Hometown Views: Churches

On August 11, 2021August 11, 2021 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn hometown views12 Comments

Hi all! Recently,Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I started a new blog feature called Hometown Views, where we share different buildings, traditions, memories all from our hometowns. We started this because during our online friendship we have enjoyed comparing the areas we live – rural to suburban outside Detroit.

Where to start? Well, Wyandotte, my town, has 26 active churches, of all denominations. About ten years ago or so, there were more, but this the number we are at now. There used to be a joke that for every church there was a bar in our town, and honestly, I kind of think that was true! There is church or a bar on every corner it seems!

I am not going to talk about all 26 churches of course. That would be silly and I don’t know anything about most of them anyway. So I will start with the church I grew up going to, and was married at. The First United Presbyterian Church. My aunt and uncle were actually the first couple ever to be married there! My mom and dad were married there, my cousin. My grandparent’s funerals. So so many Christmas Eves, time in Sunday School and in the children’s little chapel and all my time in the children’s choir, which at times was only my cousin and me, with me half hidden behind her when we had to sing in front of the congregation. Unfortunately, this church did not survive. It lost members and never got any new ones to keep it going. However, the building is still there, and is a church according to the website, as it is now called Kinergy and I wasn’t sure what that was. I always thought this church was so pretty, and I loved being in there at night on Christmas Eve, with the candles and stained glass. I loved it so much that when we got married there, I had an evening wedding. There are stained glass windows both sides of sanctuary and I just thought they were beautiful.

There were churches however that almost everybody I knew went to – we had a multitude of Catholic churches at one time, and most of my friends were Catholic. Three or four of these churches had festivals every summer where we could eat pierogis that were handmade all year and frozen for the festival. They were so darn good. Now only one has a festival, Mount Carmel, and it is so packed that it is almost impossible to get a pierogi.

It stands at the end of a long boulevard, sort of majestic and tremendous in size for our city. There is a statue of the Pope, which I have heard was erected after the Pope’s visit to our area. I can’t find anything to substantiate that claim however. I can say that my best friend went to elementary school here, and also was married here. I stood up in her wedding and I remember her asking me to peek out over the balcony where we were waiting to make sure I could see her future husband down there. And of course I did, she was just a bundle of nerves!

The other “popular” Catholic church is St. Patrick, or St. Pats for short. I think this is another gorgeous building, inside and out.

If you stand on the middle of the boulevard where St. Pats is, you can see two other churches. One is the church where my brother and sister-in-law were married, The First Congregational Church of Wyandotte. It feels so old world, even on the inside and has a charming fellowship hall. For some reason it reminds me of a tiny castle. It is no longer open either, sadly.

The last church I am going to post about is also the third church you can see from the boulevard. St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church. It is my current church, or would be if I were still going. It’s been about two years but as soon as I can go back I plan on it. This is the church that my son and my niece were christened at, on the same day. I hadn’t been to church for many years and was looking for the right fit – I felt comfortable right from the start here. If The First Congregational reminds me of a castle, this one makes me think of a little hobbit house.

Look at those little babies! And my straight hair!

For Lisa’s post on the churches in her area, just click here! I am looking forward to seeing what her churches are like!

Hometown Views: Schools

On July 29, 2021July 29, 2021 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn hometown views7 Comments

Hi all! Last week Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I started a new blog feature called Hometown Views, where we share different building, traditions, memories all from our hometowns. We started this because during our online friendship we have enjoyed comparing the areas we live – rural to suburban outside Detroit. Last week we shared our libraries – this week, we are sharing our schools!

First up is my old elementary school, Washington Elementary, built in 1930. All the schools in our city are named for different presidents. Washington is one of four elementary schools in our town; when my parents went to school in this very same city as little elementary schoolers, there were six! And those are just the public schools. My best friend went to Catholic school, just two blocks down from Washington. At one time in addition to the six public elementary schools, there were seven Catholic schools as well. Currently Wyandotte Schools matriculates around 4600 students through its halls.

The elementary schools are Washington, Garfield, Monroe and Jefferson currently. When I was kid, we also had McKinley and Taft. Washington was where I attended – and met a little boy named Billy. We shared a double desk in third grade. I was super quiet; he was super chatty. I believe I was put next to him to get him to stop talking as much but he didn’t need me to reply to talk. He would also eat part of my lunch in exchange for drawings he would make me. Little did I know that one day I would marry him and we would have Wyatt! I also got to have my favorite teacher twice – Miss Caruso. She taught first grade, then later when I was in fifth grade, she was the fifth grade teacher. I still chat with her on Facebook every so often.

