[subterranean]

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[Evergrey]

Midland looks incredible!

[James Bond Agent 007]

Now that's what a town *should* look like. ;)

[Ex-Ithacan]

Very attractive looking town in these pics (and the gal ain't bad either ;) )

I like the Y footbridge too, kind of Zanesvillian. Always fun to see smaller cities here. Thanks.

[LMich]

Excellent photos!

Midland is often overlooked with historically larger and more gritty Bay City and Saginaw, up the way, but the city is very well managed and run, and the most healthy among the three.

BTW, you should post the new photos I saw in the other thread in the My City Photos forum. Those reveal other great parts of town that I'm sure many, here, would love to see.

[subterranean]

Alden B. Dow House (Architect and son of Herbert Dow, founder of Dow Chemical)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0254.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0264.jpg

Also designed by Alden B. Dow

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0267.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0268.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0271.jpg

Northwood University

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0273.jpg

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(More to come as soon as I get them uploaded...)

[subterranean]

Midland Center for the Arts (also designed by Alden B. Dow). Alden was a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, and, coincidentally, there is a Frank Lloyd Wright exhibit going on at the MCA.

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A couple of the exhibits I managed to sneak photos of ( no flash )

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Grace A. Dow Memorial Library (Also designed by Alden)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0196.jpg

The new Loons Stadium...surprise surprise...DOW. An affiliate of the Dodgers. But not bad for a town of 40,000. BTW...it's solar powered! loons.com for more info

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[ColDayMan]

That Dow house is quite interesting.

[Hayward]

Nice pictures!

As a Saginaw resident, I'm supposed to say Midland is horrible, but the city does have a lot of nice houses and attractions like the museum and new ballpark. The Dow Gardens area also amazing.

Overall, I think Midland is great, But I do have to trash something, and it really only represents a small part of what Midland is:

The downtown is anything BUT incredible. Mutilated and ugly is a better word. Mutliated, for what they did to the existing historical architecture and ugly for any of the crap they built recently except for a few structures not pictured. What you don't see shown is that downtown is hardly cohesive with the rest of the city. In fact, it's right on the edge, and the main street doesn't go anywhere. Not hating, just speaking the truth. For a city that is indeed healthy and wealthy, I would have expected their downtown to be so much more. But they are after all, just like one giant sprawly suburb. It just can't compare with Bay City's downtown

[LMich]

Is it really supposed to, though? Midland didn't become as important as the other two until measurably later, so you'd expect a city with, perhaps, a more suburban-minded and designed, and just generally younger, and the architecture reflects that. It needs to be taken for what it is. Personally, it's refreshing change to the other two, and I've always found it interesting that the area could support three cities of their size and diversity in design and function.

BTW, for those that may not know, Midland is famous/infamous as the home of the world's second largest chemical manufacturer: Dow Chemical Company. It's still very much like Michigan in being a factory/industrial town, just of a different sort.

Subterranean, I'm interested in the industrial parts of Midland. Do you happen to have any photos of those parts of the city?

[Hayward]

You have to be there to believe it. I know I might sound harsh in comparison with the other comments here, but that's only because the character of the city is portrayed a bit differently in this thread. The swaths of empty land that seperate the downtown from the rest of the neighborhoods is embarassing, and it doesn't have to be that way. It's just that the city wants to maintain a suburban look to the downtown which at one time was historical. It's purely bad planning and design. It has nothing to do with the growth of the city, rather the lack of commitment to creating a well designed urban center.

I am taking Midland for what it is. If its intention is to be a suburb that's great, because their subdivisions and homes are beautiful. But the downtown poorly represents the quality of the city overall. The basis of my judgement is not about its numbers, growth, or importance in the metro. All I'm saying is aesthetically, the downtown is ugly. That's in comparison to the other downtowns in the Tri-Cities... East & West Bay City, Saginaw's Hamilton Square...

[Ex-Ithacan]

Nice additional pics. That ballpark looks great. Thanks subt.

[subterranean]

You have to be there to believe it. I know I might sound harsh in comparison with the other comments here, but that's only because the character of the city is portrayed a bit differently in this thread. The swaths of empty land that seperate the downtown from the rest of the neighborhoods is embarassing, and it doesn't have to be that way. It's just that the city wants to maintain a suburban look to the downtown which at one time was historical. It's purely bad planning and design. It has nothing to do with the growth of the city, rather the lack of commitment to creating a well designed urban center.

I am taking Midland for what it is. If its intention is to be a suburb that's great, because their subdivisions and homes are beautiful. But the downtown poorly represents the quality of the city overall. The basis of my judgement is not about its numbers, growth, or importance in the metro. All I'm saying is aesthetically, the downtown is ugly. That's in comparison to the other downtowns in the Tri-Cities... East & West Bay City, Saginaw's Hamilton Square...

