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Historical Society to Tour in Saline AreaSaline area sites will be featured in.the annual tour of the Washtenaw county Historical Society Saturday, and a dinner at Federated Church here milclimax the event.A number of owners and former owners of the historical sites to be visited will be special guests at the function: and the members will be welcomed at the 6 p.m. dinner by Mayor and Mrs. Frank Deede, and by Carl A. .Curtiss, vice president of the society.Local committee for the occasion is Bessie Carven Collins, chairman; Mrs. Lloyd Catey and Mrs. Meredith Bixby.All of the sites to be visited are over 100 years old. Among them :The cavalcade will first stop at the site of the early Lodi Academy for girls, at the corner of Saline-Ann Arbor road and Textile road, and then visit Springbrook Fisheries, located just south of town at the Old York Mill site. This property,Mrs. Arend To Sit This One OutFor 18 years, Mrs. Fred Arend was in charge of the home economics department at the Saline Community Fair.She watched it outgrow a “little tiny room” at the Intermediate School, sufficient to accommodate about 25 exhibitors, and overflow into the gymnasium. She supervised its expansion from a few exhibits to departments that included a baby show, flower show, antiques, hobbies, 4-H dub exhibits, and half a dozen other branches.There were no judges at that first Fair . . . the Fair Board did the job. There were no premiums or prizes . . . just ribbons.This year, for reasons of health, Mrs. Arend will not be In charge of the home economics committee -- the Fair Board is considering a suggestion presented Monday night that a committee of local 4-H leaders be appointed to replace her.“But Til be there,” she said. “I’ll come down and help all I can. They’ll want somebody to sit and watch.”known in 1825 in the original government land grant as the Salt Spring Reserve, was a favorite gathering place for the Indians.' Many collections of Indian relics — skinning knives, arrowheads, etc., were gathered here where the Spring . Brook and the Saline'River converge. From 1840 until the early 1940’s the Old York Mill was located on this site . . . and old Saline names such'as Daniel Wallace and Samuel Bixby and Edward Alber and Herman Al-ber and Jacob Theuer appear on the abstract.Coincidentally, this old. York Mill was owned once by Samuel Bixby, the grandfather of Meredith Bixby . . . creator of the second unusual Saline project. The Old Saline Opera House, last stop _ on the tour, now houses the studios of the Meredith Marionettes. The Opera House was once the social heart of the Saline area — scene of all the musicals, lectures and plays that made up colorful old-time Chatauquas in the late 1800’s arid early 1900’s. Until 1931 all Saline High School graduations were held there.The Historical Society plans to reach the Opera House at about 4 p.m. on Saturday and a short program will be held. Meredith Bixby will demonstrate a few of the facets of his work, and several papers of historic significance will be read.Dr. F. Clever Bald of the Michigan Historical Collections at the Rackham Building at the University of Michigan will relate some of the interesting incidents connected with the Lodi Academy; Alma Josenhans of Ann Arbor, for many years with the music and drama de-•partment of the Detroit Pub-*lie Library, will relate the his-I tory of her former home on the Mooreville Rd. Miss 'Josenhans is an authority on the early1 music and drama of this county.Mrs. Collins will cover the history of the Old Saline Opera House.In the course of their tour, the members will also visit the Josenhans house, the first residence of the Moore family who founded Mooreville; the first farm house in Washtenaw county built by Orrin Parsons and now owned by Freda Schumei-er; and the original Orrin Parsons house on Mooreville road, now owned by the James Carman family.
Newspaper Details
Saline Reporter
Saline, Michigan, US
Wed, Jun 22, 1960
Page 1
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Anonymous
MI, USA 15 Sep 2023
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