I photographed this scene in downtown Fort Wayne after attending the opening of an exhibit at the
Artlink Gallery that included one of my photographs. Fog and rain had moved into the city, obscuring the upper floors of the city's tall buildings.
The building in the foreground, Citizens Square, houses most of the city government. It had originally been a department store, then an office building, and finally it served as the temporary home of the Allen County Public Library during the renovation of the library's old facility.
The city bought the building after the library left, and asked residents to submit possible names on the city government's website. Overwhelmingly, the people of Fort wayne voted to name it the Harry Baals Government Center. Mr. Baals was the mayor of Fort Wayne from 1934-1947 and from 1951-1954, and yes, his name was pronounced like "Balls."
The effort to name the building after Mayor Baals made
national news, but the city decided to
name the building Citizen's Square. As usual, our leaders found the blandest, dumbest name possible. Yes, naming it for Harry Baals might be embarrassing (although there is a street named for him!), but Citizens Square sounds like the sort of name a Communist country would give its Secret Police headquarters.
The tall building in the background, with its top in the fog, is
One Summit Square. At 27 stories, it is the city's tallest building, and it is generally regarded as the city's ugliest! It was built in the early 1980s by Summit Bank, a locally owned bank that was bought out by a big national bank long ago. At least that building's name means something, given the name of its original owner!
Although it is universally disliked by Fort Wayne's residents, it was designed by world-renowned architect
Kevin Roche!
