The 'Ville - September 2018

Inside: Official 2018 Heritage Fesitval Guide

Northville’s News and Lifestyle Magazine

Pure Northville

Heritage Festival keeps our past alive

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SUPPORT THE VILLE I started The ‘Ville because I felt our community needed a publication focused on … our community.

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 9

SEPTEMBER 2018

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Unlike traditional magazines, however, we do not charge a subscription fee. We mail directly to every household and business in Northville, because that model offers our advertisers the best bang for their buck.

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Kurt Kuban is an award-winning journalist, having served as a reporter and editor for several local newspapers and magazines, including The Northville Record, over the course of a career spanning more than two decades. Kurt lives in Northville with his wife, Cheryl, and their three children, who all attend Northville Public Schools.

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Craig has been in the creative industry for over 25 years. He has developed a diverse background in that time, but publication design has been his passion during the past 16 years. Craig enjoys cycling, running, wine tasting, his beloved Boston Terrier and an unhealthy addiction to movies.

JOHN HEIDER – Photographer/Writer

John Heider, 53, was the The Northville Record and Novi News photographer from 1996 until 2017. He lives in Ann Arbor and enjoys fishing, hunting, gardening, cooking, feature writing, woodworking projects and the symphony.

MICHELE FECHT – Writer

Michele Fecht is a longtime journalist whose first post-college reporter position was at The Northville Record before moving on to The Detroit News. A 30-plus year resident of the City of Northville and historic (old) house owner, she is an author, researcher, local history enthusiast, and community activist/advocate.

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A View From The ‘Ville

Looking Back A s you flip through the pages, you may notice a theme in this issue. It’s not by accident.

In honor of this month’s Heritage Festival, we decided to take a look back at different eras and important people in our town’s history.

You probably noticed the Official 2018 Heritage Festival Guide that is inserted in this issue. We produced the guide in partnership with the Northville Chamber of Commerce, which organizes the annual festival.

A couple years ago, the Chamber changed the name of the festival from the Victorian, which it had been since 1989, to the Heritage Festival.

The Chamber has caught some flak for that decision, but the reason behind it makes sense to me. It’s not that they’ve turned their backs on the Victorian era, they just wanted to look at the broader picture and full view of our history. For example, this year the focus is on the 1980s, a decade that saw major changes to Northville.

This month’s “Past Tense” column (page 16) by historian extraordinaire Michele Fecht takes

a look at the Main Street 78 project that led to those major downtown changes in the 1980s. Many point to the effort as the beginning of Northville’s revival.

Fecht also wrote a story (page 12) about two of Northville’s most important ‘history makers’ -- Dr. Mary E. Lapham (1860–1936) and Francis R. Beal (1836–1923), who are both being featured on downtown street banners this month as part of a new Chamber effort to honor our forebears. Lapham and Beal were great selections to kick off the program.

Lapham gifted the town its first library, was a member of the Northville School Board, and went on to serve with the Red Cross during World War I and was the first physician in the United States to successfully treat tuberculosis with her collapse therapy method.

Beal’s life can be traced back to Northville’s earliest days.

He became one of the town’s most important businessman, founding the Globe Furniture and Manufacturing Company, which became the largest school and

Francis R. Beal (1836–1923).

Photo Credit: Northville Lodge, No. 186

church furniture manufacturer in the world, employing hundreds of local workers.

I find it interesting that such important folks once lived here and helped shape Northville’s future. By remembering them we know more of who we are as a community.

Not everyone in Northville was of such consequence, however. There’s

been plenty of regular, workingclass people who have also helped make this town what it is. One such man is Fred Hicks, who was actually alive when Beal and Lapham were still among the living. Just shy of his 100th birthday, Hicks has lived his entire life in Northville and resides in a home he built with his own hands when he got back from World War II. Reporter/photographer John Heider caught up with Hicks, who has some great tales of Northville’s days gone by. His story is on page 20.

I hope you enjoy taking a peak at our past as much as we do here at The ‘Ville. And please use the Heritage Festival Guide to help plan your festival experience. There are lots of great activities going on throughout the festival weekend, and many local organizations work hard to make it happen. Please support them, have a great time, and learn a little about our shared heritage in the process.

Kurt Kuban is editor and publisher of The ‘Ville. He welcomes your comments at kurtkuban@gmail.com.

Your Voice: Letters

4

Teacher shaped special education program 8 Chamber unfurls ‘History Makers’ banners

Hospital Demolition Hits a Snag

Mainstreet ’78 transformed downtown

6

ON THE COVER: Cover Photo By Steve Fecht

16

12

Out & About 26

A Century in Northville

20

Community Bulletin Board

28

It’s Your Business – Kelly & Kelly, P.C. Dishin’ with Denise

30

32 The ‘Ville 3

Your Voice A passion for education

I urge you to consider Suzanne Lynn for Northville School Board this November.

Suzanne has dedicated her career and volunteer work to improving education for all students. Suzanne has been a classroom teacher, Deputy Superintendent of Talent for Detroit Public Schools, Commissioner of Northville Youth Assistance, and a member of the Northville Education Foundation. In addition, Suzanne served as the co-chair for the NPS bond study Facilities Review Committee and the Bond Advisory Committee. Suzanne offers a vast range of experience in education and organizational management.

Suzanne has a passion for education, a strong understanding of the role a school board plays in maintaining a strong district and will be an advocate for all students. To learn more about Suzanne, please review ‘Suzanne Lynn for School Board’ on Facebook.

Kristin Gifford Northville

We need senior housing

Northville would be better off WITHOUT four more cookie cutter pretend Victorian residences. Northville WOULD be better off with a classic preservation of the Main Street School developed to accommodate upscale independent Senior Housing.

Patricia Gossard Northville

Pay now, not more later

Thanks for your article in the June issue about fixing our roads in the City of Northville. It’s clear that we can’t rely on the state or county to help with this issue. If we want to see improvements, we’ll need to do it ourselves by approving the bond issue on the November ballot. The facts set out in your article make the choice pretty clear to me: We can repair and maintain our city streets now, before they crumble completely, or we can delay the repairs and pay much higher reconstruction costs in the future. Pay less now or pay a lot more later....not a tough decision in my opinion. Please join me in voting YES in November for better streets in the City of Northville.

Jim Pallas Northville

Hometown feel

I really like the Malloure Family LLC idea (two single-family homes and a park) for the Main Street School site. No, it’s not the highest bidder, but it has hometown written all over it. This family wants to live there and give back with a small park. How wonderful.

I believe that these types of community “investors” are exactly what our town needs now. Perhaps this type of activity would become contagious with the upcoming track development on the horizon.

Mike Putman Northville

Follow the master plan

“The Northville master plan calls for multi-family or senior housing at that site.” Thank you to Northville School Board Vice-President Roland Hwang for reminding us of this critical fact. Master plans are made for the benefit of the entire community and look at long-range goals. As our population ages, it reinforces the need for senior housing and the foresight of the master plan. Shortterm gains do a disservice to the community and show a disregard for the hard work and design of the master plan.

Joyce Conklin Northville

What is the point?