I obviously can’t show you the inside – but let me tell you, it is beautiful. It has Pewabic tile murals, gorgeous marble floors, and like all the other elementaries, a greenhouse. Although it was never used, which I thought was odd. It is pretty big! I remember being a little second grader who could read above my grade level, and so I was sent to one of the third grade classes upstairs for reading. I had to walk the big lonely halls and go up the stairs. I remember being so nervous!

Wilson was my middle school. At the time I went, there was only one middle school. When my parents went to school, there were three. That crazy baby boom right? My mom went to Wilson as well, while my dad went to one that is no longer open.

Wilson was built in 1956 – and it looks so totally mid-century modern, doesn’t it? A few fun facts: My mom and grandparents and aunt and uncle went here for their polio shots when that happened. And it is also a bomb shelter. I also voted here for years until they switched our polling location. It does have a nice size track that in the evenings and during the summer you can see people from the community using for running or walking.

I remember not enjoying middle school – it’s like the worst right? However, I did learn while at Wilson that I loved swimming, and joined the swim team, something that I continued to participate in all the way until I graduated. In middle school I swam back stroke and breast stroke, while in high school I swam butterfly and freestyle. My grandpa was actually on the swim team in school too – he swam back and freestyle. He was so good at it too – I have clippings of articles from the paper all about him and his swimming prowess. I love that we shared that. I also learned that I was terrible at home ec. My grandma actually sewed my final project for me, a dragon stuffed animal. But shhh, don’t tell anyone!

Finally dear old Wyandotte high, Theodore Roosevelt High School. It is huge. I had a tough time trying to get a photo of the entire building, so I found one taken by Dwight Burdette that was posted on Wikipedia. The photo of the front of the building I found online but couldn’t find the photographer’s name.

It extends to the annex building in back. There is a tiny little hall from the second floor over to the annex, which during my time housed the science classes and music rooms. Behind the annex is a giant greenhouse for the botany class, something I was not interested in during high school but wish now that I had been. It was originally built in 1923, but has been added onto three more times, the last time in 2004. The main staircase is magnificent. Seriously, I loved using it, it felt so grand. My mom also remembers my dad being escorted down the stairs by an angry teacher one time, for probably being a bit of a smart butt in class. The library is two stories, the gymnasium is two stories with an indoor track, there is a pool, an auditoritum, and coolest thing of all…. a planetarium. Bless Mrs. Bens for taking us there, it was really neat. She always started the presentations by playing The Beatles Here Comes the Sun, Wyatt’s current favorite. We would all snicker because we were super cool but now I appreciate what she was doing so much more. I am not sure if the planetarium is still functional or not. There is a football field, a weight room, an auto shop, and all the other shop classes in the vocational wing. I was the last student to take four years of Latin, by the way. I was the only student in my Latin 4 class. My teacher, Miss Berens was pretty amazing. I also reconnected with that kid Billy I shared a double desk with back in third grade when I was here. We would sit in the hall, at the top of the ramp leading to the band hall, and chat before school started. Billy was such a rebel in school – he had a mohawk and would ride his skateboard down through the halls. On Halloween he used to dress like a skeleton and do it. I was not. I was a bookish girl who never talked and would eat lunch in the library. But as they say, opposites attract!

Gwen Frostic, a Michigan artist and journalist attended high school at Roosevelt. She was a Rosie on the lines during the war, and set up an art studio in northern Michigan, near Beulah. I am actually planning on stopping in on our trip! I have always loved her work, and I think the personal hometown connection clinches it for me. I have also read that she may have had a mild form of cerebral palsy but I am not 100% on that.

I couldn’t take many pictures today. The school was in use by various people and I felt sort of weird trying to get photos but, I found these fantastic photos by a man named Brendan Gutenshwager, so many of the interior and with a 360 view as well, if you are interested. I did grab this one of the bear mascot. My freshman year the swim team had a different mascot, the Turtles, and I loved that. After that they made us go by Bears and I hated it. Turtles just made more sense. My swim coach Mr. Roddin was pretty awesome, even if he did make us practice at 7 am on Saturday mornings.

