The Nankin Mills Nature Center is a historic and nature interpretive center located at 33175 Ann Arbor Trail in

Westland, Michigan Westland is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located about west of downtown Detroit. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 84,094. It is the 10th largest city and 12th largest municipality in Mich ...

. It was originally built as a grist mill, and was one of

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that ...

's "

village industries Henry Ford's Village Industries were small factories located in rural areas of Michigan. Ford developed his Village Industries in part to provide farm workers a stable source of income during the winter months. Philosophy Ford strongly felt th ...

." The mill was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1967.

Description

The Nankin Mills Nature Center is a -story

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

mill building. It is framed and sided with clapboard. A one-story porch runs the width of the building.

History

Construction on the first mill on this site was begun in 1835. However, the construction was abandoned until 1842, when a new owner completed the building and installed an overshot water wheel. A small community, known as Pike's Peak, grew up around the mill. In addition to the mill, Pike's Peak boasted a blacksmith's shop, printing shop, general store, and

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional ser ...

. The original mill burned some time during the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. The present mill was constructed in 1863 by Samuel Hardenbergh. In 1887, Hardenbergh sold the mill to Isaac Martin Lewis, who replaced the overshot water wheel with a more efficient turbine. In 1918,

purchased the mill as part of his

Village industries Henry Ford's Village Industries were small factories located in rural areas of Michigan. Ford developed his Village Industries in part to provide farm workers a stable source of income during the winter months. Philosophy Ford strongly felt th ...

program. Ford developed his Village Industries in part to provide farm workers a stable source of income during the winter months. He converted the building into a small factory, and in 1920, twelve workers began producing screws for Ford. It was the second Village Industry to open, after the Ford Valve Plant in Northville. In 1927, Ford converted the site to make engravings and stencils; eventually it employed 70 people. However, the Village Industries experiment proved unprofitable, and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

the factory closed. In 1948, Ford donated the site to the Wayne County Road Commission. The commission remodeled the mill, and in 1956 it was opened as a nature center. In the mid-1980s, Nankin Mills became the headquarters of the Wayne County Park System. An addition was built in 1999, and in 2001 the original mill reopened as an interpretive center.

References

External links

Nankin Mills official site
from Wayne County
Friends of Nankin Mills
{{Westland, Michigan Industrial buildings completed in 1842 Industrial buildings completed in 1863 Michigan State Historic Sites History museums in Michigan Museums in Wayne County, Michigan Ford village industries Nature centers in Michigan Grinding mills in Michigan 1842 establishments in Michigan Westland, Michigan