Preserve Main Street School

For shame Northville powers that be. The Main Street School is located in the Northville Historic District. Therefore we should preserve this architectural gem from the 30’s. Do we only value preserving the Victorian era structures in our city? This was an award-winning sample of modern architecture. My vote would be to restore it and convert it into a few condos or luxury apartments with a green space.

Virginia Krictzs Northville

SOUND OFF 4 The ‘Ville

I live in Novi, with a Northville mailing address. That being said, I feel that Northville is my town. I just finished reading your article regarding the school demolition on Main Street. I am stunned to learn of the school board’s vote to demolish this historic building. Really, what is the point? Does Northville need four more houses in this busy business area? What could they possibly be thinking?

I really think the people that are voting on the issues need to be replaced ASAP! What can we do to overturn this decision?

Tim Eoll ‘NoVille’

Please submit your letters by emailing Editor Kurt Kuban at kurtkuban@gmail.com.

Letters must be 150 words or less. We reserve the right to edit all letters.

Land swap is great idea

I am writing to say I agree 100% with the letter from architect Steve Lomske in your last issue. The land swap is a great idea. If that can’t happen then we need to do something else. The area cannot allow a 500-600 units. Northville Road at Seven Mile cannot handle another 500 cars, not to mention the water system (water taps and sewer) and drainage. Such density would ruin Northville.

I also really appreciated the Past Tense article by Michele Fecht (“The Greatest Generation”) in the August issue. I played basketball with Bruce Turnbull’s sons at NHS. I went to school with Fran Gazlay’s daughter (Martha) and Dick Ambler’s son (Rick). All three men would be turning over in their graves if they knew about such a dense development at Northville Downs.

Curt Saurer Novi

Makes perfect sense

Absolutely a great idea from Steve Lomske in your “Dog Days of Summer” issue. Put the park where Northville Downs is now and the homes in a portion of the hospital property. It could not make more sense to a longtime Northville resident.

Tom Groves Northville

Storefronts shouldn’t be office space

In regards to the story “No Vacancy” in the August issue, I feel so many desirable storefronts get leased as offices. This is not in Downtown Northville’s best interest. Offices belong on the first floor not on the walkway. People are losing interest in shopping in Northville. Nobody wants to shop between office spaces to find a store only once in a while. I work in a store in Northville and I hear this all the time from our customers.

Anja Frick Northville

Be ‘historically distinctive’

Sometimes we need to try and think outside the box. We have lived in this great town of Northville for 32 years and our youngest daughter attended preschool at the Main Street School. She now lives in Colorado Springs and in the neighborhood where she lives they had a school that was empty. Some folks came in and started a brewery with a thriving restaurant, bakery, boutique shop, coffee shop, and even have concerts in the gym of the school (how great would that be during the winter).

This is now a wonderful thriving business for the owners and a great meeting place for the neighborhood. The former principal’s office has a sign out front that says, “libations for the troubled”. Come on Northville let’s be historically distinctive and save Main Street School.

Jackie Bzymek Northville

Hospital Demolition Hits a Snag Asbestos discovery increases cost, puts project behind schedule

By Scott Daniel

D

emolition of older buildings is often akin to stirring up a hornet’s nest: You can make detailed plans to remove it and take every precaution, but still end up getting stung. Such is the case for the old Northville Psychiatric Hospital on Seven Mile Road.

Had everything gone as planned, the nine-story former state hospital and adjoining two-story office building would be razed by now. A festering community eyesore, long a hotspot for paranormal explorers and area scrappers, would be nothing more than a part of Northville Township history.

The demolition timeline, however, was blown up earlier this year with the discovery of asbestos fibers in black mastic on the site. Township Supervisor Bob Nix said the material was hiding in concealed areas, such as inner

An aerial shot of the hospital complex.

brickwork, concrete support columns and under flashing.

“The mastic is a tar-based material that was spayed during construction for waterproofing,” he said. “It’s expensive to remove because it takes a lot of man-hours.”

As a result, the two-story

Northville Township Supervisor Bob Nix points to some bricks where asbestos-laden black mastic was found.

6 The ‘Ville

structure, or building “B,” will not come down until late fall.

The former hospital, building “A,” isn’t likely to be completely demolished until next June.

The cost of the project is also expected to jump from an initial estimate of $5.88 million to about $8.5 million, Nix said.

Those added costs also mean planned demolition of another two-story structure, building “C,” are on hold until a funding source can be identified. Nix expressed frustration at the slowdown and added costs, but said there was no way around it when the asbestos was discovered.

“Once it is done, it will clean up the eyesore,” he added.

“People won’t see anything from the road.”

A total of 17 buildings remain on the 332 acre site, which sits just west of Haggerty Road, Northville Township Public

Services Director Tom Casari said. The hospital operated from the 1950s until the state of Michigan closed it in 2003.

The township purchased the property in 2009 for $23.5 million. Sale of the Scott Correctional Facility property on Beck Road to Pinnacle Homes netted the township $5.1 million. It was enough to nearly cover the cost of demolition of buildings A and B until the asbestos was found.

While some have speculated that a portion of the property could be sold to cover the cost overrun, Nix said it’s unlikely.

The township used a bond issue to purchase the site.

Considering early repayment penalties, not enough of the land could be sold to make it an economically feasible option, he said.

Detroit-based Adamo Group is handling demolition

services. Casari didn’t blame the company for not finding the asbestos fibers during the original bidding process.

“It wasn’t obvious the buildings had asbestos in them,” he said.

Asbestos was commonly used in commercial and residential construction from the late 1800s until the 1980s, according to an asbestos.com article.

“Mixing wooly asbestos fibers into natural and synthetic glues results in durable, nearly fireproof adhesives, sealants and joint-fillers,” the article states.

While still not banned in the U.S., most companies don’t use asbestos because of its link to cancer and other health problems. For those that do, concentrations are usually at 1 percent or less.

Testing of the black mastic

Demolition of the 9-story main hospital building is moving slowly -- floor by floor.

on the Northville site revealed a 4-5 percent concentration, Nix said. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality requires that asbestos abatement is completed first in the demolition process. Nix said removing asbestos from the mastic is similar to power washing.

Once demolition of buildings A-C is completed, the property will be used for recreation.

Walking trails, picnic shelters, ice skating and sports fields are among possible uses.

Nix said improvements will be done in phases over a 10-year period. Remaining buildings, which range from about 20,000

to 50,000 square feet, will be demolished as funds become available, said Casari.

In the short term, the demolition project has already paid dividends. Once Adamo started work, it took steps to secure the site, including fencing, floodlights and night patrols.

Northville Township Public Safety Director Todd Mutchler said his department has seen a dramatic drop in criminal activity as a result. From Jan. 1, 2017 to Sept. 30, 2017, the township made 421 arrests at the site.

That number has dipped to just 90 arrests from Oct. 1, 2017 to the present, Mutchler said.

“It frees us up to do more proactive policing in the community,” he said. “We don’t have to expend the resources.”

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Susan Oleson left an indelible mark at Cooke School where much of Northville's special education program is housed. Oleson, who was named Outstanding Teacher of the Year by the Michigan Education Association Region 7, retired last month.

