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WESTLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

The Palace Inn was an old Nankin Township watering hole, located on Ann
Arbor Trail and Merriman. The photo was taken sometime in the 1940s.

50

TH

WESTLAND
A LOOK
AT HISTORY
The city of Westland
celebrates its 50th anniversary of incorporation with a day-long
party. In this special
eight-page section, the
Westland Observer
looks at some of the
people whove been a
part of that movement, the leaders and
events that shaped
history.
Inside this section,
youll find photos from
the citys past, as well
as details of some of its
development and comments from people
who led the city.
Enjoy!

ANNIVERSARY

Citys history began in Bucklin Township

LeAnne Rogers
Staff Writer

An overview photo of Westland City Hall on Ford Road, looking south. It served as Nankin Township Hall
before the 1966 incorporation as a city and was demolished last month. Note the big empty field beyond the
parking at the top of the photo. Thats were the Bailey Recreation Center, Central City Park and Tattan Park
were later developed. At the bottom of the photo, the vacant land across the street is home to the Kroger
strip center today.

All-American city still the place to be

L

want to raise my famyndon Johnson was presiily.

dent of the United States
Its hard to believe
and George Romney was
the area which was
governor of Michigan. The
once inhabited by Potabiggest hits of the year were
watomi Native AmerFrank Sinatras Strangers in
icans would became
the Night and Percy Sledges
William
Bucklin Township and
When a Man Loves a WomWild
then Nankin Township and
an.
would one day emerge as
Star Trek and Batman
MAYOR OF
Michigans 10th largest city
(the TV shows, not the movies)
WESTLAND
with more than 85,000 resipremiered, along with the
dents.
popular Hollywood Squares,
It wasnt always easy, but
but nothing was more popular
after the citys founding fathers had
with TV watchers than Bonanza.
Miniskirts were at the peak of their the foresight to fight off an annexation attempt by the city of Livonia
popularity as a group of dedicated
for the land that would soon encomresidents of Nankin Township saw
pass the Westland Shopping Center,
their dreams and hard work come to
Westland soon became a city. It hasnt
fruition in the birth of a city.
looked back since.
The year was 1966 the year
Westland was led from the start by
Westland officially became a city.
its first mayor, Thomas H. Brown,
At that time, my parents rented a
through the late 60s, and by Mayors
home from former state Rep. Justine
Barns on Alpena Court, which is locat- Eugene McKinney and Thomas F.
Taylor throughout the 70s. Its noteed in what is now known as The Hisworthy that both of these intelligent
toric Norwayne District, and they
gentlemen still call Westland home
would soon bring into this world a son
who would grow up to be the mayor of and have helped with its upcoming
celebration.
this new city 40 years later.
The 80s saw the leadership of
I am extremely proud to serve as
the eighth mayor of this great city and Mayors Charles W. Pickering and
Charles Trav Griffin, who serves
have had the honor to do so since
2007. I love my city and I hope you see today as a Wayne-Westland Community Schools trustee. Mayor Robert J.
and feel my passion in my work. I
Thomas led the city through tremencant think of anywhere else I would

dous growth from 1990-2002

and still stands as the longest-serving mayor in the
citys history.
Sandra Cicirelli became
the citys first female mayor
in 2002 and served through
2006 before being elected to
serve as an 18th District Court judge.
All the mayors worked with various city councils, commissions and
employees to continue to move the
city forward. While all had their own
challenges and politics to overcome,
you can still see the mark that each
made on the city, in their own way,
yet today.
Westland is now 22 square miles
and is home to 25,000 single-family
homes and more than 22,000 multifamily residences and condominiums. Our proud city boasts a thriving local economy that has historically been retail-based, but has diversified to meet the demands of
Ford plants in nearby Wayne and
Livonia and is currently attracting
investments in the manufacturing,
medical, bioscience, cloud computing and nanotechnology sectors.
Westland has long been known as
a great place to raise a family. With
plenty of clean safe neighborhoods,
award-winning police and fire deSee WILD, Page C5

