Riverwalk

NORTHVILLIANS,

This week the top news item is: We (Northville Township & City Officials) are arranging for a vaccination center for all qualified residents (both counties). Additionally, we will continue to touch on task force activities in the community in this letter.  The topic we will focus on this week will be the “River Walk.”

Let’s take a look at one of Northville greatest resources…our watershed river system.

Over the span of my 60-year life the idea of establishing a river walk along the Middle Rouge River has been researched multiple times, but for one reason or another it’s never come to fruition. In an article in the Northville Record in 1990 it was written that the Planning Commission was considering adding it to the Master Plan. By ‘91 City Council had tabled that River Walk concept.
Northville is extremely fortunate to have three river tributary systems converge into our downtown area: Johnson Creek, Randolph Drain, and the Upper Rouge River. Our topography (being the highest point in Wayne County) & the many natural springs percolating in the area create this rich watershed resource that flows into the Rouge River. 
Johnson Creek runs from the Salem area to Plymouth Township through Northville Township, past the Fish Hatchery Park & then into Northville, winding towards Northville Downs and eventually into the Rouge River. Almost twenty years ago, angler John Bueter (President of Johnson Creek Protection Group & at the time owner of Bueter’s Outdoors on East Main) told the newspaper, “The entire course of Johnson Creek is a state recognized trout stream…It is one of only three cold water streams in southeastern Michigan.” A tributary coming from Maybury State Park is also part of the water system.
In 2014 Kurt Kuban wrote in The Record that “Northville is fortunate in the fact that it sits in the headwaters region of the Rouge watershed and is home to both Johnson Creek and the Middle Rouge River plus many feeder streams…I’ve personally fished in the Middle Rouge in Northville and have landed many impressive fish including small mouth bass, pike, rock bass and even brown trout that have migrated down the Johnson Creek from the Fish Hatchery Park Area.”
The second minor tributary, the Randolph Drain, runs from the Northville Estates area down to Taft & 8 Mile before it follows the curves down Randolph St. and converges into the Upper Rouge River at Ford Field. Close to 50 years ago a Northville Record article mentioned the establishment of a Randolph Drain commission between Novi & Northville to oversee the flow & retain stability of this watershed. In 1920, The Record reported that “the original supporter & architect of the Randolph Drain was Councilman Rayson who was instrumental in creating the culvert under North Center leading to Ford Field”.  The article went on to say, “He was a resident of the Village for over 50 years at that time & he previously fought in the Civil War & his home was by the Mill Pond.” (The Rayson Street/Ford Field area.) “Mr. Rayson had a great field of cabbage at the Northern section of the Village & thus the area was referred to as Cabbage Town as a result.”
The third and more robust of the three tributaries is the Upper Rouge River which runs from the Walled Lake area close to Novi Road into the Mill Pond at the Mill Race Village, before it winds its way around the Water Wheel Centre and eventually under Northville Downs and into the Rouge River.
This “River Walk” initiative has been spoken about & attempted several times in my lifetime. I am quite confident that we will … together… make this a mini–San Antonio River walkway initiative a reality. This Task Force is crucial in establishing the foundation of the future of Northville and setting the trajectory for the next generation. I thank all these groups (River Walk, Ford Field, Farmers’ Market) & the Sustainability TEAM who are working together for the betterment of the community.

• The Middle Rouge River, its tributaries and creeks are valuable natural assets for both the City of Northville as well as the region. These waterways have provided aesthetic, recreational, and economic benefits to the community for nearly 200 years.
• Task Force Mission: To restore the ecological health of the City’s waterways, while improving public access and recreation through the implementation of a high-quality system of trails referred to as The Riverwalk.
• The concept is to develop a Riverwalk system that connects the Mill Race historical district to Hines Drive through trails & walkways that follow along the local waterways & eventually connect the Fish Hatchery Park to the system.

If you would like to learn more on this and other important task force initiatives, click on https://northvillecommunitysupportfund.com/, or call me anytime to share your perspective about the future of this community we love.

Keep that Northville Faith!

Brian Turnbull
Mayor – Northville
BTurnbull@ci.northville.mi.us / 248.505.6849

(Reach out to me anytime or forward this communication to others interested.)

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