TRAVERSE CITY - We always talk about historic places around the country and even the world, but we also have history right in Traverse City. One of those places is Traverse City’s former State Hospital and one teacher at The Greenspire School is taking students there to learn more.
“People, they should know that the commons are a very special place because I’ve been here since I was this tall and, it’s a really important place to me,” said Greenspire School student Audra Pieschotte. “And it’s really cool to see what it was before I was here.”
Erin Fitzpatrick is the Outdoor Education Teacher at The Greenspire School in Traverse City. She started a new project this year that she’s been hoping to start for a long time.
“We are looking at old historical photos of the State Hospital,” said Erin Fitzpatrick. “We’ve procured them off TADL’s local history website. And then we talk about old maps. We look at the original maps of the State Hospital. We look at all of the old photographs and we try to find where the photograph was taken. And then we talk a little bit about the history, and different context clues that we see in the photos.
And it’s based on the idea that people go back to pictures that were really meaningful for them, find where the picture was taken, and then write up a letter for that moment of their life. And I thought it was so beautiful that we could do something really interesting with it in the Commons.”
Fitzpatrick said it’s important to honor the history we have in our own home.
“A lot of the Kirkbride hospitals have been demolished across the United States,” continues Fitzpatrick. “This is one of the only ones that we have left. So I really just wanted to honor that history and make sure that the kids understood that it’s a really special part of Traverse City.”
The students have enjoyed learning about the Grand Traverse Commons and what it used to be, but the project does come with some challenges.
“I would say it’s kind of tricky, but it’s also kind of fun,” said Greenspire School student Hudson Tornga. “It’s like they said, it’s kind of like a puzzle, and you have to figure out where the pieces go.”
“Actually, the one that I had today, I had to go really far back and it is a little challenging but it’s mostly fun,” said Carter Pieschotte.
“Yeah like some of them are harder and some of them are easier because it might be taken from a certain angle where it’s like harder to tell what’s in the picture,” said Carter’s sister Audra.
Through pictures, the students can see how the State Hospital has changed over the years and after the project is done, the pictures will be displayed in the halls of The Greenspire School.
“Since the end of September, we’ve been getting these pictures and we just kind of go around seeing how they’ve changed like how they have knocked down certain parts of it and build certain things,” said Greenspire School student Serenity Beaudrie. “It’s really cool to see there’s so much history.”
“The main tower right over there actually burned down,” said Hudson Tornga. “And that’s why it’s not here today. And then Willow Pond is also not here today. And then there used to actually be a smoke tower somewhere around here, and that’s also gone.”
“And on the maps, you can see there’s there’s orange or yellow, whichever you prefer,” said Carter Pieschotte. “There are the buildings and those are the ones that are not actually here. They’ve been demolished.”
“We get to do this usually in the mornings, and we get to go look around all the Commons and see the pictures and now and it’s just really cool to see how much it’s changed,” said Serenity Beaudrie. “My favorite part is seeing all the change that has happened to these buildings and how over the decades it can change drastically.”
By learning about the history, the students are gaining respect for preserving it.
“Be kind to the buildings because they’re history,” said Hudson Tornga.
“One thing is to stop sneaking into the buildings because then they mess up everything inside, and it’s really annoying because once you like the look inside, it’s all messed up,” said Serenity Beaudrie.