Before Westland was incorporated

as a city May 16, 1966, it was Nankin
Township. But before that, the area that
is now Westland was part of the much
larger Bucklin Township.
Covering an area that included what
is now Westland, Livonia, Garden City,
Inkster, Wayne, Dearborn, Dearborn
Heights and Redford, Bucklin was
formed in 1827.
It was named for Joseph Bucklin,
credited with firing a musket in 1772
and severely wounding a British naval
captain the first intentional and
planned attack on British forces in the
American Revolution.
Even earlier, Algonquin tribes
Potawatomi, Ojibwa and Ottawa met
each year at the middle fork of the
Rouge River near where it joins with
Tonquish Creek to establish hunting
territories. Today, their meeting place
is the site of Nankin Mills.
Bucklins namesake didnt last long.
There was a proposal in 1829 to divide
See HISTORY, Page C5

Celebrations mark
50th anniversary
It will be an all-day celebration
Monday, May 16, as Westland celebrates 50 years to the day since it
changed from Nankin Township to
incorporate as a city.
The festivities kick off at Westland
City Hall on Warren Road, east of
Central City Parkway, at 11 a.m. with a
ceremony that will include the opening of a time capsule that was buried
in front of the old city hall 50 years
ago.
There will be refreshments served
throughout the days as guests can
take self-guided tours of city hall, see
historical displays and art displays in
the gallery.
At 6 p.m., there will be the regular
city council meeting, including a special 50th anniversary recognition and
a cake.
The Mayors Homecoming Reception will be held 7-9 p.m., with all the
living mayors invited to participate in
reminiscing about the citys 50 years,
followed by a question-and-answer
period.
The citys former mayors (first
Mayor Thomas Brown, namesake of
Central City/Thomas Brown Park, is
deceased) are expected to join current
Mayor William Wild at the celebration.
Everyone is invited to the festivities.

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WESTLAND 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Eloise remains a rich part of citys history

Jill Halpin
Correspondent

Despite origins as a
poor house serving the
indigent, Eloises roots
are a rich part of Westlands background, dating back more than 175
years and providing a
valuable history of a
bygone era.
The history that surrounds the Wayne County Infirmary, Psychiatric
and General Hospital
Complex most commonly referred to as
Eloise includes an
original 208-acre plot of
land near the intersection of Merriman Road
and Michigan Avenue.
With physicians and
medical professionals
intently focused on providing care and assistance to the needy, the
facility opened in 1839
with 35 residents. Eloise
saw dramatic growth
throughout the next century, expanding to serve
more than 10,000 people
daily at its pinnacle during the 1930s on more
than 900 acres.
Eloise eventually became one of the largest
public health facilities in
the United States, said
Jeffery Koslowski, a
Westland resident and
president of the Westland Historical Commission.
Eloise has a remarkable history and I think
that it is important that
people recognize that
fact, he said. There are
people that think of Eloise just as a spooky old
building on Michigan
Avenue and it is so much
more than that. We need
to erase the notion that it
was a sad and depressing
place.

One of a kind
In fact, Koslowski
noted, for most, Eloise
was just the opposite: A
completely self-sufficient community with 75
buildings housing not
only hospital residents,

but more than 2,000 employees and their families.

Owned by Wayne
County, it was the only
one of its kind in Michigan, perhaps the country,
dedicated to providing
care for those in need of
physical, psychological
and financial help, Koslowski said.
Eloise was unique,
agrees Patricia Ibbotson,
a Westland resident and
president of the Friends
of Eloise, a volunteer
preservation group
aimed at keeping alive
the memory of the institution.
Ibbotson worked as a
nurse at the facility for
23 years in and is the
author of 2002 book Eloise: Poorhouse, Farm,
Asylum and Hospital
1839-1984, providing a
detailed look at daily life
at the institution and its
expansive grounds.
Within those grounds
existed a city within
itself, Ibbotson said: It
was practically selfsustaining.

FRIENDS OF ELOISE

The Wayne County Infirmary, Psychiatric and General Hospital Complex most commonly
referred to as Eloise includes an original 208-acre plot of land near the intersection of
Merriman Road and Michigan Avenue.

