Ironwood is a small town in Western Upper Michigan right on the border of Wisconsin. Rich's mom was born and raised there. Her father worked in the Iron mines.
Even though she had dementia, she clearly remembered things from her childhood. One time when we were visiting her in the nursing home we were talking about Ironwood and she rattled off her address, 510 Bundy Street. I wrote it down and figured if we were ever in Ironwood we would see if the house is still there.
Well, when we got to Ironwood we had some time to kill after dinner so with the help of the navigation system on my phone, we found Bundy Street
and were delighted to find that the house is still there.
It looks pretty unkempt though, but the address clearly showed so we knew it was the right place. Too bad we didn't have the nerve to walk up to the door and knock!
There was a school right across the street built in 1921 and although Rich doesn't remember his mom talking about it, his sister Jackie does.
We also saw the huge hill at the end of the street that she told us her brother, Uncle Jack used to sled down and one time went under a car and almost got himself killed!
Although Rich's mom was raised here, she left Ironwood when she was a young woman and traveled 650 miles all the way down to Detroit to work. That's where she met Rich's dad who was a streetcar driver and the rest is history!!!
The main road through Ironwood, Hwy 2 was all tore up on one side. We asked our waiter in the restaurant what they were doing and he told us they were replacing the water pipes, which had broken over the winter because it was so bitter cold. He also told us that they didn't get the usual amount of lake effect snow because Lake Superior was frozen over. So basically, they only got 290 inches instead of the usual 390 inches! Yep, I'm understanding why Rich's mom bailed!
One other thing we learned was that Ironwood is home to the worlds largest Indian statue!
See for yourself:
See little me standing there in the blue shirt? We were impressed, if not a little intimidated!
Coming up: Porcupine Mountains
Always fun to search our past! And yes! Thats one big indian!
ReplyDeleteHow great to find the house.
ReplyDeleteYes, folks with dementia remember the strangest things and they go way back in their memories. My dad would talk about "Florence" and I thought it was his mother. No - it was a sister whom I never knew existed. She died as a young woman in the 1930's.
Wow - I imagine that was so interesting to Rich seeing where his mom had lived!
ReplyDeleteOMG - you look like a very small dot beside that statute. I LOVE it! :)
xoxo
I have loved to go back to grand or great grandparents homes on my travels. Such a treat!!! Glad our ancestor's landed and settled here, where we only get 100" of snow, LOL
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteIf I'm ever in Ironwood, I am going to take a photo next to that statue. I love quirky thinks like that while traveling.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful that you took the time to visit that area and see the places in family history!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDelete