A New Year’s Resolution for Wyandotte
There is a growing sense of enthusiasm and excitement as Wyandotte emerges as the premier destination Downriver for dining, entertainment, arts and blank" >target="_blank" >culture, and shopping.
Though is it as one source quoted in a December 22, Detroit Free Press article stated, that “in the future Wyandotte will be a town like it once was”?
What does this mean? Does it mean that glossary/factories/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="3133b26e1d0515a31b947f9dde49972c" target="_blank" >factories will be brought back-lining/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="88f8f640389795669190c8d23acefe2a" target="_blank" >back lining the river, belching smoke into the air all hours of the day and night? Or does it mean we’ll be as we were during the first half of the 20th century when streetcars ran along Biddle and converged on our downtown, with several large retailers and downtown department stores located there, making us a ceiling-medallion/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="557374c3eebbede5d82414433d1f21e7" target="_blank" >center of retailing for the surrounding area?
Bringing back factories or the streetcar and department stores with it does not seem possible or practical today. Further, increased reliance on the automobile, and the spread of the population to outlying areas with new retail developments to serve them, requires Wyandotte to adapt yet again and to find an entirely new function. We once were primarily a retailing center, just as we were once primarily an industrial center, but today these things are part of our past and not necessarily our future.
What communities throughout the country have found is that to be competitive in a global economy it is necessary to create a unique experience. And what does this mean? It means having a broad and comprehensive vision, but also paying attention to small details such as the design of public spaces, placement of street benches, consistency with historic lighting, paying attention to the appearance of display windows and storefronts, and considering what is offered inside and providing a diversity of activities for people of different ages, incomes, and backgrounds.
And what might this mean in Wyandotte specifically? A restored Wyandotte Theater would be a good start. Estimates for the cost of such a project will be presented to city officials in late January 2006 or in early February. Between now and then, and certainly afterwards, it is necessary for the residents, local leaders, and the building owner to come together if completing renovation of this building and bringing it back into use is a possibility.
Other developments such as the proposed tower on the parking-lot/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="015f75eb4090904e6f535eb738aa9c4c" target="_blank" >parking lot south of Bishop Park are promising too. Though one hopes that things like the original street grid are respected, that a retailing component is included to connect this new building with other buildings downtown, and that in terms of material and massing an effort is made to make a building that blends in with historic buildings along both VanAlstyne and Biddle. A tower here, if appropriately done, could create a great boom of economic activity and future development, much like projects by the same company have effectively done in places like Royal Oak. For more information, visit: http://morningsideusa.com/.
Newly opened buildings are a reason for hope too. New businesses include Austin’s Hyde Park, Randazzo’s Bakery, Energie, and the Victorian Tea Room. The Bishop-Brighton House Bed and Breakfast is yet another example of a newly opened business, providing a place for an overnight stay in Wyandotte, in one of our most beautiful and historic homes at the bead/" class="glossaryLink" data-cmtooltip="578cb1a0f618c79c0949cc78c076b63f" target="_blank" >corner of Biddle and Superior (see www.bishop-brightonbedandbreakfast.com/).
How then can we take advantage of this rising wave of interest and investment? Doing things that reinforce our identity as a historic town, such as applying for and receiving several large green State Historical Markers and implementing a local interpretive marker program would help, as would creating a guidebook of historic buildings and other attractions in Wyandotte with inserts on restaurants, cafes, and shops.
There is one feature of our past that might guide us in our future – and that is a spirit of working together. Wyandotters have a proud history of coming together when this was needed the most, and creating a better place for it. So perhaps the best New Year’s resolution for everyone who cares about Wyandotte, is that in the next year is to work together to continue to foster and to unleash the potential of this very special town.
Published in the Downriver Review, January 1, 2006