Helping Students Find Their Voice

Retiring teacher helped shape pioneering special education program

By Michele Fecht

T

he classroom looked nothing like those found in most school settings.

In her first assignment as a speech and language therapist with the Northville Public Schools’ newly-implemented Institution Special Education Program in 1975, Susan Oleson taught in a locked ward at the former Plymouth Center for Human Development. It was a sprawling facility at Five Mile and Sheldon that housed 850 cognitively-impaired special needs people, ranging from infants to adults.

Only a few years out of college and armed with a degree in speech and hearing therapy, Oleson was among the first class of Northville teachers hired to begin working with children and adults up to the age of 26 at the Plymouth Center as well as at the Northville Residential Training Center located on the campus of the Northville

8 The ‘Ville

Regional Psychiatric Hospital.

After 43 years of teaching in Northville’s special education center program — now housed at Cooke School with satellite classrooms at Northville High School and Hillside Middle school — Oleson retired last month, but not before receiving the Outstanding Teacher of the Year award by the Michigan Education Association Region 7.

The honor culminated a teaching career that encompassed groundbreaking developments, methods, techniques and technologies to enhance the lives of students who are severely cognitively impaired, severely multiply impaired and students dualdiagnosed with cognitive and emotional impairment.

“When I started, I had students older than I was,” Oleson notes, adding that she started teaching in the program before a director was hired.

It was not until August 1976 that the district hired Leonard Rezmierski as Director of Special Education. He would leave the post in 1991 when he was named Superintendent of Northville Public Schools, a position he held until his retirement in 2011.

LARGEST PROGRAM IN STATE The 1971 passage of the Michigan Mandatory Special Education Act (PA 198) that mandated special education services for students with disabilities from birth through age 25 was the catalyst for the Wayne County Intermediate School District to approach the Northville Public Schools about facilitating the education of the populations at the two institutions.

With both the Plymouth Center and Northville Regional Training Center located within

the Northville school district boundary, the Northville Board of Education agreed to serve as the operating agent for the new ISE program. The program was subsidized by the Wayne County Intermediate School District. Wayne RESA funds the center program today.

Oleson explains that in the ISEP’s infancy there were approximately 1,100 students among the two institutions, the largest program in the state.

After the program’s first year, the student population was reduced to approximately 800 students, still a sizeable number for Northville to navigate. The logistics were challenging, to say the least. Finding facilities and classrooms was an immediate concern. The district was able to house some students in Northville primarily at Cooke with smaller groups in Silver Springs and Moraine. Space was eventually leased from other Wayne County districts including Livonia, Crestwood, Garden City, Wayne-Westland and North Dearborn Heights.

The closing of the old Northville High School, then known as The Annex, offered an opportunity to house the ISE program in the facility, renamed Old Village School in 1980. A $1.2 million grant from the State of Michigan paved the way for renovation of the 1917 building to accommodate the special education program.

The move to Old Village followed the 1979 order from the state to begin reducing the population at the Plymouth Center for Human Development amid complaints of abuse and neglect. The reduction of students out of the institution and into community settings reduced Northville’s ISEP population as many

students moved outside of the county. This subsequently reduced the need for leasing additional facilities outside the district.

The Northville Board of Education consolidated the Old Village program into Cooke in 2012, mothballing the Main Street school, which has been renovated for use by the Early Childhood Education and Extended Day Program.

When it opens this fall, it will also house the district’s administrative offices.

INNOVATORS While the program’s location shifts have been a product

Language Laboratory and Wayne County Intermediate School District was groundbreaking in helping speech and language impaired students use computer devices to communicate using their finger or head.

Oleson notes that one of her former students, Jane Frances Abler, was a pioneer in the world of augmentative communication.

In 1976, when Jane began attending Northville’s program, her only method of communication was by nonverbally answering a series of yes/no questions. Through her tenacity and the work of

Susan Oleson works with Jonathan Bisdorf, 10, this summer, using a device that allows him to communicate.

She approaches difficult situations and very challenging students with a positive, experienced and persistent attitude that results in success where others have Lorie Farrow failed… Her commitment produces results.”

Teacher, commenting on Susan Oleson

of the change in student population numbers, its work with some of the district’s most challenged students has never wavered. Oleson’s longevity offers a unique perspective on a program that has earned both state and national recognition.

She explains that in the early years of the ISE program, teachers were developing their own assessments and writing their own curriculum, some of which is still used today. Innovative technologies were being developed to accommodate student needs.

Among those were the first augmentative communication devices in the country.

Northville’s Communication Enhancement Resource Center in conjunction with Michigan State University’s Artificial

Northville staff and Michigan State University, Jane was instrumental in developing what is now known as auditory scanning, Oleson explains. This patented process came to be a widely used form of accessing a computerized communication device.

With a donation from the American Association of University Women, Northville staff designed and constructed for Jane a custom-built communication system with thousands of vocabulary items in its computer system.

In turn, upon Jane’s death in 1992, her parents created the Jane Frances Abler Memorial Fund for the purpose of providing financial support for augmentative communication aids for center program

students. In addition the fund supports assistive technology awareness.

Subsequently, the Jane Abler Memorial Fund provided a 2012 grant for the EagleEye devise, a computer-human interface system designed for students who cannot use a mouse but instead can use eye movement for learning and communication by turning electric pulses of muscles around the eyes into mouse “clicks.”

Oleson notes that in her more than four decades with the program, she is most impressed by the dedication of her colleagues in helping students “find their voice,” noting that communication is such an integral part of the human condition.

In nominating her friend and colleague for the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award, Lorie Farrow noted that Oleson “approaches difficult situations and very challenging students with a positive, experienced and persistent attitude that results in success where others have failed. Even in the toughest cases, Susan never hesitates to advocate for what she feels is best for individuals and programs. Her commitment produces results.”

Though Oleson has left the classroom, her efforts continue to enhance the lives of the hundreds of students who found their communication link through her “persistence and commitment.”

Her teaching was much more than a career. It was a calling.

The ‘Ville 9

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Francis R. Beal. Photo Credit: Northville Lodge, No. 186

Dr. Mary E. Lapham. Photo credit: Highland Historical Society Archives Photograph by Murdock Bros of Windsor, Ontario, ca. 1905

Sharing Our Past

Heritage Festival launches Northville History Makers

S

ome were among the community’s first settlers who slogged through heavily wood, muddy marsh to stake their claim in the hilly terrain of Northville. Others were captains of industry, bankers and tradesmen. Most intriguing were women who defied convention to make their own way and make a difference.

Their stories ultimately became our story.

This year’s Heritage Festival (September 13-15) is the inaugural unveiling by the Northville Chamber of Commerce of Northville History Makers, a program highlighting the stories of our community’s movers and shakers.

“This year’s selections, Mary Lapham and Francis Beal, made a difference not only in Northville but around the world as well,” notes Chamber Executive Director Jody Humphries.

This year’s history notables can be seen on banners

12 The ‘Ville

downtown. Biographies on each are highlighted on the Northville Chamber of Commerce website (http:// www.northville.org) and in the Heritage Festival brochure.

The Chamber plans to highlight additional Northville History Makers each year, Humphries explains, noting there is an abundance of residents who shaped our community’s rich history.

