Come alive and march down Main Street in Milford

January 21, 2013

From the Jack’s Winning Words Blog as we celebrate Martin Luther King Day – “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs.  Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that.”  (Howard Thurman)  It is not widely known that MLK, Jr. was influenced in his thinking by his father’s friend, Howard Thurman.  Thurman, in turn, was influenced by a personal meeting with Gandhi who spoke of the power of non-violence.

Who or what makes you come alive? There are certainly lots of very worthy causes vying for our attention these days. Which ones get yours? When you look at the people who are toiling away for causes – raising funds or doing volunteer work or just trying to improve awareness – you often find people who have in some way been personally touched by the cause for which they now devote time and energy. If it’s for a disease or illness; they might have been a victim or had a family member or close friend who was stricken by the illness/disease. If it was some other misfortune; like a fire burning out a family or a family whose bread-winner unexpectedly passed away, often neighbors in the community will rally around them to provide support. There is a collective feeling of, “There but by the grace of God go I.”

As we pause today at noon to celebrate MLK Day in Milford with a parade down Main St. it MLK image over DOwntown MIlfordis interesting that the celebration and parade are being organized largely by students and younger people in the area who are too young to actually remember Dr. King. I was alive during the events associated with Dr. King and vividly recall watching most of them unfold on broadcast TV. For many of the youth involved in today’s parade, this is about the ideas and the commitment to change and diversity that Dr. King and his movement championed.

Most of these young people who will be involved in the celebration and parade today in Milford have no personal basis for understanding how far Dr. King had to move the country in order to remove some of the inequities that existed at the time. They have grown up in an environment that was significantly changed by Dr. Kings efforts and movement.  We are fortunate that this is what made him come alive and that he did go do it. Join us at the Kroger store at 11:30 this morning and join the March Down Main St.

UPDATE – (Brrrr – It was Cold!!)

OK, so I had the time wrong – the line-0up didn’t start until 12:15 this morning. No matter; the march when on at 1 PM as planned. It was very, very cold; but, a good crownd turned out. See the pictures below –

MLK Day 2013 - At Prospect Hill parking lot - 1

MLK Day 2013 - Crowd and tent

MLK Day 2013 - one of the signs

MLK Day 2013 listening to speakers befoer parade

MLK Day 2013 - starting the march

MLK Day 2013 - end of parade entering Central Park

Did I mention that it was cold?

This was the 8th annual MLK Day March on Main Street and was once again MC’ed by Dave Armstrong. former Milford resident, who now lives in downtown Detroit. Coffee was provided by Starbucks and the folks from Coratti’s on Main provided hot chocolate as the marchers went by.

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Posted by Norm Werner

End of Year Giving – Milford Historical Society Project

December 21, 2012

At the end of the year many people rush to make that last-minute charitable contribution, so that they have an extra tax deduction to count. If you are among them I have just the charity need for you.

The Milford Historical Society is fund-raising to replace the storm windowsMilford Museum exterior on the Milford Historical Museum. Now, these are n’t your ordinary, run down to Loews and picks up some windows kind of storm windows. The museum building is well over a hundred years old and part of the mission of the Milford Historical Society is to keep it looking like it did when built. That means no aluminium storm windows for us. No, sir!

Our storm windows are custom made to fit each window. They are made out of wood and each must be custom measured and made, because settling over the years has left most of the windows out of plumb and certainly not square.

We have 10 storm windows that need to be made. We have fond a retired carpenter who will make them for us almost free, but he needs the materials to work with. His best estimate is that each window will cost $150. So we need to raise $1,500 to make this happen.

The Milford Historical Society is a 501-C3 non-profit organization, so your gift to support this project should give you a tax deduction. You’ll feel great about supporting a local cause and you can see you windows when you visit the museum next year. We close for the season this Saturday and will reopen in the spring. By then we hope to have he storm windows all in place.

So get out that checkbook and make that last-minute charitable contribution to the Milford Historical Society. You can write down in the memo line that it is for the storm windows project. Send your check to Milford Historical Society, 124 E. Commerce Rd, Milford, MI 48381. We will certainly provide receipts for all donations. You can also visit our eBay page and use the Donate Now button to make a donation to the Milford Historical Society via your credit card or using PayPal. Thank you for your support.  Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!

