History moved by the truckload in Macomb Township

MACOMB TOWNSHIP — Over 100 years of history crawled its way through Macomb Township on the morning of June 21 as the old Township Hall was transported from Romeo Plank Road to its new home next to the municipal complex.

Moving the 104-year-old hall began shortly after 9 a.m. with Fred Christian, president of C&A Building Movers, guiding it off the former Wade Nursery property on a 5-mile journey north up Romeo Plank, west down 24 Mile Road, north up Foss Road and south down Broughton Road, beside the new Township Hall, over the course of two hours.

“It’s amazing,” said Lisa Gabrysh, a 23-year Macomb Township resident, after watching the hall move. “It’s something I’ve never seen in my lifetime, so I wanted to come out here and just be part of it.”

The move was two years in the making, beginning when the township voted to sell the Wade Nursery property in 2021 and closed the sale in 2022.

“With the township no longer needing the Wade Nursery property with the Pitchford property that had been donated, we couldn’t just leave it there for it to be demolished.” Township Treasurer Leon Drolet said. “It’s a key part of our history, so we needed to move it again.”

The move was funded through donations from residents and businesses in the township. A moving budget of $175,000 was set by the Macomb Township Board of Trustees in January 2023. Township Supervisor Frank Viviano was assigned the responsibility of handling funds. Viviano said around $90,000 was pledged through donations of money, materials and labor.

The building was lifted from its foundation in March 2023, with the roof being disassembled and pieces numbered to help lower the height and aid in rebuilding.

“It takes time (to move a building), and you’ve got to be very careful,” Christian said. “We worked about four days from the site (deeper in the Wade property) bringing it out in the winter while it was frozen. We crept it, got it out here on hard ground. We thought we’d have had it moved by then, but sometimes city hall moves a little slower than I do, but everything came through.”

For the work they performed, the movers left an impression on township personnel.

“C&A (Building) Movers have been amazing,” Viviano said. “I think these guys can pick up and move anything.”

This was not the first time the old hall was moved. When a new Township Hall was built in the 1970s along 23 Mile Road (which now serves as the Macomb Township Senior Center), the old hall was located where today’s Macomb Township Fire Department Station 1 and Macomb County Sheriff’s Office substation are located. The Wade family purchased the building and moved it for use as a tractor garage. C&A Building Movers had a hand in the original move, with Christian’s father moving it for the Wades.

Since the township came into possession of the property, the old Township Hall was used for the storage of historical artifacts. Those items have since been moved to the basement of the current Macomb Township Hall. Artifacts may be returned to the building so it can continue its historical function, while other uses may include serving as a meeting space.

“The building itself will anchor a new public space, and the long-term plan — and this will take us a few years to get into place — is to have gardens planted around it, a large porch, something period-appropriate to the building,” Viviano said. “We’re not exactly sure who might want to make use of it. I know the Historical Commission already meets there. In theory it can be used for anything, it’s a wide-open building.”

Local planting group Plant it Forward has stated they are helping source plants for this garden.

Reassembly of the old hall is expected to wrap up by August as repairs, drywalling, masonry and the lowering of the building still need to be completed.