What's new is becoming old again

October 7, 2007
Editorial
Muskegon Chronicle

Once Muskegon's "new" downtown is finished, it will in many ways look and feel a lot like the old one. That's a good thing.

Historic buildings are being refurbished for new uses -- Hegg's Gallery in the old Century Club is a fine case in point -- while new two- and three-story buildings now getting under construction are designed to look like older ones, traditionally laid out with stores on the ground floor and offices up above.

If you've been following local news lately, you probably know of other examples of downtown Muskegon returning to what it once was. Work is under way to turn Webster and Muskegon avenues from four-lane expressways back to the two-way streets they were before 1957 or so, and with street parking, yet. Now Federal Square in front of the downtown Post Office, which the former Muskegon Mall had obscured from view for a generation, is coming back to life as well, with the recent relocation of an actually quite modern James Clover sculpture.

Before long, the city of Muskegon will have finished the rebuilding of several downtown streets to once again cross Western Avenue, the downtown's "main street." Second, First, Jefferson and Mart streets will carry traffic through the downtown as in days of old -- meaning prior to the mid-1970s, when the downtown mall emerged as the centerpiece of a federal renewal project. Pedestrians will tread on sidewalks made to look like old bricks.

Traditional downtown streets and buildings are things we in Muskegon haven't had for a long, long time. This may take some getting used to. But we don't imagine that will take very much time at all.

© 2007 Muskegon Chronicle. Used with permission