A lot going on
Although only two
buildings on the grounds
are currently operating,
at one time the burgeoning property included not
just a psychiatric facility,
a general hospital, an
infirmary and sanitarium
for tuberculosis patients,
it also accommodated a
farm, a piggery for providing meat, a bakery
and a greenhouse, where
plants for landscaping
and maintaining the spacious grounds were tended.
The grounds also included a tobacco-curing
barn, a cemetery, a post
office and public services such as a police
and fire department.
There were also Eloise
trolley and train stations.
There was so much
going on at Eloise; it
really was an integral
part of the community.
Not just Westland, but

FRIENDS OF ELOISE

The staff at Eloise, circa 1963.

surrounding communities as well, Ibbotson

said, recalling a story
about an Eloise physicians wife from Wayne
who visited the grounds
weekly to ensure that
church services were
provided for interested
residents.
This was a facility
that provided assistance
and care for many, many
people, Ibbotson said.
Some were long-term
residents with physical
or mental health issues,
some were short-term
patients. From the bakery to the farming and
the canning, it took a lot
of work to keep it going.

Eloise touched many

lives.
The facility truly was
extraordinary, Koslowski
agrees.

State of the art

At its height, physicians at Eloise were responsible for providing
state-of-the-art medical
treatments, attracting
some of the best medical
minds in the Detroit
area. Physicians at the
facilities were pioneering in many fields, he
said.
Physicians in the

facility were the first in

the United States to perform X-rays for diagnostic purposes sometime around the late
1890s and they were
some of the first to do
kidney dialysis, he said.
In addition, Eloise physicians were among the
first the first to explore
advanced therapies for
mental health, including
music and recreation
therapies and even television therapy in the
1950s.
Although some may
tell tales of lobotomies

and electric shock therapy to treat mental illnesses (both of which

were performed at Eloise), it must be established that these measures were medically
accepted procedures at
that time, Koslowski
noted.
Yes, these things
were done, but they were
done with the best intentions in mind, he
said. The physicians at
Eloise were trying to find
ways to cure people and
help them re-establish
themselves into society.

Unique history
For longtime Westland
resident Jo Johnson,
Eloises history is uniquely interwoven with history of the city of Westland, with the facility
expanding as the city
itself grew.
When Eloise moved to
the area from Hamtramck Township in 1839,
the city of Westland did
not even exist, Johnson
said.
The area was known
as Nankin Township and
it was considered the
wilderness by some,
she said. There werent
any paved roads just a
lot of corn fields. The
property and its and
surrounding area remained part of Nankin
Township until it was
incorporated by the city
of Westland in 1966.
After its peak in the
1930s, growth at Eloise
began to decline and
operations slowly ground
to a halt. Farming operations ceased in the 1950s,
when outside vendors
began supplying food,
Ibbotson said, and the
psychiatric facility
closed in 1973, with patients transferring to
other state institutions.
As Wayne County
sought to divest itself of
See ELOISE, Page C6

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O & E Media | Thursday, May 12, 2016

WESTLAND 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Historic Norwayne benefits from revitalization effort

Brad Kadrich
Staff Writer

The Norwayne subdivision,

formed nearly a quarter-century before the city it now calls
home, has seen prosperous
times, survived an attempt to
raze it and come out rebuilding
on the other side.
Now activists, neighborhood
members and various volunteers and groups are trying to
make sure that revitalization
continues and theyre working at it from the inside out.
At the heart of it now is the
Jefferson Barns Community
Vitality Center, a gem in the
middle of the neighborhood
that has long taken pride in its
history. And the man at the
center of the revitalization,
Hank Johnson, believes the
community is worth the effort.
I know the history of Norwayne. I know the people who
come from Norwayne and I
know the spirit of Norwayne,
said Johnson, president of the
Norwayne Community Citizens
Council. Weve made a contribution to our country.
The history is as good a
place as any to start. Norwayne
was formed in 1942, a response
to the Arsenal of Democracy
attitude of the World War II
era. It was developed by the
National Housing Agency as
permanent housing for workers at the Willow Run plant,
where B-24 bombers were
being built, and other nearby
plants.
According to Johnson, people working in those plants
were living in cardboard boxes and other substandard
housing at the time. Nearly
1,200 buildings were constructed, containing some 1,900
dwellings (one- and two-bedroom row houses, two- and
three-bedroom duplexes and
two-bedroom single homes).
The plants became the
areas biggest employers. Willow Run peaked at some 42,000
workers. Dormitories and
trailer parks constructed to
house the workers werent
enough, which (according to
papers submitted during Norwaynes Historic District designation application process)
led to the development of Norwayne. Norwayne was granted
its historic designation in 2012.
The initial projection for
Norwayne population was
estimated at 20,000, but never
hit that level, according to the
historic documentation. By
1958, for a federal application

A view of Norwayne, circa 1948.

