Salem Area Historical Society

12/26/2025

As 2025 is nearing its end, I would like to reflect on the happenings of the Salem Area Historical Society during the past year.
We had 6 interesting presenters at our meetings on the following topics:
• Salem History Trivia
• Rouge River Revived
• American League Baseball Parks
• Indigenous Michigan People of the Three Fires
• Dogs: Training & Showing
• The Real History of Eloise Asylum

SAHS had 2 excursions:
• Fair Lane Gardens
• Packard Proving Grounds

We, also, had 8 SAHS events:
• Pot Luck Dinner
• Open House
• Flea Market & Yard Sale
• Arts & Crafts Fair
• SAHS Volunteer Appreciation Picnic
• Annual Barn Dance
• Annual Dinner / Auction
• Annual Christmas Gathering

SAHS, also, accomplished some major maintenance at the Jarvis Stone School Historic District. We had the three cedar shingle roofs inspected, which resulted in an application of a cedar roof preservative being applied to the Dickerson Barn, a recommendation to replace the shed roof in a few years, and the total removal and replacement of the roof of the South Salem Stone School.

Salem Area Historical Society completed 50 years as its first meeting was held on August 13, 1975 and the Society completed the registration process as an organizational entity in the state of Michigan on December 10, 2025.

I would like to thank all who volunteered to make 2025 another successful year for the SAHS as well as all of you for being members and attending our functions.

The SAHS Board is preparing for a celebration year in 2026 with the concentration being the 250th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Bryan Wirthlin has lined-up some speakers who will talk about events occurring around the 1776 timeframe. See the first four topics and links to their flyers in the SAHS Events. Also, SAHS has partnered with the Washtenaw County Historical Consortium and the America250MI effort in order to display an exhibit on the American Founding Documents. SAHS will host this exhibit in the Salem Township Hall on the Flag Day Parade day. Additionally, the SAHS Board is planning a 250th Celebration Day on Saturday, June 27, 2026. Please save the DATE. This celebration will not only include the exhibit, but also has performances by the Plymouth Fife and Drum Corps, American Revolution historic characters, and music entertainment. Follow this on the SAHS Website at America 250 Celebration.

Wishing you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a safe and joyful Holyday Season.

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11/21/2025

Auction Item with all proceeds going to The Salem Area Historical Society.
Serigraph in color on wove paper titled "Relaxing Lunch" by Artist Itzchak Tarkay (21 1/2" x 16 3/4"). Artist Signed. Numbered Edition #433 of 450. Frame size is 34 ½” x 30”.

Park West Gallery “Certificate of Authenticity” and “Appraisal” included. Appraisal dated 08/22/2025 for $750.00.

This work is illustrated in “The Official Catalog of the Serigraphs of Itzchak Tarkay.”

Itzchak Tarkay, a renowned Israeli artist born in 1935, in Subotica, Kingdom of Yugoslavia and died on June 03, 2012 in Detroit, is celebrated for his captivating and vibrant paintings that capture moments of everyday life with elegance and grace. His distinctive style combines elements of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, characterized by bold colors, fluid brushwork, and a focus on the human form, particularly portraying women in various settings. Tarkay’s works often evoke a sense of nostalgia and intimacy, inviting viewers into scenes filled with warmth and emotion. Throughout his prolific career, Tarkay’s art has garnered international acclaim, making him a prominent figure in contemporary figurative painting.

This Auction will end at 10:00 pm EST on November 30, 2025. The winner will be highest bidder. Minimum bid is $275.00. Current Highest Bid will be periodically posted in the Facebook post.

Payment will be either in cash, PayPal, or Credit Card. Pick-up only in Salem/Northville area. It will not be shipped.

Bids are to be sent to [email protected] or via Messenger to Salem Area Historical Society.

10/26/2025

On October 26, 1825, America's first navigable waterway from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes—the old Erie Canal—was officially completed. "It was a dream of pharaonic proportions—a 363-mile-long artificial waterway that most people considered impossible," wrote Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Edwin G. Burrows.

