Wandering Around Ann Arbor

After the game, I headed down to Ann Arbor to take some pictures of places that I've been meaning to take pictures of for a while.   I thought it was an area of Ann Arbor that I didn't wander to often but it turns out that it is all around the train station, so the only time I wander that way is when I'm catching the Wolverine.

 The main reason I came down here was for the St. Vincent DePaul Thrift Store.  Well not to actually visit the store but to take pictures of the building.  It turns out there is a bit of history here.

 At one time this was known as the Anson Brown Building and is the oldest existing commercial building in Ann Arbor.  It was constructed in 1832 by Anson Brown as a general store.  In 1865, it was purchased by Dr. Daniel Kellogg who was known as a "clairvoyant physician".  He claimed to be a medium who practiced medicine by communicating through two Native American spirits known as Walapaca and Owosso.  He claimed to see the patients internal organs during his trances and people sent requests for aid from all over the country.  He would answer them, for a fee of course.  He and his brother Leverett would also make medicines.  When Daniel died in 1876, his brother took over the medicine business.  Daniel's son served as the new medium.

 Since 1968, it has housed the St. Vincent DePaul Thrift store.  Like many historical buildings, it probably has seen better days.

 A view of the Huron River that I don't normally see.

 Next up is the Gandy Dancer which used to be the Michigan Central Train Depot for Ann Arbor.  It's kind of a shame that it doesn't serve as the train depot now because it is a much nicer looking building than the one that does.  I kind of wish they didn't have the seating like this because it would be nice to see what it would have looked like as a train station but I guess I can imagine.

 A shot of the University of Michigan Hospital from this angle.  As you can see, it is a sprawling complex.

 I belive this is a Detroit Edison substaion.  I don't have anything on it's history but I liked the looks of the building.

 From another angle.

 My walking took me to another building.  Again, I don't know anything about the history but it looks old and I thought it looked pretty neat.

 A shot of the front.  It almost reminds me of one of my favorite Edward Hopper paintings.

 From another angle.

 Looking up at the store's sign  This also looks like it has seen better days.  For the most part, this part of town looks like it has seen better days which is unusual for Ann Arbor.

 I liked the texture in this shot.

 Looking up at one of the windows.

 Just in case you don't know what they sell.

 So then I moved over to the Gandy Dancer to get some shots of the station from the front.  For the most part it seems like they have left it alone.  The station itself was constructed in 1886 and you can see that no expense was spared.  It was described as the finest station on the line between Buffalo and Chicago.

 The Michigan Central first reached Ann Arbor in 1839 cutting the trip from Detroit that took a day in a carriage to two and a half hours.

 The station served as a whistle stop for many Presidential campaigns with the last one coming in 1960.  The station was sold in 1970 to Chuck Muer who converted it to the Gaddy Dancer (which is a railroad themed name).  I've never eaten there but I might have to try one of these days.

 My next stop was at St. Thomas the Apostle Church (the doubting apostle which I suppose is perfect for a college town).  In 1831, Father Patrick O'Kelly came to Ann Arbor from Detroit.  His first mass was offered in 1835 in a house that is pretty close to the current church.

In 1840, the land where the current church stands was purchashed and the first brick church in Ann Arbor was constructed.

 The current church was dedicated in 1899.

 The granite fieldstone and Bailey bluestone was donated and hauled to the site by local parishioners and farmers.  I'll have to admit it is a pretty impressive looking church on the outside.  This would be a statue of St. Thomas.

 But even more impressive on the inside.  The inscription reads, "Non est hic aliud nisi domus Dei et porta coeli" which means there is no other place by the house of God.  Somehow I see this and I think of an old school Catholic Church with the communion rail.

 A closeup of the altar.  I didn't want to take too many pictures as there were some people inside and I didn't want to disturb them too much.

 Looking up at one of the stained glass windows.  I would have liked to move to the other side of the church but see above.

 Because I could have gotten a shot like this.

 Back to the outside.

 Looking up at the tower.

I kind of liked this shot.  It looked peaceful to me.

And that concludes our little tour of part of Ann Arbor.  I'm gonna have to do the same for the area around Zingerman's sometime.