City hosts dedication ceremony of new downtown dental clinic

For a project so monumental to the future of the city, it was only fitting that Dowagiac’s new downtown office complex be named after one its longest serving civil servants.

The city dedicated the new building, located across the street from city hall at the corner of Front and Main streets, in honor of its long serving clerk on Thursday morning, christening it the James E. Snow Professional Building. City officials such as Mayor Don Lyons, City Manager Kevin Anderson, and members of the city council were joined by a crowd of more than 50 people from around the county for the celebration.

The ceremony was held in the first floor recently completed office complex. After the cutting of the ribbon, visitors were invited for a tour of the second floor, where the Buren/Cass District Health Department’s new dental facilities are located, relocating from their previous location across the street from Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital.

The opening of the new clinic marks the end of a long process for both the city and the health department, Lyons said.

“This wasn’t an overnight project. It wasn’t even an over-year project,” Lyons said. “This project’s genesis was 20 years ago, when the city first bought this piece of property on the corner. They didn’t know what to do with it, but they had the vision to see that it would one day be an asset for the community.”

The building serves as the fourth location that the dual-county health department has housed their community dental offices within the area, said Administrator Jeff Elliott. Their new facility provides them additional room over the one located at the Don Lyons Health Center, providing them with enough space for three additional dentists to serve the community.

“[Dental care] really affects the poor more,” said Frederick Johansen, medical director with the department. “Being able to provide this for those who are less fortunate is an astounding public health achievement and incredibly important for our population.”

The city is hoping that the lower half of the building will provide a service to the community as well, by providing professionals with office space in a pivotal location in the downtown district, said City Manager Anderson.

“A place like this is more than just a building,” he said. “It gives us a sense of place. It provides us an anchoring force. It provides us an identity for us. And it’s a statement not just about who we are a community but where we are going in the future.”

The building’s namesake closed out Thursday’s ceremony, where he thanked Lyon’s and the rest of city for their support over his over 30 years of service as the city’s clerk.

“My city family, my personal family, my church family and community family, I appreciate you, and I thank you,” Snow said.