No. 38
NEWS YOU CAN USE, NEWS YOU CAN TRUST
75¢
September 15 - 21, 2011
w w w . a s s o c i a t e d n e w s p a p e r s . n e t
A candidate forum in the
City of Wayne will be televised
after council members voted 5-
0 last week to approve the
cablecast of the Sept. 21 event
at the city library.
See page 5.
The Romulus Pumpkin
Festival is back, sponsored by
the Romulus Downtown
Development Authority, and
will begin tomorrow in and
near downtownRomulus.
See page 3.
Organizers of the Annual
Holiday Arts and Crafts
Ensemble sponsored by the
Plymouth-Canton Music
Boosters are accepting appli-
cations from potential
exhibitors.
See page 4.
Northville's 23rd Annual
Victorian Festival will wel-
come some fanciful guests this
year as fairies alight in Town
Square as part of the event
whichbegins thisweekend.
See page 4.
Following a review of pro-
cedures and traffic by investi-
gators from the Federal
Aviation Administration,
Willow Run Airport will
remain a 24-hour facility.
See page 3.
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Vol. 64, No. 38
The Josie Odum Morris
Literacy Project will host the
free 2nd Annual Literacy Day
Extravaganza from noon until
4:30 p.m. Saturday at the
Booker T. Dozier Recreation
Complex.
See page 5.
For home delivery of The Eagle call 734-467-1900.
Westland residents will now
be able to dispose of outdated
and unwanted electronic
equipment without threaten-
ing the environment.
See page 5.
Members of the Wayne County
Commission Committee on Public
Services last week approved near-
ly $90,000 for the construction of 15
acres of native landscaping, known
as grow zones, spread between the
cities of Westland, Inkster and
RedfordTownship.
Venoy Park will be the site in
the City ofWestland, while the CSO
Basin on Inkster Road north of
Michigan Avenue is the proposed
location in Inkster.
The project, located within the
Wayne County Parks System in the
Rouge River Watershed, will also
focus on soil erosion control, site
preparation, seeding and/or plant-
ing, and overallmaintenance.
A grow zone is a vegetated area
with the purpose of improving
water quality and wildlife habitat.
Benefits often include reduction of
storm water flowing to rivers,
increasing the amount of wildlife
habitat, generating an increase in
public awareness, improvingwater
quality and, quite simply, aestheti-
cally pleasing.
“This is the perfect clean, green
way to do things,” said Wayne
County Commissioner Joan
Gebhardt (D-District 12), who sits
on the five-member Committee on
Public Services. “Green ecology is
a philosophy and certainly away of
life, and by taking measures like
this we can continue to try and
reduce the impact society often
has on our environment.”
Water quality and wildlife habi-
tat in the Rouge watershed will
benefit by protecting natural areas,
expanding native buffers and
increasing grow zones. Grow zones
can both serve public and private
causes by increasing infiltration of
rain, reducing pollution and pro-
viding a less expensive form of
maintenance, Gebhardt added.
Jo Anderson, top senior official
for the U.S. Secretary of Education
Arne Duncan, visited Romulus
Middle School last week as part of
the department “Education and
Economy” tour. Anderson, a senior
advisor to the secretary, toured the
middle school to get a first-hand
account of the successful efforts
made by educators, union leaders,
and administrators through the
federal School Improvement
Grant.
Anderson was received by Gary
Banas, president of the Romulus
Education Association, Jason
Salhaney, principal of Romulus
Middle School and Carl Weiss,
superintendent of Romulus
Community Schools-the three
school leaders were instrumental
in securing the federal grant.
The tour included stops to two
classrooms where Anderson
Beer connoisseurs and the
21 and over are expected at
the Second Annual Brew,
Brats, & Bands event this
Saturday, Sept. 17 inCanton.
See page 4.
See
School,
page 2
This is the perfect clean, green way to do things. Green
ecology is a philosophy and certainly a way of life, and
by taking measures like this we can continue to try and
reduce the impact society often has on our environment.
”
Westland, Inkster receive ‘grow zone’ funds
Federal education official visits Romulus school
Estate of area pioneer family to be sold
In 1829, Samuel Robbe bought
112 acres of land along the Huron
River in what would eventually
become known as Van Buren
Township and
Belleville.
For the next
182 years, the
land Mr. Robbe
purchased from
the U.S. govern-
ment for $1.25 an
acre remained
withhis family.
Mr. Robbe was
a pioneer in setting both Huron
and Van Buren townships and his
family can trace their ancestry to
1738, when they were among the
earliest settlers in Peterborough,
NewHampshire.
The family came to the
American colonies from Ireland,
although they were of Scottish
lineage. Men in the Robbe family
fought in the Revolutionary War,
the War of 1812, the Black Hawk
War and theCivilWar.
This month, items from that
long family history will be for sale
at the site of the original Robbe
homestead, 41782 East Huron
River Dr. in Belleville. Hartt
Estate Sales of Detroit, consid-
ered the premier estate dealer in
Michigan according to Cathy
Horste, Van Buren Township his-
torian, will handle the sale
An admission fee of $3 per per-
son will be donated to the
Belleville Area Historical
Museum, Horste said. The sale is
planned from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.
Sept. 22 through Sept. 25, and the
admission ticket is valid for all
four days of the sale.
Michigan was not yet a state
when Mr. Robbe made his land
purchase, and what would
become Van Buren was still part
of a large township known as
Huron, which included the areas
now known as the cities of
Belleville and Romulus and
Huron, Van Buren and Sumpter
townships today. Robbe was one
of the Village of French Landing's
original pioneer founders.
Mr. Robbe established a dairy
business
in
Detroit and trav-
eled back fre-
quently to his log
cabin in Van
Buren, a trip
which often took
several days on
horseback.
While in
Detroit, the sen-
ior Robbe met and married
HannahHall. He settledwithher
in his cabin in the wilderness,
and eventually they became the
parents of seven children
Alexander, Anna, Marcus Cicero,
Franklin L, Mary Agnes, Nellie
andBenjamin.
The log cabin gave way to a
frame house, which gave way in
turn to the brick home that still
stands today on Huron River
Drive in Belleville. The home
was occupied continually by
Robbe family members; first by
Samuel Robbe, Sr, then his son
Marcus Cicero and then by
Cicero's son, Samuel Robbe, Jr.
Following the deaths of Dr.
Samuel Robbe Jr, in 1962, and his
wife, Eleanor, several years later,
great-great grandson, Robbe
Moore, resided in the family
homestead. There are no Robbe
family members currently resid-
ing inVanBurenTownship.
In 1930, Dr. Robbe privately
publishedAHistory of VanBuren
Township, a book which is treas-
ured by local residents fortunate-
ly enough to own an original copy,
Horste said.
Many Robbe family antiques
will be included in the sale. To
view photographs of sale items,
go
to
www.harttantiquesgallery.com.
For more information, contact
Horste at (734) 697-3662 or
Michael Hartt at (313) 885-5600.
Mr. Robbe was
a pioneer in
setting both
Huron and Van Buren
townships...
”
Romulus school administrators and educators welcomed Jo Anderson,
center, from the U.S. Education office to Romulus Middle School last
week.