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Posted by Norm Werner

Housing Market Speeding Back To “Normal”

December 4, 2012

A recent blog post on Trulia by economist Jed Kolko makes the claim that the housing market is 47% back to “normal.” Kolko uses three primary measurements of the market as indicators of its state – new housing starts, existing home sales and the delinquency (foreclosure) rate in the groups of markets that he tracks. Kolko compares these numbers against their worst state at the depth of the recession and their best at the pre-burst peak of the market. The data in Kolko’s blog are from October and from very reliable sources. His percentages of recovery are basically percentages of the change from the worst to the known best state for those three indicators.

According to Kolko, new construction is 41% back to normal, up 47% year-over-year against last November. Existing home sales he sees as being 59% back to normal and delinquencies/foreclosures are 41% of the way back to normal at a current rate of 10.64% nationally. He has some interesting charts in the story that show the trends, starting with his Housing Barometer. Click on the link in the first sentence to read his blog article and see the charts.

In this area, I just posted the November home sales numbers for Milford, Highland house shoppingWhite Lake, Commerce, South Lyon and West Bloomfield Townships in Oakland County and Green Oak, Brighton and Hartland Townships in Livingston County. You can see that data and the 3-5 years’ worth of data that I’ve been collecting for those markets on my web site – www.movetomilford.com. I think I’m going to have to start charting my data, too. It does make it easier to see the trends. I’ll start that in January of 2013 and go back a couple of years just to get the trend lines going.

Just based upon my own observations and the data that I collect and post, I can also see the recovery happening, albeit a bit slower in some markets, but quite rapidly in pockets locally. I also look at the trend in home sale values and the sold price per square foot, which have been rising in all the markets all year. Foreclosures and short sales are down to below 50% in all of the markets that I track and down close to the national average in some – good news.

Currently slowing the recovery a bit locally is the lack of inventory. Too many people still believe that they are underwater on their homes, so they are still hunkered down waiting out the market. For many the time to at least take a look at where they’re at in terms of market value has arrived – they just don’t know it yet. I’m pretty sure that we aren’t 47% back to the pre-bust “normal” of 2005-6, but our market has markedly improved and it’s definitely time for people to leave the bunkers and test the market.

The local economic news is also improving, so the economic risk factors are down for making a move, too. My advice is to at least get an informed opinion from a Realtor about what you house is worth today, so that you can make intelligent decisions about whether to go ahead with retirement plans, move-up plans or whatever plans you have that involve making a real estate change. Email or call me 248-763-2497, if you’re in this area and let me take a look at your home-value situation – you may be pleasantly surprised.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Making history while preserving history…

December 1, 2012

The Milford Historical Society (MHS) tends to focus on its mission of collecting,museum preserving and sharing the history of Milford, Michigan through educational programs at the Milford Historical Museum and out in the community. Every now and then the Society makes a little history itself by doing new and innovative things in pursuit of that mission.

If you haven’t been to the Milford Historical Society Web site – www.milfordhistory.org lately. You really should visit. MHS has announced that it is in the information and photograph collection process for a new book on the history of Milford. The MHS originally produced the book “Ten Minutes Ahead of the Rest of The World” in the mid-1970’s. That book, which primarily documented the founding of Milford and events through the end of the Nineteenth Century, is now in its third printing and still selling strong for local residents. The new book, which currently has the working title “Milford in the 20th history bookCentury”, will focus upon the events in and around Milford in the period from 1900 to 2000 – the 20th Century.

There were lots of significant events happening around the world and in the United State during that period – World Wars, The Great Depression the real growth of the Michigan-based automotive industry and much more. The MHS will be attempting to document in stories and pictures what was happening in Milford during those events, as well as what local things happened of impact to the citizens of Milford. Local residents and those who may have moved away are encourage to share with the MHS your pictures and stories. You may email things to NewBook@milfordhistory.org or send them to me at normwerner@comcast.net . We have already put a link on our Web site to the wonderful Facebook page “I remember that in Milford, Michigan” and we hope that people will want us to use the stories and pictures that they have shared there.

