Jackson

[ZachariahDaMan]

Jackson has a population of 35,152 and is the county seat of Jackson County.

It was named after Andrew Jackson and was first called Jacksonburg but was changed to Jackson in 1838.

We

[gvsusean]

i never would've thought that jackson would have that stuff with only 32000 people

[GR8scott]

Thanks for the pics, I love Jackson and how it can look so different from different angles, its too bad there is not a whole lot of activity downtown these days, you can tell it used to be something in the past, I love those older tall buildings, there are a lot of simularities between Jackson and Battle Creek, both great cities.

[tamias6]

For town of 32k, Jaskson has some tall buildings. Very nice.

[Jasoncw]

That last building is really beautiful. The theater is funny--it's so small but so elaborate.

Thanks for the tour.

[hudkina]

Jackson was one of Michigan's larger cities in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It wasn't until after the auto industry exploded in Michigan that other cities passed it.

Thanks for the tour, ZachariahDaMan

[Time]

Jackson was one of Michigan's larger cities in the late 1800's and early 1900's. It wasn't until after the auto industry exploded in Michigan that other cities passed it.

Thanks for the tour, ZachariahDaMan

[ZachariahDaMan]

Jackson's tallest is the Jackson County Tower at 230 feet.

[mendelman]

Nice set of pics.

It's too bad, but Jackson is not much more than a whole lot of nowhere in central south Michigan.

The downtown does have some great buildings, but the economy is pretty much the prison and that is it.

Small cities like this - no unique scenery, no waterfront, no growth economy - are going to continue to have a major problem in the future.

[walker]

Nice set of pics.

It's too bad, but Jackson is not much more than a whole lot of nowhere in central south Michigan.

The downtown does have some great buildings, but the economy is pretty the prison and that is it.

Small cities like this - no unique scenery, no waterfront, no growth economy - are going to have a major problem in the future.

[GR8scott]

Prisons were a growth industry for awhile. At least the prisons can't be outsourced to China. Isn't Consumers Energy headquartered in Jackson? That should be worth a few jobs.

The annual Civil War re-enactment is nice and they did try to build their own scenery with the cascades. I

[LA Dave]

Nice pics, Zach. Particularly interested in the fantastic 19th century churches. The oldest Catholic church building is older than any Catholic church buildings in GR and the Congregational church similarly is older.

I must admit that Jackson wouldn't be on the top of my list of desireable Michigan cities (way too far from the lakes) but the downtown looks pleasant and there clearly is a lot of history in that town. By the way, I think that Jackson also used to be a significant railroad town; I remember seeing old shops that were built by the Michigan Central Railroad (which ran from Detroit to Chicago through Ann Arbor, Jackson, Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Niles, Michigan City and Gary.) You can take that route today on Amtrak.

[GR8scott]

heres some low quality pics i found from a few months ago when I was in Jackson,

[dtown]

None of them work?

[ZachariahDaMan]

I got this old postcard recently at an antique store

Since they changed how many photos you can put in one post some of the pics stopped showing up so here they are:

[hudkina]

Jackson County is actually growing at a decent pace as far as Michigan is concerned, mostly due to its proximity to Ann Arbor. According to the latest estimates, Calhoun County (Battle Creek) has had virtually no growth since 2000, while Jackson County grew by about 3.5%. Jackson County grew by 5.8% between 1990 and 2000, and if the rate of increase continues through the end of the decade it'll probably see the same increase between 2000 and 2010.

[hood]

Jackson really is a neat city, that once was booming and the architecture makes that obvious. I hope it rebounds, for the sake of preserving all the great old buildings.

[economics1]

Within the last year there have been some new restaurants that moved downtown (Lennys, Roly Poly, Jackson Coffee Company, and Speedy Burrito). Also there have been two buildings converted into Condos. For the most part the downtown is still dead. The old Consumers building along with the old Hayes Hotel building are still empty. As for the rest of Jackson most new businesses are being built right off the highway (a new mall is supposed to be built soon). So we will see what happens in the future.

[ZachariahDaMan]

Which 2 buildings were converted into condos?

[economics1]

One of the buildings was an old corest factory. www.cityviewlofts.com

The other building that was converted was built in 1889 and is right by cityviewlofts. www.mechaniclofts.com

[ZachariahDaMan]

Thanks, I'm digging the Mechanic Lofts. The other website didn't show up for me though.

[andrew.w]

Thanks, I'm digging the Mechanic Lofts. The other website didn't show up for me though.