Then & Now

The Traverse City Arts Commission launched the Then & Now project in October 2019. A series of ten plaques featuring photos from “then” next to the landscape of “now” are displayed throughout Downtown Traverse City along East and West Front, State, Cass, and Union Streets.

Photographic Locations

Park Place Hotel

The image is a ca. 1900 image of the original Park Place Hotel where the tower stands today. It stood across the street from the plaque which is located on the north side of State Street. The earlier hotel opened in 1873 as The Campbell House. It was sold to the Hannah and Lay Co. in 1879 and was renamed The Park Place. The current brick tower opened in 1930.

Fire Station

An early 1920’s image shows the first brick fire station built in Traverse City on the northeast corner of Cass and the alley south of E. Front. The other two buildings were retail businesses. Look across the street and you will see that all three buildings still stand and are easily identifiable. The fire station was constructed in 1890 and closed in 1975. Since then, the building has housed a series of businesses.

Milliken Building

The building in the 1890 image still stands on the southeast corner of E. Front and Cass. The structure was built in 1889. Over the years, Milliken’s extensively renovated the building, covering the brick facade with panels. It reminded a department store until 2011. The building was then again extensively renovated and now houses various business offices and retail operations. The plaque may be viewed from the northwest corner of E. Front and Cass.

Beadle Building

The Beadle Building shown in a ca. 1895 image can be seen standing across the street fro the northwest corner of E. Front and Cass. It was built in 1892 to replace a clapboard building that housed a saddle, harness and leather goods store. The building was owned by John T. Beadle whose name can still be seen in raised lettering on the upper floors of the facility. In recent years, the building has housed several businesses including a drug store and a restaurant.

1880’s Downtown Streetscape

The 1880’s image looks left (east) down E. Front Street from the north side of the 100 block. It shows the street as it looked before many of the brick buildings still standing today were built. The cross street in the far distance is Cass Street.

Parade Streetscape

The image is likely of the June 14, 1911 Flag Day Parade. The photo was taken near the intersection of Front and Cass, looking west along the 100 block of E. Front towards the Union Street intersection. The plaque is located on the south side of the 100 block.

Hannah Lay Building

The image is a ca. 1900 of the Hannah & Lay Mercantile Building. When it opened in 1883, it was the largest Michigan retail building north of Grand Rapids. In the early twentieth century it was a Montgomery Ward’s Department Store and today houses a variety of establishments. The two easternmost boys of the building were destroyed in a fire in 1940. The plaque may be viewed on the southwest corner of Union and E. Front Street.

Original Straub Brothers Candy Factory

The late 1890’s image shows the original Straub Brothers Candy Factory. It was located directly across the street from the plaque, located on the south side of the 100 block of W. Front Street. For much of the twentieth century Grand Traverse Auto occupied the location. If you look to the west, still across the street, you will see a three-story brick building on the northwest corner of W. Front and Hall Streets. This was Straub’s final facility.

Final Straub Brothers Candy Factory

The image a ca. 1905 image of the second, newly opened, Final Straub Brothers Candy Factory. The building, on the northwest corner of W. Front and Hall Streets, can be seen across the street from where the plaque is located on the southeast corner of W. Front and Hall Streets. It now houses several businesses and condominiums.

Union Street Bridge

The ca. 1869 view is amount the earliest surviving images of Traverse City. From the vantage point of the plaque, located on the east side of Union Street looking south toward the bridge, it shows the original Union Street

The Then & Now project became a reality through the work and dedication of members from the Traverse Area Historical Society. The project was funding through the Traverse City Arts Commission Public Arts Fund and dollars from the Downtown Traverse City Assocation.

Type of Public Art: Photography Public Art Program Category: Temporary Exhibition

Photography

The photography for the Then & Now project was sourced from the archives of the Traverse Area District Library. Photograph description and historical content was provided by the Traverse Area Historical Society. The Camera Shop provided photographic restoration.