Tag Archives: SPARK East

Talking about Highland Cemetery’s Starkweather Chapel, and the history of Ypsilanti’s death industry

By Mark | December 18, 2019

The Starkweather Chapel in Ypsilanti’s Highland Cemetery, for those of you who may not have noticed, has been undergoing some much needed renovation work this past year. Here, with more on the history of the building, and the preservation work that’s been done thus far, is a conversation I just had with lifelong Ypsilanti resident […]

Posted in History, Ypsilanti | Also tagged 1841, 1883, Ainsworth Mill, animal infestation, Barry LaRue, Battle of Bunker Hill, Beezy's, big death, Bill French, coffins, Daniel Quirk, DTE, Ebay, Elijah McCoy, EMU, funerals, George McCoy, grave digging, Greek Revival, Highland Cemetery, Historic District Commission, historic places, historic preservation, Historic Preservation Office, home funerals, Huron River, J.E. Moore’s Furniture Store, Jasper Pennington, John D. Pierce, John Starkweather, Mack & Mack Furniture Store, Mary Ann Starkweather, Mason & Rice, memorial services, Normal College, Old Ypsilanti, oral history, plaster, Playboy, pornography, Prospect Cemetery, Prospect park, public art, public education, renovations, solar power, stained glass, Starkweather Chapel, Starkweather Hall, Starkweather House, State Historic Preservation Office, Stevens T. Mason, the funeral industry, underground railroad, Walter Loomis Newberry, water fountains, winter receiving vault, Ypsi history, Ypsi Solar, Ypsilanti, Ypsilanti Public Library | 6 Comments

Why Ypsilanti’s identity, independent of Ann Arbor, is important…. and why we should fight to keep our Convention and Visitors Bureau

By Mark | March 12, 2015

It was made public today that members of the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners are considering the possibility of forcing a merger between the Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau (YACVB) and its counterpart in Ann Arbor. This, as I understand it from my sources, is something that the Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors […]

Posted in Ann Arbor, Marketing, Rants, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged AAACVB, AAATA, Alicia Ping, Andy LaBarre, Angela Barbash, Ann Arbor Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, Ann Arbor SPARK, brand identity, branding, consolidation, consolidation of services, dollar stores, economic development, excise tax, Family Dollar, hotel tax, hotels, identity, Joseph Sefcovic, Linette, mergers, Reconsider, Richard Murphy, Ronnie Peterson, Ruth Ann Jamnick, Saline, Sean Duval, the greater Ann Arbor region, venture LOCAL, Washtenaw County, Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners, Washtenaw County Hotel and Motel Association, Washtenaw Development Council, YACVB, YDDA, Ypsilanti Area Convention and Visitors Bureau | 73 Comments

One month from today, assuming you win the auction, you could be the proud owner of Ypsilanti’s Smith Furniture Building… If so, what’ll you do with it?

By Mark | August 11, 2013

It looks as though Ypsi’s long neglected Smith Furniture Building (15 South Washington Street), after years of sitting idle in the hands of a local property speculator, may finally be coming back in play. After years of urging by the City, James Pate, the owner of the 25,000 square foot building, which was originally constructed […]

Posted in History, Local Business, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged Ann Arbor SPARK, auction, Dennis Dahlman, Eric Maurer, food incubator, James Pate, Karen Maurer, Maurer Management, Milwaukee, Milwaukee Public Market, property speculation, Public Market, Smith Furniture, Smith furniture building, Ypsilanti real estate | 21 Comments

The Ypsilanti Courier’s parent company launches Community Media Lab, in hopes of having community members create content for free

By Mark | April 12, 2012

I just learned, thanks to a reader of this site, that the parent company of the Ypsilanti Courier has launched a community journalism support center in downtown Ypsilanti. According to a release from the Journal Register Company, the facility, called the Community Media Lab, has already opened its doors on Michigan Avenue, within the SPARK […]

Posted in Media, Uncategorized, Ypsilanti | Also tagged citizen journalism, citizen reporting, Community Media Lab, future of journalism, Heritage Media, Journal Register Company, Michelle Rogers, the future of journalism, Ypsilanti Courier | 13 Comments

Ypsi’s Karen and Eric Maurer challenge Snyder on brownfield and historic preservation tax credits

By Mark | March 8, 2011

Local real estate developers Eric and Karen Maurer were featured in today’s Detroit Free Press, in an article about the Governor’s recent decision to eliminate tax credits like those which were utilized to restore several of the buildings along Ypsilanti’s Michigan Avenue corridor. In the following clip, you’ll not only hear the Maurers’ point of […]