You may wonder, who in the world purposely travels to Saginaw to photograph the city? The answer is...me! Well, I'm sure I'm not the only one. It may not be obvious at first why I would drive 2.5 hours one way to do so, but Saginaw has many architectural gems worth photographing.
We started our day at the currently abandoned Flint and Pere Marquette Union Station, also known as the Potter Street Station, with its location at the end of Potter Street. This image was captured with my drone, as I needed the height to capture the full length of the building. And, of course, with many old structures, it is purported to be haunted. If you like ghost haunting movies, you can watch the documentary called A Haunting on Potter Street: The Potter Street Station! On the positive side, there is current hopes to gather funds to renovate the station.
The Clarence and Susie Hill House is up for sale apparently, it appears not much was happening with it when we visited this summer, hopefully it will be purchased and restored in the future.
My favorite part of the house was the "1886" embossed on a wooden scroll below the copper-covered dome.
We continued on to photograph some commercial buildings with historical interest. This structure is the former Western Auto Building located on the corner of East Genesee Avenue at Weadock Street. This area was quite run down, with no renovation happening nearby. I liked it had the date 1892 on the front showing it's age.
Of course I cannot let a cool vintage sign go unphotographed. Found across the street from the Western Auto.
This building is also along East Genessee Ave. The juxtaposition of the painted sign and the Straight Gate Ministries created a sardonic smile.
Along Lapeer Ave I also found this interesting commercial building. I am not sure it's history, but it seems like it was demolished sometime between 2018 and 2023 (according to Google maps).
We crossed the Saginaw River to photograph this bean elevator, that was once owned by the Michigan Bean Company, and was also the largest bean elevator in the US. Not only that, but also boasted the largest neon sign in the US. The Michigan Bean Company is no longer in this building, but they made the Jack Rabbit beans which featured their trademarked bunny on the package. Sadly, the elevator is in the middle of demolition.
Continuing down along the west side of the Saginaw River, we found this plaza where all the city's past neon signs have come to rest, located at the corner of Hamilton and Court St. Saginaw’s Historic Neon Sign Park in Old Town began in 2006 when local preservationist Tom Mudd and the Saginaw Valley Historic Preservation Society started rescuing and restoring vintage neon business signs. Today the outdoor exhibit features about 15 restored neon signs from Saginaw County’s past, glowing each evening as a nostalgic tribute to the city’s history. I'll be there at some point to photograph them at night!
This neon sign of the Savoy Bar & Grille still is intact on it's building, even though the business is "temporarily closed".
We also stopped at the Hoyt Library, which is also purported to be haunted. Check out the documentary put together by the same people who did the Potter Street ghost hunt. I have seen this one and I will tell you there were some very interesting events happening! While we were in the library, we came across some old advertising books and were having a grand time looking through them. Here is an example:
It made me wonder about the building, it was beautiful! Obviously it does not exist anymore, but I wonder about it's history and how it met it's demise.
We ended the day at the library, and headed back home from there. It was a long, but fruitful day! I know there is more to see, I'm sure I'll make it back there one day. Thank you for reading my photo story, more on their way!
