Early Chicken Broil photo. Photo courtesy of the Mann family.

by Leon Mann

Manchester World-Famous Chicken Broil is entering its 73rd year of community bonding and great food! But many may not know the storied history of how the beloved Chicken Broil came to be.��

The first Chicken Broil was put on by one of Manchester many service clubs active in the 1950s, The Exchange Club. With businessmen, poultry farmers, and feed mill operators, planning for the event began in 1953. Dr. Howard Zindell of Michigan State College (now University) Poultry Division created a new method of cooking chicken alongside J.M. “Mac” Moore and Harry Hathaway of the same division. This method is the charcoal-barbecuing method we have come to know and love. The Exchange Club ran trials in different neighborhoods to determine the best ways to arrange grills and serve larger groups of people. It was during these trials that The Exchange Club came to the conclusion that these barbecues had the potential to become fundraisers.

The first community-wide Chicken Broil took place on August 12, 1954, at the Athletic Field, now known as the Alumni Memorial Field. It was sponsored by both The Exchange Club and the Jaycees of Manchester, the city equivalent of a Junior Chamber of Commerce. Renowned author Franklin “Frank” Reck published an article in Town Journal that recounted its success, from the perfect weather to the contents of the meals and the roles of volunteers. The first Broil only seated 400 people yet served nearly 2,000 people! The meal looked different, too. Instead of radishes, the Broil instead served celery, carrots, and green onions alongside the chicken halves, potato chips, coleslaw, and rolls. The Jaycees manned the drink and desserts table, and after the meal there was a softball exhibition match. While men did all of the cooking and serving, the women that volunteered worked behind the scenes, selling tickets and running errands to keep everything moving. The Exchange Club advertised the Chicken Broil as a well-deserved break for Mom, to give her a break from the chore of cooking dinner.��

The first Chicken Broil is far from the only historic Broil. The 14th annual Chicken Broil in 1967 served 10,000 guests, quintupling the number served in 1953. This could be due to 1967 also being the year of Manchester Centennial anniversary. The 17th annual Chicken Broil in 1972 is credited with the first instance of pre-sale tickets — tickets bought before the event cost $1.75 but $2 at the gate. The 39th annual Chicken Broil in 1992 was completely rained out, and the committee ended up selling chicken halves by the case to whoever wanted them. What would have been the 67th annual Chicken Broil in 2020 was completely cancelled due to COVID-19, which removed the “consecutive” part of the Chicken Broil title.��

The 73rd annual Chicken Broil is on July 18, from 4pm to 7:30pm, with tickets currently on sale. As always it will take place at the Alumni Memorial Field on East Duncan Street. For tickets and other information regarding the Chicken Broil, visit the Manchester Chicken Broil Facebook page or website.��

Photo of an early Chicken Broil. Photo courtesy of the Mann family.

Ticket from the 1957 Chicken Broil. Photo courtesy of the Mann family.

This photo is of the Manchester Fourth of July parade in 1896. Image from the Sam Sturgis photograph collection at the Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor.

Prehistoric musk ox skull found in William Schlicht farm field in 1915 in Manchester. On display in the University of Michigan Natural History Museum, April 2026. Photo by Sara Swanson.

by Sara Swanson

In the summer of 1915, workmen digging a drain on a farm field that is today located in the Manchester City limits (just northeast of today high school) discovered a fossilized skull of a prehistoric musk ox about four feet down. The skull, only the second to be discovered in Michigan, went on to be a key talking point in a more-than-century-long fight over the categorization of prehistoric musk ox species, and is on display today in the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History in Ann Arbor.��

The field was owned by William John Schlicht (1865–1948), who lived with his wife, Katherine, and their children just across the township line in Sharon. (Note: This is William J. Schlicht, not to be confused with his first cousin, Bridgewater Township William H. Schlicht, for whom the 3-story Schlicht-Parker barn on Lima Center Road had been constructed.) An article about its discovery was published in the Manchester Enterprise sometime around the beginning of August, which brought it to the attention of Dr. Ermine Cowles Case (1871–1955).��

Dr. Ermine Cowles Case, the paleontologist who took possession of the musk ox skull and published the first paper about it. Photo credit: University of Michigan

Case was a prominent American paleontologist, internationally known as one of the world’s leading authorities on prehistoric life. He taught at the University of Michigan from 1907-1941, and was a professor of geology and paleontology. He was also the Director of the Museum of Geology, and when it changed in 1928 to the Museum of Paleontology, Case became that institution’s first Director.

We don’t know how the conversation went when Case approached the Schlicht family, but the skull made its way to the University of Michigan burgeoning fossil collection and shortly afterwards Case published a short about it. A search was conducted, but other than fragments from the nose bone inadvertently broken off by a spade during its discovery, no other bones were located.

The skull found in Manchester had an interesting peculiarity, a large cavity in the left cheek. Case speculated that the animal had suffered a severe injury in some combat from which it had, in part at least, recovered, as the edges of the wound were rounded and partly replaced by new bone.

Case paper asserts incorrectly that the skull was discovered 3 miles north east of Manchester, which would put the discovery in Sharon or Freedom Township, depending on how far east you interpret the “east” to be. Schlicht corrects this mistake after the fact but it has been picked up and repeated in about half of the subsequent papers, articles, and books that include the find, and is even incorrect on a new, still-in-beta, made by mindat.org.��

The first correction comes in print 8 years later. Schlicht was contacted by Oliver P. Hay, the author of a published in 1923. Hay notes in the text that Schlicht sent him a written description and plat showing the location of the discovery.

