Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Write in the HISTORICAL genre (05/03/07)
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TITLE: A History of Thomas Michigan | Previous Challenge Entry
By Nathan Perkins
05/04/07 -
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There is evidence of the railroad that once gave Thomas life. Now that track is only a level trail that rarely sees hikers. Houses occupy First Street, Second Street and about four other streets that cross First and Second. Each house now occupies about two lots.
The United Methodist Church bought the building that once housed a dance hall and a veteran’s center. Both the Church and the hall are in active use.
Under the ownership of the United Methodist Church the hall has been used for dinners and parties. With special arrangements two separate new churches used that space to get their congregations started. The first Church was a Seventh Day Adventist Church that used the building in 1997. The second church became a Free Methodist Congregation called Grace Way Christian Fellowship. Grace Way met in the old dance hall from April of 2000 until March of 2001. The Church group moved about 12 miles east to the small town of Leonard. Grace Way was established there with 9 charter members and it Pastor Nathan Perkins on September 19 by Superintendent Dan Shinabarger of the East Michigan Conference, of the Free Methodist Church.
The United Methodist Church in Thomas still shows life. Many of the residence of Thomas continue to attend their local Church. Currently the Dance hall across from Thomas United Methodist Church is the food pantry for a local hunger relief organization that serves the communities that surround Oxford. This pantry is called Fish. Fish also stores furniture and clothing that it makes available to those who need them.
Beyond those landmarks a person might see the town of Thomas and believe that it never was anything more then a subdivision of nearby Oxford. It is a quiet community that is only a few miles from the stores in surrounding towns. As a subdivision it appears to provide great housing. Could it be, though, that the stories of a once thriving community like Thomas would be lost forever amidst the vaporizing of the town.
I stood with a former resident. I’ll call him John. He told me where his home used to be. He grew up with 16 siblings in a small house that matched the houses of the era. The house does not exist any more but there are still stories and even hints that one day this small town was the kind of town where a teen aged boy could grow up and even get into trouble.
John stood with me in front of the place where the Post office used to stand. It was an empty lot. We waded through knee high grass looking for something.
While we were looking he told me of a time when he got into trouble with the school’s principle for pulling a prank. He told me how he ran home and hid in the garage until his dad found him. John said his dad laughed at the prank and let him off the hook for promising to never pull a prank like it again.
Finally, John lifted his head from searching to see where I was and he called me to look at his discovery. It was a Nichol that had been cemented into a slab of concrete. The cement had to be dug out of the grass. It was cracked and I wondered how John even found that spot.
John told me that when the post office poured their side walk, he wanted to leave a mark and evidence that he had been there. In that post office sidewalk he had placed a brand new Nichol with the current year printed on it. The Nichol was dated 1952 my friend was 10 years old.
I’m afraid that Thomas may be forgotten by most but not by John. The Nichol reminded him of story upon story. We stood in that spot wondering how such a thriving place had simply disappeared.
(all information was personally collected and permission was given to use the mentioned names)
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Thankyou for capturing the memory of a town that may otherwise be forgotten.