Q: Fran, I believe you moved to Northville
Township in 1955?
A: Right.
Q: Could you tell me what it was like along Six Mile at that time?
A: Well, it was all country from Inkster Road on; in fact, when we left Detroit at Inkster Road was the last street light. From then on it was just darkness.
Q: Now you built your own home?
A: Right.
Q: Did
you make a point of going into Northville to shop?
A: Well,
originally my interests were Plymouth because we lived in the Plymouth school
district, but we did go to church in Northville, but with the children being so
young and going to the Plymouth schools, most of the activities were geared to
the Plymouth area. Northville
I became involved primarily through working at the Township when we moved here
in 1955.
Q: How
did you get your first job with the Township?
A: Well,
I registered to vote and at that same time I had always worked on elections in
Detroit, in fact, I have always worked on elections ever since I was 21 years
old. So, moving out here I asked if they
had any elections yet, and of course the Township had just split from a village
to the city and the township. So, the Township was fairly new; they met in the
old school on Waterford Road.
Q: Is
the school still there?
A: No,
the school burnt down, or the school district burnt it down because they were
building Meads Mill and I guess it was not conducive to have the school right
there and vandalism. When I registered
to vote, Mrs. Tegay was the deputy clerk at the time and I asked if she needed
election workers, and it just so happened that there was an election coming
up. I believe Molly Lawrence was
supervisor at the time, and DJ Start was the clerk, and Margaret was the deputy
clerk, so she had me fill out an application for an election inspector, so I
have worked on all the township elections since, barring illness or being out
of town. At the time we started there
were only two precincts in the township precinct, one and two. Rita Young was chairman of Precinct One,
which was everything west of Sheldon Road.
The township was split everything east of Sheldon Road was precinct …
it’s interesting because I believe at our presidential… I have a book where we
used to keep track of elections, I think there were eight or nine hundred
voters in all, total voters out here.
But this was the time of Farm Crest
dairy when everybody that lived along here bought our milk at Farm Crest
Dairy. Where the Commons is was all
fields, where the cows would … Ann Hass owned the dairy and of course there was
Brennen farms, where Ruth Craft (?) lived and we were all… that’s when I began
working on elections I got to know more people in the area moving out from Detroit,
it was a different experience. We had
always lived in the city; the children loved it because of the freedom this was
before Dun Rovin and Kaisers lived in a farm there and that is Dun Rovin. Mr. Van Helmut was supervisor of Farm Crest
Farms. That was before the expressway.
Q: What
changes did you see in the mode of election from the time you started and up to
know?
A: We
started out strictly paper ballots; what was interesting …
Q: Where
did they vote?
A: They
voted at, now you got me there, Precinct Two where I started working for
Margaret was at the school house and I believe precinct one was at the
community building. Rita Young was
Chairman there. Then, and it was strictly
paper no machines, what was interesting at that time after the polling places
closed we would begin to tabulate the votes each precinct and around midnight
DJ Start or Molly would send out to what was Blacks’ White House, I don’t know
whether you have gotten into that at all, Black’s White House was a catering
firm that was at the corner of Dunlap and Center, they did very nice things,
and they always did beautifully so around midnight they send out and we all had
our sandwiches. I wasn’t too familiar…
they had a restaurant there it was an old saltbox type, I don’t know if you
have gotten into that with anyone else.
Q: No
not yet.
A: I’d
never seen such sandwiches done as prettily as they were. So I remember that because I was quite
impressed, I believe it was a colored man that would bring them in at midnight,
and we’d all partake and then work the rest of the night to complete the vote
because at that time you just worked until it was done. Then we got into the machines, I believe Mr.
Merrien became supervisor, no Mr. Clark was supervisor and Rita Young became
clerk, and I took over chairmanship of Precinct One and Margaret was still
chairman of Precinct Two. Throughout the years we progressed and I think now we
have at least ten precincts. As the
population grew different areas were … but I am still chairman of Precinct One. I think if you figure my age and you take 21
I’ve worked on elections 47 years counting my time in Detroit too… but there
was Gale’s farms and Simons farms; this was in Evan’s out Six Mile road in
Livonia; and I remember the Schoolcraft schoolhouse where Liza Wagonshutz
taught at the corner of Six Mile and where Newburgh Plaza is now. We would go and watch fireworks and ballgames
at Six Mile and Farmington Road.
Newburgh wasn’t paved; Haggerty wasn’t paved; Farmington was just a two
lane road. I doubt if … well Merriman
might have been paved, Middlebelt of course was, but it was strictly two
lanes. Inkster was two lanes but when
you left that was where I remember the first Farmer Jack’s being built at
Inkster and Six Mile because that was the closest supermarket in the area.
Q: When did the A & P and Kroger’s open up in Northville?
A: Well
there again they were markets, but they weren’t the supermarkets that Farmer
Jack’s was. I remember the CF Smith
store in Northville (which preceded A & P and then of course there was the
MP, was I believe where … (No it was right across from the church)… Oh no,
there was one prior to that seemed to me or was that Smiths?
Q: Did
you have one car or two cars?
A: We
just had the one car for the first year.
The second year I couldn’t get along without a car and I did the first
year because we had very good neighbors and their children went to Plymouth
school, and we did things together. Then
I saved enough money to buy myself a second car. Because at that point my husband’s … Then we
found that in case of an emergency, it was always wise to have the two cars.
Q: Now
are you paid to do elections?
A: Yes.
Q: What
was your pay then as compared as it is now?