In addition to the new book, we have put a toe into the 21st Century waters of MissionFishLogoInternet commerce by signing up with a charity fund-raising organization called MissionFish  put a link on our home page for a page on eBay where people can sign up to sell things and have a portion be donated to the MHS. You can also just donate directly from that page. We will soon be opening a Web-based store on our site where you will be able to buy the various things that we currently only sell in the Museum – books, prints of old maps and pictures and other things that we sell to support the Museum.

We have also announced the creation of an endowment, which will be set up to allow donors to put money into a fund that will be invested for the sole purpose of keeping the Milford Historical Museum operating. More on that as it unfolds. Soon patrons will be able to designate estate contributions to the Milford Historical Museum Endowment Fund. We hope to raise enough in the fund to support the on-going operation of the museum through investment earnings from this fund.

Finally there is also a link on our home page to an organization that rewards people for their volunteer efforts in support of non-profit organizations like the MHS. do-good_logoClick on the big heart with the “Do Good, Get Rewards” wording in the middle to see how you can earn rewards for donating your time to the MHS. I think it’s great that someone can report the time that they put in helping local charity and other non-profits and get rewards. Even if it’s not the MHS, you should go there to see how you can get rewards for the volunteer work that you do for all of the organizations that your support through volunteer work.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Mission Accomplished – Bill Schimmel’s book about the life of Jacob Tipsico

November 27, 2012

Bill Schimmel was a long-time Milford Township resident and member of the board of directors for the Milford Historical Society. Bill passed away this year after a long bout with cancer, but not before finishing a project that he had worked on, off and on, for the last ten years – a book based upon the life of a local Native American member of the Chippewa tribe – Jacob Tipsico. Yes, this was the man for which Tipsico Lake was named and subsequently Tipsico Lake Road.

Bill was always interested in Native American history and memorabilia. He was part Native American himself, based upon research into his family history that revealed a Cherokee relative several generations back. Bill was a collector of local arrow heads and there is an exhibit of some of those at the Milford Historical Society Museum. Bill became interested in tracing the man and his family for which Tipsico Lake was named after he stumbled upon the lake while out Christmas tree shopping years ago. His interest eventually turned into a passion and then into a mission to do the research and gather the information necessary to document the life of this local Native American. Bill enlisted the aid of a friend and artist, Thomas Bem, to provide illustrations of events for which pictures could not be found and he enlisted local writer Joyce Clark to act as editor for the book.

Bill was himself an interesting man of many interests and talents. He was a Metallurgical Engineer for fifty years, working on the development of metals for the automotive and aerospace industries. He held several patents and had written many technical papers during his career. One of his proudest achievements was while he worked for Rocketdyne in California on the team that contributed to the landing of the Apollo 11 Mission, when man first walked on the moon. He retired as Director of Materials from Williams International, a local manufacturer of small jet engines in Walled Lake, Michigan, after working there for 31 years.

Most of us will probably not take the time or have the passion that Bill had to turn his interest in Jacob Tipsico into such a mission and then to devote so much time and energy into pursuing that mission. We are, however, better off that he did pursue his dream and now we have his wonderful book about the life and family of Jacob Tipsico. Tipsico was not listed as a chief in the documentation of the time that BIll could find and confirm, so Bill does not call him that either; but Tipsico was related to a long line of Chippewa chiefs and was perhaps the last vestige of what by then was a by-gone era.

Much of Bill’s book documents what was happening in that time to the Native American population and might make you cringe a bit today, but it is history worth knowing and Bill does a good job in the telling. They don’t teach about the “Trail of Tears” in school history classes, but Bill’s book contains a good lesson on that dark period in our nation’s history. Bill does a good job of setting the larger context of Native American life at that time and then goes on to document Jacob Tipsico’s life and family within that context.

