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An exhibit dedicated to the memory of Park and Edna Mae Gregory at the Belleville Area Museum coincides with a memorial opening for Gregory set for June 29 at Victory Park. Pictured here is Gloria Gregory Gardner, right, and Diane Wilson, museum director make ready for the new summer exhibit at the museum, honoring the Belleville historians and educators.
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The late historian Park Gregory and his wife, Edna Mae always had a vision for the city of Belleville.
Edna Mae researched and Park edited the book, "See Again: A Pictorial History of Belleville. The exhaustive and definitive pictorial history of the City captured many of the sights and images of the town for decades.
Luckily, "See Again" captured many of the buildings that turned from auto repair garages into the city hall and a movie theater into a newspaper office.
A new summer exhibit honoring the Gregory's makes its debut from 5 to 7 p.m. June 19 at the Belleville Area Museum, 405 Main Street in downtown Belleville.
"At Victory Park, they commissioned the creation of the statue of the French explorer La Salle," Belleville Area Museum Director Diane Wilson said. "They also helped build the picturesque gazebo and contributed to the renovations of Victory Station."
At 2 p.m. on June 29, the Gregory's will be forever honored with a plaque to be dedicated at Victory Park.
Victory Park always held a special place in the hearts of the Gregory's who not only commissioned the statue of La Salle, they helped build the picturesque gazebo.
They also helped contribute to the renovations of Victory Station.
The gazebo, statue and Victory Station are the of Belleville's most recognizable icons.
"Victory Station was built to honor the veterans of World War I and was a rest station for travelers in the 1920s," Wilson said.
Built in 1919, the building's official title is Rest Station No. 4, and was a part of the then fledgling Wayne County Road Commission.
The building is now available for special events and can be rented out through the
The Belleville Community Band will follow the Gregory ceremony at 3 p.m. with an eclectic concert at the gazebo and park the couple loved so dearly.
The Gregorys, along with other local historians like the late Bob Doane and Dr. Samuel Robbe, Wilson and Cathy Horste, were seminal
archivists in recording the history of the area, long before the re-gentrification of this rural area.
The Gregory's also were huge supporters of the Belleville Area Museum and Belleville Area Historical Society.
Without those grass roots historians, the rich rural background and small town events would have been lost to memory.
The Belleville Area Museum first opened at the Old Quirk School in 1989 and featured small town replicas of historical buildings that once stood in Belleville and Van Buren and Sumpter Townships.
"In 1995, with Quirk School slated for demolition, Van Buren Township offered the use of its old Township Hall on Belleville's Main Street as the new site of the museum," Wilson said.
"The Old Township Hall was constructed in 1875 and is a State of Michigan Registered Historic Site."
Van Buren Township undertook a major restoration of the Old Town Hall and, in cooperation with the City of Belleville, agreed to an arrangement to jointly fund the museum.
For more information on the plaque ceremony, the Belleville Area Historical Society and/or Museum call Wilson at 1-734-697-1944.
Contact Staff Writer William Zilke at 697-8255 or at wzilke@heritage.com.
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