Benton Harbor-area resident Caleb Youker works at a factory in the Van Buren County city of Bangor. He’s worked there for over a decade, and he said on his first day, a co-worker took him downtown for lunch. On the way, he pointed out two wooden signs near the city’s wastewater ponds.
“We came down this road over here and drove past and he pointed at this and he said, 'Hey, this is Lu's Landing, that stands for the British word for bathroom, which is loo, and it is the place where the loo lands.’”
The signs sit at the edge of a grassy lot. One reads “Lu’s Landing, In Only” and the other, just a little further down, reads “Lu’s Landing, Exit Only.” They lead into a gravel road that seems to go nowhere, just heading closer to the barbed-wire fence that blocks access to the sewer ponds.
Youker said he recently began to question the pun theory for the signs when mentioning it to a friend.
“I told him, 'you know, I'm actually not sure about that. That was just, someone told me that,' and we Googled it and couldn't find it and so decided that we would ask WMUK.”
To find out more, we reached out to someone who could shed light on the Lu: Steve Lowder, Bangor Public Works Director. We met at Lu’s Landing, where Lowder quickly shot down the joke theory.
“Our sewer ponds were put in about 1960. And they were revamped in 2005. And when they were revamped, this little area here was made because Lu Robertson wanted to birdwatch.”
It took a few days, but Lu, 86, agreed to an interview. Due to a storm, we couldn’t go back to the landing, instead deciding to meet at the public works building just up the road.
Despite the storm, Lu went to check on the birds before she came to meet us.
“She actually went up there yesterday and was checking things out. And one of the bird houses has got some baby birds in it. And one of the birds was taking some bugs in there for the babies,” Lowder said, after she called to inform him of the detour.
When Lu circled back to Public Works, she explained about the birdhouses at the Landing.
“I built, and installed with a friend, all the bluebird houses. And we had, at one time, probably about almost 20. They were on both sides of the road at that time and stretched all along there.”
She said she got the idea from her friends in Louisiana, who set up similar birdhouses near a golf course.
Lu said that once the Landing was complete, she and her friend kept notes on the bluebirds that took shelter there.
“We journaled once a week as to the condition of the nest, the box, if there were eggs, fledglings, how many little babies there might be. And so, every week we kept track until they would leave the box.”
The sewer ponds were a good site for bird-watching too, as Lu said she’s seen everything from ducks to red-tailed hawks.
"There's lots of killdeer, great blue herons, geese, ducks, all kinds of ducks. In spring and migration time, you could see close to a dozen different types at one time even. Eagles, I have seen two eagles there at one time."
As for the pun idea our question-asker heard, Lu did find some amusement in the idea that the name was a toilet joke.
“It’s kind of humorous, in a way, but I had nothing to do with that sign being put up. Larry Nelson, who was the city manager at that time, put it up unknown to me until I drove out there one day and there it was," Lu said.
"I had no idea. I thought, 'Well, Larry, there you go again.'"
Time hasn’t been kind to the Landing’s birdhouses, with only two still remaining. But Lowder said he’s working to get new houses put up as soon as possible.
"I have a gentleman in town here that has some. He's been trying to sell them. He's going to give me a good price for them. If not, donate them all. And either way, as soon as he can get them put up, he's going to get them put up."
Lu said she’s happy to know her landing hasn’t been forgotten, and that others will be able to enjoy it for years to come.
“I'm impressed and it kind of makes this lady really happy. Kind of like — I’m in my dark years, so it's given me some bright things to think about. Thank you.”
Back at Lu’s Landing, Caleb said he’s happy to know the signs are more than just bathroom humor.
“I thought it was a pun for a sewer pond and this is like way cooler story, way more heart-warming.”
