Drew Day
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Posts posted by Drew Day
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When you get on the elevator in the morton house there is a button that says that reads M . This is the Mezzanine or "the Mez". This was the floor that housed the more "mentally disturbed" tenants of the place.
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So the old morton house was destroyed by fire and they built this i guess?
Oral history tells us that the Doctor's where tired with the administration of the Hotel part of the business, and that they wanted to focus on the medical practice. Of course it is impossible to say now, but at this time Dr. Ward Ferguson, Dr Lynn Ferguson and Dr. James Droste left the Sanitarium to start their own hospital aptly named Ferguson-Droste-Ferguson, in Grand Rapids.
The Sanitarium took the entire 12th floor of the Morton House hotel, and while the brochure pictures a giant sign outside the hotel. The only sign that where is physical evidence for is this one:
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Well looks like the old morton house was the largest institution in the world for diseased rectums afterall.
Bring
your ass to Morton Sanitarium!
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Wow can't believe what i just found about the morton house!
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Wow ! very intriguing. I see a lot of prominent names on the list of Pythian ranks. Why did they tear that building down? Its a parking lot/walkway that leads to division right?
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I believe this is the "old" Morton House. They tore down this building to build the taller build that exists today. It's a great looking building. I also like the building on the right side of the postcard. It's now a parking lot.
Joe
Oh is that what happened? I was thinking they just added on the other floors. Urban Renewal in grand rapids geez.
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Wasn't the McDonald's in the basement? I seem to remember going down steps to get to it.
As for the mall, they used to have wayfinding signs at least, but people would crash into them -- destroying them -- and they were never replaced.
Sure was i remember that when i was a kid.
there was also a wendys a subway and the honk kong inn where the art museum is.
Any of you guys remember the city centre that closed in the 90's.? It was abandoned for several years.
We used to climb on top of the skywalk that went across fulton and you could get right in there. Everything
was pink and turquoise and there was a train that ran on a track on the ceiling and a glass elevator.
Now its the police station so no more sneaking around there.
The 90's was in my opinion the decline of downtown retail
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Interesting History of the morton house.
I read somewhere that in the old days the morton was a hotel , and at some point
the owners leased out the top floors to the county insane asylum and continued
using the bottom floors as a hotel. Could have been an intersting night stay at the morton.
Looks a lot different in this postcard from 1911.
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so what you are saying is it's ok to have a rich developer come take over an elderly womens property ???
Is there no injustice in that? whats going onfor real?
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-I cannot believe that people are feeling sorry for this person and might actually try to save the place for her!
Are people NUTS????? Are people so far out in bleeding heart land that they want to encourage this joke of a circus?
As if anyone in that area wants to eat at a dusty dump or patronize a crappy liquor store. Sandmanns got shut down for less than this!
Get this building away for this racist nut so it can be saved. She cant afford it, cannot take care of it, and has no idea what to do with it!
The city should have yanked this property for her years ago.
On top of that she is showing a complete disdain for the people in the area with her vile racist attitude and needs to take her memories and retire them both.
Typical CRC hollander talk- You are to scared to come to wealthy- Your anscestors are (or should
be) ashamed of you ...
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http://atomicobject.com/pages/Wealthy+Street+History
iNTERESTING HISTORY OF WEALTHY ST.
My family settled on wealthy before the turn of the century and never left...
to me it is a personal battle to define whether development equals what is best for the people who have endured so many bitter hands dealt by the city of grand rapids. This is more of a heritage then a hobby to me. Being from one of the last white (hungarian) families in the neighborhood during the 70's-80's unrest i can appreciate the re development of the area . At the same time i believe that some of the invesment is not true to the neighboorhood and its people.
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Whaaaaat? What sort of business owner would get ticked off that people are opening up new businesses and attracting more potential customers? What, they didn't like that these were "white" customers? I know another word for that, and it isn't "gentrification." And how, exactly, did "white" people allow the area to fall into ruin? I doubt a giant white collective went, "Golly, this is a such a beautiful, peaceful neighborhood, and our businesses are doing really well, so let's just pack up our stuff and leave." From what I've heard, the area was full of thugs, druggies, and gangbangers starting even back in the late '60s. Boarding up the windows and locking up was a good move. years ago. That people finally started trying to make silk purses out of sow's ears should have had them jumping for joy in the streets. If, indeed, they resented this, it is a good indicator of why their business failed.
Now that's more like it. The sad thing is, they made the number one mistake of every bad business owner: Hanging on too long, unti lthere is nothing left but dust and empty shelves. Years ago when the Ren Zone was still around, they probably could have made double whatever they got. Instead, they're getting a pretty sad pittance. I won't gloat about it, because their obstinance made us all suffer with this ugly eyesore for years, until it finally started collapsing into the street. I can't wait to see what happens from here, though!
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I used to live on wealthy and james street back in the 90's and the elderly couple that owns the store has had it for many many years. At one point they where the last open business on that block besides the wild bunch and i believe they resent that the white community is "taking back" the area after letting it fall into ruin in the 70's-80's. They also own(ed)? the house directly across the street. This is the very definition of gentrification. Maybe some of you should stop in there and spend some money with them. (The lady is kind of mean though)
MORTON HOUSE
in Grand Rapids
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I'm talking in recent years after they turned it into subsidised housing. Maybe it was just an Urban Legend but people i know who lived there would avoid the Mez.