Man Recreated 1960s Downtown Three Rivers, Michigan In A Model

Michael Heivilin has some serious talent and he's used that talent to make a model and recreate what Downtown Three Rivers looked like in the 1960s. When I asked him how he was not only able to do such an amazing job with the detail but to know what all the shops were, he gave a tip of the hat to the Historical Society:

I researched at the Historical Society and asked people if they had pictures of their parent's stores. Spent a lot of time so far, about 3000hrs. I did it all myself with trial and error on some things.

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The year depicted in the model is actually 1967, which Michael said holds a special place with him, which was the reasoning behind this particular recreation:

The scale is 1/48 or O gauge as I wanted to make a few buildings for a train board. I picked this year as it was my brother’s senior year and I was a sophomore. Several of my classmates' parents owned stores so I spent a lot of time in them. When my brother passed last year from cancer I decided to dedicate it to him.

This summer the Smithsonian had a small-town innovation exhibit at the library and Michael had the honor of showing it there. There is still quite a bit to do and a few more details to hash out, but all that being said, it looks AMAZING. As he mentioned, those alterations will be made over the winter, then he'll be able to work on the train board.

This is part of his model of downtown Three Rivers depicting 1967.