Peter White Library
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Marquette's newly expanded library and arts center is the envy of readers and culture consumers throughout the Upper Peninsula. As the long winter sets in and many cultural institutions shut down, it's just about heaven having a big, bright, plush, multifaceted space to come to, with books and videos from the Upper Peninsula's biggest collection to take home. An extra plus: it's next to an interesting downtown, and within walking distance of varied central-city neighborhoods.
The public library's lower level is leased to MARQUETTE ARTS & CULTURE CENTER, the city-supported arts organization. Its gallery shop features art by local artists in many media (jewelry, copper, pottery, book art) plus children's books and some gifts from lines that sell nationally to art museum shops. Its gallery mounts rotating monthly exhibits. Check online for one-day workshops in its adjacent classroom space at www.mqtcty.org/departments/arts . Enter from rear parking lot and go down. Or enter from Front Street and go to back stairs and elevator. (906) 228-0472. Exhibit galleries are open during library hours: Mon-Thurs 9-9, Fri 9-6, Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. Shop hours are Mon-Thurs noon-9, Fri noon-8, Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5. Handicap accessible.
Upstairs on the upper floor of the new addition visitors may enjoy seeing the colorful children's room, designed by children with a Lake Superior theme. Various other displays and art works are throughout the library, including mementoes of Marquette's sister cities (Kajaani, Finland and Higashiomi, Japan) in the front reading room and by the rear entrance an enchantingly realistic model of a rural Upper Peninsula general store on long-term loan.
Changing monthly exhibits are in the HURON MOUNTAIN CLUB GALLERY. It was funded with a $50,000 gift from the extremely wealthy summer people at the exclusive and controversial enclave north of Big Bay, in its effort to be part of the community while at the same time being completely separate in its own gated, guarded world.
Renovating and expanding the 1904 library building was the focus of community brainstorming sessions that resulted in an unusual partnership between the library and the city arts organization. In 1996 voters approved a $4.5 million bond issue, to be matched by a $4.5 million capital campaign. Marquette's well-organized arts, culture, and philanthropic constituencies made good use of challenge grants from the Kresge Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities to raise the money, and the beautiful new library opened in 2000. The decision process is detailed in a section of www.coolcities.com , Governor Jennifer Granholm's program to encourage Michigan towns and cities to do more to attract young adults and entrepreneurial endeavors. (Outmigration of young people is an acknowledged problem in Michigan, long dependent on large industrial employers, with decentralized urban areas that young people find boring.)
The original library, a grand Beaux Arts building, opened in 1904. The library board defied local building traditions in choosing as a building material smooth white Indiana limestone, made fashionable during the Chicago world's fair of 1893. That architectural choice marked the demise of local red sandstone that now makes historic Marquette seem so handsome, earthy, and distinctive. The local newspaper noted in 1904 that the "beautiful whiteness. . . has a distinctive air that would have been hopelessly lost had Lake Superior sandstone been used." —8/2010
217 N. Front at Arch. Free surface parking and rear entrance (most used) are off Ridge west of Front. (906) 228-9510. Library events online: pwpl.info Hours: Mon-Thurs 9-9, Fri 9-6, Sat 10-5, Sun 1-5 but not in summer. Wheelchair access: rear entrance, take elevator up or down.
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POINTS OF INTEREST
Marquette Mountain. With plenty of snow and some of the state's highest runs, this is one of the better known Midwest ski destinations ... more
Alley Kat's Quilt Shop. Outstanding contemporary shop caters to quilters, fiber artists, home sewers, Lots of examples inspire quilters. Designer fabrics, geometrics, wools (for the primitive look), & linen-cotton blends for garments. ... more
Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center . At the Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center are exhibits on the various immigrant groups who populated the U.P., an historical look at student life at Northern Michigan University, and the artifacts from the life of philanthropist and business magnate Sam Cohodas. ... more
Huron Mountain Bakery . Terrific, unpretentious bakery along the highway just south of Marquette ... more
Marquette Baking Co.. This exceptional bakery complements a delightful cluster of food-related shops ... more
Marquette County History Museum. Choice artifacts, some life-sized exhibits with audio, and a good gift shop make this stand out. See an Ojibwa family group,the Burt survey party, a child-scale street of shops ... more
Risak Pottery. Beautifully complex colors adorn the pieces at this Japanese-inspired gallery ... more
Zero Degrees Artist Gallery. Cool new cooperative of broad array of artists. ... more
Greywalls Golf Course. One of Michigan's finest and arguably its visually most dramatic course, Greywalls attracts golfers from across the nation ... more
Peter White Library. A dream library renovated and expanded through community visioning: restored 1904 reading rooms, an exhibit gallery, a children's room designed by kids, a community art gallery and shop, and a café/coffee bar with fresh Greek specialties ... more