BILL BRESLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Norwayne activists say contributions from Norwayne residents like Jeff

Styers, who funded the boxing facility at Jefferson Barns, are instrumental
in the neighborhoods revival.

to the National Park Service,

population was given as approximately 9,500. The population dwindled through the
years; in 1979, it was down to
5,000.
Sprawl hit Nankin Township
in the 1950s, Johnson said, and
Norwayne began to thrive. The
neighborhood became so populous, he said, that it had not
only a positive effect on Norwayne and Nankin Township,
but also on business in surrounding areas, such as the
village of Wayne.
It definitely had an impact
on Wayne, Johnson said. We
are much closer to Wayne than,
say, the Westland Shopping
Center. All of those (Wayne)
businesses were important to
families in Norwayne.
Families were also key to
Norwayne, according to former Mayor Gene McKinney,
who grew up just outside Norwayne, in the area around
Wayne Road and Cherry Hill.
McKinney, who would later
become the second mayor of
Westland, said Norwaynes
biggest impact may have been
on the school district.
Norwayne was very instrumental in the development
of Nankin Township, McKinney said. Thousands of people
came in here. It completely

changed the school district.

Like many areas through
the 60s and 70s, Johnson said,
Norwayne fell on hard times.
Residents beat back an attempt
by then-Nankin Township Supervisor Joe Tattan to raze the
neighborhood and eventually
began the long trek back.
It took a realization of the
problem. Johnson said landlords started being more absentee in nature and didnt
care to whom they were renting. He said the once-proud
Norwayne neighborhood to
being known as Shacktown.
But the neighborhood has
also produced residents with
great achievements. According
to Johnson, the area has produced, among others, three
mayors (Tom Brown, Bob
Thomas and Bill Wild) and a
couple of state representatives.
People had forgotten the
history of Norwayne, Johnson
said. We needed to re-educate
people. (Norwayne) people
have contributed locally and
even nationally.
Johnson said McKinney,
who grew up just outside the
neighborhood, was one of the
first to start the effort to bring
it back.
(McKinney) recognized
Norwayne was beginning to

Arenac Court in Norwayne.

falter in the 1970s, Johnson

said. He was the first mayor
to recognize it, and he pulled
people together to start looking
at ways to fix it.
Now Johnson who moved
for a time to Royal Oak, but
came home to take care of his
mother is among the leaders
of the revitalization effort.
Much of it centers around
Jefferson Barns, the renovated
former Jefferson Elementary
School, which sits in the middle
of the neighborhood.
Wayne-Westland Schools
officials were going to close
the building and tear it down;
instead, the Norwayne committee secured a lease for $50 for
50 years and have spent tens of
thousands of dollars renovating it.
The building now contains,
among other things, a boxing
gym, a library, a recreational
gym and various other classrooms and facilities. The committee is currently building a
Fairy Garden it hopes to open
later this year.
The effort, as Johnson is
quick to point out, is being led
by current and former Norwayne residents. For instance,
former resident Jeff Styres
single-handedly built the boxing gym at Jefferson Barns.
And Michael Cayley, a Nor-

wayne resident who now owns

a manufacturing company in
Chicago, is a consistent contributor to the revitalization
effort.
Cayley feels an affinity for
his old neighborhood, which
includes a park named for his
father.
I wanted to help keep up
the park ... I drive by it every
time I go to visit, Cayley said.
I hope they can (revitalize).
Everyone involved is working
very hard to do it.
The effort is working. According to Johnson, some 47
blighted homes have been
removed. Dorsey Road has
been improved. The city of
Westland, he said, is putting
money into the community.
Johnson attributes the success
of the revitalization to current
Mayor William Wild, whom
Johnson said vowed to move
Norwayne from the back burner to the front burner.
As Norwayne eyes its 75th
anniversary next summer, one
of its native sons is happy to be
involved.
I didnt want (Norwaynes)
end story to be, We were beaten up, Johnson said. Its
important to me.
bkadrich@hometownlife.com
Twitter: @bkadrich

