Something New

This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of viewing my city through the eyes of a tourist.  I recommend this practice to anyone, because it's usually inexpensive or free and you learn so much that you never knew about a place that you may have lived your entire life.

Pre-Civil War Clock

The Rockford City Market partnered with the Rockford Area Economic Development group to put on a free historic architectural walking tour of downtown.  I'm not particularly interested in architecture, but I do enjoy art and history and I'm always looking to expose my eight-year-old son to various unique learning opportunities.  We've done a little bit of everything, including camping, watching an Irish dance company perform and learn the history behind the dances, lectures, adventure parks, etc.  You name it, we've probably done it or it's on our to-do list.


 I thoroughly enjoyed the tour and I learned a lot about the city where I reside.  For instance, many of the old abandon buildings used to be very popular in their hey day and many buildings suffered through damaging fires for various reasons.  My son, on the other hand, was bored (of course) but that doesn't mean that he didn't half way like it and learned at least one thing.  You parents know how that is; of course they'd rather be doing something else, but it was cool for a tour.

Here's some of my pictures.  Enjoy!

What types of things do you like to do around your town?

Clock at Midway Theater

Midway Theater- started showing silent movies and ended with CaddyShack in the 1980s after a horrific fire

Queen Anne style building that's been painted over, cheapening the detail of the stone work

Newspaper company built in the 1920s Art Deco style

Original City Hall from the late 1800s.  Stained with soot and dirt

Pole that was most likely purchased from the Sears catalogue in the early 1900s

Original YMCA from the 1850s