The first thing I saw when we arrived was this "Midland Plaza" sign. Now I am pretty sure that sign was there when I left, and it certainly looks old enough, but none of that old "Midland Plaza" exists any more and the sign looks rather out of place amidst such modern buildings.
One thing that has changed greatly since 1968 is the Community Center. The increase in size was evident from satellite photographs and the outside of the building but not what they did with the space. When I left it was head & shoulders above anything I have seen elsewhere, but they went on to add more space, more programs, more athletics ... all I can say is, "Wow!" (Or, in '64-speak, "Keen!")
Many thanks to Bob (MHS graduate 1965) for his excellent and informative guided tour. By the end of it Kathy was ready to move to Midland just to have such a facility accessible; we have nothing even remotely like it in Redmond.
It has a fancy new logo, on the side of the building.
The pool facilities are something. The lap pool seen in the previous set is the one I was long familiar with, but they've added a huge family or play pool which, Bob says, gets pretty busy in the winter. I bet: that was one disadvantage of the old outdoor pool, plus you won't get sunburned here. (Yes, this picture is inexpertly spliced together.)
But the Mirror Room was one of the sad points of the tour for me. Like many kids I spent many a Saturday afternoon here watching filmstrip cartoons, or going over to the game room to play various games, and buying snacks and sodas at the refreshment stand -- all gone.
It makes sense that the cartoons are no longer a draw; kids today have their own distractions... but I wonder: Where was everyone? They weren't at the Center, the playing fields were all vacant, a very few families were having picnics at Emerson Park; Midland looked like a ghost town that Saturday.
Moving on to Midland High School, the new entrance, um, stood out. I confess to being a little bit of a "retro-grouch" (I prefer stickshift automobiles, my road bicycle uses friction-shifters) so I won't say more, except that it's possible the design might avoid the accident that befell a couple of folks in the winter of '67-'68 when they opened the front doors (flat to the face of the building) and a huge gust of wind closed the glass doors -- around them. This design might reduce the mount of pressure buildup... never mind.
Nice new sign out front.
The extension beyond the (old?) band/orchestra room wing.
One thing I noted here, and in subsequent school building visits, is the dramatic decrease in window space in new extensions and in updates to existing buildings. I an only assume this is due to two factors: the cost of new, more energy-efficient windows and the desire to increase insulation, but it is sad to see. Through my work I have ventured into the realm of energy-efficient (commercial) buildings and thence to "green" buildings. Sure, with fewer windows the students won't be looking out them and daydreaming, but I am not sure this improves the learning environment.
It may be noted that both Frank Lloyd Wright and Alden Dow seemed to prefer buildings that connect to the outside... but I am not an architect either. Moving on.
Eastlawn Elementary: nice big shady trees, nice grass lawns, nicer than what we had back then; I'm guessing there's good topsoil above the sandy soil now. The old school looks better than I remember it!
The entrance I used most, for 4th- 6th grade. "New" doors, replacing the heavy old wooden doors, but once again... the windows. As I noted in an earlier post, today's students won't enjoy the smell of summer wafting in through the windows on the last day of school. But... they'll have A/C.
On to Central Intermediate, or as it's known today, "Central Middle School." First thing I noticed: the grey brick areas are the old windows. The one on the left is the music room, and in my humble opinion it's a tragedy they took away all the window area; great views (especially when it was snowing, says memory), now gone.
One side of the new school entrance. Much more modern, but I'm still a retro-grouch.
The entrance on the north side, in addition to daily use used for dances and the like (led straight to the gym). Go Cavaliers! (Hm. I went to a California school whose mascot was a Mustang [not the car], and a university where we were Gauchos. Is there a pattern here? I've marched behind too many horses in parades to care for them much.)
Nice new sign out front.
Beyond personal memories there are other changes in Midland. The Tridge, for example, which I've never seen before. There are better, more professional pictures online: this was taken during a whirlwind afternoon tour in mediocre lighting, a small contribution to the set. Amusingly, when I walked to the center of the bridge I was asked by some visitors (one from near here in Washington state!) about which river was which -- I told them I was guessing because I'd been away a LONG time but named them, and named them correctly.
Currie Stadium in Emerson Park. Not all at how I remember it. I remember an ugly block building (without the stadium seating; we called it the blockhouse) where, in winter, you could don skates to go skating on the ice formed by flooding the playing fields. Out on the periphery where the ice layout was scattered was a great place to play tag; fun times. The building I remember seems to be the "administration" core today, unimproved.
Finally, the new Midland City Seal. Somehow the old one, which showed smokestacks spewing smoke to create a haze above the city, no longer seemed to somebody to symbolize progress.
It's a completely new Midland now, though it still shows its roots in the Midland I remember.
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