Delta County Historical Archives photo

ESCANABA — The man in the middle is back.

Welcome back Stephenson Avenue in north Escanaba. We’ve missed you.

Stephenson Avenue was named for the early lumberman Isaac Stephenson.

Smooth, wide, and as black as midnight, the new Stephenson Avenue glistens in the moonlight.

Fresh new lead-free water pipes rest below this road now. Many months of hard work went into this upgrading process.

My good neighbors on Stephenson Avenue are so happy to once again cruise down the road and order pizzas delivered to their front doors.

I’ve called Sheridan Road home for over six decades. Sheridan was named after General Sheridan from the Civil War era. Stephenson Avenue is just two blocks away.

I wished I had a nickel for every time I delivered newspapers to houses on Stephenson. Millions of times I crossed it on my way to school or the ice rink. I biked down Stephenson on my way to my babysitting job. And I have walked so many beagles, so many times around Northtown that it would make you dizzy.

Norm’s IGA store (Formally Gafner’s Store) was in business on the 1100 block of Stephenson Avenue for decades. I ran countless errands to that lovely little neighborhood store for coffee, canned soup or a couple of pounds of hamburger.

My aunt Nancy and my brother Mike both worked at Norm’s at one time.

When my kids were toddlers there was nothing they liked better than a stroller or sled ride down the sidewalks along Stephenson Avenue. They called it Sesame Street because of the old black street lamps that lined the road were similar to the ones on PBS’s “Sesame Street” TV show.

Stephenson Avenue north of the roundabout has a wonderful history of the working folks of Escanaba. Back in my grandfather’s day, the Rose Park area just north of the roundabout was a cemetery.

At the far north end of Stephenson Avenue towered the world famous wooden ore docks.

The three main roads through the north side of town came together at the “three meets.” They were Sheridan, Stephenson and Washington Avenue (named for George). The “three meets” were replaced with the roundabout.

Stephenson was a gravel road for many years. In 1939 it was paved with asphalt and it was resurfaced again in 1975.

Isaac Stephenson, whom this road is named for, was the owner of the I. Stephenson Lumber Company near the mouth of the Escanaba River.  He was one of the wealthiest men in the Great Lakes area in the 1800s. He made his home in Marinette Wisconsin and served as a United States senator from 1907 to 1915.

Welcome back Mr. Stephenson to north Escanaba. Wishing you many, many years of good service to a wonderful neighborhood. “Nostrovia” cheers.

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Karen (Rose) Wils is a lifelong north Escanaba resident. Her folksy columns appear weekly in Lifestyles.