After 60 years, Annapolis Park is still going strong

Brad Kadrich
Staff Writer

The advertisement in the

Detroit Times screamed of
opportunity and, before long,
hundreds of African-American
families were taking advantage of it.
It was the 1950s and Detroits African-American population had doubled from some
150,000 to 300,000. Families
were looking for a place to live.
With discrimination rampant in the housing industry
and banks reluctant to back
mortgages for black families,
Julius Schwartz decided to
give them that opportunity.
Schwartz, a white developer, and his brother William
bought some 85 acres of land
in what was then Nankin Township, in the area between Henry Ruff and Middlebelt, south
of Annapolis and north of Van
Born, and divided it into more
than 350 lots.
Since banks wouldnt lend to
African Americans, the
Schwartz brothers worked
with their brother-in-law, Jack
Kellman, to form the Franklin
Mortgage Co.
And Annapolis Park, one of
the first suburban neighbor-

hoods to cater to AfricanAmerican home buyers, was

born.
Reasther Everett and her
husband Arnell were one of the
earliest families to settle there.
The Everetts moved in in 1955
and still live there 60 years
later. Reasther Everett said the
move to build the black neighborhood was a brave one.
They were courageous to
do it, Everett said of the developers. At the time, it
wasnt popular.
One of the reasons bankers
werent willing to offer mortgages to black families was a
concern they wouldnt stay
longer than five years. According to Delores Flowers, president of the Southeast Westland
Homeowners Association,
there was also a concern the
families wouldnt take good
care of the homes.
Its a kind of discrimination,
Flowers said, that was prevalent at the time. But both Flowers and Everett point out the
quality of the neighborhood,
still quiet and well-kept 60
years later, shows how wrong
they were.
The brick homes contained
two or three bedrooms and
cost some $11,000 in 1954; the

Annapolis Park covers the area between Henry Ruff and Middlebelt, south
of Annapolis and north of Van Born.

price jumped to about $15,000

by 1957. Apparently, the fear
the homes wouldnt be taken
care of was unfounded: Everett points out her home is
worth about $80,000 today.
(Banks) perceived you had
these black families who were
going to let it fall apart, Flowers said. Were still here, 60

years later.
The neighborhood has attracted residents of all occupations, including professionals
such as engineers, teachers,
nurses and pharmacists. Some
folks have left for Hollywood;
theres even a Marvelette (the
all-girl group from the 1960s)
in the area.

People come out of this

community and go on to do
other things, Delores Flowers
said.
In the early 2000s, residents
started working on making
Annapolis Park a historic district. Residents were interviewed, tax records researched and other background material collected.
And it worked: In 2006,
Annapolis Park became Westlands first district to be listed
on the National Register of
Historic Places.
Its a close-knit community,
no longer all African American
(though largely still). Original
residents still dot the landscape and the children of other
original families frequently
come home to raise their
families.
Reasther Everett takes
pride in being the self-appointed mayor of Annapolis Park.
She and Arnell raised five
children in Annapolis Park and
wouldnt have had it any other
way.
The only place Id rather
live than living here is in heaven, Reasther said.
bkadrich@hometownlife.com
Twitter: @bkadrich

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WESTLAND 50TH ANNIVERSARY

Nankin native McKinney one of Westlands early leaders

LeAnne Rogers
Staff Writer

Former Westland Mayor

Gene McKinney got a surprise
when he recently attended a
Westland Democratic Club
meeting.
Everyone was so polite. In
the old days, it was rough-andtumble politics all Democrats and heavily UAW, said
McKinney, the citys second
mayor who served from 196975.
A journalist by training,
McKinney worked for a number of newspapers and eventually was managing editor with
Associated Newspapers, which
published the Eagle newspapers.
We opposed (Nankin Township) Supervisor Joe Tattan.
There was a fundraiser at the
VFW, said McKinney, 80.
One of Tattans guys threw me
out of the party. I was with my
girlfriend.
McKinney grew up in Nankin Township when, as a 5year-old in 1940, his family
moved into a home on Cherry
Hill near Wayne. Cherry Hill
was a two-lane gravel road at
the time.
My parents paid $2,000. My
mother would hate to hear me

BILL BRESLER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Nankin Township native Gene

McKinney was in the first
graduating class at Wayne
Memorial High School and became
the second mayor of Westland.