The book – Jacob Tipsico – A Michigan Chippewa, His Life, His Family and the End of an Era – will be available at the Milford Historical Museum and selected local Milford retail stores. It is only $10 and should be a must-read for those interested in the history of the local area or in the history of the Native American population and what they endured as they were displaced by the invasion of white European settlers. Get a copy for yourself or as a gift for someone for Christmas. You can pair it up with a copy of Ten Minutes Ahead of the Rest of the World, the history of Milford, Michigan, to make a great coffee table set.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Milford in the 20th Century – New Book Project

November 9, 2012

The Milford Historical Society has as its mission to collect, preserve and share the history of Milford, Michigan. Recently the Society announced plans to create a New Book about the history of Milford. The Society has already published one book – “Ten Minutes Ahead of the Rest of the World” – which was completed in 1978 and focused mainly on the founding and growth of Milford, Michigan in the 19th Century, from the first settlers in the 1830’s up to the early years of the 1900’s.

The new book, which is being researched and written under the working title “Milford in the 20th Century”, will focus upon the history of the Milford area (Village and Township) from 1901 until 2000. The Milford Historical Society is calling for local area residents to share pictures, stories, memorabilia and other things that might contribute to understanding the history of Milford during that time fame.  The framework of the book is organized initially around the decades of the twentieth century and will place the history of events in Milford within the context of what was going on in the world at the time. It is particularly important to find old pictures that show how Milford looked in each decade or which document significant events in Milford’s history and long lost buildings or venues.

There are places long gone that existed during this era, such as the old Milford High School, many of the Mills of Milford (which were all demolished during this era), the Milford Hotel and Movie House. There are also great stories about the days when Milford used to host the Oakland County Fair and when there was horse racing and car racing in Milford. We need to capture and document all of that. There were places that had nick-names like Little Egypt and Baby Town that we want to understand and share the stories of for future generations.

There are events that occurred in Milford that reflect how the local scene was impacted by the larger context of what was going on in the world, like the WPA sidewalk project during the Depression that brought work and new sidewalks to many Milford streets. There was the creation of the General Motors Proving Ground that was cobbled together out of many Milford and Brighton Farms. Of course there was the Ford Carburetor Plant in Milford, a part of the Ford Village Industries program that Henry Ford initiated early in the 20th century. Milford had many other manufacturing companies in the early part of the century that are all long gone. We’d like to document them.

Life and lifestyles changed quite a bit during this time span, too; and we’d like to understand and share those changes. The impacts of the railroad and the automobile were profound on Milford and the lifestyles of the Milford residents. Tell us stories about that and maybe share pictures. Several churches in the area grew and moved about during this century, we’d like to hear about that, too. Several school building came and went during this timeframe, if you have any picture and stories. Let us know. Although many of the building remained in place, there were changes to the downtown as stores came and went. There were car dealerships and drug stores and grocery stores on North Main Street at one time. Do you have pictures or stories about them? The train used to stop in Milford; do you have pictures from the old train station?

It is our hope that we can find and preserve as much of the photographic history of Milford in the 20th Century as possible and also capture and preserve the oral history that many life-long Milford residents have about this era. We will be drawing quite a bit of our research from our own archives, but we have only collected a very small portion of the items that likely exist in our community to document Milford in the 20th Century.

You may call or email to discuss what you can contribute. Call the Museum at 248-685-7308 and speak to the Museum Staff or leave a message with your name and a phone number,  if no one answers. We’ll get back to you as quickly as we can. You can also email us at NewBook@milfordhistory.org . If you have scanned images of pictures or a written story about Milford during this time span you can attach it to the email. If you have only the original picture of something, we’ll arrange to get it scanned into a digital image and document what the picture is about and then give it back to you (unless you wish to donate it to the Museum). Our hope is to spend the next two years collecting and documenting the history of Milford during this era and then get the new book published sometime in 2015. Please help.

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Posted by Norm Werner

It’s all about Milford…

November 5, 2012

Whenever someone moves into a new community they have lots of questions and concerns about finding stuff and services that they might need. They also won’t know what’s going on in he community that they may wish to participate in with their families. Those are some of the things that I’ve tried to help with by creating and maintaining the MovetoMIlford.com web site.

