The Nankin Township Historical Society

Detroit Free Press , May 11, 1899 In 1899 Nankin fought back against the Detroit, Ypsi & Ann Arbor railway for double-charging their fare within the township limits. Whereas the fare was a flat 5 cents for a full ride between any two points in Nankin the township accused the railway of charging an extra 5 cents within the limits of Wayne Township.

Detroit Free Press , February 10, 1901 I'm tired so I'm going to keep this one brief or else it will never get written. The trouble at the Hicks School in Nankin began when Miss Millie Sawslayer decided that the little red schoolhouse should paint over the lower panes of glass to keep the students from staring out the window during class. Director Hicks and moderator Martin Harrison agreed. Unfortunately, Treasurer Samuel Bills did not and neither did his children. They grew tired of going to the place they considered a prison and their father stopped taking them to school. Word got around and soon there were only 2 children attending class. One being the adopted daughter of Director Hicks and "that Flarriety boy". The three Hammond boys were supposed to be there but they were busy skipping class and hanging out in a makeshift shanty that they constructed on their father's farm. Their punishment was going to school! The feud between the board members went on fo...

Detroit Free Press , June 30, 1905 Being anti-spanking and very much pro-cookie I felt that this was somewhat historical though not something that you'd likely see in a book concerning Nankin farmers. In this newspaper clipping from 1905 we learn that Nankin farmer John Rieman (or Nieman) was arrested for beating his 12-year-old son for stealing a cookie. The irony of the story is that the boy's friend had taken it and the son was merely protecting his friend's honor and paid the price for it. Rieman, of Wayne (yes, Wayne was located within Nankin Twp), was fined $10. Detroit Free Press , July 2, 1905

Detroit Free Press , June 5, 1959 Nothing spices up a summer carnival like a little nude dancing from some southern gals. Or so thought two members of the Wayne County rackets squad (tennis? I guess that I should have read this better since one was a cop and the other a prosecutor) who treated 16 teenage boys to the show at the Harris-Kehrer post of the VFW in Inkster. Which sounds like a grooming ritual of sorts and one father, after hearing of the episode from his son, thought so, too, and c alled the cops. The men, Alfred A. Goldfarb, assistant prosecutor, and Harry Sparks, deputy sheriff, I'm assuming, were sent to DeHoCo (or did they claim that it was a sting?) along with the dancers and others involved in the illegal activity. The arrested dancers and their accomplices are listed as Nellie B. Jones, Gastonia, North Carolina, Dorothy Gentry, Maryville, Tennessee, Lucy Jude, Stirrat, West Virginia and Robert E. Miller, Tampa, Florida were all sent to the Detroit House of Corr...

Detroit Free Press , January 31, 1962 Mrs. Jean Beegle's class at Tonquish Elementary School in Nankin Twp. were struck with mania by a box! Not unlike modern tweens mesmerized by technology this "box" was produced by Beegle's husband. It allowed the students to place a question card with their chosen answer into the box and it would return a response of true, false or ridiculous.

Detroit Free Press , September 23, 1953 I've detailed dozens of accidents concerning cars and trains in the vicinity of Eloise and since Nankin was the center it only makes sense that pattern wasn't confined to the hospital. Blanchford Patterson and his son Samuel were hit and dragged 100 feet by a train at the Hix Road crossing. They were treated and released from WCGH with minor injuries. The trained was engineered by Harry Huebner of Plymouth.

Detroit Free Press , September 9, 1965 The other day I decided that I needed myself a postcard, envelope or anything with a NANKIN postmark so I did a little research on the matter, having found no example on eBay or its ilk. It turns out there may be a reason why such a specimen is so scarce. Up until 1964 the towns within the township--Wayne, Garden City, Inkster and Plymouth (Livonia must have already had their own; then again I didn't even know that Plymouth fell within the boundaries of Nankin)--were getting mailed stamped with their respective town names. Obviously, this didn't last long since Nankin went kaput in 1966 so it's obviously going to be quit difficult to locate one. Old Nankin, on the other hand, might be the easier prospect of the two. More specifically East Nankin, which I believe existed into the early to mid 1900s.

Detroit Free Press , January 12, 1869 Early Nankin had its news as well and whenever it was printable it usally spelled doom for the participants. Such was the case for James Davis of said township. In 1869 while serving as a juror on the Wayne Circuit Court his teenage son was killed while hauling wood in a painful accident. Mr. Davis had left his boy to do the work as he set off to do the People's work of so-called justice. As is the case with most happenings in the world justice is merely a word striving for perfection within the framework of man's pratfalls. It would have been nice to get the name of the deceased but it was not forthcoming.