Take a "Madonna Tour" through Bay City

Faites un "Madonna Tour" dans Bay City.
 

Posted by The Bay City Times March 09, 2008 08:00AM

You can visit Tupelo, Miss., and peek inside a modest two-room house where the King of Rock n' Roll was born in 1935. Local leaders, however, haven't taken up the idea of marketing Bay City as the birthplace of Madonna. But here's a good place to start:

1. Mercy Hospital, 100 15th St., where Madonna was born at 7:05 a.m. on Aug. 16, 1958. The red brick structure still stands as a senior high-rise called the Bradley House, located just off Water Street.

2. The Fortin home, 1204 Smith St., on Bay City's West Side, where Madonna's grandparents, Elsie and Willard Fortin, raised eight children, including Madonna's mother. It's also where Madonna spent her childhood summers - catching enough of a whiff of a nearby petroleum plant to reference Bay City as a 'smelly little town.' The home now functions as an assisted living facility.

3. Visitation Church, 1106 State St., the Catholic church where Madonna's parents were married on July 2, 1955. An entry in the church's marriage register shows a handwritten account of Silvio "Tony" Ciccone's marriage to Madonna Fortin of 1204 Smith St. Young Madonna Ciccone probably attended church here with her family during visits to Bay City.

4. Calvary Cemetery, 2977 Old Kawkawlin Road, where Madonna's mother and other relatives are buried. Madonna's mother died of breast cancer in 1963 when Madonna was 5.

5. Bay City Hall, 301 Washington Ave., home to the office of Bay City's former Mayor Timothy G. Sullivan, who in 1985 became nationally notorious for refusing Madonna a key to the city.

6. Tony's Amusement Park, located at the intersection of Euclid Avenue and Beaver Road. Madonna's relatives used to take her to the amusement park for fun during her childhood visits to Bay City. Today, the park is a scenic area near the entrance to the Bay City State Recreation Area. The park's antique carousel was eventually relocated to Deer Acres in Pinconning.

7. St. Laurent Brothers, 1101 N. Water St. The singer was spotted here in 2003 with her husband, British film director Guy Ritchie. Clerks said the Material Girl bought $7.83 worth of candy, including a cellophane bag of Red-Hot Dollars - gummy raspberry-flavored candy - and salt-water taffy. Ritchie reportedly uttered the phrase, "Good old St. Laurent's."

Madonna's parents were married at Visitation Church in 1955.
(Dan Staudacher | Times Photo)
 

The headstone of Madonna's mother, Madonna Fortin Ciccone, 
at Calvary Cemetery in Kawkawlin.
(Adrianne Bonafede | Times Photo)
 

A downtown Bay City visitor walks past two Model A Fords 
parked out front of St. Laurent Brothers shop on June 2, 2006.
(Silas Crews | Times File Photo)

Source: mlive/The Bay City Times.