“I graduated college in the early 2000s,” recalls architect Ryan Morse. “There was just—there were no prospects for work.” After a bit of hopping around, including time in the Washington, D.C., area, “I ran off to Alaska. I got an internship. Got in my car and drove 4,000 miles in six days.”

Alaska became Morse’s home for over a decade. Living in Fairbanks, he began to build his career and lived the life of a young professional. His work included designing schools in the remote western half of the state, assisting military and park projects, and working with the state legislature to modernize licensing requirements. Eventually, though, home began to beckon. “Post-COVID, and with all my family in the Midwest or retiring to Florida or whatever. The distance is so far, and so expensive.”

Morse knew where he wanted to be. “I wanted to move back to the Northern Great Lakes area.” His research pointed him towards Marquette County. “It floated to the top—values, access to nature, stuff like that. And just being able to buy a house, period.” The city of Negaunee, in particular, offered historic homes at prices that were attainable for a young single person.

Morse bought a 1900-era miner’s house, a stone’s throw from downtown, almost immediately upon arriving in Negaunee, “I think I lived in a hotel for, like, two days.” Today, he lives in Negaunee with his two dogs and works remotely, combining part-time employment with his own architectural practice.

“People are really interested in each other,” Morse says of Negaunee. “It’s a small town. I love that about it. Like, my neighbor is telling me what’s going on through my kitchen window while she has a cigarette.” Within a short walk are all sorts of destinations: the Upper Peninsula Brewing Company, Campfire Coffee Roasters, Midtown Bakery, where he often takes meetings; not to mention City Hall, DPW, and the Fire Department. From his porch, Morse has front-row seats to Negaunee’s packed events calendar: parades, snowboarding competitions, Christmas events.

“So, like, coming from a place like Fairbanks in Alaska, it’s a six-hour drive, a good day’s travel to the next big city,” Morse says. Meanwhile, in Negaunee, “It’s six hours to Chicago, seven hours to Detroit, five-and-a-half to Minneapolis. It’s very central.” He appreciates that he can hike, fish, and skateboard in the natural beauty of Marquette County to his heart’s content, using the trails and parks woven right into the fabric of Negaunee’s residential neighborhoods, but “if I need to be in St. Louis, D.C., I can say, ‘Oh, sure thing, I’ll be there tomorrow.’”

Morse enjoys being involved in the City’s hands-on approach to placemaking and infrastructure. “I bought some additional land, and [City Manager Nate Heffron] texts, like, ‘Hey, I’m coming over this afternoon. Let’s walk. Let’s see what we’re gonna do with it.’” He appreciates the culture where ideas often arise through informal chats, while expertise is still respected. “The City Manager, he’s not an expert. Ultimately, that’s not his job. His job isn’t to understand all this stuff I understand, or, you know, the engineers, or whatever. It’s to keep things moving and set the tone and the culture. And he often does that by coming by to talk to you in person.”

As an architect, some of Morse’s passions are housing and infill development. He’s excited to see how that might apply to Negaunee and the wider region. He supports small-scale, context-sensitive projects, emphasizing designs rooted in Michigan’s architectural traditions rather than imported or suburban models; these include prefab models. “I want to work on housing that’s in the vernacular of what you should see in these neighborhoods in Michigan. It’s not going to look like some West Coast designed ultra-modern boxes; no, here’s your Craftsman. Things that don’t encroach into the neighborhood because that’s how the neighborhood was developed in the first place.”
Looking ahead, Morse hopes to see Negaunee continue to grow without losing the character that attracted him there in the first place. This is a place with roots. “We have three- and four-generation families here. Youth that are here because they were born here, they’re gonna grow up here.” At the same time, he’d like to see Negaunee bring in more young professionals, like him. “I can see things like building on more evening activities, more adult activities.” He would like to see more downtown upper-floor apartments filled—not everybody is in a stage in life where they need a full-size, detached home.

Growth, Morse believes, is inevitable—but it should be guided by the community of Negaunee’s existing strengths: walkability, historic fabric, community connection, and a strong sense of place.

Read more: Isn’t It Iron-ic: Negaunee Revives Its Past

Author

Emily Pinsuwan

Emily is the League’s full-time Content Writer, composing emails, articles, blog posts, and press releases. If you need words, she has many. Prior to becoming a word person, she was a restaurant person, handling catering, event management, and marketing; prior still, she was a teaching person, at a private boarding school in Massachusetts. Having earned a master’s degree in Classics from the University of Georgia, Emily is confident that she is the only League employee fluent in Latin. She also enjoys cooking, stand-up comedy, and is an avid gamer, having achieved level 40 on her Steam profile.