I was sort of surprised by your comments, not because don't agree that DT Bay City and Saginaw's Hamilton St. aren't beautiful, but because you're incorrect in some respects. You're totally allowed to think that downtown Midland is ugly, but you're dead wrong in saying that there are vast tracts of open land.

One thing that you must consider when looking at downtown's design is that everything across the river (west of downtown) is definitely open space, but it's that way for a reason. For anyone who has spent any time in Midland you will know that the ENTIRE area for acres and acres is a floodplain. Every spring it floods terribly due to its low elevation and proximity to the confluence of the Chippewa and Titabawasee rivers. What the city has done is not purposefully left it undeveloped. They saw a floodplain and did what most municipalities do with floodplains: turned it into a wonderful park system. There's the tridge and that entire park where people play firsbee, grill out, walk their dogs, SKATE and trilogy skate park. There's Chippewa nature center that plays educational host to hundreds of elementary schools in the Tri-Cities and beyond. There are Curry Park and Emerson park which have outdoor roller/ice hockey rinks year round and a half dozen baseball diamonds for youngsters and adult softball teams alike. Also in the floodplain is Curry Municipal Golf Course. Some of these facilities are literally not usable in the spring because the water is so high. In fact, a lot of Midland is a floodplain and this contributes to its sprawl (which is still minimal if you ask me when compared similarly sized cities like Novi).

Main Street is VERY cohesive, so I don't know what you're talking about. The Rail Trail also fallows Main Street and it gets very heavy use. It goes all the way to Coleman and has multiple small parking lots along it so that people park (even in Sanford Lake) and ride/walk/rollerblade all the way downtown, grab dinner or a snack, and go back. To the South is Down Chemical Corporation, an ENORMOUS industrial complex that plays as a blockade for further development that way and to the North on Mainstreet there is at first past M-20 a beautiful neighborhood, but then the entire couple blocks up to Orchard was the Dow estate which they have preserved and also contains Dow Gardens, Midland Center for the Arts, Grace A Dow Library, and the Michigan Molecular Institute, as well as the newly publicly accessible Whiting Forest with trails for hiking. To the East of downtown, bisected from it by Bus 10 are fully cohesive neighborhoods with beautiful schools and many parks. These residents are the lower-middle class to middle class neighborhoods that thrive in downtown. Kids ride their bikes downtown or their skateboards and people walk to shop and play. It is much more connected to downtown than any neighborhood near Hamilton Street in Saginaw.

I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to frame Midland as a hip-happenin' downtown with bars and nightlife, but that's just not its main role. There are three nightclubs downtown that are chill, usually with live music, but it's no Midland Street in Bay City. Midland Street already fills that roll for the tri-cities. Midland's downtown purpose is for families, and it's a great town to raise families. Am I in love with Midland? No, there are quite a few things that I absolutely loathe about that town, but part of it is that I'm not 35 with 2 kids. I'm 26, single, and no kids. I like big cities, some people don't. My purpose of this thread wasn't say Midland is perfect, it was to present a non-grit area of the Tri-Cities that is still actually holding its own and is the only one of the Tri-Cities that is still GROWING (it's bigger than Bay City now).

[subterranean]

P.S. I was born and raised in Saginaw, so I have much love for Saginaw ...perhaps more than I should given that it has yet to provide me with a livable wage singe I've been alive.

[Hayward]

I'm not talking about anything West of the river, or even around the river. I'm talking about those obnoxious open lots and light industry between downtown and M-20, not the floodplain. You are talking about an area that I realize needs to be open, and they did a great job filling that in with recreation.

I said the downtown was not cohesive with the city, not the buildings on mainstreet are cohesive with each other. Although, admitedly, it could be better. There's a few suburban style buildings tossed in there.

And where the hell did you come up with the idea that I'm trying to frame Midland as something as hip? It is what it is. I really don't care what it wants to be.


All I said is that I think its downtown is ugly. There are many towns in the US that experience a late boom similar to Midland, but with some good design, their downtowns are a lot nicer. I don't hate Midland, I think it's a great city, but I think you all want me to by trying to dig too deep into my statement. I'm sorry if I rained on your thread, it wasn't my intent.

[hudkina]

Bay City is a completely different city than Midland. The only reason Midland is as big as it is is because of Dow. Otherwise Midland would be more like Alma.

[subterranean]

For reference...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/CMCapture1.jpg
MCV, or Midland Cogeneration Venture, is the largest natural gas power plant in the state. My dad works there...that is my tie to the Midland area. Its initial plan was to be a nuke plant. The large lake is a cooling "pond".

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/CMCapture2.jpg
This is sketchy and not 100 percent accurate...just to gain a general idea.

