The Nankin Township Historical Society

I have a fairly good memory so when I purchased this Wayne cabinet card and tracked it to the studio that William Corlett, first President of said village, owned with a man named Frank Hickok, I recalled that post by The Wayne Historical Society about two women photographers taking over for their dead husbands. Mamie Corlett was one of them and since the lone name appearing on this card is her married name we can assume that she had taken full charge of the studio by this time, Anna Hickok having sold her share in the venture in 1895. Now to identify the people.

Plymouth Mail , January 7, 1910 William Mott may have been the area's worst wagon driver having been hit by an interurban twice within 6 months while crossing the tracks. In the second incident at Cady's Corners, which killed his horses, he claimed not to hear the approaching train. Which is not uncommon in Eloise lore where many victims voiced the same notion that a train, both freight and interurban, was upon them before they realized as much. Hence, the gates at rail crossings.

Plymouth Mail , June 23, 1899 The life of the prominent people of our towns are much the same as ours except that their trevails are given greater attention. If you recall, during the building of Henry Sustedt's [sic] factory at Romulus a tornado knocked it to the pilings. In this case it was spooked horses that knocked him down from his carriage to the iron bridge crossing the Rouge in Wayne causing a broken shoulder, two ribs, thigh and a thumb.

7107 N. Wayne Road, Wayne, Michigan PArkway 2-7740 WE DELIVER Fried Chicken, steaks, chops, sea food, pizza, sandwiches, cold drinks, sundaes, pies and cakes. Hours: 6 A.M. to 3 A.M. Sundays: 1 P.M. to 8 P.M.

Plymouth Mail , June 22, 1888 Even though they spelled James Kuebaugh's name wrong they gave us some of the intimate details of his unfortunate death. He passed from tuberculosis at the home of John Wallace of Wayne at the age of 30. The funeral took place from the Congregational Church.

Detroit Free Press , July 3, 1893 As was the case with most small towns looking for a leg-up in the booming industrial age, plans were afoot in Romulus in the 1890s to make it a manufacturing hub. Being conveniently located at the crossing of the Wabash Railroad and the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad it made perfect sense for the time. As such, the Romulus Land Syndicate of Detroit, which had already lured such manufacturers as the J. M. Hommel Mfg. Co., The Romulus Knitting Mills, The Seestedt Furniture Co. and the Columbian Wire Works. Seestadt, having formerly been located in Wayne, needed an upgrade in their growing business and chose Romulus. On July 4, 1893 the Romulus Land Syndicate renting a train an offered a free expedition from the New Union Depot in Detroit to the burgeoning town 13 miles to the west. The only exclusions were children because they meant business, I suppose. Not a solitary event the land syndicate seemingly did this annually for a few years.

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

Here's a Haunted Houses of Metro Detroit advertisement from the WRIF's Inside Out magazine Halloween edition in 1990. I picked this up somewhere for a buck since that's what written at the first page. The listed attractions were as follows: WRIF Haunted House (Farmington Jaycees), Brighton Haunted Barn, Barnstormer Dungeon of Doom (Whitmore Lake), Bloomer Haunted Forest Walk (West Bloomfield), Haunted Museum (Toledo), Haunted House (Hazel Park), House of Nightmares (Warren), Haunted Barn (Wayne), Mutillation Mansion, Warren Goodfellows Haunted House, Vampire Vault (Taylor), Spooktacular (Utica?). More highlights to come from the magazine.

Detroit Free Press , February 4, 1859 So maybe my idea for this sort of Historical Society isn't so far afield. It seems that our suburban forebears of the county Wayne in 1859 tried to form their own county named Washington. It was to be comprised of the townships of Livonia, Taylor, Dearborn, Nankin, Brownstown, Redford, Plymouth, Canton, Sumpter, Huron and Van Buren. According to the article below the townships included were all part of the Third District in Wayne County elections. They met at the J. L. Robert's Hotel in Wayne in September of 1852. Detroit Free Press , September 7, 1852 Originally, they proposed some parts of east Washtenaw as well but those inhabitants weren't having any of it. The bill easily passed the Senate but stalled somewhere because I could find no further hits.  Within the new by-laws was the provision that all paupers and persons residing in the County House and in jail who were not residence of the new Washington County would be returned t...

An example of the Marjon School of Cosmetology student application despite it being rather wrinkled from being folded up in a suitcase for 47 years. It will flatten out more now that it is properly sleeved. Tuition for the 11 month course was $300. Which, I believe, included the kit I purchased at the estate sale. Though, obviously, some of the original parts are probably long gone.

Sylvia Steele paid her dues at the Marjon School of Cosmetology. It wasn't cheap. Note the alternate address on the front of the receipt book. The Marjon School of Cosmetology had at least two addresses in Wayne. The main one was 35611 Michigan Avenue though the Student Receipt Book pictured above from 1971 shows an address of 33556 Michigan Ave. as well, which may have been the offices for the school. Romulus Roman , December 13, 1972 The only advertisements that I could locate were from the 1970s and the business persisted until the late '70s when the Wayne Karate Studio occupied the building. The advert above mentions the second anniversary of the Marjon School. Romulus Roman , November 28, 1979 In the early 1990s Motor City Collectibles was operating from that address. Romulus Roman , February 9, 1994

Sylvia Steele's Registration permit from the state of Michigan to become a student of cosmetology. Note that her age was 43. Either the kids had all had moved out and she was starting a career for herself or it was a change of careers for her.

Well, so much for researching yesterday. I had to go and check out the estate sale listings and a Dearborn Heights sale was holding a 75% off blowout sale and I found this Marjon School of Cosmetology of Wayne beautician's case of and some other relics for just $6 there. It took me a little while to spruce it up and put it in the best order that a guy possibly can without knowing jack squat about fashion and beauty supplies. It dates from the early 1970s and was owned by a woman named Sylvia Steele. Proper scans of the documents will be posted in subsequent entries.        

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.

This photo appears to be from the 1970s and a few people have suggested that this Wayne County Road Commission building was located at the southwest corner of Howe Road and Michigan Avenue in Wayne. The address is on the building but is illegible in this scan.

A postcard of the Nankin Hospital. A structure that I know very little about.

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...