A: I
want to think a dollar and a half an hour; it was still like minimum wage all
through and it still is. As I was going
into the Township, Margaret was the clerk, a deputy clerk, and at that time the
Township office was only open four hours a day from one to four and whenever
Margaret wanted some time off, she knew that I had worked in the business
field, and she called on me to take her place, or if she became ill I would go
in and spell her.
Q: So
then that led to you becoming office manager.
A: Yes. Well when I say office manager – at the time
this was the sixties. The only area
serviced by water was the Wayne County Child Development Center and the State
Hospital and Maybury, and the people that abutted the lines going out to those
places. I think there was something like
35 accounts. Suddenly, Wayne County
decided they weren’t going to bill these people anymore and said it was the
Township’s responsibility to do it. So I
took over, at that time we billed them every three months. I would go in after every three month period
and send out the bills. Mr. Lawrence was
Treasurer; he was Treasurer but he liked collecting taxes, and he didn’t like
being bothered with billings I think it was in ‘63 or ‘64 he said, “Fran, you
know accounting better than I do why don’t you take (over).” At that point I
took over and would bill, but it was still a part time position in the sense
that there weren’t that many people in the township and I would go in and do
the billing and balance out the bank statements and pay Detroit or
whoever. I believe the first sewer
accounts that we were involved in were about when the Commons area was built.
Q: Would
that have been the first large scale subdivision in the area – the
Commons? (Northville Commons)
A: Yes
I’d say the Commons; Thompson Brown came in and built those and of course King’s
Mill and then Highland Lakes – those were the three. As the work increased more people built out
here; there were more connections to our water system and more water
lines. It grew and my time with the
Township increased so that what was a part time job became a full time job; and
then suddenly I was in charge. When I
first started out I was also in charge of the work out in the field. I hired the men to work out in the field, and
we had a water main break it was up to me to get the help and Mr. Kochin who
did most of our repair work and he did all of our water taps and it was up to
me to coordinate all that and right up to the time that I left, I was in charge
of the field and the office.
Q: And
that has never really conflicted with the children’s activities?
A: No,
because it was a part time job up until ’67 or ’68 at that time my children
were in college; and my youngest was in high school and then he went on to
college. When I worked full time my
children were all grown and married except for the youngest and he was married
before he left college and so it worked out quite well. Prior to that my mother was a widow and say
Margaret wasn’t well and I had to go in and relieve her, but when you are
thinking of relieving her you must remember it was only four hours a day. The neighbors were here and they had children
and the children would play with them so that I could go in.
Then
gradually the Township became … we went from the schoolhouse to the library,
what we call the old library building in town, over to the community building,
then out to the Child Development Center.
I retired when they left the child building at the Child Development
Center when they moved here to what is the Township Hall on Six Mile Road.
Q: It
was about what year?
A: It
was ’77 when I retired, so I think I have kind of covered my work with the
Township.
Q: Now
when did you become involved with the library commission?
A: Well,
Mr. Marion was the supervisor. I’d
always been interested in libraries when I lived in Detroit; as a child; I was
a product of the Depression and the library was a place for me to go and get my
books we couldn’t afford. As they were
setting up the library commission and Mr. Marion said he needed somebody to represent
the Township, and I said at the time that I thought this was something I would
like to do (Q: And that was when?)… I believe in 1965. I’m trying to think who from the Township was
with me on the library commission, I have records here that could probably tell
you, but that was the very beginning of the library commission and the joint
operation. And I have been on the
commission ever since.
Q: Do
you recall who represented the city?
A: Well,
Herb Sutherland, in fact, Mr. Stark. 1960 was a presidential election. Precinct One had 688 voters and Precinct Two
had 768. This is one of my first books
of instructions, and evidently we must’ve purchased some voting machines
because that’s in ’60 at the end of the presidential, but I have books of
minutes of the library, this is February third ’66; Mrs. Chapman, Mr.
Sutherland, and Mr. Nani were the city representatives, and Mrs. Harold Price,
Mrs. William Slighter and Mrs. Roy Mattison; we were the Townships
representative, Mrs. Helen McClatche was librarian.
Q: When
was it formed?
A: This
would be February third ’66. I think it was
the beginning of the joint operation of all that is joined right now. I don’t know too much about recreation but
here is the original bylaw. Here is a
draft of the agreement between the Township and the City (that was 1963). I think you know the old library building was
given to the Ladies Library Association of Northville, the Village of
Northville, and this is a copy of the deed, and so I think it was done to
ensure that everybody would use it; the city and the township, and I would have
to read this.
Q: Could
your children use it because you lived in the Township, but they went to school
in Plymouth?
A: Well
at that time I would say that we used the Plymouth library more.
Q: Because
I heard people say that their children went to school in Northville, but
because they didn’t live in Northville they lived in Plymouth that they could
not use the schools – I mean the library.
A: Oh
no, I won’t say that because we would go to Plymouth because it was more we
were in that direction, but if we couldn’t find what we wanted in Plymouth we
would just go over to Northville. But I
know that we used the Plymouth library more than the Northville Library. But there again Mr. Marion he thought it
would be something for me to do that way, you know, and he needed someone to be
on the board so I was happy to do it, I volunteered, put it that way.
Q: What
was one of the first things that the commission did that you recall that would
be a meaningful event?
A: Well
there really wasn’t a whole lot that … Here is one of our first organizational
meetings, I say it started in ’65, but I think this was where we set up the
bylaws, and the chairmen suggested several committees which the commission
could work on and think about before the next meeting; library statistics,
library collection committee representative to Township or Council boards,
library housekeeping, and a committee to promote interest in the library, and
we met I noticed here within a month I was Secretary-Treasurer and I believe Mr.
Sutherland was Chairman.
Q: And
that meeting was at the old library building on Wing Street?