So where was the discovery? Hay reports it as 0.5 mile northwest of the town, near the center of the northwest quarter of the northwest quarter of section 1, township 4 south, range 3 east. At the time this was north of the village limits but exists within the city limits today. The location is still an agricultural field, private property, but is located kitty-corner to the mowed practice field area to the east of Manchester High School. The northeast corner of the practice fields abuts the southwest corner of the agricultural field the skull was discovered in.��

In Case paper, he easily identifies the musk ox as belonging to a large bull from the extinct prehistoric species Symbos cavifrons. At that point the only other prehistoric musk ox fossils discovered in Michigan were found seven years earlier in Moorland Township in Muskegon County and were identified as belonging to the smaller ����ö�ٳ������ܳ� sargenti. Case notes that there was debate at the time whether Symbos and ����ö�ٳ������ܳ� were actually one species. He doesn’t make a strong argument for the two species position, but suggests it makes sense at least provisionally to consider them two separate species.��

Interestingly he states that the argument for one species was that the smaller ����ö�ٳ������ܳ� was actually the juvenile form and Symbos the mature form. While this may have been AN argument, it appears the prevailing argument at the time for one species was that of sexual dimorphism, differences in size and structure of the males and females of one species. And this as it turned out was the case. After multiple papers arguing the contrary over the decades, in 1989, the Smithsonian Institute published a placing Symbos and ����ö�ٳ������ܳ� together in the same species called ����ö�ٳ������ܳ� as it was the older of the two names. In it, Case 1915 paper on the Manchester skull was cited (and the correct location of the discovery was given.)

Although the 1989 paper is the beginning of the end for the two separate species theory which had been the prevailing theory in the scientific community since the 1850, the nail in coffin came in 2018 with a titled “Molecular resolution to a morphological controversy: The case of North American fossil musk oxen Bootherium and Symbos” which documents the use of DNA to finally demonstrate that indeed individuals previously categorized as Bootherium and Symbos are in fact members of the same species. Whether or not the Manchester skull, cited in many of the previous papers participating in the debate was used is unknown (because the paper is behind a paywall only institutions can access) but it is unlikely as the abstract states that the samples came from specimens that were not fully fossilized.��

At different times the prehistoric musk ox has been called Harlan musk ox, wood ox, woodland musk ox, helmeted musk ox, or the bonnet-headed musk ox. It diverged from its closest living relative, the musk ox you are probably thinking of, around 3 million years ago. It was significantly taller and leaner with thicker skulls and longer snouts than musk oxen found today.

The prehistoric musk ox wasn’t the only large mammal living in Michigan during its lifetime. During the Pleistocene, mastodons, mammoths, giant beavers, flat-headed peccaries, stage moose, elk, caribou, white-tailed deer lived here. But it went into decline, and eventual extinction, approximately 11,000 years ago, along with many of the other species of megafauna at the end of the last��Ice Age.

Photo of the skull published in the Michigan Daily, Nov. 7, 1915.

The University of Michigan Daily, the student newspaper still published today, ran an about the skull on November 7, after the skull had been collected and brought to Ann Arbor. The article, by Walter A. Atlas, reports that Mr. W. H. Buettner, of the geology department, prepared the specimen and photographs were made of it and that “as soon as an appropriate place can be found for it in the museum it will be taken from it’s box and placed on exhibition”.

If you are having trouble imaging the picture these dry facts are painting, Atlas also narrates the life of the musk ox whose skull was discovered on Schlicht farm:��

“������Ƶ 20,000 years ago when the last traces of the terrible glaciers that had covered the country as far south as the Ohio river were disappearing from what is now the state of Michigan, a huge musk-ox led his herd about the country near the present site of Manchester, Mich.

“He was a powerful old bull, about four feet high, and slightly more than six feet long. He weighed about 13,000 pounds and his thick brown hair was long and shaggy. His horns, which measured twenty-four inches from tip to tip, and which were thirteen and a half inches in circumference where they parted from the forehead, were of a peculiar shape.

“Upon emerging from the forehead they first curved slightly backward, lying close to the head, then swept straight downward, turning forward and outward, and finally tapering upward to the pointed tips.

“When the gigantic glacier retreated it dropped in it’s wake mosses and various kinds of herbage. They were evergreen trees and shrubs in abundance and with a great deal of labor the oxen were able to get a plentiful supply of food.

“One day when the supply of food was becoming scarce some sharp-horn-ed animal attempted to poach on the grazing territory that the musk-ox considered his own, and a terrible battle ensued. The musk-ox, although heavy and short legged was quick and strong, and emerged from the struggle victorious. In the melee, how-ever, his antagonist stabbed him through the left check and inflicted a deep wound. A short time afterwards, while foraging for supplies, the musk-ox fell into one of the morasses which abounded in the region, and being unable to extricate himself because of his great weight, perished.”

Today the skull found in Manchester carries the catalog number 3450, is one of six cataloged musk ox specimens from Michigan at the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology, and is the only one on display in the University’s Museum of Natural History. You can see it yourself in person in the Michigan gallery on the first floor of the museum which is located at 1105 N University Ave in Ann Arbor. They are open daily from 10am to 5pm this summer (please check to confirm before you go) and admission is free.��

One fun detail and an indication of how recent the conclusion to the “one species or two” debate was reached is that the card on display identifying the skull still reads Symbos cavifrons.

William Schlicht�� had many descendants, including his great-grand daughter, local historian Laura Sutton, who lives less than a mile from where the skull was discovered. She reports that the discovery of the prehistoric ox skull is not a story her grandfather passed down. However, her grandfather, William son Clarence would have been 13 the summer the skull was discovered and Sutton reports that the summer of 1915 he was bed-ridden with polio so it is understandable how this family story may have been lost over time.

While the musk ox skull is the only recorded large prehistoric animal fossil discovered in the City of Manchester, we are surrounded by many sites of fossil discoveries! Mastodon bones have been found all along Pleasant Lake Road in Sharon, Freedom, and Lodi Townships. In 1979, a half complete mastodon skeleton known as “The Pleasant Lake Mastodon” was found in Freedom that gained fame as it showed compelling evidence of butchery and tool use, lending credence to the theory that the animals were over-hunted. Mastodon bones have been discovered along US-12, just east on Bridgewater Township, including a find in 1992 of preserved mastodon footprints which are also currently on display at U of M Natural History Museum. Mastodon fossils have been discovered just west of the Village of Clinton and elk fossils have been discovered in Fay Lake in Norvell Township.

Who knows what fossils are currently under your feet as you read this!

