Midland MI

January 2015

Travel From Midland, MI to Lincoln, Nebraska (and several places in between)

Part One:  Midland, MI

2015 started with a hectic travel schedule.  Since I set my own agenda, I have no one to blame for this.

Nope just me.

Originally, January was a fairly moderate month, so the travel wasn’t as harsh as 2014.  January and February 2014 saw some early, frozen trips.  Initially, there were two back to back trips to Wisconsin (driving), and then a third to Grand Forks North Dakota (flying).  In planning 2014 travel, there was much bravado, “how bad can it be?”  The answer: -17 in Wisconsin, snow squalls and wind swept roads, -26 …   This year’s winter started more gently, but that was a false reprise.

The first trip of 2015 was with up to Midland Michigan, then over to Akron/Canton, and the triangle was finished coming home to West Chester, Ohio.

Midland MI

The Midland Trip

As it happened, the first taste of bitter weather for the 2014/15 fall winter was during the first full week in January.  Some sub zero, though not as bitter as the year before; and at this time, not as much snow. I was driving to Midland to meet a couple of agents and a prospect at an assisted living facility.

I stayed at the “H” Hotel, which was surprisingly plush and comfortable.  Similarly, the restaurant adjacent to, and part of the complex, was also a great surprise on a cold night; at the end of a long day.

A Warm Place on a Cold Night…

Midland is a good, solid town.  This was the second time I had been here.  The prior time was in the fall of 2013.  The weather on that trip was cool at night, but the days were pleasant and colorful. While Michigan gets a bad rep due to Detroit (burned out buildings, shuttered factories and crime), there are still many very nice areas, and Midland fits into that category.

Midland MI

Some background on Midland…..

From the City of Midland’s website:

Geography

Midland, Michigan is located mid-section of the Michigan mitt, near the crook of the thumb. Together, Saginaw, Midland, and 

Bay City make up the area commonly referred to as the Great Lakes Bay Region. As far as population numbers, Midland is the second largest of the three cities. Saginaw is the largest; Bay City, the smallest.

Native Americans

Midland has evolved from an Indian village to the “City of  Science and Culture.” If you visited Midland in the 1850s, you  would have discovered riverbanks lined with Chippewa   Indian Wikkiups, round huts made of bent saplings, skins, and   bark. You may have come across an Indian man hunting or fishing while others worked crops of corn, squash, and pumpkins. The 1,000 acres now known as the Chippewa Nature Center originally were part of the 6,000 acres retained by the Chippewa Tribe under the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw.

City of Midland website  http://www.cityofmidlandmi.gov/551/Midland-History

Midland Today

Despite eras of economic downturn, Midland seems to have held on steadily.  Herbert Henry Dow formed the Dow Chemical Company in the late 1800’s, later to become the Dow Chemical behemoth.  His son, Alden Dow was a creative titan on his own, albeit in a different medium.

Midland MI

Alden built things as well, becoming an architect as a student and disciple of Frank Lloyd Wright.  The Dows in direct and indirect ways seem to have been part of holding the Midland together.

In Wright style, Alden Dow’s work was in that Mid-Century Modern motif.  His home is on the Nation Register of Historic Homes, and I hope to visit on my next trip to Midland.

http://www.abdow.org