Time Travel through Northville with Pictures

It can be surreal looking at places around your hometown in black and white photos from almost 200 years ago.

Michele Fecht, Northville resident since 1988 and city council member for eight years, is selling her book “Images of America: Northville” that portrays a visual history of her city.

Arcadia Publishing prints historical book series like this and approached Northvilel Mayor Chris Johnson about the idea for the book, she said.

“They said they had numerous requests for one,” she said.

The book was published a few years ago and Fecht spent months going through photo archives with Heidi Neilson, at the Northville Historical Society.

“Some images in the book had never been published before,” she said.

It begins with the inception of Northville in 1827 and follows the evolution of the community.

“Collecting the imagery, putting it all together, it was somewhat of a daunting task,” she said.

From proposal to final galleys, Fecht said the book took about 14 months. It was a bit of a husband-and-wife team effort. Her husband, Steve Fecht, who owns Steven Fecht Photography did the digitizing for all of the images.

“The photography component of this was so critical,” she said.

Without his work, the images wouldn’t look as clear. Fecht said she has several favorite images but there’s one in particular she fancies near the front of the book that was taken in 1918. It was donated by a family who has been in Northville since the 1930s, she said.

“It’s of a parade in Northville for Armistice Day. The photo is of the center of town, and you can see the inner urban trolley and the Crow’s nest. You can see the WWI soldiers and sailors,” she said.

Fecht said she enjoyed writing it, despite the long hours throughout the many months.

“The number of people that have come forward and said, ‘You know what, I’ve got some great stories, photographs, history to share,’” she said.

It’s almost enough to tackle another book, she said.