Friends of Bay City Hall

12/03/2016

https://discuss.micechat.com/forum/disney-theme-park-news-and-discussion/disneyland-resort/35487-city-hall

This is a pretty interesting theory that the design of Disneyland's city hall was actually based on the original Bay County Courthouse. It's a stretch but there's some great drawings of the building that was replaced by the Bay County Building.

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02/27/2016

Check out the new album I posted today! Feel free to post your favorite Bay City Hall pics here too.

01/28/2016

Here's a drawing of the Bay County Jail that shows the side view of the sheriff's residence and the attached jail behind that is similar to the other examples I posted yesterday.

01/28/2016

Okay. Here's another jail that is a similar design from Morrow County Ohio by a different architect (about 77 miles southwest of Clark's hometown ). Based on this and the one from Florida, I'm beginning to think that this was a standard design that architects used for jails, like the way that banks were designed to look like Greek Temples.

01/28/2016

While looking for a side view of the old Bay County Jail, I just found this picture from Green Cove Springs Florida (former Clay County Jail). It looks kind of similar to the others I have posted. This creates more questions.

01/28/2016

Today I was in Wooster Ohio and had lunch in a restaurant called the Olde Jaol, which is a play on words because it was the former Wayne County Ohio Jail. It looks a lot like the old Bay County Jail that was torn down in the 1930s and is the current location of the Wirt Library. Both jails have a large attached home in front that was offices and living quarters for the sheriff. Both have a 2 story wing behind that was the jail. Both are similar in massing, window placement and height. Both have a center entrance above grade and a three story tower. The main difference is in the detailing with Bay's being Second Empire like the original Bay County Court House (present Bay County Building) that was across the street and Wayne's being the simpler Italianate Style.

Here's where it gets interesting. The Bay County Jail was designed by Dillon P. Clark who came to West Bay City from Medina Ohio in 1882. The Wayne County Jail is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Architect is unknown. It is 25 miles south of Medina where Clark was from and was constructed before he moved to Michigan, during a time when he was a contractor who was also studying to be an architect. Could he have been the architect of both jails or maybe the contractor in Wayne County? They seem to be too similar to not be connected. I think I have better pictures of the Bay County Jail that show a side view with the shorter 2 story wing like the Wayne County one. I'll post it when I find it.

03/24/2014

Today we visited the Amherst Ohio Historical Museum. The beautiful sandstone for Bay City Hall called "Amherst Buff" is from one of the former quarries here. The stone was quarried, cut, and carved in Amherst before being shipped by rail to Bay City where it was unloaded from the railroad siding that used to run behind City Hall on Saginaw Street. The quarries that supplied stone as far away as eastern Europe have shut down and are largely forgotten.

Other Amherst Buff sandstone can be seen in Bay City's First Presbyterian Church and Elm Lawn Cemetery's front entrance gate and chapel.

02/07/2014

Evolution of the front stairs.

02/07/2014

Two views a century apart.

02/03/2014

01/15/2014

Commission Chambers with new theater seats and restored wood floor.

01/15/2014

The new antique theater seats in the Commission Chambers sure look great! Quite an improvement over the steel ones with orange upholstery from the 1970s. They really compliment the woodwork and other antique furniture in the Chambers.