Thanks to Jaimie Schmidt, Laura Sutton, and Fritz Swanson for help with the research, maps, and photos.

William and Katherine Schlicht and children in front of their home in Sharon Township. Left to right: William, Henry, Anna, Katherine, Bertha (standing), Emma, and Clarence. Photo courtesy of Laura Sutton.

William and Katherine Schlicht in the Village of Manchester, 1940’s. Photo courtesy of Laura Sutton.

1915 Plat map of Manchester Township. William Schlicht’s property (labeled as W. J. Schlecht) where the skull was found is shown along the top. Public domain.

The skull from the side with the injury visible. Photo by Sara Swanson.

Close up of the injury. Photo by Sara Swanson.

Poem written about Manchester’s prehistoric musk ox.

The Hamlet of Bridgewater on a rainy afternoon in March. Photo by Sara Swanson.

by Sara Swanson

What do you know about Bridgewater, not the township but the hamlet? If you are like many Manchester-area residents, you may know it as the spot on Austin where you have to slow down to 35mph on your way to Saline, or your knowledge may extend to the Bridgewater Bank being a good place to get a burger, or the Depot a place to stop for essentials to hold you over until your next grocery trip. What you may not know is that the Hamlet of Bridgewater is the oldest non-native settlement in the Manchester area, pre-dating the settlement that would become the Village (and then City) of Manchester by four years.

The Hamlet of Bridgewater was first settled in 1829 by Col. Daniel Hixon and his wife, Maria, who traveled from Tecumseh to Bridgewater on the Indian Trail. Daniel, New York-born and veteran of the Black Hawk War, went on to serve as a representative in the Michigan legislature in 1843 and 1855, and as a State Senator in 1853.

Bridgewater Township originally encompassed what is today both Bridgewater and Manchester townships and was named “Hixon Township,” after Hixon. In 1832, Hixon Township was divided into Bridgewater and Manchester townships, and Bridgewater Township was named “Bridgewater” by its first supervisor, George Howe, in honor of a village of the same name in Oneida County, New York.

The hamlet, however, was not called Bridgewater from the start; the young settlement was given a post office under the name Columbia Lake in 1833. The post office was renamed Bridgewater in 1843 after the township.

You may wonder why Bridgewater historic township hall is not located in the hamlet? Bridgewater Township had two settlements in the 19th century. Another settlement known as River Raisin had grown up near the intersection of Hogan Road and Wilbur Road. In 1856, when the hall was built, both the Hamlet of Bridgewater and the Hamlet of River Raisin had railroad stations and post offices. The township hall is located near the defunct Hamlet of River Raisin.

Though the Hamlet of Bridgewater has never incorporated and become a village, it does have its own separate plan in the Township master plan, with zoning recognizing its commercial and industrial past and potential future. Currently the Hamlet of Bridgewater has a mix of homes and commercial buildings, including a store, tavern, businesses, and St John Lutheran Church.

Village vs. hamlet��

It may seem pedantic to refer to the settlement of Bridgewater as a hamlet instead of a village, but in Michigan, “village” is a legal term.

In Michigan, a village is an incorporated municipality with its own, independent government, providing services, while remaining part of a township. A hamlet is an unincorporated, but named settlement lacking formal government or defined boundaries, administered directly by the township. A city, like a village, has its own independent government but is not a part of a township. ��

While “village” is a legal term in Michigan, “town,” on the other hand, is not a legal term in Michigan. If you want to refer to driving to Bridgewater Depot as “going into town” you would not be technically incorrect!

While having multiple historic, now defunct, hamlets, the Manchester area has one other current hamlet besides Bridgewater, and that is Fredonia, on Pleasant Lake in Freedom Township.

Close up of the hamlet of River Raisin. 1895 Map of Bridgewater Township by Geo. A. Ogle & Co. Credit: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Close up of the hamlet of Bridgewater. 1895 Map of Bridgewater Township by Geo. A. Ogle & Co. Credit: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division.

Next time you are slowing down to 35mph on your way to Saline, take a look around and try to see the history still present, just under the surface!

Bronze U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey marker in Watkins Lake State Park and County Preserve, placed as part of C.W.A. New Deal Program to employ out-of-work engineers in surveying the United States. Photo courtesy of Janice Kessler.

by Sara Swanson

You probably know that Manchester Township along with neighboring Norvell Township is home to Watkins Lake State Park and County Preserve, Michigan 103rd state park as well as the first state park in Michigan to be jointly managed with a county recreation agency. What you might not know is that the park is home to an almost century-old survey marker that was lost for 75 years and found by Manchester own Janice Kessler.

While there are all sorts of survey markers, this survey marker came about because of the Great Depression.

During the Great Depression, the Civil Works Administration, a New Deal Program, provided immediate, temporary relief by directly employing millions of unemployed people for manual labor during the winter of 1933–34. One unemployed group was engineers. In the fall of 1933, the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Bureau was asked to head up a limited-term project to employ out-of-work engineers in surveying the country.

In Michigan, Professor C.M. Cade, Department of Civil Engineering at Michigan State College in Lansing, oversaw the project in addition to his regular job. He was assisted by Professor J. H. Service, from Michigan College of Mines in Houghton, who acted as supervisor for the surveys in the Upper Peninsula. Both were former Coast and Geodetic Survey Officers. Work started on November 27, 1933, and continued through to June 30, 1935. On average, 100 men a week were employed with the maximum number being 339 men. The men were assigned areas to survey near their homes to minimize the need for travel, and in exchange for using their personal vehicles, they were reimbursed for maintenance and accidents.

Using non-specialized surveying equipment, precise vertical and horizontal measurements were determined and noted as well as the elevation, and a bronze disk was put in place at each site. Anyone could contact the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey Bureau for information on the locations afterward, and for years the markers were used to help in map making and establishing property and municipality boundaries.

Twenty-seven separate areas were surveyed in different parts of the state. In Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor to Ypsi was surveyed. In Jackson County, Leslie to Francis; Waterloo through Leoni, to Henrietta; the vicinity of the City of Jackson; and the vicinity of Grass Lake were surveyed. No surveying in Lenawee was done. Each separate area had its own number letter designations. The Watkins Lake marker is number 12 – B1, which indicates it was part of the Grass Lake area survey.