A person new to Milford can find just about anything that I could think of within a few clicks at the Move to Milford site. Much of the content is not stuff that’s I’ve created, it exists on other web sites; but, I did go find those sites and put links to them on my site, so that you can find them. Some of the obvious things, like the calendar of Upcoming Community Events, I keep right on the opening page. Some more obscure things, like the link to a site that has all of the Township and Village ordinances, require a couple of clicks to get to (hint: the Click on Milford page has lots of those things).

I’m not a restaurant critic, but I’ve tried to keep track of all of the eateries in town, with contact information and links to their web sites, where applicable. All of the churches are listed, too. Both lists are accessible from the Click on Milford page. I also have a Recommended Local Businesses page on which I have listed businesses that I have done business with and/or businesses that are in my Huron Valley Chamber of Commerce referral group. I don’t keep businesses listed there for which I have received complaints or bad feedback. There is also always a Featured Business of the Month on the opening page with a write-up that I do about the business.

If you are new to the area and have a family, you’ll likely have questions about the schools and boundaries for the district and the schools. Answers to those questions may be found by following links from my site to sites that are about schools.

Milford is a very active community, with lots of groups sponsoring or running lots of programs. I try to keep up with all of that, but for some I have links to their schedule of events and programs. Specifically the local YMCA, the Milford Library and the Huron Valley Community Recreation and Education groups each have program schedules on the Move to Milford site. Many of the local charity groups run fund raising events throughout the year and they will always be highlights on the site, too. I generally post anything that I get information about events from these various groups that are open to the public.

Finally, of course, I am a Realtor in Milford, so there is lots of real estate information available there, too; including real estate sales statistics that are updated weekly. There are links to Community Profiles that are supplied by Oakland County; links to maps and data on the inland lakes in the area, which is supplied by the DNR; and a page full of different ways to search for a house or property. I’ve also created a reading library of articles and useful links to sites with specific information about real estate. There are also forms that you can fill out and submit to get help with either buying or selling a home.

I encourage you to explore the site, whether you are new to the area or not. I suspect that you’ll be able to find things there (or links to things) that you didn’t know existed. One final note – There are two versions of the site, one for full screen PCs and tablets and one for smartphones. The smartphone version is formatted for the smaller screen of the phone, so that you don’t have to pinch and zoom trying to read the site. The site senses the device that you are coming into it from and will automatically switch you to the smartphone version, if that is how you access the site. Try both versions. I hope that you enjoy using the site as much as I enjoy keeping it up.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Great Halloween night

November 1, 2012

This is as much a follow up to my last post about MIlford and the Boo Bash as anything. Last night was Halloween night. Even though it was cold and occasionally drizzly we had tons of kids come bye. I ended up with one box of Milk Duds left, after going through 7 bags of candy.

That’s just another great thing about Milford. The layout and population density of the Village and several of it’s major subs encourages Trick or Treating. Lots of kids from the Township and surrounding areas are brought in by their parents for the evening; and, that’s a good thing – the more the merrieer.

Another thing that we see every Hallowen is a number of parents who dress up too and accompany their children. No, they don’t actually come to the door and ask for candy. They’re just out there, having fun and making sure that their kids are safe. I enjoy talking to the parents, too.

So. another year is marked by the passage of Halloween. Now, it’s on to the Holiday Season, in advance of the dead of winter. We have the Great Reveal to lookl forward to this month, as well as the Christmas Parade the weekend after Thanksgiving. there are a number of upcoming charity events in the area, too. Visit www.movetomilford.com for  a complete list of upcoming community events.

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Posted by Norm Werner

Not even in Mayberry…

October 29, 2012

I’ll bet that not even in the mythical Mayberry did they have a Boo Bash like we did last Saturday night in Milford. This annual event has become a real favorite with families that have small children. The downtown is closed off and all of the merchants sit in their doorways giving out candy to the kids in their Halloween outfits as they pass by. It’s just too cute and now draws quite a crowd to the downtown.

 

Next up for the downtown is the Big Reveal – the unveiling of the downtown stores annual Christmas displays. Store windows will be covered with holiday wrapping paper soon as the merchants put together special window displays for the holidays. Then, on November 15th at 6:30 pm kids are invited to help the merchants reveal their windows by ripping down the paper.

