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SSOCIATED
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EWSPAPERS OF
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ICHIGAN
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4
July 17, 2014
P
LYMOUTH
Post Office now in new
home in downtown Plymouth
The downtownPlymouthPost Office
has nowmoved to a newhome.
The former Pursell Station located
at 885 Penniman Ave. has moved a few
doors away to the corner of Harvey and
Penniman to a remodeled building that
had been vacant for almost a decade.
The building, last used as a conven-
ience store, has been modernized and
brought up to code.
After 80 years in a classic-style post
office built in 1935, the United States
Postal Service sold the building last
year, saying it was too large and citing
cost-cutting measures. The new own-
ers, Plymouth residents Mark and
PatriciaMalcolm, plan to convert it to a
foodmarket.
The Pursell Station was named for
Carl Pursell a long-time Plymouth resi-
dent and congressman.
The building contains a famous
mural painted in 1938 fostered by a
depression-era works program that
employed people to work on public
projects. Documented by the
International Center for Arts of the
Americas at the Museum of fine Arts,
Houston, the mural on the west wall of
the Plymouth Post Office, “Plymouth
Trail” is thework of famed artist Carlos
Lopez. From 1937-1942, Lopez com-
pleted many important murals for
numerous post offices in Michigan and
was extensively involved in the mural
movement prompted by the United
States government-sponsored Works
Progress Administration (WPA) and its
Public Works of Art Project during the
1930s.
New building owner Mark Malcolm
said that the remodeling and renova-
tions of the old building will have to be
approved by the State Historic Office.
That office has agreed to place the
property on the National Register of
HistoricPlaces.
“In terms of tenants and uses we
would hope to attract to add value to
the community…”
Postmaster Robert R. Alt said he
was very pleasedwith the new site as it
kept the post office downtown and part
of the community.
“We want to take care of our peo-
ple…I think it was a good choice.”
In an effort to protect habitat and
water quality of the headwaters and trib-
utary branches of the Rouge River, ecol-
ogists, under the direction of Wayne
County and the Michigan Department of
Environment, have been collecting
extensive technical information on its
sub-watersheds since 1993, funded by
Congressional appropriations and man-
aged by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). Included in
the project is the Middle 1
Subwatershed and its ecosystem located
in McClumpha Park in Plymouth
Township.
Last week contractors started work,
drilling for soil samples and removing
brush and small trees to construct a con-
troversial and hotly contested 400-seat
amphitheater planned within the wood-
ed area of the 81-acre park. The park is
designated as a subwatershed and pro-
tected monoculture, where trees and
grasses can survive in just 3 inches of
soil. Nearby, mature maple and beech
trees tower 100 feet close to some of the
priciest homes in the township.
There are already several recreation-
al facilities located within the Middle 1
Subwatershed, including Maybury State
Park, Wayne County Middle Rouge
Parkway, Northville Downs Race Track
and Plymouth Township Park where an
advisory group is charged with the man-
agement of the land.
Don Howard
Staff Writer
Amphitheater work begins
Local attorney John Stewart and concerned citizens were on hand recently as contrac-
tors from the Environmental Protection Agency took soil samples from the proposed
site of a new amphitheater in Plymouth Township Park.