The Boundaries and Substance of What it Means to be “Saline” Continue to Expand, and We’re There with You

From the Publisher—

For many years I was one of those moms who brought water for the boys who’d marched in the Memorial Day Parade to Oak Wood Cemetery when our son was a Boy Scout with Saline Troop 446. [1,2]

I remember they’d always end up sort of southeast of the lecturn, behind some of the veterans from the Legion. I tried not to let myself imagine that those men had more in common with our own boys than they did with their present selves when the went off to fight for our country in far away wars. Webster Ruckman was just 24-years-old when he died at the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War. [3]

Antietam Creek is near Sharpsburg, Maryland — something like 450 miles southeast of downtown Saline. How many times do you suppose fellow soldiers from other parts of the Union asked Webster Ruckman where he was from during his travels to get there? Did he ever hold up his hand to make a shape like Michigan and point like we do now? [4]

Once you get to the Ohio border, “finger width” is probably close enough to pinpoint where we are. Sometimes it’s just easier to say “near Detroit.” Other times, when for example worldwide attention is here for an LPGA tournament, some of us feel the need to give it a little more precision, looking for opportunities to mention that Travis Pointe golf course is in Saline as well as Ann Arbor. [5,6]

Or does Lodi Township no longer count? [7]

It would have to Webster Ruckman. In the 1800s it was the farms and rural surroundings that created prosperity here. Just a few weeks ago, Bob Lane of the Saline History Museum said to me, “The townships all around Saline made the money that was spent in Saline.” [8]

We have ongoing reminders of this today with our fresh produce markets downtown and real crop and livestock production during the summers at Rentchler Farm Museum. But just like 150 years ago, our life and future is dependent upon an expanded and expanding definition of “Saline,” in some cases on past Brewed Awakenings and Tippins Market, and including industries not even imaginable when the Civil War was fought. [9,10,11]

Saline legitimately claims automotive and tech, for example, both as satellite to other centers and in our own right; we know that some people live here to work here in those industries, and other people choose to live here because they work around here in those industries.

The center of the biggest Humane Society of Huron Valley now quarter-million-dollar fundraiser was cited in the Washtenaw County Rolling Mills Park as much Saline as Ypsilanti. CS Mott Children’s Hospital is our children’s hospital, and it’s a gem that makes our great local school system even greater. That’s just part of the “fingerprint” that we’re in the center of. [12,13,14]

The sacrifices remembered in summary form exactly one week ago today were in part made on behalf of visions for a growing, vibrant Saline — expanding in terms of definition as well as geographic boundaries. As Americans we remember that, for all sons and daughters lost in support of it, and for our own sons and daughters who can now march in parades because of it.

We get that. And we’re with you to tell those further reaching stories here to ensure that others will get that, too.

References

1. 1.  “You Should Get to Know former Saline Resident Webster Ruckman at Some Point During Your Memorial Day Schedule” Dell Deaton (May 28, 2018) Saline Journal.
   2. “Saline Boy Scouts Are on Mackinac Island Today Serving in Governor’s Honor Troop” Dell Deaton (June 27, 2011) Saline Journal.
   3. “Battle of Antietam” History.
   4. “Antietam Sharpsburg” American Battlefield Trust.
   5. “Year-One LPGA Volvik Championship May Already Call Travis Pointe Long-Term Home” Dell Deaton (May 30, 2016) Saline Journal.
   6. Travis Pointe Country Club (home page).
   7. Lodi Township (home page).
   8. “Saline Depot Museum” Saline Area Historical Society.
   9. “Rentschler Farm Museum” Saline Area Historical Society.
   10. Brewed Awakenings (home page).
   11. Tippins Market (Facebook Page).
   12. “Spectators Saw Dogs Fly at Humane Society of Huron Valley Annual Walk & Wag Fundraiser” Janet Deaton (May 20, 2018) Saline Journal.
   13. CS Mott Children’s Hospital (home page).
   14. Saline Area Schools (home page).