The downtown will soon be all decorated and lit up for the holiday season and parking meters will be bagged (don’t have to pay) from November 21 through January 2.

The final big Milford parade  downtown for 2012 will be the annual Christmas Parade, which takes place the Saturday after Thanksgiving – Nov. 25th this year. There’ll be floats and bands and groups marching in the parade and Santa will be there too! Plan on bringing the entire family to Milford for that event and then stay and enjoy our wonderful shops and restaurants.

On November 29 the downtown merchants will be holding a Christmas Open House with strolling entertainment, refreshments and special sales. Santa will officially set up shop in Milford at 6 pm and start talking to kids about what they want for Christmas. If you bring a can of food to donate for the hungry, you can exchange it for a candle in Ceter Street Park and there will even be horse-drawn carriage rides available through the downtown area.

Mayberry was a quaint little town on TV which I often refer to as a comparison to Milford; but they just couldn’t hold a candle to all of the events and family activities that go on in Milford each year. Life was quaint but somewhat dull in Mayberry. Life is anything but dull in Milford; and that’s great, especially if you have small children who are always asking what there is to do next. Come on out to Milford, there’s always something to do.

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Posted by Norm Werner

You haven’t live in MIlford until…

October 27, 2012

you’ve visited the Powerhouse.

The Pettibone Creek Powerhouse  is perhaps the only venue in the Village of Milford that’s The Pettibone Creek Powerhouseharder to get to see than the Museum, so persistence isi n order. The museum is open two days a week for about 8 months of the year, but the Powerhouse is currently only open on special events and about 10-12 times total all year long. Hopefully that will change in the not too distant future and the Powerhouse will become more available for the citizens of the Village.

The Pettibone Creek Powerhouse is located in the north side of Central park, between the baseball field and the upper level parking lot. You can park in the upper lot and walk over or you can get to it off West Liberty St (which runs east and west off Cabinet St) and park in front of the building. That’s just about as close as you’ll get currently, since it is fenced off to prevent vandalism. It’s also fenced to prevent people from falling into the little waterfalls next to the Powerhouse, where the mill pond spills into a short creek run leading to the Huron River.

Henry Ford had the Powerhouse built in 1939 to provide electricity to the Ford Carburetor Plant in Milford. That plant was a part of his “Village Industries” initiative of that era. You can read more about the era and the Powerhouse itself at the Milford Historical Society Web site or at the site that the Friends of the Powerhouse have set up. The facility is known by several names. The Milford Historical Society uses the name Pettibone Creek Powerhouse  because the the water source for the generation of power is actually Lower Pettibone Lake to the north of the Village. A 48” diameter ½” thick pipe runs under the north side of Milford delivering water to the powerhouse. It does not take water from the mill pond right next to it.

When Henry Ford was building the various plants and infrastructure for them he often used a Detroit friend and architect Albert Kahn to design the buildings. The Pettibone Creek Powerhouse is an Albert Kahn design.  The Village of Milford had designated the building to be demolished when the Milford Historical Society stepped in and requested that they be allowed to save and restore it. A multi-year project, involving several grants and lots of local fund-raising resulted to the complete restoration of the exterior of the building and the cleanup of the interior. While the interior no longer has the turbines and control equipment that once generated power for the Ford plant, it is interesting to tour and you can still see the Lower Pettibone Lake water coursing thought the turbine housings.

Currently, a group has formed and preliminary work has been done to see if the Powerhouse can once again be made to generate power. Engineering feasibility studies have identified the types of new turbines that would be required, the flow rate and power generation rates that could be sustained and have explored the economics of the venture. It is estimated that the old Pettibone Creek Powerhouse, if refitted to generate power could generate enough power to supply the majority of the power required to operate Milford’s municipal water pumping, with the excess to be sold back into the power grid. It’s an exciting prospect that has a lot of local people pulling for it.

If you’d like to schedule a group through to see the Powerhouse or you’re interested in supporting the work to get the Powerhouse generating power again, contact Rich Harrison at 248-935-5556. If you’d like an idea about what you’ll see, there is a virtual tour at the Powerhouse Web site. Click here to view that tour.

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Posted by Norm Werner

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