City Of Northville: Local Parks Invite Us To Explore

Northville MI

16 August, 2022

3:27 PM

Description

Press release from the City of Northville: August 11, 2022 Northvillians and friends, It's August – that time of the year when we are enjoying the last weeks of summer by experiencing the green spaces, waterscapes and topography of the Northville area. In our community, we are fortunate to have city, county and our state parks to recreate in. This week, I am going to touch on a gem in our own back yard, Maybury State Park, and give you a little bit of its history. Before progressing to Maybury's past, let's look at some of the special events in Northville today: Events/Info• Notables from last week's Election results: 64% cast absentee ballots, and the Northville District Library Millage passed locally. • DDA and Northville Parks & Rec host "Tunes on Tuesdays," 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. in Town Square. Bring the kids! The last Tuesday (Aug. 16) summer gathering will be Earth Angels. • Food & Wine Festival @ Ford Field August 12-13. Check out this link for details. • Cars and Coffee Saturday, Aug. 13, 8-10 a.m. – Join our monthly gathering (2nd Saturday) at 212 W. Cady Street, behind Old Village School next to the library. Bring a car/bring yourself. Maybury today and historical notesMaybury State Park today serves the metro Detroit area. It is an oasis of lush green forest, a place for visitors to connect with nature by experiencing miles of trails. The state acquired the land in 1971 from the City of Detroit. Maybury is close to 1,000 acres of gently rolling terrain, open meadows and mature forest. The park offers a variety of outdoor recreational opportunities including extensive trails for walking and biking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, youth organizational camping, fishing and a working visitor farm. Articles going back over 40 years in The Northville Record speak about how the Scouts (Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts) have used Maybury State Park for hiking and archery, running obstacle courses, educational events and overnight camping. In 2013, an article told of more than 250 Scouts descending on the park for a weekend campout. As a group, the Scouts have made many valuable contributions by enhancing the park through various on-site initiatives. There is truly something for everyone at this park. Notably, for those with walking disabilities, guided-assisted trail walks offer all-terrain motorized chairs, so all can explore its topography and stroll past the historical markers along the way. Before becoming a park, the grounds encompassed eight farms, but later on became something quite remarkable. This site served the community for over 50 years as the Maybury Medical Tuberculosis Sanatorium. Construction began in 1919 under the direction of deputy health commissioner William Maybury, of the Detroit Board of Health. The center opened in 1921 (more than 100 years ago). By the 1930's, breakthroughs emerged in TB treatments which led to the later development of streptomycin and today's modern era of treatment. As a result, the facility eventually shut its doors in 1969. TB medical centers like this one were almost like COVID facilities of today.The Maybury sanatorium site was a complex of 45 buildings on initially 944 acres that was a community in and of itself. It included buildings with porches for the patients, a powerhouse, a children's unit, doctors' quarters, a nurses' home, a school building, women's dormitory, bakery, tinsmith and carpenter shop, a pasteurization plant for their dairy farm, along with an auditorium/chapel and a fire department. It even had it's own library and published a Maybury Monthly magazine. Total capacities:Up to 844 beds were available for the TB patients, and half of the 478 employees lived on the grounds.Every year:5,200 tons of coal were burned in the power plant60 million gallons of water were used1.2 million pieces of laundry were washed11.7 tons of soap were purchased1.5 miles of bed sheets were laundered27 tons of butter were consumed45 tons of flour were grown and ground onsite6 tons of coffee were purchased31 tons of sugar were used to sweeten the foodThrough the years, Maybury has meant many things to the community, starting with the original eight local homestead farms, to the construction and 50-year operation of the TB medical campus, and eventually becoming the State Park as we know it today. I encourage you to slow down and experience all that Maybury has to offer before summer ends … walk, bike, horseback ride, catch a bluegill in the pond or come on a Monday night for a free concert. All in our own backyard! Keep that Northville Summer Faith! Brian TurnbullMayor – [email protected] / 248.505.6849 This press release was produced by the City of Northville. The views expressed here are the author's own.