The Nankin Township Historical Society

Tedium is thy name when it comes to scanning and editing together newspaper pages. This Special Supplement to the "Westland Eagle" from May 25, 1966 announces the birth of the newly formed city from its origins as Nankin Township. Each page has to be scanned in three sections (on a normal scanner) and then pieced together. Which sounds easy enough except that each edge has its own unique discoloration and resolution and they more times than not do not mesh cohesively. Plus, with older papers like these the tone of each page varies so they aren't exactly congruent when considered as a whole. I've mostly gotten over my OCD in those regards but it still bothers me. Luckily, limited time to work said pages gives me a proper perspective. Here's the first three pages in a satisfactory presentation.

Westland Observer , October 28, 1982 While I'm seemingly on a Westland Halloween posting spree here's a 1982 clipping about a haunted woods trail that a teenager set up in the late 1970s. Paul Staros, then a 16-year-old John Glenn High School senior, and twenty of his friends and family members held an annual haunted woods attraction that garnered a small but loyal following. It started when his sister gave rides through the woods on a family-owned rickshaw. Staros then incorporated attractions along the path that would startle the guests. Namely monsters. The idea grew from there into an annual Halloween event. Keywords: Dave Stine, Steve Stine, 6710 Farmington Road, Steve Maciarz, Monica Staros, Matt Staros, Westland Lions Club, Doug Staros.

I wasn't aware that among his seemingly 9 million books written that Richard Bak had penned a rather impressive pastiche on Michigan's involvement in the Civil War. It's more a condensed scrapbook history of the skirmish but gives the local touch that somebody with the attention span of a fruit fly, namely myself, can get into and out of without missing much.  The featured personage here is Henry Loss of Nankin. Who was too young and small in stature to join as a man-child but was inducted into the cause as a drummer before growing into a soldier.  In the Battle of Baton Rouge he was struck in the temple by a minie [sic] ball and thought to be dead. In fact, he was reported dead and had his customary funeral sermon only to have been knocked unconscious but very much alive despite his injuries. ( enlarge ) When his 3 year term of service was up he went back home to Michigan only to grow tired of civilian life. He re-enlisted in the 24th Michigan Infantry and saw battle at Ga...