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Comments:
lynne - 2004-10-25 21:49:31 I am ignorant but learn something every time I'm lucky enough to spend time with my friend, who, it must be noted, has been quoted as saying (he was quoting someone else but was suspiciously sanguine about this quote), "Never let the facts get in the way of a good story."* * * * * * * * * * * * Ypsidweller - 2004-10-26 08:15:35 From my little rotting cabin I can see the High School clock tower, the double church towers, the farm bureau tower and the fire station tower. It's quite a view. I always quiz people I'm talking to about the purpose of each. (The clock: pretty obvious, the church towers: bells,) but usually no one quesses the purpose of the fire station tower. Why does it have louvers sporadically placed around it? It's a fire hose dryer. They would be hung up so they hung straight and dry flat. It's a least 75 feet high.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-10-26 08:38:34 When the current owners were rehabbing the high school I fought to save the natatorium. It was a fine piece of historical construction. Sporting relief sculptures all around the outside walls. Discus throwers, old leather helmeted football players in a scrum, javelin thrower, and a giant "Y" over the main door. (They did save the sculptures which are placed in their garden in back and be walked up to and looked at.) The "Y" however, probably wound up in someones backyard garden. The deconstruction/rehabbing went on for at least four years. The very best moment was watching the mexiacan guys bring down the old high school smokestack. Did they use explosives or machines? Hell no, they had a sledgehammer and started poking out the bottom bricks one by one like a game of "Break the ice" A guy would knock out a brick, you'd hear a creak, and he would dash like hell 50ft around a brick shed where ten of his laughing buddies would be. Then they would take turns doing the same thing. After two or three hours of this, it made a giant creak, slowly leaned, and started melting fast as it fell, making a hell of a boom and enough dust & smoke to foul the neighborhood for a couple hours. But I'm sure they mitigated all the toxins before they did it, yeah right. But the old Natatorium (Which I was told not worth repairing) was way better example of that time than U of M's on Hoover. Which has been restored and added on too. Oh well, it did make the fire house tower come fully into view with it's removal.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-26 09:06:58 Well, I'll be darned. Thank you, YD--I never knew it was a hose dryer. I never would have guessed that. I assumed it was a lookout tower for telltale plumes of smoke, but if that were true, there would be windows all 'round the top, and there aren't. Great and nail-biting story about the tower coming down...I'm glad none of those guys got hurt. Last, I'm glad to learn the statues may still be seen; next time I'm taking a walk around that part of town I'll be sure to check them out, and I appreciate the info.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-10-26 09:12:56 They put an iron fence all around the parking lot of the high school. But you can walk into the parking lot from Adams st. No one cares if you look. All the sculptures were stacked in back for months, I was tempted to take one, but it would have taken eight guys to cart one away.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-26 09:15:47 From Adams--OK, thank you, YD. I'll check them out At least they didn't haul off the statues to a landfill. Was the natatorium located where that iron-fenced parking lot is now?--it must have been. That must have been before I moved to Ypsi in 2000.* * * * * * * * * * * * yd - 2004-10-26 09:24:35 They are relief sculptures. About 3 by 3 or 4 by 4 ft square. They were, but still are, quite amazing. Most, but not all, are behind the school where they made a garden. Some are set in a wall they made, I think some are in the ground. I used to love looking at all of them when I walked by which is why I was sad to see the swim pool torn out. The theater was torn out too. When you look up from the garden you can see where the theater met the main building. You can see where they bricked up the place where the projectores came through. For about a year, the seats were all there with no roof. It looked pretty funny.* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-26 09:29:13 Now I'm curious...the bus coming home goes right by there; I can hop off right by the school. I would have loved to have seen the odd sight of all the seats sitting there with no roof.* * * * * * * * * * * * lynne - 2004-10-26 11:53:00 Hmm. I have a pal who lives right next to the old high school in a big purple house on Adams St. I think that next time I am over there, I might talk her into taking a walk to look at the sculptures. Thanks for the info yd! * * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-26 12:38:56 Yes, it's pretty interesting, isn't it? I never knew anything about any of that before today; my thanks to yd, too.* * * * * * * * * * * * Vince Prygoski - 2004-10-26 14:39:48 The high school natatorium sculptures sound really cool! That reminds me of the Ferry Field gate which is still in its original spot on State Street in Ann Arbor. Ferry Field was the old U of Michigan football stadium which the Wolverines played in until the current Michigan Stadium (aka The Big House) was built in 1927. Ferry Field actually still exists as a track and field facility, but almost all of the old stadium structure and stands were torn down long ago. But the old gate with "FERRY FIELD" at the top remains where it always was. The name comes from Dexter Ferry of the Ferry Seed Company, who donated all the land where the Michigan athletic facilities are located. Also on the central campus of U of M, near the Business School, are a couple of disembodied parts of old buildings that were donated to the University. One is a large classical column, the other is an entranceway. I also love all the monuments left by various graduating classes. The oldest one I am aware of is a "Class of 1869" (I think that is the year) rock in front of Angell Hall. I wonder if the 1869 grads ever imagined that their rock would still be there well over a century later???* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-26 14:49:04 Vince, I've seen the gate; it is an ornate arched gate if I recall right. I never knew about the name's history, though--that was interesting to read; thank you. I've seen the 1869 rock you speak of. It has a plaque on it, there by the Grad Library. But...is there a Civil War-era class monument as well? I think it's the shape of a blunt cannon, somewhere in that same area. Speaking of memorials, I've heard the UMMA described as "Ann Arbor's biggest war memorial," as it was originally named the Alumni Memorial Hall as you know, and built to honor those who'd served in the (racks brain) Spanish-American? and the Civil War. There are two huge, ornate, quite beautiful memorial plaques on the walls of the northernmost stairwell, which I'd never seen till they were pointed out to me this year.* * * * * * * * * * * * Vince Prygoski - 2004-10-26 15:16:18 Yes, there is a cannon somewhere in the area of the Grad Library! I am not sure what year it is from. Speaking of war memorials, according to this U of M website:http://www.plantext.bf.umich.edu/planner/sculpture/south/michiganstadium.htm Michigan Stadium is officially also known as Memorial Stadium. I consider myself to be quite the expert on Michigan athletics but I never knew that!* * * * * * * * * * * * Laura - 2004-10-26 15:18:31 Nor did I, Vince--that is interesting. I wonder why that is. Was it dedicated to the memory of a certain group of vets? Or perhaps there's a section that memorializes athletes who are also vets?* * * * * * * * * * * * Vince Prygoski - 2004-10-26 15:47:37 According to the website I referred to in my previous post, when legendary coach and athletic director Fielding Yost retired in 1941, alumni wanted Michigan Stadium to be renamed Yost Stadium. The old coach asked instead that it be dedicated to the memory of those who gave their lives for their country. Supposedly the Regents dedicated the venue as Memorial Stadium in November 1945, but all the signage and publications (game day programs and so on) refer to it as Michigan Stadium. Yost does have the hockey arena (which was formerly a "field house" for indoor football practice and was also once the home of Michigan basketball) named after him.* * * * * * * * * * * * Vince Prygoski - 2004-10-26 15:53:43 At the present day Ferry Field track facility, there are plaques with the names of Michigan athletes who died in the two World Wars and Vietnam. There is also a plaque commemorating the four world records set by Jesse Owens at Ferry in 1935. This last plaque is really a nice bit of sportsmanship on Michigan's part, seeing as how Owens set the records while wearing the Scarlet and Grey of Ohio State University.* * * * * * * * * * * * add your comment: |