(Dennis Volkert/Sentinel)
By Dennis Volkert
“Downtown: 200 Years of Doing Business in Sturgis” premieres at 3 p.m. April 26 at Sturges-Young Center for the Arts.
Tickets are $10 at sites throughout downtown, or $12 online at sturgesyoung.com.
It is produced by Mike Mort of Equity Studios, and is the latest in the “Windows To Our Past” series. The film is narrated by Tim Brown of Kalamazoo.
The documentary is a 200-year story of doing business in the heart of Sturgis. From the era of wooden sidewalks and hitching posts, then gas lights and Model Ts, downtown long has been the center of culture for the Sturgis community. This film explores the early days, merchants throughout history and evolution of enterprises.
During production, Mort said he frequently was astounded by details that were revealed.
“I was surprised to find out one of the first businesses in our village was a big log cabin hotel,” he said. “But as one thinks about it, traveling for days, in a covered wagon on dusty roads, when one arrived in the new village, a hot bath and a comfortable bed would be in high demand. Those migrating to the Sturgis prairie wanted an immediate place to rest. Ergo, ‘Let’s build a hotel!’ I was also surprised at the rules for bicycling, and if you broke those rules, you could be ined, or even put in jail. Imagine that!”
Mort was reminded on a frequent basis that there was a time when downtown was “the only town.”
“There were no convenient stores along the highway, no big box stores to get lost in. Everything was just there, all in one place,” Mort said. “There, you would find little shops that opened onto main street, with upstairs offices and gathering halls, even places for dancing. On the corner you could buy groceries. Then, go next door and order a tailored suit. Another door down, you could pick up your prescription or walk upstairs and get your teeth cleaned. And coming to town was a big event. You planned for it. You dressed up for it. You made a day of it.”
He finds intrigue in evolution and change in business throughout the city’s history.
“Walmart and Meijer and the other big box stores, (such as) Home Depot … profoundly affected the kind of stores we have in downtown today.”
There is a segment of the film about buildings “coming and going.” The narrative is sad, but understandable, Mort said.
“Buildings come and go,” he said. “Perhaps their accommodations do not keep up the with needs of the people they were intended to serve. Or forces beyond our control take them from us before their time. Or, their style seems out of place, and calls to be renewed. Or their magnitude is beyond our ability to care for them. Sometimes when they pass, their story is one of resurrection. Resurrection happens when people like Gene Harrison, and John Carmichael and Eric Eishen decide to make buildings stronger and better and true to their original character. We’re lucky to have people like that in our town.”
A notable challenge in creating the film was deciding which businesses occupied each address and which of those to highlight.
“There were hundreds of them!” Mort said. “The challenge then became, what should we include in the film, and what should we leave out? The film certainly could not be an encyclopedia.”
Mort has high praise for the work of Rachel Boland, volunteer archivist and researcher at Sturgis Historical Museum, to provide historic research to shape the film.
Boland elaborated about some key aspects of the project.
“Sanborne Fire Maps are very important for any research. They are some of the more detailed maps available of a town, business and housing layout,” Boland said. “Created for the fire departments, they did not list the name of the businesses or homeowners, but listed the type of business, location of water hook-ups in case of fire, construction materials of the buildings, the heat source (steam, gas, coal or wood) and the type of fire suppression equipment. From these maps, I could locate where a type of business was in downtown, and match it with the names from city directories and historic pictures and postcards.”
Several other sources are available at the museum, Boland said. Those include newspaper ads, city directories, athletic programs, theater programs and high school yearbooks. The 1892 Sturgis Faire Premium Book is full of early business ads, she said.
“Another valuable source was historic postcards of which the museum has a large collection. The 1911 dam celebration postcards in particular were very helpful, due to the clear images from photographers Parham and Leestma, of the parade floats and businesses along Chicago Road. Parham also took many pictures of the downtown area along Chicago Road over many years.”
Similar to Mort, Boland encountered revelatory facts along the way.
“Some of the most surprising things I found during my research were the number of saloons, confectionary shops, cigar factories and billiard halls we had during the early years,” she said. “Sometimes, several saloons were next to each other. Many saloons were in the back of grocery stores.”
Boland estimates she spent about seven months researching for this movie. “As usual, I spent time searching for information that I could not find, but we found a lot.”
Most of the photos used in the movie are part of the museum collections, mostly from early postcards, Boland said. A majority of individual business photos were part of ads in city directories and yearbooks. Some of the photos and old films used by Mort for the movie, he found from other sources, she said
The release of this documentary coincides with a couple of milestones. It’s the 40th anniversary for Equity Studios,and it’s considered the 10th anniversary of the “Windows to Our Past” series.
Mort expounded on the modest beginning of Equity, its progress and how he embraces its endurance.
“I started out in a back room of my upstairs apartment on Congress Street,” he said. “And one project led to another, then to another. And over the course of those 40 years I have worked on projects in every county of Michigan, throughout the United States and several continents abroad. It has been an unbelievable journey.”
The first official film for the “Windows” series was when the depot was moved in 2016, with its official release in 2018.
“Since then, I have been making on average one major film a year,” Mort said. “I even worked on films during COVID, but we delayed their public showing.”
Previous films in the “Windows to Our Past” series.
- “At the Depot II,” spring 2018.
- “Dog Town,” spring 2019.
- “Voices Dark Lake,” fall 2019.
- “City Works,” fall 2020.
- “The Giving Town,” fall 2021.
- “Journey of the 11th,” fall 2022.
- “Crescendo! 150 years of Music in Sturgis,” fall 2023.
- “A+: The Story of Education in Sturgis,” spring 2025.
“Downtown” is presented by Sturgis Historical Society, with sponsorship by The Newell A. & Grace A. Franks Fund.
