Flint's 9/11 Memorial Corner — an epilogue

Amid Flint’s decline, one couple has pushed back against blight by creating the 9/11 Memorial Corner, a little known patriotic monument. The print edition of this week's MT features a story that originally ran on The Morning News about the creators of the corner, Suzie Fitch and her husband, Moose. The couple decided to give away their house so they could move to New Mexico, on the condition that the new owners tend the Corner.

By the time our photographer made it to the corner, though, she noticed that it had already started to fall into disrepair. Author Edward McClelland investigated, and added this epilogue to the story:

Less than a week after the Fitches left town, a scavenger removed the top middle panel of the mural, which had been secured to the frame with 35 screws, toppling the angel and leaving a missing piece in the American flag. Without its creators to look after it, the Corner is going the way of all Flint.

"It's already starting to be destroyed, and we ain't been gone a week," an upset Moose said when I told him the news. His voice broke: ''You give something out of love, and this is what you get back. I hoped they'd at least leave it alone for six months."

Read McClelland's full story at The Morning News, and check out more photos from the Corner below.