The Enchanted Statue and Company

07/26/2019

Hey Brighton,
We would love to receive and share photos of you with
The Statue!
Post Them Here!

07/26/2019

06/27/2019

FINALLY FREE

DANIEL JOSEPH OBRYAN
11/13/1947 to 6/23/2019

Husband, father, son, brother, uncle, cousin, grandson, one of Elliot Ness' Untouchables, IRS-CID, Customs Agent, OIG Agent, Notre Dame Alumni, renowned Corby's bartender, U.S. Marine and even a Rennie.

12/24/2018

Celebrate your holidays with great cheer and share in the joy of the New Year with family and friends. See you all soon for the 2019 Michigan Nordic Fire Festival!

10/10/2018

A new week begins. Good luck.

10/10/2018

One of Florence's most popular gathering places has served the same purpose for almost two centuries.

Wilson Park is often considered the heart of downtown Florence. From revival services to concerts to Civil War veterans' reunions, perhaps no other place in town has seen such a diversity of activity over the last 200 years.

When the city's founders first surveyed the town, they specified that the block we now know as Wilson Park was to be set aside as a "Public Walk," or park. It has been an open area ever since, with the exception of the brief time in the 1850s when a frame schoolhouse was built in the northwest corner, diagonal to Florence First United Methodist Church.

In 1854, a fence was built around the park in order to keep cattle and other roving stock from eating and trampling the grass. That year also saw the first time that the city made attempts to landscape the park. It paid local gardener John Kackleman to plant several trees in the park.

We know that public concerts have been held in the park since at least the 1880s, and probably before that. In 1889, a city councilman offered a reward of $5.00 for information leading to the prosecution of the person who vandalized "the band stand in the city park."

In addition to concerts, the park in the late 19th century was also the site of ice cream suppers, benefit festivals, and plays.

In 1924, the city changed the name of the park to "Woodrow Wilson Park" in honor of the recently-deceased president. During his time in office, President Wilson forever changed the fate of the Shoals area by authorizing the construction of Wilson Dam and the nitrate plant.

Shortly after the park's name change, it was the location of a very special ceremony commemorating national reconciliation. On April 7, 1925, thirty-two elderly Union veterans planted a sycamore in Wilson Park as a symbol of peace between the north and the south.

The veterans had come south to attend a reunion of survivors of the Battle of Shiloh, and the planting of the tree was the culmination of their stay. The tree was known for years as the "Peace Tree."

The beautiful stone fountain which stands in the center of the park today was dedicated on December 26, 1934, in honor of J.J. Douglass.

Wilson Park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, as part of the Wilson Park Historic District.

08/30/2018

08/25/2018

07/29/2018

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