts they put up false facades on them in the late 80's early 90's. I think in this case they should have left it. They removed it when they did the sidewalks because they had to reinforce something to allow them to pour the concrete.

[dtown]

ohh, mmkay, yeah i think fake facades in general look crappy.

[bobjgumby]

ohh, mmkay, yeah i think fake facades in general look crappy.

Yeah for the most part I agree. But in this case the gaping hole doesn't really look good.

[dtown]

true, but a real building wouldve been better. but im sure there was a reason for putting in a fake one; lack of money/ lack of want or need for a real one

Edited May 4, 2006 by dtown

[dnast]

Saginaw County Courthouse

The original building was amazing

I like the clock tower and the landscaping, but yeah...I thought the courthouse was a parking garage when I first glanced at it. It still looks better than our city hall.

[wolverine]

Eastside Rescue Mission in Saginaw.

Saginaw Habitat Blitz Build from last year

"The Shelter" beneath the Genesee Ave. Bridge

[wolverine]

The new Frankenmuth Riverplace Mall

[dnast]

The new Frankenmuth Riverplace Mall

That's a nice-looking place. For some reason I get the "Disney" feeling with that place even though it's very walkable and has a lot of nice, unique shops. I'll probably give Frankenmuth a visit later on this month.

[wolverine]

Yeah it is pretty disneyesque. Everything down to the landscaping is so perfect. There's a photo between two of the stores that has an image of the city in Germany it was modeled after. Surprisingly, it looks exactly like it. Although, I think the archway in this photo had a bit more potential:

The basements of the old brewery are apparently still in tact beneat the mall. I'm curious as to what they look like.

[wolverine]

100 Jefferson Building in downtown Saginaw. It's always been one of my favorites along with the Citizens bank building. Now, I have a summer job with an architecture firm on the top two floors.

[dtown]

way cool wolverine!!

[Jasoncw]

I always love those crisp clean lines, and the white on black window frames.

[TheNawMan]

I've always liked that building, too. My dad worked there since it was the Great Lakes Bancorp building and coincidentally that's his van on the lower right of the photo.

[wolverine]

The SBC building and Citizens peak above some East Side businesses.

[wolverine]

Genesee Street. It's hard to believe this was once the center of downtown, with some of Saginaw's tallest. Now just grass lots and a bus terminal.

[dtown]

cool pic, that road looks pretty rough.

Any old pics of when that was the center of Saginaw?

[wolverine]

Here's a photo I think from the late 1800's, prior to getting taller buildings since I don't even see the one I work in. You can see where Genesee Street diverges prior to when the downtown street system was reworked. All of the building shown in this photo except for the imediate one on the left, and probably two on the right are gone. This business district was entirely leveled. Granted, a couple were replaced in the 1920's, but are abandoned right now.

Here's a later photo of the location shown in my photos, and as you can see all buildings here are gone

And there's places in downtown Saginaw, I just can't recognize. For example, there's no way for me to tell where this hotel that burned down was, because the buildings next to it were demoed

http://www.saginawimages.org/images.asp?It...&SearchTerm=171

Here's an old photo of Jeffers park, this is so depressing

http://www.saginawimages.org/images.asp?it...&SearchTerm=207

Here's a photo of businesses along Court street. The row of buildings to the right have all burned down in the past 10 years

http://www.saginawimages.org/images.asp?it...&SearchTerm=223

[wolverine]

And here's a photo looking towards Washington Street

[dtown]

man, Saginaw really used to be jumpin. Too bad they tore down all those buildings

so this

used to be this?

[wolverine]

That's correct. The triangle shaped building and that tall one used to be on the triangular grassy area. The parking lot was a road. Now they've completely redone the road grid. A lot of these buildings didn't disappear too long ago. I remember being downtown and seeing some of the structures best during the Gusmacker Basketball tournament. That cool corner building in the old photo wasn't there, but the tall one...Feiges furniture was. It was imploded. The street grids were then modified in the late 90's. Things actually disappeared quickly during the 80's. At that time, there was little interest in rehabilitation of old buildings into lofts and stuff, so a lot were demolished for urban renewal projects. The sad thing is, some buildings didn't even need to be demolished. Downtown Saginaw once had 5 department stores up until the late 70's when they moved to the suburbs. Immediately after they left, they were all torn down except for the Jacobson's store which closed when the chain went out in 2001(?) That building sits across from where I work now and I believe is supposed to be turned into an office building.

[dtown]

that tall one actually looks pretty tall, for Saginaw anyway. Was that once the tallest in the city?

imagine if they had kept all those buildings there, not to mention the streetcars....wow, just ..wow.

Edited June 12, 2006 by dtown

[dnast]

Interesting stuff! I really haven't seen many old photos of Saginaw. Thanks.

[wolverine]

Well, I've been working about 80 hours a week now to get this project done I'm working on. The good thing is I am compensated very well, but I don't get much time to drive around the tri-cities to take photos. For the next week or two you'll be stuck with more places surrounding where I work, or photos taken from the roof

So here's another of the beautiful Castle Museum:

[dtown]

cool, wolverine.

i know youve got more though, post em!

[Michi]

Look at that beast!