The Erie Canal was a preposterous idea. Even President Thomas Jefferson, usually ahead of his time, believed that it could not be built for at least a century, and yet, the Erie Canal came to be just as its planners had thought it would. For the first time in the history of the United States, a cheap, fast route ran through the Appalachians, the mountains that had so effectively divided the West from the East of early America. With the canal, the country's fertile interior became accessible and its great inland lakes were linked to all the seas of the world.

It was the passageway via the Erie Canal that allowed citizens mostly of New York state to settle in Salem Township in the 1830's.

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10/03/2025

Auction Item for the SAHS Dinner / Auction on October 19th will be: Itzchak Tarkay Serigraph titled "Relaxing Lunch" in color on wove paper. Signed in lower right and numbered 43 of 450.. In an attractive frame that measures 29" x 36". Includes Certificate of Authenticity and an Appraisal from Park West Gallery. https://sahshistory.org/fundraisers/sahs-dinner-auction/

09/09/2025

On this day in 1776, the name “United States of America” became official. On September 9, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted a new name for what had been called the "United Colonies.” The moniker United States of America has remained since then as a symbol of freedom and independence.

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08/13/2025

Salem Area Historical Society was founded in 1975 in preparation for our Nations Bi-Centennial.

The first meeting was August 13 where a few Salemites fearing the stories and history of the area would soon be lost set to work collecting the stories of pioneer and present families, sites, and images.

Their efforts produced a one-hundred-sixteen-page History of Salem Township book. They published it in 1976 for the Bi-Centennial celebration and it went along with an extensive display in a History house decorated with furniture, pictures, records and items of days long ago.

Happy 50th Anniversary to the Salem Area Historical Society and to all who have keep the spirit of its founders flourishing.

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07/26/2025

There is still time for Artists and Crafters to register for the Salem Area Historical Society's Arts & Crafts Fair on August 16th.

The ONLY ways to register is through Salem Area's Historical Society's website (https://sahshistory.org/sahs-arts-crafts-fair/ ) or by mail to the SAHS.

07/09/2025

Only until 7/17 to get the Early Bird discount registration as a non-SAHS Member. Registrations are only through the SAHS Website (https://sahshistory.org/sahs-arts-crafts-fair/ ) or via the USPS mail to the SAHS using the attached application.

07/08/2025

All are welcome to attend the South Salem Stone School Open House on Sunday, July 13th, from 1 pm to 3 pm.

07/04/2025

Let the year-long 250th Celebration begin. Hopefully, you will be able to join the Salem Area Historical Society for some of these celebrations.

May this bold 1776-action continue to grow and prosper!

Today marks 249 years since the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Founding Father and second president John Adams expected it would be celebrated on July 2—the day delegates voted to break from Great Britain—but the idea didn't catch on. Today, the Fourth of July is synonymous with fireworks and barbecues, though some celebrate in more peculiar ways.

Since July 4, 1776, the US has grown from 13 colonies with 2.5 million people to 50 states and 14 territories with over 342 million people connected by roughly 5,000 airports, 4 million miles of roads, 140,000 miles of train tracks, and 5.5 million miles of power lines.

The economy has prospered to nearly $30T. Public health advances have dwindled the child mortality rate to under 1%, and Americans live over three decades longer on average. Meanwhile, homegrown scientific achievements have delivered everything from the light bulb and modern flight to the internet and air conditioning. We’ve also sent over 300 citizen astronauts to space—the most of any country.

In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. . .
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

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06/26/2025

Salem Area Historical Society is among the winners of
America250MI History Grant Program
Salem, MICHIGAN, June 26, 2025 — The America250MI Committee has awarded Salem Area Historical Society $4,890.00 as a part of the first round of the America250MI History Grant Program for American Founding Documents Exhibit by the Washtenaw County Historical Consortium. This exhibit will be held at multiple locations throughout Washtenaw County. The award was issued to the Salem Area Historical Society to be used exclusively by the Consortium for this exhibit.

06/18/2025

Artists and Crafters, you can register for the SAHS Arts & Crafts Fair (August 16th) now and get the early bird discount via the SAHS Website ( https://sahshistory.org/sahs-arts-crafts-fair/ ) or by using the attached form. These are the only two ways to register.