In 1941, the marker at Watkins Lake was last located and described as “3 1/4 MILES SOUTHEAST OF NORVELL, 5 1/4 MILES WEST-SOUTHWEST OF MANCHESTER, and 5 3/4 MILES EAST NORTHEAST OF BROOKLYN, IN THE N E 1/4, SEC. 13, T 4 S, R 2 E, 36 YARDS NORTHWEST OF THE NEW YORK CENTRAL RAILROAD STATION AT WATKINS, 24.0 FEET NORTH OF THE NORTH RAIL, 22.7 FEET SOUTH OF THE NORTH RIGHT-OF-WAY FENCE LINE, 7.2 FEET NORTHWEST OF A CONCRETE WHISTLE POST AND ABOUT 3 FEET ABOVE TOP OF RAIL.”

This is what Kessler had to work with when she went hunting for the marker in 2016. Of course, the railroad station and line were long gone.

She explained that she looks for survey markers as a hobby called “benchmark hunting,” which evolved out of geocaching in the early part of the millennium. Kessler has been benchmark hunting since around 2007. She stated, “At the same time geocaching first started learning about survey markers, satellites and handheld GPS made the survey markers mostly obsolete and almost all funding for finding and maintaining survey markers was completely cut. The National Geodetic Survey (which is just one of many, many agencies) opened their database to the public and heavily relies on the public to photograph and report on survey markers they come across.”

Click here for how to start survey-marker hunting: SurveyMarkHunting.

Many markers have a sign or post set nearby called a “witness post” that also gives an address where people can write to get more info. Kessler had seen a witness post on the Waterloo-Pinckney Trail (the actual survey marker is missing, only the witness post is there) and she had, in her words, “spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out what a survey marker was.” That led her to the Geocaching.com website where they had at the time a webpage for learning about benchmark hunting. She used Geocaching.com to hunt up a few markers on M-52 and thought the whole thing was incredibly dull. Sometime later, she was driving south on Sylvan Road, crossed over Grass Lake Road, and her husband pointed out an old witness post. She pulled over and had to fight her way through the brush to take some photos. She then had to figure out which agency owned the marker. Once there was a challenge involved, she was hooked.

Using the National Geodetic Survey database, Kessler researched and found several markers in the area, so she’d known about the Watkins Lake marker for years. She stated, “Within minutes of learning the Trolz Farm property had become a state park, my husband and I drove down Arnold Road and as we rounded the corner by [where] the parking lot [is now] I said there a survey marker up there somewhere that hasn’t been documented since 1941 and I really want to find it.” A few days after that they stopped and talked to Jim O’Brien, the park manager at that time, and asked permission to hop the fence and metal detect. He said yes.

Kessler continued, “������Ƶ a week later we went back and at that point the gate was opened and a rough parking lot had been created. We went up to the flagpole, because I knew that the train depot had been near that, told my husband to go over to the fence line and pace off 22 feet from the fence. He literally waved the metal detector and found it. He found it so fast it was almost a disappointment … my expectation had been that I’d be there for two weeks and never find it.” The database had it about 800 feet from where they found it. She explained that the way the earth is measured has changed several times, but the actual description of how to find it was accurate.

She took some photos and some measurements and emailed a photo of the marker to Jim O’Brien and somebody who was with the NGS but working in Lansing. She stated, “That guy did a ‘mark recovery report.’ I also did a mark recovery report, but mine is dated the day after his. This is annoying to me because it makes it look like he was first to find it. I’d emailed him with the photo to upload because it was very difficult for me to upload photos to their database back then. But dang it, I made sure I got my photo up there after that ’cause I wasn’t going to let anyone else get ahead of me on that again. When you get to the photos for that in the NGS database, the first two are mine. To this day, the first photo has been on my cell phone lock screen.”

Kessler states, “The markers are considered to be federal monuments under federal protection. … Out of the 800+ that were set [in Michigan], only a few still exist. If the Public Works project went through, they often got destroyed during construction. Many were set near roads, but no one realized how roads would widen, with bigger shoulders and ditches and utility easements. Farmers often dug out around them and broke them, because hitting one with their farm equipment could mean costly repairs. Consequently, the few that remain are considered rare and rather special.”

Next time you visit Watkins Lake State Park and County Preserve, see if you can find the marker. Kessler explained, “It sits 120 feet northwest of the flagpole, on the north side the rail trail, three feet south of an orange Carsonite post.”

If you end up catching the survey marker hunting bug, there is one in the City of Manchester. In Kirk Park, in a narrow strip of grass between the parking lot and street, there a marker that was set in 2008. Kessler states, “Technically, it a reference mark for a survey marker, but it still a marker!”

Left: Certificate of Frederick Alber’s Medal of Honor. Right: Certificate of John A. Falconer’s Medal of Honor. Photos courtesy Chuck Steele & American Legion post #117. Center: An 1896 Medal of Honor. Photo credit: Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

by Marsha Chartrand

Two years ago in the Mirror, , we told the story of Manchester own living hero Chuck Steele and his 70+ years of commitment to his country and community.

But he recently learned that he just one among several Manchester men who have been honored in a variety of different ways for their service. Just in time for Medal of Honor Day this year, on March 25, Chuck was cleaning out some storage at the Legion home on the corner of Duncan and Adrian streets and located two framed reproductions of certificates that report John A. Falconer and Frederick Alber, both entering service in Manchester during the Civil War, had earned the Congressional Medal of Honor in July of 1896 for two incidents that had happened one year apart, on May 12, 1863, and May 12, 1864.

They were two men from Manchester who served their country and earned this prestigious honor, which is reserved for “normal Americans, everyday citizens, who did something extraordinary on a day when the nation needed them to do it,” as quoted by Capt. Chris Cassidy, president and CEO of the soon-to-open National Medal of Honor Museum in Arlington, Tex. “There are 3,526 stories to tell and we’re excited to deliver this project to the nation.”

