August 2010

Being a working mother is a challenge anywhere in the United States, but with modern child care centers, it’s easier than it once was. Marquette County alone has centers in several locations, including Ishpeming, Negaunee, K.I. Sawyer Marquette, Escanaba and Chocolay. But fifty-five years ago, when a young couple named Bob and Darlene Kimball moved to Marquette from Minnesota, there were none.
The Kimballs had two young children, ages three and two, and both parents had planned on finding jobs upon arriving in Marquette.
Darlene’s husband, Bob, worked in the control tower at the former Marquette County airport.
“I ran an ad for someone who did day care, but there were no responses,” Darlene said. “I wanted to expose my kids to other kids, so I ran a reverse ad saying I will do child care in my home.”
Within a month, Darlene had a child care license and three little girls under her charge during the day. The following fall she had a house full of children and the history of Mister McGregor’s Garden child development center began. The expense for parents was a mere $10 per day.
“There were kids who came in the morning, kids who came in the afternoon, kids who only came on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, kids who only came on Tuesday and Thursdays…there were no child care centers, so parents were grateful,” she said.
After ten years, the Kimballs decided to build a new house on McClellan Avenue, a location that Darlene said was basically vacant at that time.
“I approached the state about changing the license,” she said. “I wanted a bigger house so I could take more kids.”
The second year after the Kimballs moved to McClellan, there was such a demand for child care that they built a large addition to the back of their house, dubbed “the preschool room.”
“It really was a white elephant,” Darlene said. “It didn’t look that good.”
When the Kimball children became teenagers, it was decided that the child care business would relocate to another building.
“I wanted to move the center rather than close it, but it was difficult to find places that had land,” Darlene said. “I wanted land so there was room for the kids to run. They need as much outside time as they can get.”
On Werner Street, Darlene discovered a man who could no longer make payments on his house because of the amount of land it was on.
With equity, the house was purchased and the Crayon Club was born . . .

—Becky Korpi

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