We take a look (and read!) at this year’s two distinguished history makers:

Dr. Mary E. Lapham 1860 – 1936

Born in Northville in 1860 to Jared and Martha Gregory Lapham, Mary Lapham’s legacy of altruism began in Northville and continued throughout her life. She longed to be a doctor but was discouraged in that pursuit by her father. She served as cashier in her father’s bank, J.S. Lapham & Company, but kept test tubes and a microscope in a vault to study

during cashiering breaks. In 1889, the village council asked her to chair Northville’s library organizing committee; she was later elected president of the Ladies Library Association. She donated the first 250 books to the library and gifted the library building to the community (it is now the New School Church in Mill Race Village). She also served as a trustee and treasurer of the Northville School Board.

She joined Lucy Stout Dowd in organizing the Northville Woman’s Club in 1892 and served as the organization’s second president. She also was a member of the Northville Woman Suffrage Association.

Following her father’s death, Lapham attended the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1900. She pursued graduate studies at the University of Munich in Germany. The scourge of tuberculosis in the early 1900s led Lapham to Switzerland where she studied therapeutic pneumothorax or

artificial collapse of the lung for treatment of lung disorders.

In 1908, she opened the Highlands Camp Sanatorium for the treatment of tuberculosis in Highlands, North Carolina, and was the first physician in the United States to successfully treat tuberculosis with the new collapse therapy method.

She was called to head a Red Cross mission in war-torn Europe, Lapham left for France in 1918 and set up a dispensary and hospital in LaRochelle for refugees from France and Belgium. In 1919, Lapham was appointed director of medical services for the Red Cross in Prague.

Lapham returned to the U.S. in 1920, and served as head of tuberculosis research at Johns Hopkins University and later at the University of Pennsylvania.

She became the first woman president of the American Sanatorium Association (now the American Thoracic Society).

She retired to St. Augustine,

Florida, where she died on January 26, 1936 at age 75.

She is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Detroit.

Francis R. Beal 1836 - 1923

Francis Beal was born in Northville in 1836, less than a decade after the community’s first settlers staked their claim.

The son of James and Rachael (Light) Beal, he followed in his father’s footsteps as a journeyman cabinetmaker until 1863, when he opened a hardware store on Main Street.

In 1864, Beal persuaded Charles G. Harrington to convert his small foundry into a furniture factory after receiving an order of school desks for the Northville Union School. By 1873, Beal pulled out of the hardware business

and with the help of several prominent community leaders incorporated the Michigan School Furniture Company.

Over the next decade, the Michigan School Furniture Company became Northville’s most dominant and profitable business. Its school desks and accessories (globes, blackboards, pointing rods) soon led to the addition of church pews and pulpits.

Innovation in design and manufacturing included Charles Harrington’s folded school seat, the first in the nation to be sold commercially.

Beal, who took out numerous patents, originated the first curved-back school seat and the noiseless seat hinge.

In 1887, the company reincorporated as the Globe Furniture and Manufacturing

“Family Owned for Four Generations”

Company with Beal as president and general manager. It became the catalyst for a myriad of other Northville manufacturing including organ makers Granville Wood and Sons, Columbia Refrigerator Company, American Bell and Foundry, Ely Dowel Works, Victor Sleigh Company, Stanley Air Rifle Company and others.

At its peak of production — with 200 workers employed — the Globe became the largest school and church furniture manufacturer in the world. It opened several branch offices in the U.S. and Canada to meet demand, and fueled the economy of the village as well as lumber mills throughout the area. The company also owned and operated Northville’s first electric street lighting system.

By 1890, Northville had

become Wayne County’s third largest manufacturing area.

Detroit and Wyandotte were the largest, respectively. The residential area abutting the manufacturing complex housed Globe workers and became known as Bealtown. Beal Street also is named for the manufacturer. Fire destroyed the Globe factory in 1899.

In addition to his business prowess, Beal also was a community leader. He served as Village President from 1870-71, was superintendent of the Methodist Church Sunday School for 25 years, and was a past master of the Northville Lodge, No. 186.

Beal died on April 5, 1923 in Detroit at age 86. He is buried in Northville’s Rural Hill Cemetery.

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Mainstreet 78

Historic renovation project transformed downtown

By Michele Fecht

W

hile the nation was celebrating its history during the 1976 Bicentennial, Northville city leaders were setting their sights on the future, specifically the fate of the downtown.

The downtown Kroger store had shut its doors in August at the same time the Drawbridge Restaurant (now Old Church Square) went on the auction block.

Alarmed by a declining tax base, city leaders also were wary of the excavation work under way north of the city’s border in preparation for the construction of Twelve Oaks Mall. Local merchants voiced their fears of potentially losing up to 30 percent of their business to Twelve Oaks.

A perfect storm was brewing.

RALLYING CRY The dated downtown had been a hot topic for several years. In 1973, Mayor Paul Vernon asked a group of Northville High School students in Arnold Anderson’s architecture class to provide ideas for a downtown facelift.

Chris Johnson, future Northville Board of Education member and Northville’s longest serving Mayor, was among the eight students who worked on the project, also serving as student director of the effort.

Featured in a front-page article in the May 17, 1973

18 The ‘Ville

Demolition on East Main Street (Photo by Christopher J. Johnson)

Northville Record, the 11 student-inspired designs included some features we see today. The most striking is student Mike Regentek’s design for a public space located in the exact spot of today’s Town Square. Other designs included replacing building facades to reveal the original brick as well as the addition of awnings, mullions and shutters.

Johnson’s photographs taken of the downtown in 1973 are a unique record of Northville pre-Mainstreet ’78. Several of his images can be seen on the sandwich board posters located at the four Main and Center corners during this year’s Heritage Festival.

By 1976, the discussion about the declining condition of Northville’s downtown became a rallying cry for merchants.

Businesses addressed city officials about their concerns, chief among them being deteriorating streets and sidewalks and “too many parking places” that “turned our town into an asphalt jungle.”

Within the next year, the city formed a downtown development committee, and a survey of businesses and shoppers was distributed. The survey confirmed the need for downtown improvements.

Survey results showed that some respondents favored

redevelopment that would have meant leveling the central business district’s historic buildings and replacing them with new structures.

City officials rejected that idea (whew!) and chose instead to focus on improving public property and encouraging businesses to enhance their buildings. In March 1978, on the recommendation of the downtown development committee, the city commissioned a revitalization plan.

Two months later, Mainstreet ’78, was unveiled to mixed reactions. The city council took the criticisms and suggestions under advisement, established

Placing the clock on the median during the Mainstreet '78 project.

(Photo by Steve Fecht)

a downtown development authority, received financing approvals and set a February date to take the issue to voters.

In January 1979 — with less than a month before the election — a revised plan was resubmitted to business owners who blasted the revision citing objections to removal of most of the parking on Main Street, traffic flow on Main and loss of parking spaces in the Main Street parking lot slated for conversion to a landscaped town square. The irony about losing part of the “asphalt jungle” was not lost on city officials.

Undaunted, the city again revised its plan and won over the business sector. However, it was not enough. Voters — only 15 percent of the electorate turned out to cast ballots — rejected the proposal.