Corporal Falconer, who was born in 1844 in Washtenaw County and entered service in Manchester before the village inception, conducted a “burning party” of his regiment at the time a charge was made on the enemy picket line, and burned the house that had sheltered the enemy sharpshooters, thus ensuring success to a hazardous enterprise.

Pvt. Alber, born in Germany in 1838, entered service in Manchester in the 17th Michigan Infantry and received his medal for an incident in Spotsylvania, Va., on May 12, 1864. He had “bravely rescued Lt. Charles H. Todd of his regiment, who had been captured by a party of Confederates, by shooting down one, knocking over another with the butt of his musket, and taking them both prisoners.”

These actions earned the young Manchester men accolades for their heroism under high-pressure situations at the time their nation called upon them. According to Steele, he unaware of any Falconers still remaining in Manchester today, but there are, of course, still members of the Alber family in town. In fact, his late wife, Elaine, was an Alber. He also indicated that there may have been a third Civil War honoree, but he was unable to locate it that day.

“It would be another huge project to have to go searching for it,” Chuck quipped.

We have a long and rich tradition of dedicated service in Manchester in which we can all take pride.

Original news photo of a plume of fire, taken on October 8, 2004 (looks like a phoenix if you can see it…). Photo courtesy of Lew Major.

by Colleen A. Schoenfeld

Ever heard a familiar, yet strangely different plane sound, and looked to the sky in curiosity and wondered if you stepped into a time warp as you watch what appears to be a WWII bomber flying overhead? Don’t worry, you’re still in the present and likely your glasses still work. Manchester is located within the airspace and flight path of an airfield in Ann Arbor with a very interesting past and present history.

After a tragic accidental fire 20 years ago, the Michigan Flight Museum (formerly known as, and referred to in this history, as the Yankee Air Museum) rose from the ashes and continues to soar today. It was October 9, 2004, when Manchester Lew Major, along with Rob (“Bob”) Paul were landing the Yankee Air Museum B-25 on a return flight to Willow Run Airport, that they noticed smoke coming from their World War II-era hangar building. The Yankee Air Museum was founded in 1981 by Dennis Norton, and by 2004, had five historic aircraft in their hangar. Lew and Bob were volunteers at the local aviation museum and upon landing, they alerted the airport to the fire, and along with five other volunteers, sprang into action saving 3 of the 5 aircraft, with no deaths or injuries reported in the Ann Arbor News article, written in December of 2004. That article named the volunteers the “Magnificent Seven,” for their heroic efforts to save as many of the aircraft and as much equipment as they could. The Magnificent Seven were: Lew Major, Bob Paul, Ellie Staiger, Ken Chio, Mary Jane Medlock, Tony Hurst, and Alan Running. Today, in the 20th anniversary year of the fire, Lew reflects on that event and the museum impact since.

The Fire

Lew recalled that he and Bob were backing the B-25 into one end of the hangar and Lew noticed something strange on the other side of the hangar, but at first, he thought it was some sort of Halloween decorations. Soon, he and Bob realized it was no decoration, and it was smoke on the other side. Their aircraft was being tugged into the hangar, and both Bob and Lew were military veterans and trained to react to fire, so they immediately yelled as loudly as they could, “Fire! Fire! Fire!” just like they had been trained to do, and they directed the tug operator to pull the B-25 back out of the smoking hangar. The three of them then sprang into action and began work to pull another aircraft, a B-17, to safety. A second aircraft saved from the flames, they attempted to hook the tug to a third aircraft, a C-47, but they were unable to successfully hook it up, so the three of them began trying to physically push the aircraft out by themselves. A fourth volunteer had joined them, and three additional volunteers were spotted trying to get into the gift shop to put out the source of the smoke, a fire in the gift shop.

One of the four attempting to push out the C-47, Lew noted, was Ellie Staiger. Lew described Ellie as the smallest of the group, at about 5 foot tall and 98 pounds, and he said she was yelling and shouting direction to them to “Push, Push, PUSH!” Lew said that the group was pushing as best they could, to get the C-47 out of the hangar toward safety. But, by this time the hangar was filling with the smoke and becoming too dangerous to continue their aircraft rescue mission safely. Lew notes that they were breathing in a lot of smoke but only had the C-47 about halfway to safety. He said by this time, the smoke was at their head level, and they could only see their feet below them. They got it out of the hangar doors just as the first firetruck arrived in front of the hangar. At that time, Ken Chio, arrived with a tug and hooked it up and pulled it to safety further away. Ken had also breathed in a great deal of smoke at this point, Lew noted. They did make one more attempt to push through the smoke to save tools and equipment but were told by the firefighters to leave because of concern that “this thing is going to blow,” meaning the hangar. They backed to a safe distance, and Lew described that due to all of the chemicals and gases in the hangar, he heard a “swoosh” and he saw a bright flash go off. The first flash of heat and light was captured in a photograph and shared in the 2004 news article, depicting the hangar as it went up in flames.

The damage was extensive. The hangar and everything within were destroyed. Lost, in addition to the World War II era wooden hangar, and all the equipment inside, were two additional airframes: an Airforce 105 and a Bronco YOV-10. Lew shared that a member of the museum and volunteer, Mr. Rice left the organization following the fire. Lew said that Mr. Rice felt devasted by the loss of the Bronco YOV-10 he had spent years and countless hours, voluntarily restoring to flyable condition. Lew speculated that due to the hazardous materials from inside the former hangar and from the fire itself, the hangar was not rebuilt in the same location and the location of the former hangar remains vacant.

