By Julie Traynor
For many Marion businesses, a good window on Main Street was a valuable asset, especially if business was enhanced by displaying shiny new goods in said window. It is a timeless technique, the equivalent of ‘show them and they will buy’. In mid-century Marion this strategy was working for the Ben Franklin with everything from school supplies to beach balls. Marion Radio and Electric showed off shiny new televisions and refrigerators and the Drug Store reminded us of each gift-giving holiday with a display of candies, perfumes or cameras. Flemming’s continues to give us a taste of fashion each week and the grocery stores lured shoppers with giant poster sized signs advertising the week’s best sale items.
There was a great variety of goods displayed in the windows along Marion’s Main Street in the 1950’s. Even the Marion Produce Co, located where the Municipal offices and Marion Library building now sits, displayed colorful sacks of various kinds of feed in their venerable windows. There was something for everyone to see and shop. That was a time when Marion was a shopping destination, a local one. Most shoppers found what they sought along Main or Mill with no need to go further.
As many of the Main Street windows begged for attention, there was one new kid on the block with attractive Mid Century windows and style, whose business it was to look out and see what was going on in the Village and beyond. This was mid century Marion and the unusual slanted windows belonged to the brand new Marion Press building.
In 1953, the Marion Press moved, for the umpteenth time in its long life, from a fifty-year-old former hardware space, into a new cement block building just across Main Street, with big windows allowing for plenty of friendly light. At that time, the Press building was the last before the river, and each of its windows had a fine view. Within 10 years, the Press required more space, for set-up and printing services and doubled its working space to the rear. This also allowed for more windows with that great Middle Branch River view.
The Marion Press’s new digs was built by Smith and Smith Publishers of Evart, which had owned the Press for ten years. Bob Sharp had been Editor for four and Fern Berry was the face at the desk. Minnie Alberts, the longest Press employee, was a rookie. The Press Office, as the whole building was known, was a good place to work. Folks came and went daily with subscriptions to pay, advertising to place or invitations to order and there was always interesting conversation. And the view of Main Street was always interesting. The folks at the Press knew everyone by name and sight.
Any time someone lost, found, shot, caught, grew, dug-up or made something they deemed of greater interest they beat feet for the Press Office. Someone always obliged with a photograph or a paragraph in the paper the following week. There were countless photos taken with the Marion Press sign, the stacked limestone wall or those windows in the background.
The Marion Press did not need to put sale signs in the window, or a sample of their wares, although they posted auction sale bills on the door. The local world beat a path to the door and the employees of the Press saw them coming. Watching Main Street go by has been a benefit for all who worked, and still work along its way. It was and is a different story each day.
In the new millennium the Marion Press and its building parted company. Late in 2013, under a new owner the Press moved to rented quarters and continues to print the news. The Press Office building went up for sale and for the first time in 60 years it was a vacant window on Main Street.
After being sold, the building was vacant for a time, underwent several renovations and improvements and entertained several different business ventures. Fast forward to late 2021 and enter new owners Fred and Christie Prielipp, and their interest in renovation and innovation along Main Street. The Prielipp’s immediately recognized the potential for the Press building to become rental space of a different kind.
Since the former motel closed, unless visitors brought their own accommodations and camped at the park, the only other choices available in the Marion area have been to stay with friends, relatives or elsewhere. The opening of the Middle Branch Guest House at 108 East Main, adds a great option.
The Middle Branch Guest House sleeps up to seven. It has a full kitchen and a bath and a half. There is television, free Wi-Fi and fabulous views of the Middle Branch River. Guests can spend an evening on the shady back deck or watching the river from the covered side entrance. There is a picnic table, a fire pit, the sounds of the river flowing by and fishing access in season. The front entrance has those fabulous windows and with plenty of seating. It is a great place to watch Marion go by, should that be your wish. The windows may be completely covered in the evening.
If you are interested in more information or making a reservation for your visit to Marion, contact Christie Prielipp at 231-388-4946 or find the Middle Branch Guest House online at Air B&B. We have a hunch that this is going to be a tremendously popular rental for travelers, former Marionites, MHS Alumni and fishermen alike. Often they are one in the same. Who says you can’t visit the old hometown again?
Make a reservation and stay in amazing air conditioned comfort. Old Fashioned Days will be here before we know it.
The Prielipp’s also own the Vintage Stone Venue on Main Street, located in the former 1937 cobblestone Seventh Day Adventist Church.