Historic Buildings of former East Saginaw
Welcome to the former city of East Saginaw (1859-1889) The cities of East Saginaw and Saginaw city later became “Saginaw” in 189. I will be taking you on a tour for of the more Signiant buildings of this town. You will need to answer two questions from each of these four locations noted below.
Much of the area that later became East Saginaw was granted by treaty to James Reilly, the Métis son of fur trader Stephen V. R. Reilly and his Chippewa wife, Men-aw-cum-ego-qua, considered the Pocahontas of the village.
In 1824, the American Fur company erected a log cabin where the Bancroft house now stands and in 1826 it was tenanted by Captain Leon Snay, a celebrated French hunter and trapper. In 1849, Charles W. Grant was the first permanent American settler here and he encouraged the building of the first school-house near Snay’s cabin in 1851.
East Saginaw was settled in 1850, and was incorporated as a village in 1855 and as a city in 1859. On June 2, 1889, the Michigan State Legislature passed an act to consolidate the cities of East Saginaw and Saginaw City, Michigan (the west side of the Saginaw River) to form the present-day city of Saginaw, which became effective with the election of officers for the consolidated city in March 1890.
Second National Bank Building
Since its formal opening on September 7, 1925, the Second National Bank Building,Now Huntington Bank, has been a Saginaw landmark. At 12 stories high, it towers over the corner of East Genesee and North Washington and defines Saginaw's skyline.
While formed in 1871, Second National Bank, acquired and absorbed earlier institutions and traced its history back to 1855. On January 1, 1896, Second National Bank absorbed Home National Bank. Shortly after that, time operations were moved from a facility on East Genesee to the Home National Bank's former location in the 100 block on North Washington. They would remain in this location for more than a quarter of a century.
Temple Theater
The Temple Theatre was built in 1926 after the city’s previous concert hall was lost to a fire. The new theatre was a technological marvel featuring fireproof construction, geo-thermal cooling of the auditorium, spectacular acoustics, and state of the art stage rigging and dimming systems for the lights.
The programming of the theatre was a combination of live Vaudeville acts and silent movies accompanied by a ten-piece orchestra. The theatre was also equipped with one of the 12 Butterfield Special Barton Pipe Organs; #195 was built specifically for this theatre.
As time passed, the theatre experienced a decline in the interest of vaudeville. Patrons tastes were changing to the sounds of big band, wide screen motion pictures, and live national appearances. Several people tried to revive the facility but despite their efforts, the Temple was weakening at her 75th birthday thanks to a failing boiler system. The roof was deteriorating, crumbling plaster appeared along the stairways, and the seats and carpet were torn. The electrical system, from 1927, was not large enough to handle the amount of electricity required to operate the theatre. One more winter would have drained the Temple of its lifeblood.
The theatre known as the “Showplace of Northeastern Michigan” was facing demolition. In 2002, the family of Dr. Samuel Shaheen purchased the Temple Theatre and the adjoining three story building which contains a Grand Ballroom, Premier Room, Leopard Lounge and a commercial kitchen. After an investment of more than seven million dollars, the “Showplace of Northeastern Michigan” has been returned to her original glory.
Castle Museum
The Castle Museum was designed by William Martin Aiken, the Supervising Architect of the US Treasury, and built in 1898 as a United States Post Office under a federal building program to reflect the ethnic and cultural heritage of its community. Aiken used the influence of the European chateau to illustrate the Saginaw Valley's earliest white settlers-French fur traders and trappers, and combine it with decorations from the Italian Renaissance and Gothic periods. The Castle Building was on the verge of extinction in the 1930s. Unable to keep up with Saginaw's growing mail business, the Castle Post Office Station was too small and plans were made to replace it. A decision was made to tear it down and build a new post office on its site. A storm of protests and a petition signed by 1,000 residents was sent to Washington. The signers of the petition called the building “one of the best and most attractive buildings in Michigan” the replacement order was canceled in 1933.A final decision to demolish was made in February 1935 more protests followed and a compromise was made on February 17, 1935 the building would be extensively remodeled. The building was remodeled by local architect Carl Macomber, who enlarged the building by adding wings on both ends using limestone from the same quarry as the original building, tore down one of the three turrets, and added a large sorting room on the back of the building by Hoyt Library. Construction was completed in 1937 and Postmaster General James A. Farley labeled the building “memorial to President Roosevelt”. In the 1970s, a new post office was built and the building was almost demolished once again, but local citizens and the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners took steps to list the building on the National Register of Historic Places to ensure the preservation of the building and the local heritage it represents.
Hoyt Library
In 1882, Jesse Hoyt of New York bequeathed US$100,000 to the City of East Saginaw "for a suitable and substantial building to be used as a library."Half of this amount was used for the purchase of books and the maintenance of the library. Hoyt's trust deed further stipulated that the "building and the library"...be known and designated as the "Hoyt Public Library, and that his "name shall never be changed or altered". These wishes were to be carried out, and the institution governed by a self-electing board of five trustees. An early design of the library was done by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson but Frederick Poole, one of the nation's most outstanding librarians of the time and consultant for the Hoyt project, thought his library designs were "too monumental, wasteful of space, and not functional as libraries." Richardson's early design for the Hoyt Library was eventually used for the Public Library building in New Orleans, Louisiana[5] (which now serves as the Children's Resource Center). After the design was altered by Van Brunt & Howe of Boston, construction of the library began in 1887. The library opened to the public in 1890. It contained more than 20,000 volumes of material, a lecture hall, a meeting room, and a trustee's room. In 1920, the first expansion of the library took place, and another expansion happened in 1960. The library was renovated in 1977 and again in 1994, after the library was split from the public school system into a separate entity. Hoyt Public Library stands as a landmark - a visible sign of strength, endurance, vision of the people of Saginaw.
Requirements
Send me an e-mail with the answers to the following questions. You will also need to post a picture on your log of your favorite of these four buildings of the historic city of the former East Saginaw. Pictures are not to include any of the answers. Do not post any of your answers on you log.
Second National bank Building
1. What word is on the concrete shield above the main entrance on North Washing Ave?
2. How many rays are coming out of the sun on this same shield?
Temple Theater
3. How many doors are there on the North Washington entrance? Do not include any of the doors on the Elk Klurafeh building on the north end.
4. On the fire escape on the south side of the building, how many metal steps are there one on last section? This last section is in the “up” position until needed
Castle Museum
5. How many steps go up the to entrance doors on the corner of Federal and Jefferson? Do not include the curved steps.
6. On the northwest corner of the building there is a year inscribed below the word" Extension". What is that year?
Hoyt Library
7. How many steps lead up the to entrance doors on the Jefferson Ave entrance? Do not include the thresheld step at the door.
8. How many window panes are in the small window above the main entrance on Janes St.?
Remember Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.