Revealing art long forgotten
Revealing art long forgotten
By MIRIAM MOELLER, Journal Staff Writer
MARQUETTE — Local historians are stumped over the origin of a stone wall with three colorful mosaics of a horse, bull and cow recently unearthed on Northern Michigan University’s campus.
Marquette resident Bob Fleury dug out the mosaics — hidden in a wooded area near NMU’s Cohodas building and across from his house on Waldo street. Now that the wall is exposed nobody seems to know who built it or when.
“I have run across obscure things on campus,” Russ Magnaghi, university historian said. “This is one that is a mystery.”
Magnaghi has looked through history records and spoken to a number of people, but has neither found photographs nor other clues that would explain the mystery. An employee of the Marquette County History Museum as well as local historian Fred Rydholm are also puzzled.
“I don’t know a darn thing about it,” Rydholm said.
The part of the wall that is exposed is about 15 feet long and three feet tall. The three mosaics sit in framed window-like squares and are filled with colorful rocks.
“It’s quite elaborate that’s why it’s quite strange why nobody has an answer,” Magnaghi said.
Fleury had actually known about the wall for years. He said, more than a decade ago he was digging for worms in the wooded area when David December and his mother stopped by and made him aware of the old wall. But Fleury didn’t think to unearth it until he heard of the university’s plans to demolish nearby Carey Hall which he thinks may threaten the historic relic.
“I thought now is the time to dig it up,” Fleury said.
Apparently David’s mother knew more about the origins of the wall, but she has since passed away. The only one left in the family who remembers something is David’s brother Joe, who still lives in Marquette.
“I remember it was there in the ’40s,” he said. “We used to look at it all the time.”
Joe said he used to ski in the area and that back then the land around the wall was bare. He also remembers that there were more than three but less than five mosaics in the wall.
“It looked like there may have been a stairway coming down,” he said.
Joe regrets that he and his brother never asked their mother about the mysterious place.
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to my mom about it,” he said. “She lived in that area her entire life.”
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According to Magnaghi, the wall is on the original 20 acres that was given to NMU in 1899.
“There was nothing out here at the time,” Magnaghi said.
He added that the first house was not built until 1907 in that area.
Although there are no clear indications that would explain the existence of the wall, Magnaghi and others have made speculations.
For instance, the wall could have been a project of the Works Progress Administration, a program that the government ran during the Great Depression and that provided all kinds of jobs for citizens. Or perhaps it was a project by an organization called National Youth Administration that used to provide students with summer jobs on Northern’s campus.
Although all of these associations are completely speculative, most agree that the wall must have been part of a garden or playground for children.
“It could have been a little garden down here,” Fleury said. “Maybe it was a children’s area because it seems to be children-themed.”
Fleury said that he knows there is a fourth mosaic on the wall that is still buried in dirt. He tried to dig it out, but a big cement block is in his way.
“I’ll clear out the rest, if I get a little help because somebody got to take care of it now,” he said. “In order to make it more accessible the stuff that has been thrown here has to be taken out.”
Fleury said he found all kinds of things when he started digging: the ring of a small barrel, pillar-like cement blocks that he claims are part of the wall and rocks that fell off the mosaics.
Fleury and Magnaghi hope that somebody in Marquette who remembers will speak out and help solve the mystery of the Waldo Street Mosaic Wall.
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