By Barb Pert Templeton
Two members of the Marine City Historical Society attended the June 19 meeting of the city commission to update officials on the group and to declare their allegiance to old city hall located at 300 Broadway in the city.
Georgia Phalen, with the historical society, stepped to the podium to address city officials during public comments.
She said the group recently had a meeting and decided they haven’t been good about sharing information about what they are doing including how they are serving the community. Along those lines Phelan informed the commission that the historical society had formed a new committee within the society.
“We’ve had a long-standing commitment to the preservation of the old city hall building for reuse in the future, so this new committee is focused on the building and how we can be of assistance to the city in dealing with the building,” Phelan said, noting they hope to keep lines of communication open.
Marine City resident Georgia Phelan spoke to the city commission on behalf of the Marine City Historical Society.
In addition, Phelan said the society has received a $15,000 new gift donation from the trust fund of a supporter. It’s the third account with money that’s dedicated to the old city hall building.
They also have a community foundation account with nearly $40,000 and it keeps growing. She also noted that the third historical society fund is with the Community Foundation of St. Clair County and it’s significantly larger.
After Phalen spoke Genevieve Prange, a volunteer with the society and with the city museum, stepped to the podium to share additional information.
Marine City resident Genevieve Prague spoke during public comments at the Marine City Commission meeting on June 19.
She said the city museum has been open all month on Saturdays and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. and will continue to be open on those days through October.
“It’s a great place to come and see the history of our town, we have a lot of ship building history and a lot of that is represented at the museum,” Prange said.
One particularly “cool” or interesting recent donation was a diary of Eber Arnold from 1889 and tucked in the pocket of the journal were tickets from 1914 for a concert that was being hosted at city hall at 300 Broadway.
“That was a really cool find,” Prange said. “The historical society is doing a lot of great things and we hope our organizations partner more together.”
Marine City Manager Michael Reaves (left) laughs at City Attorney Robert Davis’s suggestion that perhaps The Beatles performed a concert in the city in 1914.
City Attorney Robert Davis joked with Mayor Pro Tem Lisa Hendrick that he knows she wants to know the name of the band that was to perform at city hall in 1914 and maybe it was The Beatles.
During his commissioner privilege Commissioner Sean O’Brien said that he wanted to thank the city manager for looking into the possibility of deeding 300 Broadway to the state. Looking into the idea was suggested by Heather Bokram at the commission’s last meeting.
Bokram founded the city’s historical society along with some friends back in 1993.