As the days went on, Zantop Airlines, also located on the Willow Run Airport, loaned some hangar space to the Yankee Air Museum for the three remaining aircraft. Over the next several years, as the Yankee Air Museum raised funds, and began to build a new hangar, they were kindly lent space in a few different hangars around the airport. Lew recalled that a local philanthropist and pilot, Jack Rousch, had a building constructed, mainly for use by the Yankee Air Museum. Lew noted that Jack was a Detroit industrialist and owned two P-51 Mustangs that he flew. Lew credited another large donor, Connie Kalitta, as a crucial part of the rebuild and revamping of the Yankee Air Museum following the fire. Lew stated that many volunteers, donors, and others were “good to” the Yankee Air Museum during its rebuild operations and on into their enduring legacy as an organization today. With the three remaining aircraft, the volunteer pilots and crews, were also able to make money toward the effort by providing paid rides to those interested in riding in the historic aircraft. A picture is included of the B-25 crew, which includes the regularly serving crew chief, John Stahley, who was not present the day of the fire. The Yankee Air Museum continues to offer paid flights in the historic aircraft as well as in the additions added to their inventory since the fire of 2004.

Lew reminisced that he and Mary Jane remained in contact over the last 20 years, but they had lost touch with the other members of the Magnificent Seven. He said that they knew that Tony and Ken have since passed away, and that Ellie had moved away to Arizona to be a pilot but has since passed away. They lost track of Al Running, and the last they had heard, Bob Paul was ill. He wondered aloud about setting up a memorial or of having this interview and its resulting article serve as a kind of memorial in remembrance of the events of that day, and the efforts of the Magnificent Seven.

An Oral History of the Yankee Air Museum

According to a site summary report, produced in 2018, by Chris Grossman of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Willow Run Airport was built in 1941 by the Ford Company to serve as an airport and factory for building B-24 bombers for World War II. A 2018 Detroit Free Press article stated that during the war, the B-24 plant was “churning out one bomber per hour.” Following the war, it was a private airport, and a group of aviation enthusiasts purchased a former Army Air Force hangar and restored it to its original WWII form. The group called themselves “The Yankee Air Force” and started what became known as the Yankee Air Museum. According to Barry D. Levine, author of the 2018 book, Yankee Air Museum, the “Yankee Air Force” group, officially founded the Yankee Air Museum in 1981. Lew provided some insights and background on his knowledge and experiences with the Yankee Air Museum as a longtime volunteer and aviation enthusiast.

The museum built up a significant collection in their hangar, that included five historic aircraft and a variety of other aviation artifacts and historical records, between its founding and the fire of 2004. As mentioned, only three aircraft survived the fire. He said that after its founding, it started as a small project, but it grew and grew until by the 1990s they were doing good business and had a lot of volunteers involved. He said the fire had an impact on their space and required so many moves during the rebuilding process. Some of the activities and volunteers dropped off. He said that when the new hangar was completed, and since then, the museum volunteers and activities have been increasing again and really growing.

Lew recalled that his involvement with the Yankee Air Museum began when he had heard about the museum being approximately 5 years into a 10-year restoration project of a B-17. He said he didn’t start volunteering with them yet or really get involved for a few years after he’d heard about the restoration project, due to other time commitments he had at the time, but it sparked his interest and led to his later involvement. Lew noted that the B-17 project finished right around the time he joined the museum, he estimated that would have been around 1998, and that their new project was the restoration of a B-25. He said his uncle had served in WWII as a B-25 mechanic, so Lew said, “I got in on that.” With humor, Lew said he wasn’t much more back then than a “gopher” but he really enjoyed assisting with the restoration project. *A gopher is a term for someone who “goes for” the tools requested by the mechanic. *

He spoke fondly as he recalled how interesting the restoration project had been to him. He enjoyed taking the wings apart, restoring or repairing old parts, and replacing parts. Some of the parts required for the project came from as far away as California. He said Bob Paul had been one of the mechanics working on the project for the museum and that Bob was very talented as a mechanic. Lew shared that this B-25 had some interesting history of its very own.

His understanding was that this particular B-25, had flown seven missions during WWII. He said it had been manufactured in Kansas and then flown to fight in Europe and was used as a trainer aircraft after the war, including as a trainer in Canada. He said it had been flying in Italy, around the time of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Many of the aircraft were destroyed by the eruption. Some by the damage incurred on the ground and others whose engines were damaged while flying, by the glass that forms when volcanic ash in the air enters the engines.

Lew said the seven missions were marked on the body of the B-25 as well as markings of two outhouses blown over. Apparently, the B-25 had been involved in blowing over, or knocking over, two outhouses and the pilots and crew decided to memorialize the unique battles, as is tradition, by marking those on the body of the B-52 as well. There is no humor quite like military humor, and pilot humor on top of that! (inserted by the author) Lew described the payloads and capabilities of the B-25 and its impressive statistics and abilities. He said the B-25, “was a medium bomber, so they were like a hot rod of the bomber class, and they could go in and attack ships, convoys, trains.” They also had to repair some WWII flack damage on the tail boom during the restoration, another mark demonstrating the B-25 wartime experience.

As far as the museum C-47, Lew was unsure if it had flown in combat. He did know that there were many C-47s produced for the war, over 10,000. Which he said was so many that C-47s pilots once told him that, everywhere “in the world today, there’s still at least one C-47 working someplace.” He shared that he had spent countless coffee and meal chats with pilots, in his role as a volunteer and crew, and listened to all their stories about WWII and also about flying. He said that at airshows, there would often be older gentlemen using a wheelchair or cane who would stop by to tell him that he used to fly that aircraft, or had served as a gunner, or as a mechanic. Sometimes they would have a tear in their eye as they shared stories with Lew. He said he really appreciated those experiences they shared with him.

Michigan Flight Museum Today

After the fire, Lew said that the volunteers and museum folks were moving from location to location on the airfield. He said they continued to add more and more volunteers and build up their events. He described the annual bistro party and said it grew year over year and was one of their fundraising events. He recalled that the parties would sometimes include a big band swing dance group that would teach people how to swing dance and that sometimes people would wear historical/period clothing to the bistro parties and that they were a lot of fun to attend. Their fundraising events, continued flights on the remaining aircraft, and other fundraising efforts led to the eventual purchase of what is the current museum and hangar space.