[LMich]

Wolverine,

I'm still confused as to what you mean by downtown being surrounded by open space. Looking at an aerial, the downtown looks to blend in perfectly with the neighborhoods directly adjacent to it to the north and northeast. Going directly east you have greenspace, but that's because of the boulevard-like freeway spur into downtown.

Just looking at it from the air, mind you, it looks like one of the better designed and layed out of the newer planned towns that I've seen. It looks to serve its purpose very well among the Tri-Cities. BTW, to show just how different Midland is built from most of Michigan's 'major' cities, Midland is just a little smaller than East Lansing, population wise (41,685 vs. 46,525), but Midland is significantly larger in land area, in fact, as large as Lansing (35 sq mi vs 35.2 sq mi), while East Lansing is 12.9 square miles in size.

Sub,

What I'm interested in seeing is that waste plain of factories to the southeast of downtown. I never realized how industrialized Midland was. That area looks crazy big.

Also, do you think you could get some photos of that additional business/retail district along Saginaw Road?

[Hayward]

Wolverine,

Looking at an aerial, the downtown looks to blend in perfectly with the neighborhoods directly adjacent to it to the north and northeast. Going directly east you have greenspace, but that's because of the boulevard-like freeway spur into downtown.



No to your first statement, and yes to your second.

You wouldn't even know that the downtown even exists from M-20, yet it's only a couple blocks away, and seperated by empty lots, parking, and a few small suburban type buildings. That's not a valid means of connecting a downtown with it's neighborhoods, IMO. And it's not like there's a shortage of development that could prevent some better infill. It's no different then running a freeway through it and justifying connectivity with a freeway overpass. I opened google earth to give a definite count. I count 3 blocks distance between the downtown and the neighborhoods across M-20. I count 7 blocks distance running the length of the downtown if you want to be generous. So there you have 21 blocks total. Within them, there's a ton of parking, grassy open space, and a bunch of suburban style buildings that aren't all that appealing looking. Then you have M-20 to cross, which is sort of a highway through town. It's not fun to cross it as a pedestrian which I have done many times.


I'm going to apologize again here to subterranean, and I hope you will accept it. I think your photos of Midland are beautiful, and you've shown the city has a lot of offer. I believe it is a succesful community for the most part, but like any city, there are some issues. With Midland, it isn't about crime, or schools or jobs. Their problem is small and fixable...the design of their downtown.. and I believe they are still doing their best to make improvements. But I believe alot of it falls short in quality.


With that said, do some of you believe I'm an idiot and know nothing about Midland?

Although I'm from Saginaw, I'm a resident of the Tri-Cities. Up here you grow up in all 3, not just one. I've been to Midland's museums, libraries, and competed against their high schools countless times. I've been downtown more times than I can remember. I participated in charity bike rides that involved riding around the whole city. My girlfriend's family, who is originally from Nashville, moved there 2 years ago, so I've been there many times. In fact, she didn't even know there was a downtown Midland until a year ago. It's just not that obvious that it exists, so I don't blame her.

Sub, I value your responses because you have first hand experience, although it appears we had a disconnect on what exactly I was referring to.


LMich, let me tell you something. Looking at an aerial doesn't tell much about a city, we all know that on the ground things are different. Besides, did you try going to googlemaps and zooming in? I did it just to make sure I had it right, and sure enough I was right. Parking, grass, and some suburban buildings. Looks disconnected in real life, looks disconnected on the map.

I have the right to say the downtown looks ugly, and unlike a lot of people, I actually defend why I said it. I don't mind if you all disagree, but your defense is not based on first hand experience, and you are making judgements based on assumptions and resources that don't provide a good enough snapshot of what the city is like.

This really got dragged out longer than it should had, but I can't stand it when people try to debate about something they don't know much about.

[LMich]

You're only talking about the area directly east of downtown (i.e. the M-20 connector). You made it sound as if downtown Midland is completely cut off from any of its neighborhoods, which just isn't true. Residential neighborhoods border it directly to the north and northeast. I think you're also taking this way too personally. I'm not even pretending to know more about the city than you; I just think you're overstating the problem for effect, which I believe you've done from time-to-time (on UrbanPlanet).

Thanks for the overheads, Sub.

[Hayward]

You're only talking about the area directly east of downtown (i.e. the M-20 connector). You made it sound as if downtown Midland is completely cut off from any of its neighborhoods, which just isn't true. Residential neighborhoods border it directly to the north and northeast. I think you're also taking this way too personally. I'm not even pretending to know more about the city than you; I just think you're overstating the problem for effect, which I believe you've done from time-to-time (on UrbanPlanet).

Thanks for the overheads, Sub.

Of course I'm overstating. People keep misreading what I type.