A: Right
in the library we would meet.
Q: Well
eventually the library outgrew that building.
A:
I don’t recall too many meetings in the church, most of our meetings
were held where the library is now when it was much smaller.
Q: In the City
Hall.
A: In the City Hall. At that time
there was a balcony to the library; I think the children’s books are up there. This is what kind of amused me because we
always felt that a balcony and a stairway to the balcony was a deterrent to the
library because the librarian couldn’t keep track of the children up there, and
here I went to the dedication of the new Livonia Library about a month ago and
what do they have but a winding stairway and a second floor to the library so
we were happy, and the librarians were happy when we closed off what we called
the mezzanine and just had the one floor library, and the city took over for
their offices. So, but we must have met
every month because here I am going March 3rd ’66 we set up our
bylaws and of course we were part of the WOLF system. Mr. Curtis who would come out and help us and
direct us.
But as you later found out Mr. Kaiser
was the director of the Wayne County Library System and actually set the system
up, and now we have his wife living in the area. Mr. Sutherland, Mr. Nani, Mrs. Price, I’m
sure that’s Elsie Price and Mrs. EH Chapmen and Mark Sligher. Part of our duties was to put together a
budget and present it to the Council and the Township. The Township Board at that time wasn’t too
interested, and we weren’t part of their general budget because the library was
funded with our county taxes at that time, from ’65 to ’70 and that was based
on population. The county would be
reimbursed and that took care of most of the Township portion of our budget so
the township, because it didn’t affect the monies that they received, we could
pretty much … but the city was of course, it was part of their budget so they
were a little bit more concerned how the money was spent.
Q: So
you were on the commission when they built the new library?
Q: OK, let’s take a little history of the library. They closed the library at the city hall, and
we moved to MAGS building which was Northville Square.
A: I think at one point we moved into the
community building where the food area is now, it was there and I think from
there we went to the MAGS building and then I think from there back to the city
hall, that’s the moves as far as I can …
Q: I can remember pushing the carts up
and down those hills -
A: But the MAGS…At one point we were part of the WOLF
system, but the personnel were placed by the WOLF system. We did not do our hiring at all.
Q: That
was my next question as to who?
A: When
we did that, I’d have to go into detail here and check it out; we purchased
file cabinets… it says Mr. Fridner moved that the library ask the city managers
in council to purchase the above items.
Copies of Township and City budgets for services during the fiscal year
are ’66 and ’67 were forwarded to the Township Board and Council, and we were
sort of, we worked, we were liaison between WOLF and the Township Board and the
City Council which we still are.
In the meantime we would meet, and Mr.
Sutherland, I don’t know if you remember him at all, lived on the corner of
Dunlap and Lyndon I think, was very interested in books and he had ideas and
quite often our meetings would end up in discussions. We tried not to tell the librarian what books
to buy the library, but he did.
Q: While
we are in the library and discussion it, we might mention why the library was
always closed on Friday afternoons.
A: Well,
that was the day the librarian took off to go down to WOLF headquarters to make
her book selections.
Q:
Which in turn became the day the Women’s Club met there.
A: Well
I wasn’t a member of the Women’s Club at that time. I did join the Women’s Club but this was
prior to my time when they met at the library.
I joined the Women’s Club when it was meeting in the Presbyterian
Church. It was ’63 that’s when I joined.
I don’t recall ever meeting at the old church.
Q: But
I believe that was the tradition that started.
A: What
is interesting is back in ’69, I think it’s when the Friends of the library
started, we-Mrs. Edgerton who was on the commission had been to a book sale at
the Carl Sandberg library (in Livonia).
She said how successful this was and thought this was a way we could buy
things for the library that weren’t in the budget, so she suggested a book sale
as a future activity and this was Feb 6, 1969.
I think after that date we started to collect books and I believe I did
this research for Betty Griffin a little bit because she wanted to know how the
Friends started and Mrs. Orban (?), do you remember Ginny Orban, she was on the
commission she put together.
Q: Would
that year be the first year you were part of the sidewalk sale? Because I know there was a book sale in ’73,
I remember Marge Sligher working on the book sale.
A: In
1970, the minutes of 1970, says Mrs. Orban reported results of book sale and
her experience with the sales tax collector … agreed to enter city wide
sidewalk sale August first and reserved decision on entering the fair the
following week, requested a study of future library needs and recommendations
from Wayne County.
Q: So
it sounds like we have been participating for about eighteen years?
A: Since
about 1970 I would say, but at that time there weren’t the Friends as
such. The Commission worked and put
together the sales – the Commission members and their families. We would all get our husbands and the
librarians would help sorting out the books and different people on the
commission, the children and the husbands and wives worked on the sales. I think the very first thing we purchased for
the library is the globe that’s in the library that whirls and Ginny Orban was
very active and a doer she was.
Q: And
it became a tradition every year to be in it and always be located right there
by the Northville Pharmacy?
A: Here
it says; “Discussion of change of hours renewed decision of June meeting to
extend hours to nine pm four nights a week beginning in October and continue
through Nov. Meeting recessed continued
sorting books for sidewalk sale”. So you
see the commission was the Friends at the time here meeting out of books
donated for library sidewalk sale.
Library has selected and processed over 100 books to date to add to the
collection including an excellent unabridged Webster’s Dictionary. Considering the average cost of a new book
purchase of $6 this makes approximately $600 value that was added to the
library collection; receipts from two 1970 sales totaled over $250 compared to
1969 sale of $190. Mr. Jan Reef donated
a subscription to the Wall Street Journal.
Mr. Sutherland, I think at that time, was secretary, and I was chairman
of the commission, so there were those of us that were on the commission…the
different positions fluctuated amongst the ones that were on for quite awhile.
