"My Manistique"

MANISTIQUE

The River of Vermilion Waters

Manistique was a bustling city in the 40's and 50's when I was growing up. The steady hum from the paper mill was ever present. Almost every day, the fog horn in the harbor would announce the weather. My twenty-some years in Manistique, I can't remember seeing a cloudless day. Three gray, green, brown buses would traverse the city each morning to pick up the workers for the Inland Lime and Stone Company quarry, and Port Inland. Those same buses would return the men to their homes in the evening. School buses, laden with the country kids, would unload at the junior/senior high school, and then deposit the remaining kids at St. Francis.

The city even had a big bus system at one time. The orange and white monsters would belch diesel smoke all over town. Nary a mosquito survived that onslaught. Delivery trucks from the little grocery stores buzzed hither and yon across the city. At that time, the majority of the car population was divided equally between Fords and Chevys. (I know, because I conducted a scientific survey out the window of Mr. Cooper's economic class.)

My class – the Class of 1960 – was the most successful class ever to graduate from Manistique High School. I say this in all humility. Mr. Giovaninni's civics class surveyed the entire city as a class project. We, then, mapped the city into zones. The resulting zoning map was presented to the City of Manistique, and this zoning map is still in existence today, (with many changes over the years). I don't have to mention which class filled the trophy case showing our abilities in all sports, band, debate, forensics, and every other aspect of student life. Class members went on to become doctors, pharmacists, business owners, electricians, sales people, teachers, all highly successful.

I have no explanation for this phenomenon. One of my bosses, later on in my career, said that she had read a master's thesis, which investigated why our particular class was so successful. The paper reached no definite conclusion. I only know that it really, “took a village,” to make us who we were. At that time, Manistique was filled with loving, caring people. Every time that we pushed for success, there was always someone to say, “Good job!”

The city was particularly vibrant during the 40's and 50's. There were 21 bars when I turned 21. We drank one shell of beer in every bar one night. There are not so many bars any more. I think that now the churches currently outnumber the bars. Wonderful eating places were everywhere back 55 years ago. Who could resist a slice of Mrs. Archy's or Mrs. Greenwood's apple pie at the Eat Shop, or fries covered with gravy at the Liberty or Denneys? We had two theaters, the Oak and the Cedar. We had two bowling alleys, Braults and the Elks Club. The pool hall taught Sex Ed 101, and, when we got older, we could practice pickup lines next door.

This was a city of over 5,000 population. Today, it's more like 3,500. At this writing, the paper mill is closed, and the limestone operations in Gulliver are greatly reduced. Joy and I return to Manistique every summer, and we sometimes bring a, “Habitat,” crew with us to say, “ Thanks,” to a city that gave us great opportunities.