And there you have it – a small tour of my public school days. So many memories! One of the schools is for sale, it is so gorgeous, similar to Washington. I would love to buy it and make it my house, wall off the playground and use it to homestead. Wouldn’t that be cool? Although it looks like someone did buy it to turn into senior apartments.

Be sure to check out Lisa’s post today as well! I know that I am looking forward to seeing what she has posted, she is a brilliant writer and photographer!

And we had some people ask if we were going to make this a link up eventually. We talked about it and have decided that we would love that! We are still figuring out the timeline so the date is TBD. Our topic for that week is hometown churches. We would love it if you would join us!

Hometown Views: The Library

On July 22, 2021July 22, 2021 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn hometown views19 Comments

Hi everyone! One thing I love about blogging is the people that I “meet”. And while we have never actually met, Lisa from Boondock Ramblings is someone I love sharing stories with, photos, chatting about our day – she has become a friend, even though she lives states away from me. We message back and forth throughout the day, and one thing that we share with each other are the goings on in our communities, and talk about the differences in where we live. She lives in rural Pennsylvania; I live in the most populated county in Michigan, right outside Detroit. The views outside of our windows, what we see everyday, is very different. And I love hearing about the dairy parades, the trips through the narrow winding mountain roads, the bear that lives in her neighborhood. She also sees cool bugs and sends them to me, since I am such an insect person these days. One she sent the other day, the Rosy Maple moth is one that is only found in her area! It was so pretty and I would not have known its existence without her sending me that picture.

Anyway, we have teamed up to share some of our hometown views on our blogs. When we talked about it at first, we decided to look at it like, if we were to visit the other, what would we like to share with them about our hometown and area? And since we are both lovers of words and reading, the library was only natural. You can see Lisa’s post here – she is an amazing writer and photographer, so I am sure you will enjoy it!

The library has always been a place I have loved. My mom introduced me to it when I was just a little girl, and I started taking Wyatt right away too. The three of us have been checking out and reading books from this library our whole lives. When my mom was younger, this is the part of the library that she used. She remembers my aunt taking her there to read, and later hanging out in the rooms on the upper floors in high school.

It began its life in 1898, as the family home of Edward Ford, and later the home of his daughter and her husband, Mark Bacon and Mary Ford Bacon. It is a grand old dame, with 27 rooms and 11 fireplaces, a four story bell tower, and a huge porch. In 1942, when Mary’s husband died, she gave the home to the public school system and it now serves as the public library, and has since at least the 1950s. When my mom was younger, she remembers more of the home being open, as it was the main part of the library. Now only a small part of it is open to the public, and it holds meeting rooms, reading rooms, and periodicals. I love to go and sit in the reading rooms, and in college I would study there as well. No one uses those rooms too much, which is sad but at the same time, I like that when I go, it is almost like my own quiet getaway.

I feel so fancy sitting in here. These next photos are of the Max Schwartz room, which was the children’s library area when my mom was little. I picture her sitting on the window seats (where the old Life magazines are now), reading her favorite books, glancing out the window occasionally.

The rest of this floor is for the current periodicals and meetings and crafts. I love that they have figured out how to make this beautiful space work for the needs of people now, although I can’t help but wish it was still just the library in here, all the books spread out. But I know it is not practical or accessible to all! I can’t even take my son in there without using the little elevator to go up to the next level to enter. So I do see that it is not possible. But I can dream of what it was like! They had the upstairs closed off while I visited the other day, I think it has not completely reopened due to the pandemic, but upstairs are offices and rooms that can be used for meetings. When I was on the board of an animal rescue group, we used to have our meetings up there.

It is under construction right now, but when it is not you can sit on the porch and read which I of course love.

However, the area of the library that I grew up using is just through the door and down a few stairs. Out of the frame to the left is an elevator for those who need to use it.

The main part of the library now. I sat at these tables often in high school, and have been browsing these stacks since I was a little girl.

The children’s area. It usually is a bit more lively and filled with more displays, but they just reopened the library and are in the process of setting everything back to normal. I did see they are doing a chicken hatching demonstration for the kids.

I also took some time to wander around outside, while Billy and Wyatt read on the steps. I of course had to take photos of my guys.