City officials went back to the drawing board. Recognizing that the low voter turnout did not reflect the community at-large, city council scheduled a second vote for July 31 and pulled out all the stops to get information to voters with door-to-door solicitations and a phone campaign. The effort succeeded. The Mainstreet ’78 bonding plan passed by a threeto-one margin.

DEMOLITION, DETOURS AND DUST Financing Mainstreet ‘78 drew statewide attention with Northville becoming one of the first communities in the state to utilize tax increment financing as a funding vehicle to pay for the $1.6 million project. Bonds were sold in December at a 6.6 percent interest.

In June 1980, the first contractors began placing overhead utilities underground

Governor William Milliken unveiling the Our Town: Downtown plaque on May 21, 1982, with Northville Mayor Paul Vernon (Photo by Steve Fecht)

marking the beginning of road and sidewalk demolition on Main and Center streets. For nearly two years, pedestrians navigated makeshift sidewalks while earthmoving equipment rattled windows and shook downtown buildings.

Excavation of the downtown streets unearthed wooden pipes that once carried the village’s first water system, roots of canopy elms that lined downtown streets, track pieces from the interurban railroad, and scraps of leather tossed onto streets by Northville’s 19th century cobblers.

Recognizing the historical and architectural value of the central business district’s older buildings, planners pegged streetscape improvements to enhance the character of those structures. Victorian period architecture predominant in the central business section carried over into the design of the lampposts, benches, tree skirts and the town clock. In addition, parking meters were removed and brick walkways paved the intersections; trees and shrubbery were added throughout the downtown.

Only two buildings were removed during the project: a Chrysler dealership on Hutton Street deemed to be of little historical significance and Little Joe’s Bar (now Poole’s location) on East Main. The bar was one of the oldest buildings in the downtown but was found

structurally unsound and too costly to repair. A move to the Mill Race Historical Village was determined to be economically prohibitive. Downriver Federal would break ground on the site vacated by the dealership.

SUPPORT AND INVESTMENT The private investment city officials hoped the project would encourage began almost at the onset with John and Toni Genitti leading the way in refurbishing their Main Street storefront. As John used to tell it, it was the contractors stopping at their store — a meat market at that time – hoping for a sandwich that persuaded him to buy bread, then soda and eventually punch a hole in the wall to provide seating for construction workers. It was the birth of the Hole-in-the Wall restaurant. When opportunity knocks...

The project also attracted new businesses including MacKinnon’s restaurant, which would become a dining destination in the area. At the same time, plans for a Chamber of Commerce headquarters also received a green light, and in March 1982, just months before the Mainstreet ’78 completion, Ford Motor Company announced it was reopening its historic valve plant.

Community support for the project swelled as it neared completion. More than 100

community members made donations in support of tree guards, benches, trees, a town clock and more than 12,000 tulip bulbs, planted by Girl Scouts and garden clubs under the auspices of the beautification commission.

A three-day celebration was planned during Michigan Week May 20-22 to commemorate the project. Governor William Milliken, who had strongly supported the legislation in 1975 that made DDA financing possible, attended a Friday morning Rotary-sponsored breakfast before touring the downtown.

“Northville’s downtown renovation will be a model for other towns and cities for years to come,” Milliken said, adding, “It is an occasion I would not have missed.”

In unveiling a Town Square plague commemorating the project, Milliken commented that Northville “had taken the best that your past had to offer, preserved it, developed it and built upon it to produce what we see today.”

The rest is history.

Mainstreet 78 Plaques Available The Northville Downtown Development Authority (DDA) has tree guard and bench plaques donated during the Mainstreet ’78 project. The bench and tree guards were removed in a later downtown project but the original plaques were saved. Anyone who donated a plaque and would like to have it returned, should contact Lori Ward, DDA Director, at (248) 349-0345 or lward@ci.northville. mi.us.

The ‘Ville 19

Fred Hicks (left) at his Northville home, and (right) in 1923, with his parents Hazel and Fred V. Hicks.

Not Going Anywhere

Months shy of 100, Fred Hicks still at home in Northville Story and Photos by John Heider

F

red Hicks has lived in Northville a long time.

Like four months short of a century-long. There were the three years that he was serving his country in WWII and was posted to an air base north of London, but other than that he’s been in Northville his entire life.

The 99-year-old former postal carrier and machinist lives in a modest home off Eight Mile Road that he and his father built after he returned from the war. Don’t let his age fool you, though. In warm months you can see Fred piloting his tractor around his property cutting the grass and walking around with a picker to tidy up fallen branches. He’s still that active.

Fred Junior Hicks was born Dec. 19, 1918 to Fred V. and Hazel Hicks in the house on North Center that’s now the Red Dot Coffee shop. Hicks said

20 The ‘Ville

that it was snowing so bad that day that Dr. August Holcomb, who was coming to deliver him, had to abandon his horse-drawn wagon by the railroad tracks north of Eight and Novi road and hoof it into town on foot.

Hicks met his wife Laura, 97, at Northville’s school and they’ve been married 76 years.

She was two years behind him at the school on West Main and was literally behind him - as she sat a few rows back in the classroom. Fred considered moving out west and becoming a gunsmith at one point, but he and Laura were born and raised in Northville and they decided not to leave family.

‘WILD’ DIET Hicks touts his longevity to a diet rich in things from the wild that he’s had his hands in harvesting: both plants and animals.

“I’ve lived so long because I’ve eaten wild,” said Hicks.

“Weeds from the yard like lambs quarters, dandelions, and pokeweed. The reason I got on to pokeweed was because I think it was something that

nature’s taught us to eat.”

Hicks also fed himself and his family over the years by hunting, both far and near but mostly near Northville: “I would take my shotgun to class with me and then I’d

Fred Hicks sits astride his lawn tractor on his property at Horton and Eight Mile in Northville. At 99 years of age, Hicks still cuts his own grass and tends to his property.

go out Randolph to Taft and up to Miller’s farm and they produced some good rabbits and squirrels.” The farm also had good brush and fence rows where Hicks would take pheasant for the pot.

Gun-toting lads were quite normal in the 1930s when he was in school in Northville and Fred remembers how he’d only have to leave his gun in the hands of the gym teacher on the second floor who’d lean it up against the wall in his office. As school ended the young Hicks would pick up his gun and head out to hunt.

From his days of tramping around fields near Northville in the 30s Hicks recalls the

repaired firearms and planemounted guns for the flyers.

After the war he and Laura enlisted Fred V.’s help in building their home on Eight Mile east of Center.

“We picked our own plans and my father had built a lot of homes in this area. My wife’s father had done some work, too,” said Hicks.

After the war Fred returned to Northville and began to make plans to find a job.

“My brother in law came back ahead of me and got work in a stamping plant as a tool and die operator. Well I had some ambition and I wanted to be a gun maker or repairer,” said Hicks.

miles,” said Hicks. Hicks’ daughter Pat remembers going along with her dad on his route some days, and finally in 1983 Hicks retired from the postal service.

Fred’s proud of his Northville property’s collection of greenery that he’s curated over the years, including a rare green-striped maple.

“The other feature here is my trees. The box elders came with

I would take my shotgun to class with me and then I’d go out Randolph to Taft and up to Miller’s farm and they produced Fred Hicks some good rabbits and squirrels.”

