密歇根新闻广播 记录老城镇的历史

记录老城镇的历史

What makes a city? Is it the geographic¹ location? Is it the people? The new book Vanishing Ann Arbor² looks at that city's history through the lens of its downtown buildings and businesses, including many that have come down or closed up.

Early buildings

Co-authors Patti F. Smith and Britain Woodman begin with the story of the first buildings built by white settlers in the 1820s in what would become Ann Arbor. The first of those settlers were John Allen and Elisha Rumsey. Rumsey and his wife, Mary Rumsey, started building sooner than Allen.

We believe the first night was spent around where [the corner of] First and Huron is, Smith told Michigan Radio Morning Edition host Doug Tribou. They just slept in the carriage and quickly the Rumseys started building their home. They put up a school within a year. The first school was a log cabin.

Smith says Allen did not build his home right away, but got to work when his wife, Ann Allen, began her journey to Ann Arbor.

He realized, Oh my gosh, the wife's coming, so he throws up a log cabin, Smith said.

Eventually that cabin was painted bright red and the neighborhood became known as Bloody³ Corners. Today it's the interesection of Main and Huron streets.

His wife Ann Allen came here from this genteel idyllic⁴ existence, wealthy existence in Virginia. She's riding this wagon⁵ and she lands in Ann Arbor, Smith said. Pigs are running in the street. There's mud all over and she has to live in a bright red, one-room log cabin.

While their tenants⁶ and owners may have changed, many of Ann Arbor's historic buildings have survived. According to Smith, the city's the oldest commercial building is the Anson Brown Building in the Lower Town neighborhood. (Smith also notes that there was once a debate about whether Lower Town or the current downtown would be developed to become the city's business hub.)

Among the oldest buildings downtown is Dr. Chase's Steam Printing House on Main Street, which was built in the 1860s. The Glazier Building at the corner of Main and Huron was completed in 1908.

That was our first skyscraper⁷, Smith said with a laugh.

The Glazier Building is all of seven stories tall.

Plenty of beer

Today Downtown Ann Arbor is peppered with establishments that brew⁸ their own beer or sell some of Michigan's best craft beers, but city also has a long brewing⁹ history.

There was a time in the early 1880s, 1870s when people just started opening up breweries¹⁰ in Ann Arbor, Smith said. We had the Central Brewery¹¹, the Western Brewery, and the Northern brewery and those buildings are actually still here. And it was not what you think of with like [current businesses] Arbor Brewing or Grizzly¹² Peak. You couldn't go in and sit down and get snacks.

The breweries delivered their products to the dozens of saloons in Ann Arbor before Prohibition¹³ put many of the breweries out of business. But the Western Brewery survived by making ice cream instead. The site later opened again as brewery, but eventually business dried up.

Somebody was quoted as saying their beer was only good to put out fires with, Smith said.

Red-light district

For people who have lived in or visited Ann Arbor in more recent years, it might be hard to imagine the downtown with a red-light district. But in the 1970s and '80s, there was a small section of the city where adult businesses thrived.

It was a different time. Fourth Avenue, between Huron and Liberty, had a couple of bookstores. One was called the Ann Arbor Adult News. One was called the Fourth Avenue Adult News. Above those on the second floor was the American Massage¹⁴ Parlor¹⁵. Spoiler alert: not an actual massage parlor, Smith said.

There was a lot of drug use. There was prostitution. Finally ... businessmen formed a group called 200 Fourth Avenue. And their sole purpose was to buy up these buildings and then just wait out the leases and then raise the rents or get [the adult businesses] out on a technicality. And that's actually how the Fourth Avenue red-light district came to an end was development.

Curtain closes on theatres of old

Vanishing Ann Arbor reinforces the fact that change in cities is inevitable¹⁶. Most of the changes don't bother Patti Smith, but if she could, she would bring back the theatres and movie palaces that were once common downtown.

There was the Majestic¹⁷ Theater which is now parking garage. There was the Opera House which is now a paved parking lot. ... You didn't have TV so when you wanted entertainment you left your house, you went downtown, you saw these movies. There were people around you, Smith said.

If we had a dozen of those, how incredible that would be to sit in a place where people sat almost 100 years ago and watched vaudeville¹⁸ and silent films.

Lauren Talley and Katie Raymond contributed to this story.

1 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

2 arbor   

n.凉亭；树木

参考例句：

• They sat in the arbor and chatted over tea.他们坐在凉亭里，边喝茶边聊天。
• You may have heard of Arbor Day at school.你可能在学校里听过植树节。

3 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

4 idyllic   

adj.质朴宜人的，田园风光的

参考例句：

• These scenes had an idyllic air.这种情景多少有点田园气氛。
• Many people living in big cities yearn for an idyllic country life.现在的很多都市人向往那种田园化的生活。

5 wagon   

n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车

参考例句：

• We have to fork the hay into the wagon.我们得把干草用叉子挑进马车里去。
• The muddy road bemired the wagon.马车陷入了泥泞的道路。

6 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

7 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

8 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

9 brewing   

n. 酿造, 一次酿造的量 动词brew的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• It was obvious that a big storm was brewing up. 很显然，一场暴风雨正在酝酿中。
• She set about brewing some herb tea. 她动手泡一些药茶。

10 breweries   

酿造厂，啤酒厂( brewery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• In some cases, this is desirable, but most breweries prefer lighter-type beers. 在一些情况下，这是很理想的，但是大多数啤酒厂更倾向于生产酒度较低的啤酒。
• Currently, there are 58 breweries producing Snow Beeracross the country. 目前，全国共有58个雪花啤酒厂。

11 brewery   

n.啤酒厂

参考例句：

• The brewery had 25 heavy horses delivering beer in London.啤酒厂有25匹高头大马在伦敦城中运送啤酒。
• When business was good,the brewery employed 20 people.在生意好的时候，这家酿造厂曾经雇佣过20人。

12 grizzly   

adj.略为灰色的，呈灰色的；n.灰色大熊

参考例句：

• This grizzly liked people.这只灰熊却喜欢人。
• Grizzly bears are not generally social creatures.一般说来，灰熊不是社交型动物。

13 prohibition   

n.禁止；禁令，禁律

参考例句：

• The prohibition against drunken driving will save many lives.禁止酒后开车将会减少许多死亡事故。
• They voted in favour of the prohibition of smoking in public areas.他们投票赞成禁止在公共场所吸烟。

14 massage   

n.按摩，揉；vt.按摩，揉，美化，奉承，篡改数据

参考例句：

• He is really quite skilled in doing massage.他的按摩技术确实不错。
• Massage helps relieve the tension in one's muscles.按摩可使僵硬的肌肉松弛。

15 parlor   

n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅

参考例句：

• She was lying on a small settee in the parlor.她躺在客厅的一张小长椅上。
• Is there a pizza parlor in the neighborhood?附近有没有比萨店？

16 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

17 majestic   

adj.雄伟的，壮丽的，庄严的，威严的，崇高的

参考例句：

• In the distance rose the majestic Alps.远处耸立着雄伟的阿尔卑斯山。
• He looks majestic in uniform.他穿上军装显得很威风。

18 vaudeville   

n.歌舞杂耍表演

参考例句：

• The standard length of a vaudeville act was 12 minutes.一个杂耍节目的标准长度是12分钟。
• The mayor talk like a vaudeville comedian in his public address.在公共演讲中，这位市长讲起话来像个歌舞杂耍演员。