Quick Facts

Built between 1900 and 1910, the structure originally served as the dedicated print shop for the Enterprise newspaper for nearly four decades. 

Before this concrete building went up, the lot was occupied by the 19th-century Exchange Hotel until the structure was removed in the late 1890s. 

NPS Description

111 South University Street, Enterprise Print Shop, ca. 1910. 

Non-contributing (built within the period of significance but subsequent alterations have sufficiently impacted integrity to render it non-contributing) 

Description

Commercial two-story concrete block building with a 30 foot frontage on South University Street. The storefront is of pink painted tongue and groove wood paneling with replacement aluminum and glass fixed windows and a glass and aluminum side entry with transom. Three separate fabric awnings cover the side entry and the windows, and there is a projecting hanging sign above the fabric awnings. 

The south (side) elevation is of pink painted rusticated concrete block with concrete block infilled second-story windows, infilled first-floor arched windows, and an entry door towards the center of the elevation. The east (rear) and north (side) elevations are not visible due to adjoining buildings. 

History 

Mt. Pleasant’s Exchange Hotel was located on this site in the 1800s until its removal in the late 1890s. The present two story building was constructed between 1900 and 1910. It housed the print shop of the Enterprise newspaper until 1948. The 1950 Sanborn map notes a telegraph office in the north side of the building. Marianne Fashion Center was a tenant from 1949 to 1960, then the General Agency/General Realty office from 1962 to 1976. After a period of no listings from 1981 to 1986, Middle Michigan Development Corporation occupied the building in the late 1980s and 1990s. Emma’s Boutique is the current tenant. *as of 2014

Integrity Analysis 

The original appearance of the building is unclear; Sanborn maps record it as a two-story, 26 foot high concrete building. A 1950s photograph appears to show five window openings in the second floor, although the two outer and the center windows were covered. City building permits record the installation of a new storefront in 1970, likely the shingled awning and upper floor seen in 1980s photographs. Sometime after the 1980s, the present wood siding was installed. 

Sources 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (Mt. Pleasant: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1910, 1924, 1931, 1950); Mt. Pleasant City Directories, 1925-1998; Past and Present of Isabella County, 1911; City of Mt. Pleasant Building Permits; historic photographs.