Northville Resident

contrast between the city and rural sights: “And then you’d come back to Northville where there was so few houses outside of downtown,” said Hicks. The enterprising youth would even hunt turtles in town for money: “What I would do is catch snapping turtles and I could get two dollars for a turtle. It used to delight the kids to watch the turtles heads being cut off and then they’d snap again.”

After graduating from high school Fred worked for awhile in Northville’s hardware store on Main Street and then, notes Hicks: “I went to war.”

OFF TO WAR Hicks was an armorer and worked during WWII on an Allied air base where he

the property,” which can attract So Fred joined him at the a lot of bugs so “we cut a lot of Walway plant in Livonia where those down.” As he began to he mostly worked as a chief shape his property Hicks would engineer: “So I fixed everything keep an eye out for suitable that needed repair.” transplants as he traveled After a number of years with Walway, Fred decided to take the civil service exam in 1964 to become a postal carrier: “I failed. But the guy they gave it to had to turn it down so I got the job. I had a long route.

I went from Fred Hicks points to the polished bone siding of a folding Farmington knife made at the DeHoCo prison. Fred’s father Fred V. Hicks Hills to Pontiac worked at the prison in the 1920s when the prisoners were able Trail - about 60 to make knives in its shop.

around the state. “I carried trees home in sandwich pails in moss from the U.P.,” said Hicks.

NO LONGER RURAL When asked what’s changed in the Northville area Hicks says: “It’s lost it’s rural feel.

Everything looks like a city now.” Pointing to Eight Mile, out his living room window, Hicks notes: “That road wasn’t here when I bought this home and Eight Mile was only four paved blocks at that time and was called Carlisle.”

Times have changed for sure, what kids could do then.

Remembering a game where knives are dropped from waist level in an attempt to get them to stick in the ground, Hicks said: “We’d play mumbly peg out in the school yard with our pocket knives and no one objected in Northville as far as we knew.”

So if you’re around Eight Mile east of Center and see Fred on his lawn, give him a wave and say hello. He’s been there a long time, is real friendly, and may have a tale or two for you.

And he doesn’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon.

To access 1989 and 2007 online audio file interviews with Fred and Laura Hicks, visit www.northvillehistory.org/ interviews.

The ‘Ville 21

COME IN & TASTE

OUR NEW MENU

An artist's rendering of what the homes may look like at the Main Street School site.

District settles on plan for Main Street School site T

he Northville Schools Board of Education voted at its Aug. 14 meeting for the district to enter into negotiations with Old Village LLC to finalize the sale of the Main Street School in downtown Northville.

The decision means the district is moving ahead with its plan to demolish the 1930s-era school located at 501 Main Street.

The board decided at its July 10 meeting to narrow down the bids it was considering to the three developers proposing single-family residential homes for the site. At that meeting they also voted the district would pay for the demolition of the school, which the district is no longer using after the renovation of the Old Village School next door.

The board ultimately went with the plan proposed by Old Village LLC owners Mike Miller and Greg Morad. It calls for four single family homes built on the five lots that make up the school property.

In return, Old Village LLC will pay no less than $1.75 million, as well as donate some land to the school district that will be used as a green space buffer between Old Village School and the new homes.

The property is within the Northville Historic District, and the state has deemed the school building a contributing structure, meaning it is considered historic. The district is overseen by the Northville Historic District Commission, which is tasked with preserving the city’s history and architecture. It also encourages new buildings and development that will be harmonious with the existing historic buildings and neighborhoods.

Mike Miller said the homes they have planned for the property will fit in with other homes in the historic district. He said he is working with local architect Greg Presley, who is known for his historic preservation work.

“We are sensitive to the fact that this property is within the historic district. Our project will stick within the fabric of the district,” he said.

The school district’s request for demolition will go before the Historic District Commission in the near future. The demolition plan has run into some resistance, especially over at the Northville Historical Society.

We’ll keep you updated in future issues.

22 The ‘Ville

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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 16 8 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3 9 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. *October 9th is the deadline to register to vote in the 11-6-18 General Election

The ballots, for voters requesting an absentee, will be mailed on September 28, 2018. Absentee Ballots, by law, cannot be forwarded. If you are not going to be at your registered address, you must notify the Clerk’s department (248-662-0541) where to send your ballot if you did not provide an alternate address on the APPLICATION for your absentee ballot.

The deadline to request an absentee ballot to be mailed to you, is Saturday, November 3rd. The township Clerk’s office is open Saturday, November 3 from 9 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. for this purpose. If you request and receive an absentee ballot, please vote it and return it before 8 p.m.

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out & about YOUR GUIDE TO WHAT’S HAPPENING IN NORTHVILLE THIS MONTH Tent Sale Sept. 13-15 Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and HWWB Realtors of Northville are sponsoring the Tent Sale from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at American Legion Post 147, 101 W. Dunlap in downtown Northville. The sale is a fundraiser for the Sunshine Kids Foundation, and its efforts to support kids with cancer.

All of the proceeds from the sale will be donated to the organization. The sale will include furniture, wall art, clothing, jewelry, small appliances, collectables, books, garden tools, electronics , bikes, toys and more.

For more information, call (248) 305-1500.

Heritage Festival Sept. 14-16 Northville’s annual festival (formerly known as the Victorian Festival) will take place from 5-11 p.m. on Sept.

14, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sept. 15 and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sept. 16. The event put on by the Northville Chamber of Commerce features a parade, live entertainment, community booths, activities at Mill Race Village and much more. This year’s theme is the 1980s. For more information on our annual Festival, visit www. northvilleheritagefest.com.

Maybury History Hike Sept. 15 Friends of Maybury will host this free event at 10 a.m. at Maybury State Park. Before it was a state

26 The ‘Ville

Heroes on Hines

DPW Yard, 650 Doheny Drive – and is open to Northville and Livonia residents. Items that will be accepted include aerosol cans, any household chemicals, antifreeze/transmission fluid, automotive/marine batteries, computer equipment, electronics, fuel, herbicides and pesticides, medical waste, propane tanks, mercury, light bulbs, cellphones, and primers/turpentine/varnishes.

Sept. 29. This annual fundraiser for the Wayne County First Responders Memorial in Hines Park will have a new location this year – Nankin Mills.

Featuring a half marathon and 5K, the race will have both male and female winners in multiple age groups. Entry fee includes a technical race shirt for all distances and finisher’s medal for all finishers. To register or for more information, visit www.heroesonhines.com. park, the area was once home to Maybury Sanatorium, operated by the City of Detroit for the treatment of patients with tuberculosis. Most of the buildings are gone, but evidence remains of this past use. This easy one mile walk is suitable for all ages, and will take 90 minutes. Hear the stories and see photos and building sites.

‘Blood On the Mitten’ Presentation Sept. 17 Event takes place at 7 p.m. at the Northville District Library. Blood On the Mitten: Infamous Michigan Crimes author Tom Carr tells fascinating stories of historical and unusual crimes throughout Michigan’s history from the 1700s to present. We’ll hear tales of crooked sheriffs, ruthless gangsters, bandits, and killers…including an unsolved

case from Northville. Books for sale and signing. For more information, visit https://northvillelibrary.org.

