center avenue historic district

The Center Avenue area is an amazing place to walk, jog or ride a bike. The mansions and architecture are second to none in Michigan. It kind of takes you back 110 years or more to a time that gave Bay City it's identity. Bring your camera.

Bay City’s Center Avenue Historic District is an architectural treasure trove. More than 250 of the district’s nearly 900 old houses and churches (1870-1960) are National Register-listed, and some are among the finest examples of their kind. A walk or drive in the district affords a view of an amazing array of building styles, including Arts & Crafts, Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival, Gothic Revival, Greek Revival, Italianate, Mid-Century Modern, Neoclassical, Queen Anne, Richardson Romanesque, Second Empire, Shingle Style, Tudor Revival, and Victorian-Era Stick. In the late 1800s, when the local economy was dominated by lumber processing and Bay City was dubbed the “The Lumbering Capital of the World,” the lumber barons, shipping magnates, and other tycoons of that era vied with each other to construct the grandest homes in Bay City. Impressive homes were still being built in the district in the 1910s and 1920s.The district has many historically significant, yet relatively unpretentious “kit homes,” too. Several pioneers of kit home manufacturing (the Aladdin, Lewis, and Liberty Companies) based their operations in Bay City and competed with Sears and Montgomery Ward. There is a self-guided walking tour of the District that begins at the west (downtown) end of Center Avenue and entails a walk of about 1.5 miles. You can do the tour in about an hour if you’re in a hurry, but a more leisurely stroll with an eye for detail will be even more rewarding. To print a walking tour map and see photos and descriptions of 20 or so of the District’s historic homes, click to http://canabaycity.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CANA_WB.pdf.Full disclosure addendum: Bay City is my hometown. I’m very familiar with the city’s Center Avenue Historic District, and have visited it as recently as July, but I’ve never taken the CAHD walking tour.