NORTHVILLIANS,

• Music in downtown Northville through the Summer. Fridays – Link, Saturdays –  Link, Sunday – Details to come.
   
• 7/4 at 10am – The Fourth of July Parade downtown – Link.
   
• Fourth of July Mill Race Village activities from 11-2pm, including food, games, building tours, and historic reenactments. Link
   
• Cars and Coffee – Saturday, 7/13, 8-10AM – Join us for this gathering of rolling art forms, behind Old Village School next to the Library (212 W. Cady St.) – Bring a car/bring yourself/bring a friend.
   
• Northville Concours d’Elegance – 7/14, 10AM-3PM – See exceptional vehicles throughout the beautiful historic Mill Race Village grounds. Link
   
• Summer Camps for Kids – Registration is open for Parks and Rec youth camps! Link

• Ford Field – Phase I (Infrastructure, entryway staircase, overview vista, fencing)
• Riverwalk – Daylighting of Rouge River & River Park work has begun @ Downs.
• Downs Initiative – Demo work progressing - Main Club House demo this week – Link (City News)
• Infrastructure – 8 Mile Road construction continues to progress.

Let’s take a look at cooling off spots through the years around the Ville...

Our town is the headwaters of the Rouge River, with three tributaries converging in the Ville (Johnson Creek, Randolph Drain and the Rouge system). We also have the only natural lake in Wayne County, Curtis Lake (also once called Silver Springs Lake/Yerkes Lake). And we are the highest point in the county, so I like to say everything is “Downriver” from Northville. The Rouge drops hundreds of feet to the Detroit River into the Great Lakes from Northville.

• Beginning in the 1870’s, as I alluded at the start, Northvillians in the Orchard Heights area would go to the Northville Fish Hatchery to swim in one of their many ponds. 
• Also, there was another small body of water behind Rural Hill Cemetery (still there) where many of the local boys swam until the WWII era.
• Finally, at Eaton Drive & Seven Mile, there was an additional pond where Joe Denton Park is today. This cool spring-fed pond was connected to the City’s water supply.

• Locals would cool down in the Mill Pond created by the dammed-up Rouge River, which previously fed the waterworks of the area mills. Northville was one of the first milling areas in Michigan, then became a center for the industrial revolution … today, we are reinventing ourselves, planning a network of Riverwalk pathways.
• Many folks had homes on the banks of the Rouge River that runs through Cabbagetown to keep cool in the summers and for the relaxation of the flowing water.
• Lake Success on Griswold (a remnant of the gravel pit days) was also a frequent stop for swimmers.

• The Rouge River also runs through the Bealtown area (named after Mr. Beal who owned the largest School and Church furniture business in the world (at the time) named Globe Furniture).
• Last century, the river running through the Downs was entombed underground to provide more land for Wayne County’s Fair (which was even larger than the State Fair). Today, we are daylighting this river which runs under the Downs, and we will have an adjacent pathway and greenspace on either side.
• Johnson Creek connects to the Rouge close to Custard Time. After WWII, Wayne County built what we would call today a “splash park” as you enter the parkway across from Custard Time. When I was a kid, there were still remnants of the concrete wading pools with large sprinklers.

• The Randolph Drain winds its way from Oakland County through this historic area and becomes quite a creek when the rains are upon us. In fact, where it connects with the Rouge at Ford Field, we are constructing a waterfall area at Serenity Point to reduce erosion.
• In the early 1960’s, at the edge of the historic district (8 Mile & Randolph), the Northville Swim Club took shape. I have fond memories of cooling off there when I was young.
• Next door to the Swim Club at the old High School (Hillside School grounds), a modern indoor pool was built in the late 1960’s which offered swimming times for public use.

• As mentioned, Northvillians would also cool down at nearby gravel pit areas. Thousands of years ago, the glaciers “slowed down” ever so slightly, edging their way through Northville, leaving gravel deposits. Once dug out, these large craters would fill with spring water.
• I remember hearing stories from my father and grandparents about swimming in the Northville gravel pits. Today, we call one Blue Heron Pointe, and the other is called Highland Lakes. The Taft gravel pit on the highest point of the county never hit water.
• Enjoy the rest of your summer and cool off by walking close to our flowing waterways at the Fish Hatchery Park, Ford Field, Mill Race Village and Hines Drive. And, if so inclined, dip your toe in one of our cool spring fed rivers.