Northville’s Predecessors Fill Downtown for 1920s Parade

Northville is a city of parades, from Memorial Day and the Fourth of July to the Victorian Festival.  

It turns out parades are part of Northville’s history. 

Take a look at the footage above of Northville’s centennial parade on August 26, 1927. City of Northville Mayor Christopher Johnson showed this footage at the State of the Community Luncheon in April. 

The entire clip is about 22 minutes and was originally on reels of film. Michelle Nabozny, executive secretary to Northville's city manager, said a Northville resident found the footage in his home and gave it to Steve Walters, the city manager in the 80's.  It was converted from reel to reel to VHS and then to DVD, she said. 

The film shows several “floats” and people in the parade procession, including soldiers. The ending shows a man helping women into a buggy and Nabozny said perhaps they were Northville’s 1927 dignitaries. 

“Also, they must have had two cameras out there, because there are shots from different angles,” she said.  

Can you tell on which streets they filmed? What’s your guess? Tell us in the comments.