say, it but it was a shack with

no indoor plumbing we had
an outhouse, said McKinney,
who lives in a second house on
the property later built for his
mother. We were the first
house in the neighborhood with
electricity.
McKinney and his three
siblings attended Cady School,
then went to Wayne for high
school. I went to Wayne High
for three years and in 1953 was

in the first graduating class

from Wayne Memorial, he
said.
In the early 1960s, township
residents began to consider
incorporation as Livonia was
looking to grab the north end
of Nankin Township south to
Warren Road, including the
planned site of Westland Shopping Center.
Stories written by McKinney and editorials make it
clear that The Eagle was fully
in support of the incorporation
and keeping the mall, from
which the city would take its
name.
The mall was a factor.
Livonia was taking steps to
annex the mall. (The newspaper) wanted the Westland
Shopping Center ads, said
McKinney, who was elected to
the city charter commission.
Nankin Township was growing so rapidly. There was no
way, in my view, that the township could handle the problems
it was facing.
Cities are able to levy more
millage for additional services,
he said, along with wanting
Westland to have its own police
and fire services.
I thought I would run for
the city charter commission. I
wasnt a political partisan. I

felt as a newspaperman, I
could review the charter. I
didnt plan to be in politics,
said McKinney, who ended up
being elected to council in 1967
and mayor two years later.
Once the charter commission did its work, McKinney
said he attended about 25 PTA
meetings along with civic associations in an effort to sell
residents on the charter.
The late Thomas Brown,
after whom Central CityThomas Brown Park was
named, was elected the citys
first mayor. Like himself, McKinney said Brown was a Nankin native.
When he was elected mayor
in 1969, defeating Brown, McKinney said he discovered an
oversight in the charter.
We made a real goof in the
charter. There was no time for
taking office, so you became
mayor the next day after the
election, he said. I walked
into city hall and they wouldnt
even speak to me they supported Tom Brown.
During his tenure as mayor,
McKinney said he was proud
that a fire station was built on
Palmer, a police station constructed on Ford and that he
took steps to create civic institutions such as establish-

ment of a local symphony orchestra. A building was rented

to house district court operations, which had been using
city hall.
(Next mayor) Tom Taylor
found a way to build a court
we already owned the property, McKinney said. Things
kind of evolve. In my administration, we started things that
had to be carried on, like that
beautiful library. I dreamed of
a Westland library. We got it
thanks to (former supervisor
and later state senator) Bill
Faust.
The biggest disappointment
for McKinney was the failure
of his road paving program,
which proved unpopular with
residents.
McKinney was also sorry to
see the recent demolition of
the old city hall built before
the incorporation.
Every mayor overlooked
the building being water
soaked, he said, noting he had
written the text to a plaque
dedicating the building to the
memory of President John F.
Kennedy, who had recently
been assassinated.
lrogers@hometownlife.com
734-883-9039
Twitter: @LRogersObserver

50 years of Westlands leaders

Thomas Brown (1966-69)

Gene McKinney (1969-75)

Thomas Taylor (1975-82)

Charles Pickering
(1982-86)

Charles Trav Griffin

(1986-90)

Bob Thomas (1990-2001)

Sandra Cicirelli (2002-06)

Willliam Wild
(2007-present)

WESTLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY

An undated photo of Nankin Mills, located near where the Middle Rouge
River and Tonquish Creek join. On Ann Arbor Trail, it is home to a Wayne
County interpretive center.

HISTORY
Continued from Page C1

Bucklin into two townships,

Lima and Richland. Due to a
prohibition on duplicate place
names, Lima became Nankin
after the Chinese city Nanking
and Richland become Pekin
after Peking.
The changes continued as
Pekin was renamed Redford
Township in 1833, with the
southern part later split off as
Dearborn Township. Livonia
Township, now the city of Livonia, was established and split
off from Nankin in 1835.
Over the years, Garden
City, Inkster and Wayne incorporated, taking more land
from Nankin Township.
Garden City, Wayne and
Inkster took what they wanted
(of Nankin) and we had what
was left, said Jo Johnson of
the Westland Historic Commission.
There is a strip of land that
dog-legs south of Warren Road
on the east side of Merriman
that many people assume is
Garden City, but is actually
Westland.
Hawthorne Valley was
going to put in stables and
other things on the east side of
Merriman, Johnson said.
Early settler Marcus Swift,
an ordained Methodist Episcopal minister, served as the first

WILD
Early settler Marcus Swift, an
ordained Methodist Episcopal
minister, served as the first
Nankin Township supervisor.