Veterans’ Health Summit Sept. 20 This 9th annual event takes place from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. at Schoolcraft College’s VisTaTech Center. Topics this year will include: VA Ann Arbor Medical Center Update; State Veterans Update; Veterans Home for Southeast Michigan; Maximizing Veterans Health Care; Veterans Health & Medical Cannabis; Disability Benefit Update. Veteran specialists will also be on hand to address special needs and answer questions.

The event is free, but you must register by visiting https://2018vetsummit.eventbrite. com or by calling (248) 912-3223.

For more information, visit www. legalhelpforveterans.com.

Household Hazardous Waste Collection Sept. 22 This fall HHW collection takes place from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Northville

Thayer School Open House Sept. 23 Northville Township Historic Fund is hosting its annual open house from noon-3 p.m. at the historic oneroom school house, located at Six Mile and Napier. The event is free, though donations will be accepted.

Thayer School, which was built in 1877, is being restored. There will be tours, games, and food. Come commemorate the occasion by ringing the bell of the old school for the first time in decades.

Night For Northville Oct. 13 Meadowbrook Country Club will be the new location for this annual Northville Educational Foundation fundraiser. Celebrate our city, schools, students, and our educators...black and orange style! Event will feature food, adult beverages, live music, silent auction, wine pull raffle, costume contests, and more. Costumes are encouraged but not required, so dress up or dress down. Complete details and tickets are available at www.SupportNEF.org.

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TLC Chiropractic is located at 424 S. Main Street in Northville. To set up an appointment with Dr. Thea, call TLC at (248) 513-6188. For more information, visit www.TLChiropractic.net, which includes educational videos and more advice about chronic back pain issues.

SHARE IT The Community Bulletin Board Page is just what it says. If you have events, photos or accomplishments you’d like to share with the community, please email Editor Kurt Kuban at kurtkuban@gmail.com.

COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

Northville Stands with Detroit

Northville Rotary and the Northville Stands With Detroit committee are looking for volunteers (at least 14 years old) interested in participating in Life Remodeled, a six-day effort to clean up areas of Detroit. Life Remodeled will mobilize 10,000 volunteers on the 300 square blocks around Detroit Central High, planting trees and perennials, building community gardens, installing little free libraries, designating the safest routes to schools, upgrading several parks, and adding neighborhood signage. This year, the Northville contingent will participate on Oct. 4. If you are interested in joining them, contact Marianne Barry at mgbarry1020@gmail.com. For more information about Life Remodeled, visit liferemodeled.com.

Robo Campers More than 65 students (grades 3-8) attended the Northville Robostangs annual Robocamp the first week of August at Northville High School. The campers built Lego EV3 robots and crafts that were all water-based to go along with this year’s theme, “H2O, ready, set, go!”

The kids built lava lamps to teach them about the different densities of oil and water. They also made snow globes to demonstrate the low viscosity of water, and the kids had a great time making a Lego scenery inside the snow globes. Lastly, pool noodle foam boats were made to show how sailors are able to navigate their journeys by paying attention to the wind and waves. The kids were also able to race these boats during fun tournaments and see who really knew how to navigate through open waters.

28 The ‘Ville

Ved Bags Bronze in Berlin

Ved Muthusamy, a freshman at Northville High School, earned the overall Bronze Medal in the middle school division at the International Geography Bee World Championships July 17 in Berlin, Germany.

International Academic Competitions (IAC) hosts the event every two years, attracting participants from the U.S., Canada, Europe, Argentina, Singapore and beyond.

Ved, who graduated from Hillside Middle School and Amerman Elementary School’s ALPS (Alternative Learning) Program for gifted students, took part in various categories, taking 2nd place in the International Geography Exam and 3rd place in the International Geography Showdown. He was also named captain of Team U.S.A Great Lakes, which finished 2nd in Treasure Hunt and 6th in Team Quiz. For more information, visit www.internationalgeographybee.com/ world-championships.

Calling All Fashion Designers

The American Association of University Women Northville-Novi is looking for fashion designers ready to exhibit their collections in a dynamic runway show and luncheon on March 30, 2019 at Schoolcraft College VisTaTech in Livonia with food from their celebrated Culinary Institute of Michigan. This event supports AAUWNN, established in 1975, in their mission to promote equity and education for local women and girls through community outreach programs and scholarships.

To have your collection considered for the AAUWNN designer showcase, you must fill out a short entry form and submit a bio with samples of your collection by Oct. 15. For more information, visit http://aauwnn.org or send an email to Midesigner.aauwnn@gmail.com.

Alles Leading Michigan Department of Education The school year begins with Northville resident Sheila Alles at the helm of the Michigan Department of Education. She was appointed Interim State Superintendent on May 8, a little more than a year after being appointed Chief Deputy Superintendent. The Superintendent is a major spokesperson for education in the state and the primary liaison to the U.S. Department of Education.

Alles started her career as an elementary teacher in Plymouth-Canton Schools and moved to administrative positions, including elementary principal and chief academic officer for Livonia Public Schools. She is passionate about teaching and learning – serving in leadership roles on several professional organizations and as an adjunct professor of literacy at the undergraduate and graduate level. Her biggest priority is to continue the implementation of Michigan’s Strategic Plan to become a Top 10 education state in 10 years.

Tierney’s Victorian Clothing Closet

Tierney Rasmussen, a Girl Scout in Troop #40092 at Meads Mill, recently completed her Silver Award by creating a Victorian clothing lending closet.

Having participated in the Victorian/Heritage Festival every year, Tierney realized that there was a need for a lending closet because each year 3rd grade families need to find Victorian era clothing for a parade and school activities. Her school, Ridge Wood, did not have its own lending closet, forcing families to scramble.

Last year, she began putting ads out on Nextdoor, Facebook and Craigslist for donations to her Victorian Lending Closet. She collected more than 160 pieces of Victorian clothing. Tierney then opened her own lending closet, helping outfit 20 people for free in 2017. She then worked with Northville Youth Assistance to stock their lending closet, collecting nearly 200 Victorian garments. Overall, Tierney put in more than 57 hours of service to her community. She plans to continue in Girl Scouts and achieve her Gold Award while in high school.

It’s Your Business Kelly & Kelly P.C.

The Kelly & Kelly office at 422 E. Main Street in Downtown Northville.

A Journey of Love and Law

Kelly & Kelly firm celebrating 30th anniversary in Northville

I

t’s not an exaggeration to say John and Michele Kelly’s life together is rooted in law.

They met each other during their first week as students at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. They began courting, married by the end of their first year, and already had two children by the time they both earned law degrees. From there the two expanded their family, and also set out on a legal journey that brought them to Northville, where they’ve built a shared business – the appropriately named Kelly & Kelly P.C. This is a special year for the firm, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary in downtown Northville.

Michele, who spent some of her youth in Northville

30 The ‘Ville

on the street back then are still (she attended Amerman clients today,” John said.

