I am fascinated by Architecture, specifically ornate architecture, and luckily where I live, in this tri city area there are wondeful examples around just about every corner.  Unfortunately, like any city, my home town had the growing pains where folks moved out of the inner city, into the farm lands, and the inner city became ghettos.  Beautiful homes from the late 1800 and early 1900 are being systematically destroyed because of in fighting between the preservation societies and the city councils.

  Due to this stupidity homes that could be saved due to their historical significance have been left to rot, as required mainenance is not being allowed.  Over 72 victorian homes were on the preservation list, 49 of them were released to be demolished in August because they are now beyond the ability to preserve.  Like Detroit, soon our inner city will revert back to the river fronts and fields that they once were.

Below is an article about a mansion called the Webber House, it is a perfect example of this stupidity that continues today.  Please take an interest in your own home towns history and architecture, so much craftman ship and knowledge has already been lost, help stop it if you can.

Essay is copy write Public Libraries of Saginaw

She was 82 years old when she died. Children cried when they realized she was gone. It had been a four-year struggle to survive, but she didn't make it. Seventeen years after the death the newspaper still found that there were persons who remembered and mourned the death of "The Queen" as they described her.

The "Queen" had been the residence of William L. Webber and his family at 536 Millard in Saginaw. William L. Webber, who had been the attorney for Jesse Hoyt, made his home in the elegant mansion together with son-in-law James B. Peter. Originally, the mansion was being built by Chester B. Jones, but construction had been halted prior to the purchase of the property by attorney Webber. Mr. Jones, who had been a member of the East Saginaw Board of Education, had suffered some personal misfortunes. It is surmised by historians that these tragedies probably kept him from finishing the home. William L. Webber asked son-in-law James B. Peter if he thought the mansion would be adequate to serve both the Webber and Peter families as a residence, and they continued the construction project. In later years a legendary story about the original owner evolved, and the mansion became known as "Jones Folly." Most historians dismiss portions of the legend itself as folly.

The account of the fight to save this mansion from the wrecking ball is itself of legendary proportions. However, the Committee to Save the Webber Mansion lost the battle. Never before had the possible destruction of a mansion caused so much public controversy. The home in which the last surviving Webber family member was residing had been acquired by the Saginaw Board of Education about 1934 and was being used for office space. Made of brick and stone with 18-inch thick walls and 10-feet high double doors, the "Queen" and property occupied half a city block and was surrounded by a wrought-iron fence. Inside were marble fireplaces. There were 16 large rooms and several small rooms, among them a law library and a study on the third floor. Also on the third floor James W. Peter, Webber's grandson, kept a trapeze for workouts. There were servant quarters and a tower room. William Atherton, the caretaker for twenty-two years, used a special opening in the tower wall from which to hang the U.S. flag on holidays. At this home the Webber family had entertained William Howard Taft and other dignitaries. Webber, Peter, and Jones were three men who had been involved with the development of East Saginaw's educational system and library resources. It was an unfortunate day when the preservation committee brought suit against the Saginaw Board of Education over the rescue of the trio's former home. One resident called the destruction of this home an act of "official vandalism." It was reported that no architectural salvage company rescued its treasures and that everything went to a landfill. But over the years, some books from the Webber home had found their way into the collections of the Hoyt Public Library. And today Saginawians can find copies of East Saginaw council proceedings or books of city ordinances which bear the name William L. Webber on the inside cover. It has been said that people have forgotten about the Webber house, but even today there are Saginawians who read the history and see the pictures and ask, "How could they?"