Want a piece of advice when it comes to visiting the town of Escanaba? Don't follow the highway. Make a left somewhere past Bay College and let yourself get lost a little.
In all honesty, it's the only way to experience what the town has to offer.
Following M-35 and U.S. 2 west will take you straight through town and on your way to Wisconsin. The opposite way will take you deeper into the U.P., eventually toward Marquette or the little gem known as Manistique. Sure, you'll see a couple of Escanaba landmarks along that route, like the water tower featuring the Escanaba High School Eskymo, the Elmer's County Market grocery store and Elmer's restaurant, the last two both built by the gone-but-definitely-not-forgotten Elmer Dagenais.
But to get a true feel for what Escanaba is all about, you really ought to make a turn and head toward Little Bay de Noc.
That's how you'll meet many of the 12,500 residents of the city, many of who celebrated with the city on its 150th birthday last month.
There were parades and fireworks and speeches. Businesses got all dressed up and folks decorated their yards and homes to celebrate the sesquicentennial.
"Escanaba has a great small-town atmosphere, which makes it the perfect place to raise a family--especially if you enjoy the outdoors," says Robert Viau, who is the director of technology for Escanaba Area Public Schools. He volunteered his time to run the Esky150 website and all of the celebration's related social media leading up to the July hoopla.
The great outdoors is firmly a part of the city's long history. When the first permanent settler, Louis Roberts, came to the area with his wife in the 1830s, he settled on the banks of the Escanaba River. From that point forward, the area's rich natural resources played a significant role in its growth, as did the need for those resources by the Union Army during the Civil War. In 1863, as war continued to be waged across the states south of Michigan, a village was officially platted and Escanaba was officially born.
Since those early days of Escanaba, the town has witnessed a variety of growth spurts, population declines, economic booms and the tough times experienced by any city.
The near future looks as though it may hold another boom for Escanaba if plans continue to unfold the way city manager Jim O'Toole hopes they will. The surprise for many folks is that unlike many cities looking to change their financial future, Escanaba is actually planning to hark back to the very thing that turned Escanaba from a small village into a bustling city in the first place--being a hub for shipping out industry materials and goods.
"Everything old is new again," says O'Toole. "One of the big initiatives we're working on right now is a cooperative effort between all of the units of government in Delta County and all of the units of government in Marquette County to create a Central Upper Peninsula Economic Development Zone."
That zone would allow Escanaba to become a focal point for shipping out natural resources, raw materials, components and more.
"We are centrally located and have access to transportation via highways, railways, an airport and a deep-water port," O'Toole says. "150 years ago, the lakes were the freeways that all shipping took place on. We are looking to continue that."
Despite the upswings and downswings economically for the city, the one thing that has remained constant has always been the people.
"Escanaba is a community that works hard and the people are always thinking of ways to improve the city, maintain and keep a competitive edge and respond to the needs of the community. They don't just look at tomorrow, but to next week, next year, 10 years from now and 20 years from now."
What of the next 150 years?
"This area has a lot to contribute," said O'Toole. "I believe the Upper Peninsula, as a whole, is going to contribute greatly to the recover of the state of Michigan. Here, we have the resources everyone needs.
"If we all work together, the U.P. as a whole, then we have a lot to contribute. With this central project--which is a very big thing--Escanaba will work with the other units of government in the Upper Peninsula and together we will support each other and we will all be strong."
Sam Eggleston is the managing editor for U.P. Second Wave. He was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula and cut his teeth in journalism under the guidance of Denny Grall in Escanaba. He can be reached via email.
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