Elementary), recalls in the Their first office was on early days of the firm she used Center Street (in the building to have a booth at the Victorian that is now Tuscan Café), Festival where you could talk to and they a lawyer for a ultimately few minutes. purchased Think Lucy a historic from the OWNERS: John and Michele Kelly home at “Peanuts” AREAS OF SPECIALTY: Criminal 422 E. Main comic strip. defense, business and real estate, Street from It was a probate, divorce, wills and trusts, one of their great way drunk driving, juvenile offenses, early clients, for them to child support and custody Clancy Ely, get the word ADDRESS: 422 East Main Street, who was a out about Northville community the firm, PHONE: (248) 348-0496 leader and especially WEBSITE: www.kellykellylaw.com businessman. considering John recalls Northville the 1991 sale was a “handshake was such a tight-knit deal.” community, even more so back “Northville is a pretty in those days. sophisticated town. Back then it “Some of the clients she met

KELLY&KELLY

was a little different than today.

Everyone knew everyone,” John said. “I can’t imagine making a purchase like that today with a handshake.” They’ve converted the office space and property into a perennial “Beautification Award Winner.”

The Kellys have also lived in Northville since 1985, raising their four children here. In fact, all four of the kids spent a lot of time in the office, seeing firsthand the inner workings of not only a law firm but also a successful family business. So it’s really no surprise that two of them are now working as attorneys with the firm.

Daughter Ryan Kelly (the eldest child) joined 10 years ago, and is now a partner in the firm, and son Michael joined six years ago.

“We hauled our kids in here when they were little. From early on they were immersed in the idea of owning a business.

All four of our kids have worked here at some point in some capacity, from answering the phones to now two of them working as attorneys. This is definitely a family business,” Michele said.

Ryan and Michael, who both have law degrees from University of Detroit-Mercy like their parents and are raising their own families in Northville, say they didn’t have to look far to find their role models. Their parents taught them it’s all about hard work, integrity, and fighting on behalf of your clients to get positive results.

“I have my mom’s shoot from the hip passion, and my dad’s optimistic, can-do attitude,” said Michael, who practices criminal law.

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Michael Kelly (from left), Michele Kelly, John Kelly and Ryan Kelly of Kelly & Kelly, P.C.

family law, and estate and business planning.

“This is a family business in more ways than one. Not only are we family, but the type of legal work we do is what a family would be familiar with: divorce and custody issues, criminal defense for things like drunk driving, juvenile issues like expulsions from school, estate planning and real estate issues, and helping small family businesses,” John Kelly said.

The Kellys recognize their clients are dealing with some tough situations, and they work hard to lessen the burden.

“In most cases our clients are going through the worst situations in life,” said Ryan, who specializes in high-conflict divorce cases. “The best thing we can do is make it less stressful for them. It’s a big burden to take on, but it makes it better for the clients.”

Their team of attorneys also includes Erin Flynn, who handles all areas of family law and domestic issues. Most of

the firm’s cases are in Southeast Michigan, but they do travel around the state and are not afraid to go into unfamiliar courtrooms “Our reputation is we’re fierce – at least when it comes to criminal defense. We’re not intimidated to go into courts where we aren’t known,” Michele said.

John and Michele feel incredibly blessed to be in Northville, and they’ve always given back through community service. Both have served on city boards and commissions, coached little league, and volunteered in the schools.

John recently served as president of Northville Rotary.

“We embrace the idea of getting involved in civic activities,” John said.

It’s all part of the virtues they’ve cherished since they began this journey together three decades ago. Hard work, integrity, family, community and, of course, law.

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Dishin With Denise

Denise Jenkins serves on the board of directors for the Northville Chamber of Commerce and Tipping Point Theatre. An avid writer and proponent of the arts, she is also plugged into what’s happening in Northville.

September: Saying good-bye to summer T

hey say September is “the long good-bye” to summer. In a way, that’s true. Vacation time is over and it’s back to school. Labor Day signaled the end of wearing white. Baseball season is winding down, football season is underway. Autumn begins with September equinox on the 21st and the leaves begin to change as the temperatures cool. And that means the cider mill is open!

Parmenter's Cider Mill

Parmenter’s Northville Cider Mill on Base Line Road has been around since 1873. It all began with apple cider vinegar.

In 1953, they added apple cider. After five generations of Parmenters, the Mill was sold to the Bodker Dairy family. In the early 1990s, two sisters Cheryl Nelson and Diane Jones bought the cider mill, along with their husbands. It’s still in the family with the next generation taking ownership.

Cider lovers come from all over. On the weekends cars line up -- rain or shine. The wooden train for kids to climb on is iconic. And who doesn’t have a picture with their face in the wooden apple people cutouts? In addition to the cider, Parmenter’s has fresh

32 The ‘Ville

baked pies, caramel apples, donut chips, cider slushies and more. The real debate – in my office, and at home – is plain or cinnamon donuts? I prefer cinnamon.

What most people know as the Stitching Post building is being renovated and will be the new home of Bailey & Shamoun Interiors. It seems a perfect fit.

Building owner Rick Cox knows the importance of keeping the structure and finding the right person to fill the space. He’s made the Water Wheel Centre a landmark in town.

Bailey & Shamoun have been in Northville for 20 years – just waiting for the perfect locationlocation-location to showcase their award winning designs.

And here it is! Designer Kathryn Bailey and architectural designer Basma Shamoun-

a great selection of accessories to purchase right off the floor.

They work with your space, and your budget. 200 S. Main promises to be a destination worth coming to see. They expect to be open for business sometime in October.

Northville’s Corriveau family took a family road trip in a motor home to see Tiger baseball greats Alan Trammell and Jack Morris inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Class of 2018 induction ceremony was held Sunday, July 29th. Joe Corriveau planned the trip: “Going to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New

Corriveau family

Bailey & Shamoun

Miscovich have been the go-to team for many local residents.

“We love to make your dreams come true. Customizing your home for your family, and your lifestyle is important to us. We are passionate about our work,” says Kathryn Bailey.

They have access to everything you need to order, and they have

York has always been on my so-called bucket list. When two players from my childhood were being honored it seemed the perfect time to take my son, and my father along for the ride.

We rented a motor home and packed up a few more of the family. Traveling up and down hilly terrain with a big group in a full size motor home really made it a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.” Cooperstown is a small town like Northville. It can be tricky to maneuver, if you’re planning a trip and want the inside scoop, call Joe. What do Michelle Fecht,

Dr. William Demray, Mayor Ken Roth, Lauren Romeo, Martha and Jim Nield have in common? They have all been recognized as Northville’s Citizen of the Year.

The Chamber of Commerce is looking for the next recipient.

The nominee must be involved

Ken Roth receives his Citizen of the Year Award.

in actively supporting (through time, talent or financial support) an organization that improves our community; live or work in the Northville community; show concern for community, environment and family; be a role model for community youth and citizens.

In 2014, the award was designated the “John Genitti Citizen of the Year Award” in honor of the local resident and businessman. The Chamber has a committee that reads each and every nomination, and any letters of support for the nominees. The committee votes and once the selection is made, they do their best to keep it a secret until the night of the Annual Meeting. This year the meeting will be held on Oct. 17 at Genitti’s Hole-in-the-Wall.

For a nomination form, or additional information contact the Chamber office at (248) 349-7640.

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