The Michigan Flight Museum (formerly Yankee Air Museum) also continues to host their annual airshow in the summer. They often are looking for volunteers and certainly for donors to support the operations of the museum. The 2025 summer airshow is scheduled to feature the U.S. Navy Blue Angel flight demonstration team on the weekend of June 20-22, 2025, and the event is called Thunder Over Michigan. Dear reader, if you’ve never had the chance to see an airshow in person, I highly recommend the experience! And what a great year to go, the Blue Angels are a world class flight demo team that shouldn’t be missed! More information about the museum, volunteering, donating, or visiting the museum can be found at and additional information about the Thunder Over Michigan annual airshow can be found at . Consider visiting and supporting the Michigan Flight Museum in their efforts to preserve our aviation history and learn a bit more about our historic, flyable, aircraft and equipment, right up the road from Manchester.

This article would not have been possible without the information and interest in preserving history, provided by Lew Major of Manchester. He and his wife Charlotte Major have preserved the newspapers from 2004 and other pictures which are shared with this article.

Editor’s note: this article was updated shortly after publication with corrected spellings of the post-fire benefactors’ names. Thank you to Marty Mayes for providing the corrections.��

Original front page news photo of the hangar engulfed in flames with the B-25 in front after being saved from the flames. Photo courtesy of Lew Major.

Lew Major and volunteers working at an annual Thunder Over Michigan airshow. Photo courtesy of Lew Major.

Photo of the B-25 crew in 2009, Owosso Michigan: (Left to Right) Lew, Cliff, Jon, Joe, Duff, Steve, and Rex. Photo courtesy of Lew Major.

Iron Creek Church, at the corner of Sharon Hollow and English Roads in Manchester Township. Photo courtesy of MAHS.

by Sybil Kolon for Manchester Area Historical Society

The Iron Creek Community Church, founded as a Free Will Baptist Church in 1855, was dissolved earlier this year. Unbeknownst to many, the congregation had been shrinking for years. There are some sad aspects of this story, but it also presents an opportunity to preserve a modest, locally significant, historic church.

Earlier this year, the church, parsonage, and associated eight acres were deeded to another church with the expectation that it would be sold to benefit that church. Much work was required before the property could be listed, which it was, earlier this month. There has been much interest in the property, but both buildings, and the property in general, present several problems that will require significant investment to resolve.

The current owner hopes that another church can take over. If not, the next option would be to find a buyer to repurpose the church. Issues identified by the Washtenaw County Health Department and Manchester Township related to zoning will need to be resolved before any significant changes to the current use can be made. Members of the Manchester Area Historical Society (MAHS) were able to tour the property recently and believe both buildings can be restored and repurposed, if a new church is not able to take over.

In the meantime, MAHS is seeking documents and pictures relating to the church. It appears that most of the historical records associated with the church have been lost. However, we have been in touch with former members of the church who have many relevant documents and pictures. Much history about the church is known and an effort to compile it will be a worthy effort.

In particular, there is a large boulder outside of the church with a plaque that carries significant meaning to our community. The plaque memorializes two soldiers who were killed in World War II. Sgt. Arthur C. Frey was shot down over France on May 11, 1944. Sgt. Edward A. Brazee was killed in India on June 14, just one month later. Both were members of the church. Edward Brazee was the son of the pastor, Rev. Alvin Brazee. Arthur Frey sister, Marjorie, later married Donald Brazee, Rev. Brazee youngest son. Marjorie is now 101 years old and has been interviewed by MAHS members, including her much younger cousin, Laura Sutton. We hope to share more history in the future. Check out the Deconstructing the Past webpage on the MAHS website, which includes some history on Marjorie great-grandfather (and Laura great-great grandfather), Richard Sutton, who was likely a guest pastor at the Iron Creek Church:

The owner of the church property has agreed that if the boulder with the plaque has to be moved when the property is sold, MAHS can arrange to have it moved to a location where this history can continue to be shared. If you have any pictures, documents, or stories about the Iron Creek Church to share, please contact Sybil Kolon at sybil.kolon@gmail.com.

View of the W.E.B. on the bell. Photo courtesy of Sybil Kolon.

by Sara Swanson

We reported on the finds from the Sutton/Kolongowski farmhouse deconstruction project that happened last fall. Sybil Kolon let us know that within the last month there is another find to add to the list!

On invitation, a metal detectorist, Chris Trudell, investigated the area. The most interesting find was a crotal bell (sleigh bell) and right next to it was a buckle most likely from a horse harness. They were found at a depth of over 12”, between the house and the footbridge over the creek. Trudell reported that it was in native, undisturbed soil. ��

Kolon explained that the bell had the maker mark “W.E.B.” on one side and a horse engraving on the other and that according to Trudell, the two together allowed for it to be dated to as early as 1850 and the maker to be identified as William E. Barton in North Hampton, Conn.��

From : William E. Barton was the son of Hiram Barton and grandson of William Barton, who began making sleigh bells as early as the 1790s in New York. William E. Barton manufactured sleigh bells at his father East Hampton foundry until it was destroyed by fire in 1874. He then relocated the business to a nearby foundry originally built by the Union Bell Company and resumed making bells. By 1881, the business had been sold to other family members and renamed the Barton Bell Company.

View of the engraved horse on the bell. Photo courtesy of Sybil Kolon.

Grant and Jennie Sutton with three of their children — circa 1902

by Sybil Kolon

This is a preliminary look at the deconstruction of the 165-year-old farmhouse at 11703 Noggles Rd in southwest Manchester Township — part of the Irish Hills.

The earliest aerial photos of the area show the fields the Sutton family farmed. The family moved to the Village of Manchester after Grant Sutton died in 1937. He was the son of Richard, who built the house. The Manley family may have bought the farm on a land contract from the Suttons, before selling it to the Kolongowski family in 1948.

Pictures of the farmyard in 1948 show at least two sheds in the yard near the farmhouse. By 1950, the lumber from the old sheds was used to construct a new shed and chicken coop. During deconstruction, it became clear that the wood from the new shed was the same vintage as the house, which was built in about 1859. There were other signs of such resourcefulness in the 1949 renovation.

A 1940 aerial photo showing 80 acres of what the Sutton farm looked like then.

One of the old sheds in the farmyard when the property changed hands in 1948.

