Northvillians,
Unity is on everyone’s mind these days, and it shows. Citizens are coming together to support our community in so many ways – being involved with various task forces, serving on committees, and helping with new initiatives. All this is enabling us to move forward into 2021.
Vaccinations are also on people’s minds. Our first responders have been vaccinated and our health care professionals are finishing up getting inoculated. As of early this week, over 29 million vaccination vials have been sent to various states and more than 9 million citizens have received injections. Check with your health care provider: University of Michigan, Beaumont, Providence and other organizations, which are contacting those in their networks.
In this week’s letter, I’ll highlight another gateway from our past which may be the most historic touchpoint in the community: the Northville well.
But first, let’s look at the latest happenings:
• Master Plan survey open until Jan. 31: Please take the final Northville Master Plan survey. Click here.
• Northville Social District street closures: Please take the survey on this hot topic.
In order to get as much participation as possible, we are asking you to also share this information with your neighbors, friends and family.
• President-elect Joe Biden and his COVID-19 task force are treating the pandemic as a national security-level crisis. A timeline has been laid out for an additional 100 million shots in the first 100 days. As his Jan. 20 swearing-in approaches, sources familiar with the task force's work say there will be potential deployment and nationwide assistance by the National Guard, and the role of private pharmacies is being debated. (CNN Politics)
• Gov. Whitmer has announced that school and childcare staff, frontline responders and other state staff may be vaccinated, as of Jan. 11. With this announcement, both Oakland and Wayne County are in the process of working out logistics. Shipments of vaccinations from the State, which have been limited, are now increasing. The governor announced on Jan. 13 in a press conference that 50,000 vaccines a day is the goal. The 150 Meijer’s pharmacies have been contacted by the State to be part of the vaccine network. She also stated that our hope is to resume indoor restaurant dining with strong safety measures in place on Feb. 1. (Michigan.com)
• Beaumont was one of the first Michigan health systems to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and has been working since mid-December to inoculate front-line workers and employees. Beaumont announced that they will begin sending invitations to schedule vaccine appointments to people 65 and older starting the week of Jan. 11 (other health care providers will follow). Currently, there are no walk-in appointments at Beaumont locations. (Beaumont.org)
• In downtown Northville, additional pods continue to be built to increase capacity in the Northville Social District and support “Heat in the Street.” We hope everyone can experience this refreshing open-air environment, masked-up and socially distanced. All you need to be outside and keep warm is there: heated dining pods and vendor stands, restaurants with warmed, covered outdoor areas and hot drinks. (downtownnorthville.com)
• After the holidays, it was projected that we’d have an increase in COVID-19 infections in the state. Fortunately, Beaumont shows a decline in individuals with COVID symptoms in their system. In the Northville area, a few entire households were infected with COVID after the holidays, which increased our numbers slightly. (See below.)
• COVID-19 confirmed cases: Northville has had 182 cases/7 fatalities; the Township: 1,320 cases /44 fatalities; Michigan: 570,000 cases /14,300 fatalities; the Nation: 23 million cases /383,000 fatalities, and Globally: 92 million cases /2 million fatalities. (CDC)
Another Historic Gateway into our community
The Northville Rotary well is one of the City’s oldest landmarks, located on Northville Road as you come into town from the south. This bubbling spring (whose waters are naturally carbonated) is mentioned in the Northville Record in 1870. Originally part of the Curtis farmland, Mr. Curtis was looking for investors for bottling this water, which he deemed a miracle cure from the bubbling mineral spring. In the same article, there was this description about Northville: “Northville’s close proximity to Detroit, Pontiac, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and other large towns, the beauty of the Village and surrounding country … will make this the most popular and preferable locality in the State.” (Northville Record Aug. 6, 1870)
The Northville Rotary Club built the well structure in 1932, where it still stands today. The underground natural spring waters in this area filled the only natural lake in Wayne County (Curtis Lake). Early on, a bottling company sprang up that provided Northville Silver Springs water for trains, hotels, restaurants and many other locations (similar to Absopure today). Interestingly, it was so carbonated right out of the ground that the water was used to create orange and grape pop, which was bottled there, too. The train company in the 1800s paid to pump this spring water up into a reservoir that provided water to passing steam engines. (The Rotary well now uses the same water as used throughout Northville.)
Today, we have become accustomed to the Northville clock (erected 1982) being our symbol of Northville. But until then, the Northville well was the representation of the City and is one of the oldest landmarks in the City. It was on the masthead of the Northville Record, on checks from Depositors State Bank, and on the City of Northville’s stationery.
Again, I remind and thank everyone for coming together in unity. Support for local projects such as the Rouge Restoration and River Walk, Ford Field and Farmers’ Market keep us on a positive trajectory. Your collective commitment will provide benefits to our community and well beyond the borders of Northville.
Stay safe by masking up, keeping social distance and washing your hands frequently. And, as you have always done, stay connected to all in the Ville!
Keep that Northville Faith, and let’s move forward … together.
Stay #NorthvilleStrong!
Brian Turnbull
Mayor – Northville
BTurnbull@ci.northville.mi.us / 248.505.6849
