Theodore H. Roethke Childhood Home / Theodore H. Roethke

Theodore H. Roethke Childhood Home / Theodore H. Roethke (HM20I6)

Location: Saginaw, MI 48602 Saginaw County
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Country: United States of America
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N 43° 24.896', W 83° 59.244'

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Inscription
Theodore H. Roethke Childhood Home
Distinguished poet Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) was born in Saginaw and grew up in this house. The house was built around 1911 for his parents, Otto and Helen Roethke. Otto's borther Carl lived in the adjacent fieldstone house. Together, the brothers managed the William Roethke Floral Company, founded in 1880s by their father, Wilhelm Roethke, a Prussian immigrant. The company's extensive greenhouses once stood on the land behind these two houses. Theodore worked in the greenhouses with his father and his experiences inspired many of his poems. Roethke attended local schools and the University of Michigan, obtaining a masters degree in literature in 1936, and he taught at universities throughout the country.

Theodore H. Roethke
Theodore Roethke (1908-1963) wrote of his poetry: The greenhouse "is my symbol for the whole of life, a womb, a heavon-on-earth." Roethke drew inspiration from his childhood experiences of working in his family's Saginaw floral company. Beginning in 1941 with Open House, the distinguished poet and teacher published extensively, receiving a Pulitzer Prise for poetry and two National Book Awards among an array of honors. In 1959, Yale University awarded him the prestigious Bollingen Prize. Roethke taught at Michigan
State College (present-day Michigan State University) and at colleges in Pennsylvania and Vermont before joining the faculty of the University of Washington at Seattle in 1947. Roethke died in Washington in 1963. His remains are interred in Saginaw's Oakwood Cemetery.
Details
HM NumberHM20I6
Series This marker is part of the Michigan: Michigan Historical Commission series
Tags
Year Placed2000
Placed ByMichigan Historical Center, Michigan Department of State
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, August 7th, 2017 at 10:02am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17T E 258140 N 4811229
Decimal Degrees43.41493333, -83.98740000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 43° 24.896', W 83° 59.244'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds43° 24' 53.76" N, 83° 59' 14.64" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)989
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling East
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 1805 Gratiot Ave, Saginaw MI 48602, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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