Q: Well I know the Friends were an active
group in ’73.
A: Here it says Mrs.
Mattison moved that funds which have been raised from book sales by Friends of
the Library be used for the purchase of two chairs and a lamp and possible
cushions for two Windsor chairs now in the library; these will provide some
comfortable seating especially for senior citizens. So that was in 1971.
Q: So
it sounds like you actually adopted the name at that time?
A: Yes,
we were referred to as Friends. At one
time Mrs. Slighen, this would be 1970, we went to Schrader’s and purchased the
Windsor chairs and the lamp and the area rug for the balcony so that the
children wouldn’t have to sit on the floors, I remember that. But in ’70 or ’71, up until that time the
commission was primarily the Friends of the Library.
Q: How
do you feel when you go past the plaque in city hall with your name on it as a
member of the commission that was responsible for building the new library?
A: Well
it kind of amuses me because they call it the Carlo addition, John Carlo
addition, and I don’t ever recall him ever doing anything for that. It was done with a bond issue that the city
floated and paid for out of community grant funds and how he ever got involved
in it I don’t know. He was never a part
of the commission. I’m truthfully quite
proud of it and when I go to the library I show the children. I don’t know how long it’s going to be up
there, but if I take my grandchildren there I show it to them that it’s there,
and I hope I’m around when we do get our new library building. Maybe my name will be up there.
A: I’m
still on the commission and it expires, I believe, in 1990. So whether the Township wishes me... or
whether I’ll still be around. This is
the only commission other than the recreation commission in the Township that
has never been paid as far as I know.
(All this is strictly volunteer.)
Q: Your
budget has certainly increased over the years.
A: But
your Planning Commission, Appeals Board, your Zoning Commission, I know your
city boards are never paid.
Q: No,
we’re not.
A: But
in the Township they are paid.
Q: Oh
they are?
A: The
Planning Commission, Zoning…but the library…and if you can figure from ’65
though how many meetings I have attended through snow and fog.
Q: Oh
fog, oh yes.
A: You
yourself being an active member you know what it’s like and we spent hours
meeting with architects for the plan that was to go on the corner behind the
community building. We spent hours with
architects for changing over to the MAGS building where they had people come in
to adapt the area to a library. So it
isn’t just a meeting every two months as the situation required, you might be
there twice a month. But I’ve always felt
good about it because I feel the library has done pretty well with what we’ve
had to work with. We’d love a building;
maybe someday we will have it.
Q: Well,
maybe.
A: Well
a library is certainly an essential part of the community where would we be
without it. There have been a lot of
dedicated people working on the library, on the library commission; Weken, Mrs.
Orban, Mrs. Sliger, and Mrs. Chase. All
along there was Carol Ann Agnes was on the commission before she became active.
Q: Now
you have these records and sometime in the future are you going to be putting
them on record.
A: I
have given these to Betty Griffin to go through for any background she needed
to do a history of the Friends, but I don’t know what will happen with these
copies of minutes…
Q: But
you might …
A: …and correspondence and I feel if I ever move from
the area or something should happen to me that I should probably give them to
the Township to do with as they see fit.
Q: I think that’s one thing that we are concerned about when people do have good records that they are not lost, and I think that is the one thing that we do well, we are concerned about is not having records.
A: Oh,
I must have half a dozen books with library minutes and things; this is I
believe I told you once that if I move it will be into smaller quarters and I
won’t be able to take care of them, and I will probably offer them to the
Township. I have already given Pat Orr
all the background I had when we put together the plan for the library corner
behind the Rec building, and I hope she’s gone through. I gave the notes when they established a Task
Force Committee; I thought perhaps it would help her because there was a lot of
background in putting that plan together.
Q: Well
that’s expensive and we can’t ask the architect to do this gratis all the
time. They do have to be paid.
A: Mr.
Merritt was the architect and he did a very good job, and I still think it’s a
very good plan because what their looking for is 25,000 square feet and this
building was adapted to the corner of that parking lot I think and it was for
25,000 square feet and they could use it.
Q: Yes.
A: And
it’s close enough to the recreation building, to the post office, and to the
city hall so I find it’s better to have all of these things together.
Q: Well
you don’t have a town unless you have that criteria with everything that people
need.
A: You
couldn’t walk out there to the Fish Hatchery.
Q: Right.
A: Cady
Street is ok, now I’m expressing my ideas about the six lots that they have
recommended; I don’t go for the Ford Plan.
I feel it’s just another temporary move which we have done so much. I keep saying I’ll never move the library
again – four times is enough.
They
want to build a nice new building; the parking lot right across from the Ford
plant could be used to build an attractive building and it would be a nice
addition to Mill Race Village, and it would promote that as well.
Q: I
think maybe families feel safe with the children in the city hall area riding
their bikes to that area.
A: It’s
interesting. I did have the statistics,
but few people actually walk to the library, most everyone drives to the
library, even the senior citizens don’t walk.
There aren’t that many that can walk that far, even if they lived three
or four blocks from the library.
Q: But
it is accessible to the children in town.
A: But
most of the children live out of town.
Q: But
the population is growing. Parents may
want to drop them off while they shop in town.
A: Right. This is why my children use Plymouth so much,
Plymouth Library. They wanted to while
they were in high school because it was right across the street.
Q: Let’s
get into a discussion on town hall when did the town hall let your series start,
Fran, and why? Wasn’t there one in
Plymouth, Livonia or Farmington?