DECONSTRUCTION OF THE INTERIOR

The farmhouse had been vacant for 13 years due to a failed well and septic system. The remaining contents of the house had been removed.

The first step was the removal of all fixtures, interior window and door trim, and the interior doors.

Next came gutting of the plaster and lath, down to the original studs. The house had been renovated in 1949 and it was apparent that the original plaster was removed at that time, but not the lath. The lath was affixed to the studs with 1 1/2”-cut nails, indicating it was part of the original farmhouse built by Richard Sutton and his family in about 1859.

WALLPAPER

The first surprise was finding wallpaper hidden behind drywall in the upstairs bedroom. It depicted a bucolic country scene with children frolicking. The close-up of the wallpaper, below, shows a house with an upright wing similar to this house.

The union label on the front room wallpaper with the inscription UWPC—United Wall Paper Craftsmen of North America, which operated under that name from 1937 to 1955.

Wallpaper found in the front bedroom on first floor of upright.

MORE WALLPAPER

During the original construction, plaster would have been applied to the lath while wet. In the 1940s and 1950s, plaster was replaced by drywall for new construction. After removing the original plaster during the 1949 renovation, it appears that plaster was used again. The wallpaper was then glued to the newly installed plaster. The wallpaper in all four rooms was later covered by thin drywall. The rooms without wallpaper also had thin drywall over the earlier plaster. Some samples of plaster have been saved for further analysis.

Lath, plaster, wallpaper, and the drywall that was applied over it in the upper right. From the front room, a sample of wallpaper below.

Wallpaper found in the front room of the wing, only on the north wall.

SECRETS REVEALED

The small, back bedroom on the first floor of the upright revealed two secrets beneath the plaster and lath. One was signs of a fire reported in February 1879. The charred clapboard above was left in place. The clapboard below was replaced after the fire.

The second was remnants of newspaper on a stud to the right of the charred wood. A small piece of the newspaper was removed (pictures below). One side showed it was the American Wesleyan and the other side had the date, July 2, 1873. Richard Sutton, who built the house, was a Methodist minister and likely subscribed to this weekly that was printed in New York.

Signs of fire and remnants of newspaper.

A piece of the lath from the same area.

Remnants of the American Wesleyan newspaper from July 2, 1873.

Remnants of the American Wesleyan newspaper from July 2, 1873.

Manchester Enterprise, February 13, 1879 (Samuel last name was Antcliff).

MORE SECRETS REVEALED

Looking through the front room of the wing, from back to front. The porch where the front door is visible in this photo was added during the 1949 renovation. In the corner on the left a belt was found hidden between the two studs forming the corner of the front room. It was hanging on a cut nail. It likely had been there since the wing was added, about 1860. The belt had been well-used by a small woman or child. We will attempt to have it dated.

This leather belt was hidden in a corner of the front room.

Below the two interior windows, notice where the original, longer windows had been, on either side of the front door. The original open front porch was much smaller.

Three sizes of cut nails were used in the original construction. They were handmade and had a lot of variation.

DECONSTRUCTION OF THE EXTERIOR

After the interior was gutted, the focus shifted to the outside; removal of vinyl and Insulbrick siding, roof, clapboard siding, and frame.

Where the original windows had been, replaced by paired windows, with the openings boarded up with repurposed clapboard and newer lumber.

The second story of the upright, with the chimney flue made of coiled metal, able to stay upright after the cement blocks were removed. The original chimney was likely in the same location.

EXTERIOR OF HOUSE OVER TIME

The house was originally sided with wooden clapboard and was painted white. During the 1949 renovation, the Insulbrick siding was added. Light gray, vinyl siding was added in about 1980, mimicking the look of the original clapboard siding.

REMOVAL OF BEAMS

Next was removal of the beams, which were hand-hewn; some still had the bark on them. They seemed to be mostly white oak. Most of the sill beams on the upright foundation had significant decay; the rest were quite solid. They were taken to where they will be sold to support the mission of ASWD, a nonprofit dedicated to salvaging building materials from homes that would otherwise be demolished and sent to the landfill. The beams will be repurposed into mantels, support for conference tables, and any other use that a creative woodworker can imagine, giving an authentic, rustic look to any object. The workmanship that went into crafting these beams out of native lumber speaks volumes to the abilities and determination of these early settlers.

Removing the beams from the upright, northern portion of the house.

In the distance, notice the cut-out mortises on the sill beam that spans the wall between the upright and the wing. The beams with tenons that fit into them had been removed.

Just some of the recovered beams.

Closeups of beams.

Closeups of beams.

FIELDSTONE FOUNDATION

The north wall of the upright shows what appears to have been a doorway into the basement. It looks like the “doorway” was filled in later. They would not have had to go far to find the fieldstones in these Irish Hills. One of the lines had been hidden by a wooden wall.

This is the most recent mystery uncovered. We are interested to hear ideas anyone might have about the purpose of this “doorway.” It was right below what had been a door to the first story before the 1949 renovation.

North wall showing what appears to have been a doorway into the basement.

Looking north to south. The north section was the furnace room. The house was heated with coal or wood until about 1990. The “doorway” is on the side you can’t see.

The east wall of the wing, bathed in the afternoon sunlight that it hadn’t seen for 160 years.

REFLECTIONS

The final step will be removal of the foundation and filling in the resulting hole.

Every day of the deconstruction revealed another life of this house. We cannot know the details of what their lives were like, but seeing the workmanship that went into this house helps to tell their stories.

It is sad to know that this house is no more, that after we have discovered enough to give us an idea of the lives of the former residents, we no longer have its physical body to bear witness to their existence.

Yet we were able to discover and preserve some of the stories and materials of their lives that would have certainly been lost during a standard demolition.

With help from the Manchester Area Historical Society and many others, we will continue to expand on the details of the deconstruction and delve further into the family histories.

In the fall of 2024 the Iron Creek Preserve will open with signage recognizing the unique history of this house and this farm that was carved out of the wilderness.

Additional references and documentation will be provided over the coming months. Updated information can be found on the website of the Manchester Area Historical Society, , which has been instrumental in bringing this project to life.