Here's a map that I've drawn on. The area in blue is the definitive downtown area. The area in red is what I have a problem with. As you can see, it's mostly parking, and some episodic clusters of suburban style office and public buildings. You call that integrated?

http://www.umich.edu/~ifmuth/midlandmap.jpg

[LMich]

Perhaps I've just become accustomed to these areas as normal, because the same map could be drawn of Washington Square in downtown Lansing, which is the retail strip. The streets running paralell to either a block west or east functions mostly as a parking area. In Lansing, I'd say its even more pronounced, but I'd definetly integrated, if even it could be done better. The same can be done with Michigan Avenue/Street in downtown Jackson with the paralell streets on either side of it serving as a service-type area, and Saginaw Street in Flint. It just doesn't seem any worse than any of the cities mentioned. You were making it sounds as if there were entire multi-block swaths of empty/underutilized land disconnecting the downtown from the surrounding neighborhoods.

BTW, this was a miscommunication, as I'm a poor reader of exaggeration for effect. I rarely expect it because most people are able to make their points without it, so I respond to it poorly.

Sub,

Where in Midland is the Dow house?

[subterranean]

Hayward...I did initially misunderstand you. There are quite a few surface lots, but I don't know of any open green areas. On the western side of Main, though, is the courthouse, which I left out, and the "santa house"...which is a complete waste of space.. The courthouse is directly across the side street from Ashman Court Hotel, which is undergoing an expansion of some sort, bringing it closer to the road. To the east is a church and the center of government, a fairly bland suburban-style building about 4 or 5 stories in height. Businesses are on the side streets as well, perpendicular to Main St. I do agree it could use some work. I would have loved to have seen even a big book store like B&N move downtown instead of going to the mall....there isn't a bookstore downtown that I know of excluding the Christian Science Reading Room which is a niche market at best. I can't help but think DT Midland could be a little more like Birmingham (I know, I know...I should be lashed...but it could be good in this area and a pleasant break from the damn malls that are going up anyway). Anyway, here are the photos I had previously left out:

Looking across M-20 (Isabella) toward Main, with the (Lutheran?) church in the background:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0017.jpg

Directly after the church on Main:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0026.jpg

On the other corner of Main and M-20 (Santa house...wasteful):

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0019.jpg

Next to that is the Courthouse:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0020.jpg

And across the side street is Ashman Court Hotel:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v41/inthedeltawaves/DSC_0027.jpg

LMich, I'll try to get over to Lookout Park this week and take some pictures of Dow and MCV, and perhaps a little bit from Saginaw Hwy.

[subterranean]

The Alden B. Dow house, the weird white one with a green roof and backs up to Dow Gardens. You can access the house for tours, though, from Main St., North of Isabella on what I want to say is Revere St.

[LMich]

Thanks. BTW, I'd totally forgot about Midland's unique county courthouse. That's easily one of the most distinctive county courhouses in the whole state; I wonder how it looks on the inside.

Sub, do you happen to know if there are many loft renovations or planned mid-rises for the downtown area?

[Marcu]

Great pictures and a great looking ballpark

[subterranean]

LMich, there are no lofts or mid-rises in the works but I've often thought that the potential is great in Midland; some good mixed-use mid-rises downtown could do wonders for making it an active place at all hours. I've contemplated putting in lofts myself down there, but I don't even know where one would start to plan something like that.

[LMich]

Hood over at http://develop.metrolansing.com/ is actually involved in the preliminary stages of planning a low-rise loft project (4 or so floors). You could talk to him as he's learning, a lot.

Given Midland's function and layout, though, I don't see a 'back to the city' movement being as popular, there, as its largely already suburban and people never really left in droves. It's its own suburb, in a way. The market would seem to be stronger in the more historically larger and more siginificant cities of Saginaw and Bay City.

[the pope]

i'm going to be in midland later this summer, nice to know it won't be horrible.

nice pics.

[Michi]

I didn't know Middle Land had a new ball park. Where is it? Love the Tridge. Was one of my favorite places to go in Midland. :)

[Jeff_in_Dayton]

The Taliesenesque architeture is actually quite interesting.

The rest of the town...well, it looks pretty generic.

The areiels though, tell a different story, especially that gigantic industrial complex on the south side.

Also, this place probably very unusual for the Midwest as it is a smallish city that appears to be mostly suburban in character (based on the remarks in this thread) surrounding a small town core. I am guessing this place really grew during the auto era, thus that is why it is at such a low density, or so spread out?

[LMich]

Yes, Dow Chemical (which is why the city grew, at all) wasn't founded until 1897, and it grew with the company. The area already had two other historically significant and urban cities: Saginaw and Bay City. It's part of the "Tri-Cities" region.

http://www.zipcodesmaps.com/map-images/Full/Business/ZIP/Highways/Metro/LBSZHM6960.gif

Bay City and Saginaw were major industrial cities because of their places on the navigatable Saginaw River, and share a lot of history. Midland developed as more of a "new industry" city, were location wasn't so much the key to its success as it had been for Saginaw and Bay City, which had shipyards.