A: No,
we were the very first hall series in this area. Ann Raleigh who is a member of our ladies
league at the Catholic church (OLV) – they were discussing means of raising
funds, and she had been a good friend who was active in the Grosse Pointe
lecture series, and I happened to go to a league meeting, and she was
explaining to the league what forming a town hall series entailed. She said she could get all the information we
needed to from somebody she knew on the committee from the Grosse Pointe
lecture series. But she needed ladies to
help her. Well, there again, with my
clerical background I said I’d be glad to help.
I happened to be at a league meeting and my children never went to the
Catholic schools because of transportation primarily. This was prior to the funding for buses.
Q: Yes,
now the league you’re talking about is Our Lady of ….
A: Our
ladies league?
Q: Our
Lady of Victory?
A: Yes,
Our Lady of Victory. So I said if she
got the materials I would write whatever letters were necessary to the agents
to find different speakers from whatever speaker’s bureau they use. (Wasn’t this overwhelming to be thinking
of?) Well, Ann Raleigh was the type of
person we knew and my one comment to her at that meeting was that if you got the
right people interested in this, it could be a success in a small town like
Northville. This was, I think, in ’59 or
’60 and I felt that this was an interesting way to make a contribution to my
church. I mean volunteer work, I wasn’t
yet involved in the library so what we did was …
Q: Now
you are looking at one of the first town hall programs, who was on the
committee.
A: We
knew that Northville alone could not support this, so we suggested inviting
people from Farmington, Livonia, Plymouth and Northville. But Northville would be the organizer and OLV
would be the sponsor this and we still operate on that basis. The way we would involve these people is by
promising that part of our funds would be distributed to these different
communities. I recall Mrs. Willoughby
(Northville (?), Mrs. Dale from Plymouth, Mrs. Harrison from Farmington, and I
believe it was Mrs. Parks from Livonia that were… and Mrs. Huff was from
Plymouth. We met at Ann Raleigh’s house
the league, the members of the league, and we all contributed names, and one of
the names suggested was Mrs. Caruso she lived in what’s now “Home Sweet Home”
in the white house.
Q: Right
on Nine Mile and Novi Road.
A: Nine
Mile and Novi Road. So our first
organizational meeting was at Mrs. Caruso’s home and Couse. She was a woman that we needed funds to
start, so we went to. Down here is a
list of the people. We still have the
funds the original $950 that was contributed by Mr. and Mrs. Fred Casterline,
Mrs. Walter Couse, Mr. Lewis Caruso, Mr. Sterling Newton, Mrs. Hann, Mrs.
Martin Kaiser, Mrs. Langfield, Mr. and Mrs. William Sliger, Mr. and Mrs.
William Walker and Rev. Whitstock and the P & A Theater.
They
gave us old P &A Theater in Northville, which is now the Marquis. I believe they gave, some didn’t actually
give money, like Mr. and Mrs. Sliger they gave us publicity in their paper and
printing for our programs and the equivalent of money. Some gave maybe $00 and some as much as $250,
but we still considered that our patrons funds.
We still have it on our books and, if at any … The way it was set up in
the original minutes was if at any time anyone of these people would like their
money back after, they were welcome to it; they have never done it, most of
these people have died and gone on. That
was the way we started and our first speaker was John Mason Brown, Madame
Jeannete Spenye and Anthony Wedgewood Bend, Ian Ross McFarland, and Bennett
Serf. At that time I say in the Ladies
League at that time the Ladies League was known as the altar society of Our
Lady of Victory Church.
Q: You
held the town hall series at the P & A?
A: At
the PNA theater and that’s how the P & A… They donated the theater for the first
year so that we could… I believe I can look for how much the first tickets
were; I want to say $10 which was the series ticket.
Our
luncheons were held at a different place each time to make it more
interesting. We had somebody prominent
in the area to introduce the speaker like John Mason Brown was introduced by
Mr. Harrison who was superintendent of the public schools in Farmington. Then Madame Spenye was introduced by
Philomene Aesock, a former fashion editor and women’s feature writer for the
Detroit Times, so they were really getting a package of two in one. We’ve since deviated from that.
Q: Where
did you go to lunch?
A: We
went to the speaker, the art theater at Lofy’s in Plymouth. Now evidently Dr. Howard from this introduced
Anthony Wedgewood Bend, I’m going over the first program. Mr. Sexton from Plymouth introduced Ian Ross McFarland,
and Jane Sherminhammer from the Detroit News introduced Bennett Serf. I guess Lofy’s, it was several years
afterwards that we went to lunch; we would go to Lofy’s. We went to lunch at Meadowbrook and the
Plymouth Meeting House.
Q: About
how many people came to the lecture series?
A: Well,
the theater held 500 and that’s pretty much what we would try to sell, at least
500. Sometimes we … The other thing that
we put together was a program book and sold advertising in the program book and
we have merchants in Northville that were in our first book and are still
advertising and supporting the Town Hall.
Freydls is one and Guernsey’s Farm Dairy. That’s a source of profit for us too; our
program book.
Q: Now
the funds from this you have put back into…
A: When
we set up the series one because the league sponsored us, a half of the profit
went to the league and the other half of the profit was distributed amongst the
different communities that supported us; and to this day that’s the way it is
held or done. We have a board which we
call the Board of Awards and on this board, we meet once a year, are
representatives from Farmington, Livonia, Plymouth and Northville. Because of the growth in the area we’ve added
on Novi, because they are quite a few people coming from Novi and support our series.
Mrs.
Wagenschutz was Chairman of the Town Hall Board of Awards at the beginning and
Mrs. Milney was Secretary, and I was involved with the general committee. They were all involved with Town Hall. I think Mrs. Milney was Clerk at the
time. Then gradually as things changed
and time went on, I became Chairman of the Board of Award and I still am for
Town Hall.