Nankin Township supervisor.

He also held the post of overseer of the poor. C.D. Chubb,
a member of another pioneer
family, was the first township
clerk.
Nankin Township saw its
population grow until the
early 1960s. Efforts by Livonia to annex land, including
the site of Westland Shopping
Center, led Nankin voters to
approve city incorporation in
1966.
lrogers@hometownlife.com
734-883-9039
Twitter: @LRogersObserver

Continued from Page C1

partments, great schools,

shopping, dining and a strong
focus on parks, senior services and recycling, current
and prospective home buyers
continue to be attracted to the
high-quality, affordable lifestyle the city offers. Testimony to this was Wall Street 24/7
naming Westland to its 50
Best Cities to Live in Under
100,000 Population in 2015.
Westland residents have
enjoyed a resurgence in home
values following recent city
investments in Central City
Park, which includes the incredible Farmers & Artisans
Marketplace, the H20 Zone
Splash ground and the Giant
Play Planet play structure.
Westland has also been

addressing aging city buildings with the recent awardwinning project that saw the
transformation of a vacant big
box building on Warren Road
into a new spectacular energyefficient modern city hall that
has turned into an economic
engine for the citys central
business district surrounding
the mall and a gathering spot
for residents with its friendly
ballrooms and meeting spaces.
And as our city ages like a
fine wine, we are also seeing
the emergence of the arts and
culture within the community
with the recent openings of an
Art Gallery at city hall and a
Community Theatre in the
former WLND Cable Building.
You can learn more about
Westlands history by attending a Special Homecoming
Ceremony at 11 a.m. May 16 at
city hall, where local dignitaries and members of the

Westland Historical Commission will be helping me unseal

the time capsule that was buried 50 years ago. We will also
be starting to fill another that
will be buried later this year to
be opened 50 years from now.
There will also be an open
house throughout the day and
former mayors will join me at
3 p.m. for a moderated discussion that will be filmed by
WLND. The Westland City
Council will meet for a short
meeting at 6 p.m. We will close
out the night with a special
Homecoming Reception, hosted by the mayors, with free
food, music, refreshments and
a special champaign toast to
the next 50 years.
For more info, check out
www.cityofwestland.com or
Facebook.
William R. Wild is the eighth mayor of
Westland.

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hometownlife.com

O & E Media | Thursday, May 12, 2016

WESTLAND 50TH ANNIVERSARY

ELOISE
Continued from Page C3

the Eloise property,

buildings were razed and
the acreage was divided.
Although some land parcels have already sold
and redeveloped, some
property remains for
sale.

Beneficial role
That property includes Kay Beard Building, the old fire hall, the
old power plant and the
remains of the bakery,
which was victim of an
arson fire in late March,
Ibbotson said.
Ibbotson and others
are hopeful that whatever the fate of the property, Eloise can be recognized for its beneficial
role.
Eloise played an
important role in the
community by offering
assistance and aid to

those in need in Westland

and surrounding communities, Johnson said. I
think it deserves to be
both recognized and
remembered.
A Westland historic
commissioner, Johnson
was part of a group responsible for the state of
Michigan Historical
Marker commemorating
the sites significance.
Johnson has also
worked with Koslowksi
and others worked to
establish the Eloise Museum to house remaining
artifacts from the facility. The artifacts, on a
49-year loan from the
county, include medical
bags and equipment,
cups and silverware
stamped with the Eloise
insignia and more.
The museum will be
located at 857 N. Wayne
Road on the grounds of
the Westland Historic
Village Park and is
scheduled to open sometime in late 2016.

Mayor William Wild

said that the Eloise provide museum will be a
valuable addition to the
city.
Eloise is Westlands
oldest and most historical landmark, he said.
Scholars continue to
research the history of
this once thriving selfsustaining city. Its exciting knowing that the
Eloise Museum, which
will be located at the
Westland Historical Village Park, will open later
this year as the city of
Westland celebrates its
50th anniversary.
Koslowski agrees.
It is important for
people to know the truth
about Eloise, he said.
This was a facility that
cared for people when
society cast them out,
that baked bread to feed
people when they were
hungry and provide care
for people when they
needed it. It was a place
that helped others.

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O & E Media | Thursday, May 12, 2016

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