Ridge and Arch Historic District. A well-maintained neighborhood of historic homes in a variety of late 19th-century styles, and two richly detailed red sandstone churches with unusual stained glass windows, one by Tiffany ... more
Lower Harbor. The beautifully designed focus of the city's Lake Superior waterfront, with a fresh and smoked fish shop, a playground/picnic park next to the marina, a historic lighthouse, a breakwall to walk out on ... more
Marquette Maritime Museum. A colorful museum with lots of great stuff: superb replicas of freighters, three Fresnel lighthouse lenses, hands-on fishing nets and a pilot house, colorful flags from Great Lakes freighters, a miniature reconstruction of a famous WWII naval battle ... more
U.S.S. Darter-Dace Silent Service Memorial. A fascinating computerized, narrated diorama of the Philippine naval battle that crippled the Japanese navy, highlighting the critical role of two subs with U.P. crews and a replica conning tower are part ... more
Marquette Harbor Light. Visitors can now tour this oft-photographed lighthouse on the rocks and take the catwalk 300' out to Lighthouse Point, with great panoramic views of Presque Isle, ore dock, harbor, and town ... more
Lakeside bike path from the Inner Harbor to Presque Isle. You can rent a bike or rollerblades for this beautiful, busy shoreline path from the inner harbor to magical Presque Isle Park, passing a beach and picnic area for students and one for families ... more
Lake Superior & Ishpeming RR Ore Dock. Extending a full quarter mile out into the lake, this huge 75' landmark is where you can watch taconite pellets of iron ore delivered by train and noisily dumped into a waiting ore carrier ... more
Moosewood Nature Center. Started by science teachers, the enthusiastic young staff offers 20 programs and outings a month for families and has some live native reptiles and amphibians to watch. A paved Bog Walk Trail is outside ... more
Presque Isle Park. One of the coolest city parks anywhere, it's a rocky, wooded peninsula jutting into Lake Superior with great vistas, 5 miles of walking paths, swimming pool and water slide, picnic grounds, bandshell ... more
The Village shopping district on Third Street. Between downtown and campus, Third Street has several popular restaurants, an excellent outdoors shop, a terrific fabric shop, a consignment shop, a bead shop ... more
Superior Dome. See the wood framework of the world's largest wood dome, used for athletics and community walking and jogging. Interesting exhibits in its outer corridor feature U.P. minerals, ethnic groups, and Upper Peninsula legends John Voelker, Dominic Jacobetti, Nita Engle, Glenn Seaborg, and Sam Cohodas ... more
DeVos Art Museum at Northern Michigan University. With this facility, the Upper Peninsula has a real art museum, open year-round, with some high-level nationally important exhibits along with local and regional shows ... more
Father Marquette Park/ Chamber of Commerce.. Tourist info with a grand view of a picture-perfect town, harbor, and lighthouse ... more
Marquette County Courthouse. A grand public building from 1902, used with respect. See the impressive courtroom where the Anatomy of a Murder case was tried, the great view from the steps, and the display of Voelker legal memorabilia ... more
St. Peter Cathedral and Baraga Archives. In the cathedral, stained glass windows of saints and scenes from Jesus's life. Next door, the papers of the snowshoe priest from Slovenia involved with the early history of many Michigan communities ... more
Upper Peninsula Children's Museum. Low-tech, free wheeling, imaginative fun in a whacky micro city, a recyclatorium, and a great gift shop. Kids learn about microbiology after sliding down a toilet, fly in a real fuselage cockpit ... more
Marquette Food Co-op. Cheerful one-stop shopping with good produce and more trail mixes, energy bars, soy milk and juices for travelers in the attractive new location downtown ... more
Park Cemetery. Download WMOT deejay Jim Koski's chatty Park Cemetery walking tour and a stroll through this hilly, wooded cemetery becomes a guided tour of the graves of Marquette's founding elite ... more
Jilbert's Dairy. An ice cream parlor is the centerpiece of this headquarters complex of the U.P.'s premier dairy, where you can see milk being processed, picnic next to a giant cow, and shop for various U.P. foods and knick-knacks ... more
Brewmaster's Castle Home. The exterior is exotic, but get a look at what's inside ... more
Mount Marquette Scenic Lookout. A rocky summit provides a glorious views of the city, the bay, and the vast expanse of Lake Superior beyond ... more
Marquette Branch Prison. The 1889 part of the prison that looks like it's out of Victorian England, with pretty inmate-tended flower gardens out front ... more
U.S. 41 road cut with ancient algal stromatolites. Looming above Highway 41, this rocky cliff reveals eroded remains of ancient (2 billion-year-old) mountains once far higher than today's Rockies ... more
Michigan Welcome Center. The picnic area provides a striking view of Marquette Bay and the distant city of Marquette, with helpful tourist info in the log Welcome Center ... more
Blueberry Ridge Cross-Country Ski Trail/Escanaba River State Forest. 12K of trails, 1.7 miles of them lighted, are groomed for ski-skating and diagonal stride ... more
Lakenenland. One of the U.P.'s most unusual roadside attractions, a pipefitter's quirky sculpture park. Part political, part fanciful, done just for fun. No fee, nothing to buy. ... more
Hunt's Map Guide to the Upper Peninsula
• 13 detailed U.P. maps
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