Q: Now
is the meeting the lecture series always started at eleven in the morning?
A: Yes,
it’s always started at eleven o’clock.
Q: You’ve
had to change the location?
A: We
met… we started at the P & A theater. When
we went into the P & A Theater, those of you who remember, it was back in 60 and
61. It wasn’t a very attractive place as
it is now. We as a group, the women on
the committee, we painted the hallway, we had a podium built, and we purchased
the curtains to cover the doorway and actually one of the duties for the women
to …
Because
they donated the building. Of course
movies at night, you don’t see very much but this being at eleven o’clock in
the morning, we had to clean it up a little bit. We even had to set up the marquee, or we
hired a young boy to do it and we bought the trimmings for the marquee to make
it quite a gala place.
I
know Town Hall day … When Town Hall came to Northville, all you had to do was
go to Northville that morning and you knew it was Town Hall day. Because all the women from the area,
surrounding area, would come and they were always dressed in their finest. They always had hats and if they owned a mink
stole, it was worn that day. It was just
a nice day and to go out in.
Our
primary purpose in bringing it was also a way to earn money for the church and
for charities in the area. But it was a
chance to hear these speakers that we would’ve had to go to Detroit to hear. It was patterns at that time. I myself went to the Detroit Town Hall series
at the Fisher Building, but I didn’t go as often as I liked because it wasn’t
easy to get down there.
Q: Right.
A: So
that’s what… Also the Grosse Pointe, and Birmingham lecture series was very
popular at that time…that’s what happened.
You couldn’t get a ticket to their lecture series; you had to be on a
waiting list. Their tickets would be
gone like the first day that they were offered or the first week that they were
available. So when we put together our
series and we had good speakers we had quite a response and it was a
success.
After
that Livonia started a Town Hall, Plymouth started a Town Hall, Farmington
started a Town Hall, but none of them were quite… I think ours was a success
because ours was strictly a charitable thing.
It wasn’t for any particular club.
All the money that we earned is given away each year. It is given away to organizations that help
the communities that we cater to, I believe we’ve …
Q: Such as? Name some of them.
A: We’ve
given to King’s Daughters every year since the beginning. We gave to Plymouth’s Women’s Club every year
until last year, for some reason or other they didn’t apply last year. That’s the one thing, to participate or be
considered by the Board of Awards, you have to make a written request every
year and specify what you’d like to use the funds for. That’s what this Board of Awards does. We meet and go through. Mr. Mohlman has been on the Board of Awards
from Northville. In the very beginning
he was one of the original members on the Board of Awards. (I know the Friends have benefitted from
them. The Friends we support.
A: Yes,
Mr. Mohlman, we support Novi. We get a
request every year from the Novi Library.
The Historical Society has benefitted practically every year. The amount that they receive depends on the
profit we’ve made. I think we have had
one or two bad years when we haven’t made any profit. That might be attributed to we overextended
ourselves on our program, our speakers cost too much money, and of course you
have to pay for the speakers.
Q: What
did they originally in the beginning what they …
A: I
think our first program, if I remember correctly, for the five speakers that we
mentioned was $2,500 for all five. We
have spent as much as $16,000 for our speakers now and that’s only four.
Q: Yes I’m going to say you’re down to four. What was your most expensive speaker?
A: I
want to say Phil Donahue. We benefitted
by that because that was the year we actually sold out all our tickets within a
week or two. We sold out. We met at the Plymouth Hilton and I think we
sold over 800 tickets. He was really a
success. I don’t think I have to explain
why.
Q: No.
A: Everybody
listened to Phil Donahue.
Q: I
think if you had him today, they’d be right back there.
A: Well,
I don’t know. He’s changed a bit more,
but anyway.
Q: Can
you recall some incidents that have come along that are amusing that we might
be interested in. Well, did you ever
have to go to the airport to get anyone?
A: Yes,
I met Anthony Wedgewood Bend. He came to
town and I believe he came here from another speaking engagement, not too far
away, maybe Grand Rapids. He came on the
train and Jean Sheehan who was on the original committee and I met him. Here’s this young man, who can see how young
he looks there, got off the train with a beret and long topcoat. He was English. We were as surprised to see him looking the
way he did as he was to see us old…well, I joined the committee when I was 39.
Q: Well,
that’s not old.
A: I’m
one of the older members on the committee right now. So we asked him what he’d like to do. He says well right now after riding that
train for I don’t know for how many hours and this was early in the morning
because we … He says, “I’d like a bath”.
So that we didn’t know where to take him because we hadn’t made any
provisions for an overnight stay for him because he was probably going to the
airport after he finished with us. So
Jean Sheehan took him home, and he took a shower in her bathroom. That was kind of fun. It is fun to meet the speakers. I met Baroness Von Trapp.
Q: Did
you, Oh?
A: Ruth
Knapp who was on the committee, one of the original members on the
committee. She and I said we would drive
down to meet the Baroness Von Trapp. Of
course both, Ruth was a very great admirer you know. She and I got all dressed up and went down to
meet her at what was the Book Cadillac.
Ruth parked across the street in the parking lot, and I went into the
hotel to meet the Baroness. As I entered
the lobby, she was right there waiting for me with her little bag, which was
sort of like what you have. It was more
of a carpetbag and all her. She walked
across the street with me. You could
tell she wasn’t a woman full of idle chit-chat, so I didn’t chose to speak to
her. I spoke when I was spoken to. So when we got to Ruth’s car I said where
would you like to sit. “Well, I like to
sit in the back seat alone”. So I sat up
in the front with Ruth. She says I hope
you use the speedway. Ruth says, “I
never drive the speedway.” Did you know
Ruth Knapp?
