THE COMMUNITY CRIER: October 23,1996 Page 27 We love Plymouth’s Lowertown T h e Community Cner EDITOR: Of course, it must be Lowertown! It has always been Lowertown. My grandmother was a Lowertown kid, my dad was a Lowertown kid and I am a Lowertown kid! Old Village just doesn’t fit the bill. Old means antiquated or perhaps no longer useful or productive. Lowertown is vibrant and alive and a unique part of the City. Village, according to the dictionary, means a territorial area having the status of a village, especially as a unit of local government.
A visit to Lowertown and the unique neighborhoods and shopping areas is a breath of fresh air when one is surrounded by malls and so many look- alike subdivisions. I was bom and raised in Plymouth and am 70 years old. I have lived in Plymouth all my life except for two years in the U.S. Army in W.W. II. It was called Lowertown because Plymouth is on a shelf and is uptown and you had to go downhill to get to Lowertown. T H E N E W S P A P E R W IT H IT S H E A R T IN T H E P L Y M O U T H - C A N T O N C O M M U N IT Y Many great people grew up in Lowertown. Congratulations to the Lowertown Grill for bringing back the memories. HARRY KRUMM Lowertown definitely!
Lowertown is historically accurate, colorful and has panache. There is, or never was, in my opinion, anything derogatory or demeaning attached to the name Lowertown. 8 2 1 P e n n im a n A v e . P ly m o u th , M I 4 8 1 7 0 -1 6 2 4 (313) 4 5 3 -6 9 0 0 PEGGY WINGARD My husband Don has lived all of his 67 years in Plymouth Township and Plymouth. I moved here from Newburg in 1940. Long live Lowertown, an important part of the City of Plymouth. W . E d w a r d W e n d o v e r P U B L IS H E R : It was Lowertown then and still is when we talk about it DWIGHT ECKLER Old Village is inaccurate: Wasn’t Plymouth’s oldest house built on the site of the Mayflower?
Lowertown is genuine, the actual name used by its residents. Lowertown is distinctive, not an echo of the names invented by countless other cities aiming at stressing (or stretching) their historicity. Old Village is a contrived, historically inaccurate name created by some self-appointed historical revisionist during a fit of cuteness. It was an ill-chosen application of “political correctness” before the term or concept existed. E D IT O R : R o b K ir k b r id e DON AND JESSIE SCHAUFELE Michael and I have both lived in Plymouth for a long time.
We always called it Lowertown all through high school and it didn’t mean anything derogatory as some have suggested, just that the elevation was lower. R E P O R T E R S : B r ia n C o r b e tt J a n e t A r m s tr o n g P H O T O E D IT O R : R ic h a r d A lw o o d Three cheers for Kim Guenther for bringing this long-smoldering issue to the front by naming (appropriately) his restaurant The Lowertown Grill. L is a A . M c V e ig h C R IE R M A R K E T IN G D IR E C T O R : M.L.
MACDONALD I think of all these wonderful folks who lived and died in Lowertown; if they were to come back and someone should say, “Welcome to Old Village,” they might ask, “Where in heaven’s name is that?” A D V E R T IS IN G D IR E C T O R : J a c k A r m s tr o n g Old Village is just a trendy name that has no history behind it. Let’s go back to Lowertown! In case you haven’t guessed already, the renaming of Lowertown to Old Village has always riled me. A D V E R T IS IN G C O N S U L T A N T S : M ic h e lle T r e g e m b o W ils o n C IR C U L A T IO N D IR E C T O R : M a u r a C a d y KAREN AND MICHAEL WAGNER WALTER SCOTT B U S IN E S S M A N A G E R : L is a A .
L e p p in g My vote for the charming, distinctive, older part of the City of Plymouth is Lowertown. I came to Lowertown in 1939 when I was a small boy. My father worked at Daisy Air Rifle. I have so many wonderful memories of that time of my life and all of them center around Lowertown. I started school at Starkewather. My dad worked at Carl Shear Buick Agency, had his hair cut at Curly’s Barber Shop. B U S IN E S S A S S IS T A N T : Nothing but Lowertown to me. Someone may come here and try to rename it, but no dice. Too many of us knew it as Lowertown 50 years ago and longer and this is the way it shall remain! No change. Hooray for the Lowertown Grill!
Shove this new name to another area, not here. D. JEWELL R E C E P T IO N IS T : C o le e n W e s t My aunt’s parents owned Beyer Rexall Drug Store. We bought our groceries at Gayde Bros. If you needed something from the hardware, you went to see Mr. Wilson. I didn’t have to decide on Lowertown because that’s what it’s always been to me. G e n e v a G u e n th e r PU BLISH ED EACH W EDNESDAY b y T he P ly m o u th -C a n to n C o m m u n ity C rier, Inc. CARRIER D ELIV ERED $ 2 .2 5 m o n th ly , $ 2 7 y early U .S. MAIL DELIVERED: I graduated from Plymouth High School — many memorable years there, too. There is no longer a Plymouth High School, which is sad.
Let’s not lose the name Lowertown. Why doesn’t Fitzsimmons list party affiliation on billboards, literature? HELEN CLINANSMITH G. OLSON M em ber $ 4 0 y early in U .S.A . /W/CX Printed on ( Y X } Recycled Paper ccmma • coMwrmafcoMHimiTVfcoMMUwcATiONs ^ y There’s plenty of parking for all in Plymouth EDITOR: I applaud the column jointly written by your staffers Brian Corbett and Janet Armstrong, “What parking problem?” EDITOR: Thanks for last week’s column by Ed Wendover about the politicians in the back room of the Box Bar (which I mistakenly thought had been taken over by the McDonald’s restaurant chain). 3 4 5 F le e t S t.
P ly m o u th , M I 4 8 1 7 0 - 1 6 5 6 (3 1 3 ) 4 5 3 - 6 8 6 0 Indeed! I have had a shop in downtown for the last six years. The only problem I have had is with the police ticketing myself and customers for shopping for more than two hours. In the column, Ed mentions that Joe Fitzsimmons (candidate for the 13th Congressional District seat) is a Republican, a fact one cannot glean from Mr. Fitzsimmons’ many campaign signs and billboards. It makes one wonder: Is Fitzsimmons ashamed of telling us he is a Republican or just dodging the bullet of the upcoming Dole debacle? P R E S ID E N T : Why is it that merchants have a problem where people park?
The customers don’t have any problem finding a place to park! W . E d w a r d W e n d o v e r M A R K E T IN G D IR E C T O R : G e r r y V e n d it t e lli If these merchants would spend more time creating good will and less time '"beating a dead horse” and as for this Big Brother, “tell on your neighbor” policy, lighten up Plymouth. We have plenty of parking for all! A R T & P R O D U C T IO N D IR E C T O R B r a n d y S e re n o In any case, who on earth would ever vote for a politician who hides his party affiliation? J o h n D r a u s s G R A P H IC A R T IS T MIKECARNE FRANK KUSZAK