The City of Ludington is celebrating its 149th birthday on Tuesday.
“Here in this city, 149 is a magnificent achievement,” said Ludington Mayor Steve Miller. “We’re really looking forward to the 150th when the full history of the city becomes told.”
For 149 years, the City of Ludington has made its mark in history.
“We have been here as an established city for 149 years, which a lot of cities can’t say,” Miller said. “We have survived, and we are healthier now than we have been in all of those 149 years.”
Miller said the city is much the same as it was back in 1873.
“James Ludington came to Ludington, plotted out our city, and it is exactly the same today as it was when he plotted it out all those years ago,” he said.
One piece of history hangs in the local library—a mural depicting the early history of Ludington.
“On the left side, it depicts someone leaving home, leaving the agricultural lifestyle to go work for industry, and the middle of it shows the person’s experiences with industry,” said Mason County District Library Director Eric Smith. “At the very end, he’s coming back with his paycheck, back to the agricultural homestead.”
The mural hung in several places throughout the city before making its way to the local library.
“It has meant different things in its lifetime to different people who have displayed it,” said Smith.
And to those who know the city, there’s the landmarks like the Badger, the Ludington State Park, and House of Flavors, but then there’s the feeling Ludington inspires among people who come to visit.
“It’s the casual downtime over those months when people come here,” said Miller. “They know they’re under no pressure, they can go see all of these highlights that we have.”
And next year for the 150th birthday—Miller said we’ll have to wait and see what’s in store.
“We’ll try to take a look at what we could do to accentuate our town and put the spotlight on our town in the very best way we can with a solid reason: the Sesquicentennial.”
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