Q: Yes.
A: So,
we went home out Grand River, which was a good thoroughfare in those days. But I could have gone the Lodge or something
like that. But anyway so she is sitting
in the back seat and Ruth and I are in the front seat. Of course both, I was disillusioned because
you know after the Sounds of Music and her books, and we’d all read her books,
I just thought. So pretty soon, and of
course this is the morning of the Town Hall, we are both dressed in our
finest. So she suddenly looks to us and
says to me, “Have you ever thought about your hat?” And I said, “No.” I was sort of surprised and she says,”Well do
you realize,” and I had a feathered hat which I still have, she says do you
realize how many birds were killed to make your hat. I said, well those are probably all chicken
feathers and all chickens, you know. My
hat is a pretty hat, but that was the Baroness.
So
we’re heading out Grand River and she says she’s due at the theater at
10:30. She says I do not want to go to
the theater until a quarter of eleven. I
said, well they expect us for pictures there before time. She says “Well, I have to meditate.” So here we are, we don’t know what we’re
going to do with her for fifteen minutes or a half hour. So we’re coming out Six Mile and I said,
“Ruth, we’ll stop at my house.” So I
thought I’d fix a cup of coffee or something and she said “No, I want to be
alone.” When she came into the house,
you can see my house is very small. So
the only place I had was in my daughter’s bedroom. So she and her little satchel… She had a
little altar that she carried along with her, and she went back there and until
it was time to go to the theater she sat there, I suppose medicating.
She
did tell us that she wasn’t very comfortable speaking, but you’d never know to
hear her speak because she looked very relaxed.
She says it was really a chore for her to do this, and that she did this
to support one of her daughter’s charities.
I think her daughter was in some island in the South Pacific doing some
work, and all the money she earned was contributed there. It really changed our feelings because she
wasn’t very friendly and we expected her to be so outgoing.
Q: A
Julie Andrews she wasn’t?
A: Pardon? No, she wasn’t a Julie Andrews, but we got
her to the theater. We had pictures
taken, she was charming and everybody was very pleased with her. So Ruth and I had a little secret of the true
Baroness Von Trapp.
Q: Now
when did you start providing overnight stays for them because that would
certainly increase…?
A: Well,
we always had to do that.
Q: So
where did the Baroness stay then?
A: Well,
but you see she evidently had a prior commitment, maybe in the area, so she
stayed at the Book Cadillac and sometimes and that’s when we picked her up in
the morning. But now most of the … I
don’t know how she came to town but that was, maybe she had friends here that
she stayed with. It could’ve been
that. But she suggested that we meet her
there and that’s where we took her.
But
now when speakers come in town they usually fly in and so many of the Plymouth,
the Mayflower, the Sheraton Oaks and the Plymouth Hilton, they usually gave a
room free of charge to the speaker.
Q: Oh
how nice.
A: For
the publicity, quite often they might take a picture of the person and then put
it up in the restaurant that ‘so-and-so’ stayed or ate here. I don’t know how much they do that anymore
cause… We used to have a committee at the beginning, a transportation
committee, where women met this group and you took your turn and later years
usually the Chairman and the Vice-Chairman met the speakers. It gives them a chance to relax with the speaker
and make them feel relaxed as well as themselves and explain to them.
Although
I met Helen Thomas when she spoke here just last season. There again, I was one of the people that
wanted Helen Thomas to come as a speaker here.
She was very brisk and it was strictly business with her. You know you build an image of these people
and so often when you meet them, Nancy Gourt was the Chairman and I met her.
There
again she drove around looking for a parking place and I met the plane. Helen was there and she got off the plane and
all she could think of is whether she was going to be ready to leave the
following day at a certain time. This
was on a Wednesday the day before. I
told her, I said, you know Helen when you have to be here. I think our contract reads a half-hour before
the speech or an hour and at least an hour afterward because there’s a limit on
how fast we can get them back to the airport.
Well, she says, I wouldn’t have come if I had known that you couldn’t,
I’ve got to be back in Washington by five o’clock. I said that’s pretty short. We have a question and answer period the
people have paid to listen to you and to hear you. All she could think of… I was really quite
upset with her. Finally she calmed down
and I did too.
Q: You
got her back to the airport in time?
A: We
did get her back to the airport in time.
She, I think, everybody - were you at that lecture?
Q: No.
A: I
was disappointed in her delivery. She
read her lecture.
Q: That’s
what I heard.
A: She
read her lecture. We felt anybody, well,
I mean after all she’s a newspaper woman and she should be able to… She told me that she only gives this one
lecture and she’d come from a lecture down in Greenville, North Carolina. I thought she was going back to Washington on
business, and she was going back to give another lecture somewhere. So I felt… her family is from the Detroit
area, we had a table of ten people that were either relatives or people that
knew her and were happy to see her. But
all though the thing, this is what makes the Town Hall interesting. Because you meet people that are well I don’t
know whether you’d call them important people, but prominent people, and some
of them are very cooperative and some aren’t.
Q: When
did you start combining it with lunch?
A: From
the very beginning.
Q: But
now you concentrate really zero on one definite spot to have lunch?
A: Yes,
when we went to the Plymouth Hilton is when we met you know at the
theater. From the theater we went to the
high school, met at the high school and then from there we went to Plymouth
Hilton. I think we went to Madonna
College one year and it didn’t work out.
Then we went to… At those places we met, and went to lunch at the
Holiday Inn. Then we were, for a number
of years, at the Plymouth Hilton. That’s
when we first started. People enjoyed
going there because you parked your car and you didn’t have to re-park it to go
to another area for lunch, if the weather was bad. It was great.
But we’ve been very successful. I
think we’ve given over a $100,000 to different charities. We are not, our primary purpose isn’t to make
money, it’s to bring people, to bring culture to Northville.
Q: Right.
A: If
you want to put it that way you might think some of our speakers don’t
contribute to culture but everybody has there … So anyway we started out, there
were about forty members to our committee, and we’re now between I’d say 25 to
30.
Q: But
they’re not all on the altar society.
A: No,
they’re not right from the very beginning it was an ecumenical thing. There are people; Marge Cooman goes to the
Presbyterian Church, she’s been on our committee a long time. Martha Lyons, her mother was on the original
committee, Eda Bloom, and then Martha as she grew. She’s still on the committee. She’s been ticket Chairman. A number of people on our committee to date
aren’t members of OLV.
Q: Last
year you were still meeting at the Sheraton.
A: Right.
Q: In
Novi, and now this year you are going back?
A: People
are happy about us meeting at the Plymouth Hilton because there again there
won’t be the hour wait between the luncheon which we had at the Sheraton. But we’ve truthfully had difficulty in
finding a location. Now the Holiday Inn,
they could take care of us for the lecture, but they can’t accommodate 350 for
lunch, which sometimes can happen.
Q: As
many as 350? You have a complete record
of.
A: This
is our, Marie Caruso, Ann Raleigh, and myself.
Joan Engle was Vice-Chairman, Ann Raleigh was Chairman and Tony
Alexander was Treasurer. This was taken
on the stairway if you recall. Here
we’re going into Marie’s house that day.
This is a…we’d had one meeting at the league prior to this and a meeting
at Ann Raleigh’s house. Then, we, the
next meeting was at Town Hall. It was
kind of a status thing. People were quite…
We used to be invited to Marie’s house to come to a meeting.
Q: I
see this was in the Plymouth Mail rather than in the Northville Record.
A: Here’s
Mrs. Willoughby, Joan Alexander, Mrs. Dale and Tony Alexander from the
Northville Record.
Q: You’ve
done a nice job of keeping the records?
A: Well
scotch tape doesn’t help, but this is the best available. Here we are putting up, what is it they do on
the marquee at the theater?
Q: The
bunting.
A: The
bunting it was.
Q: I
know Town Hall was the big think in the city; mother had tickets and she went
to the Birmingham one.
A: We
were pleased to be able to have this in Northville and we did get a lot of
support. See here we are all dressed in
our furs. We had, I even put the menu in
here but… There’s a table of ladies. Of
course I have nicer books now, but this was how I started this on my own and
then they… I have always done the historical on my own. Here’s Betty Hoffman. So I have twelve books of this.
Q: My
word, that’s quite a few. Anything, now
that covers Town Hall pretty well. Any
other recollections of anything happening in Northville Township that stands
out in your memory? I know you have been
a dedicated citizen of the area obviously with all your activities and raising
your children, it’s been a pretty full life.
A: Well
I’ve enjoyed every minute of it here in Northville. I really …
Q: Who
decided to move to Northville? You or
your husband?
A: We
originally were going to go to the Plymouth area, but we found the house and
the land. We had two and a half acres
here, and Roy liked to garden. When he
saw this new house, it was about two-thirds built he said. We had a house in Plymouth picked out. We actually didn’t know anyone, we had no
relatives in this area you know like so many people do. We were glad this was in the Plymouth School
district because at that time the Northville schools weren’t rated too
high. In fact, some people in Northville
sent their children, paid extra tuition, to go to the Plymouth schools. But since that situation has reversed
itself... I’ve always felt because my children are a little closer to Plymouth
than Northville. My interests are
Northville, but they …
Q: Well
they know Plymouth.
A: They
know Plymouth and their friends were all in Plymouth. James was on the swim team, Janice was editor
on the newspaper, Jason was in the band and all of their friends were in the
Plymouth area, they sort of go that direction.
Q: Now
where are your children living?
A: Well
Janice is in Colorado. James is in
Roseville and Jason in Livonia.
Northville, I always felt, was small enough at the time we moved here
that you could participate in things, be part of things where you couldn’t in
Livonia. Livonia had grown that
much. Livonia and Plymouth was growing
whereas Northville there was a need there if you wanted to become a part of the
group. You know you could join and be a
part of the group you know which you can’t do in the big city.
Q: They
asked you to join.
A: There
was a waiting list and I believe it was a year or two. Usually they asked people to, they chose
people to join if you had contributed or been active in the community. It wasn’t what sometimes it is nowadays where
you’re a good friend of somebody and you need someone to go to Women’s
Club. That’s all right. I think we’re reaching that point again
because our membership is filled and I think we’re ready. We have a waiting list in Women’s Club again.
Q: Yes.
A: What
else have I put down here? Questers,
Helen Hopping and I formed the Waterford Bend chapter mainly because we wanted
a chapter that met during the day. We’d
been a part of another chapter that met at night and we chose not to. We didn’t like going out at night and sea
larks that’s about it. (Well that sort
of rounds it out).
Q: We’ve
been busy; it’s one way of becoming acquainted in the community. If you sit back and wait for them to come to
you they might never come. You found
that out. No, it’s been interesting.
A:
I have all these records and
someday I’ll have to do something with them.
But where they’ll go I don’t know I figure I kept them all these years I
don’t want them just thrown in the trash.
Q: No,
I wouldn’t think, it’s difficult going through things like that and deciding
what to keep and what not.
That takes care of our interview today
with Fran Mattison.
April, 1995
(Barbara Smith)
No comments:
Post a Comment