Deerfield to celebrate sesquicentennial with family fun, music, games, history

Mary Lowe, The Daily Telegram
·4 min read
An 1874 map of Deerfield shows the smaller lots within the village as well as the owners of larger tracts of land on the outskirts.
An 1874 map of Deerfield shows the smaller lots within the village as well as the owners of larger tracts of land on the outskirts.

DEERFIELD — It's not every day that a place gets to celebrate a 150th anniversary, so Deerfield has scheduled two days of activities to celebrate the 150-year anniversary of its incorporation.

The village is celebrating Friday and Saturday, Aug. 11-12, with a schedule packed with events and festivities for the community.

The fun begins Friday at 5 p.m. with an auto and bike show and DJ Raul Burciaga at Carey and Main streets with music lasting until 10 p.m. Friday’s festivities include an ice cream social, taco social, historical walk-through of the village hall with a 1973 history of Deerfield movie, food truck vendors, beer at the American Legion, brick ribbon-cutting ceremony at the pavilion in Deerfield Park and children’s movie night at the Britton Deerfield Middle School gymnasium.

Present-day downtown Deerfield, looking down Carey Street toward the village hall, is pictured.
Present-day downtown Deerfield, looking down Carey Street toward the village hall, is pictured.

Saturday starts out at 8 a.m. with a pancake breakfast, followed at 9 a.m. by a youth flag football tournament and a parade at 10 a.m. Merchant and craft vendors will be on hand downtown and in Deerfield Park along with food truck vendors downtown. There will be a cornhole tournament, bounce house and obstacle course inflatables, dunk tank, free bingo, children’s activities, kids’ and adult games, face painting, cow pie/bean bag throw, football tire toss, painting with salad-spinner booth, hole-in-one golf game, pick-a-duck game, Deerfield artifacts and photos, an oral history display, centennial clothing and music all day.

In addition to historical walkthroughs at the village hall Friday and Saturday, Ron Miller will give a genealogy presentation Saturday and a 1964 Deerfield movie will be shown. A town walking tour itinerary will be available along with handouts for a cemetery tour.

For a list of event times and locations, visit tinyurl.com/Deerfield150.

Deerfield is actually much older than the 150 years it celebrates this weekend, said Melissa Burnor, co-chair of the Deerfield Sesquicentennial celebration committee. The village is celebrating the sesquicentennial of its incorporation in 1873. Deerfield was founded in 1825 as Kedzie’s Grove by William Kedzie, a Scottish immigrant who had been living in New York.

Kedzie purchased the western edge of town near the River Raisin from the government. When the community began, there were just four families. Kedzie also established the community’s first post office.

Kedzie died in 1828, but his wife, Margaret lived in the village until her death in 1874. The name of the community was changed to Deerfield in the mid-1830s at the suggestion of Ephraim Clark due to the bountiful deer in the area by a vote of a majority of the handful of families living in the town. The name change may have also been in tribute to Clark’s former hometown.

This land deed shows when Charles Miller bought land in what became the village of Deerfield from the U.S. government in September 1834.
This land deed shows when Charles Miller bought land in what became the village of Deerfield from the U.S. government in September 1834.

The railroad would eventually come to town. Tracks were laid east and west along what is now Deerfield Road into town and through what is now Deerfield Park, along the village’s Main Street.

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The first village council meeting took place in May 1873 with an election of a council. Jason Hemenway was elected the village’s first president. He received 79 of the 81 votes cast. The first action of the council was to have its assessor establish the village’s tax rolls.

Main Street was the village’s main thoroughfare, and many businesses were established along the route. In time, Carey Street became the village’s main street.

Deerfield had a blacksmith, pickle factory, bandstand and hotel. During the mid-1900s, there were several gas stations, two bars and grocery stores in operation.

Danny Thomas, comedian, entertainer and founder of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, was born in Deerfield in 1912.
Danny Thomas, comedian, entertainer and founder of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, was born in Deerfield in 1912.

Danny Thomas, comedian, entertainer and founder of the Memphis, Tennessee-based St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, was born in Deerfield in 1912 as the fifth of 10 children born of Lebanese immigrants. At age 10, Thomas sold newspapers on the village's streets and candy in its burlesque theater. His experience with the theater inspired him to become an entertainer and comedian, and at age 16 he quit school to go into show business.

The company Reco, which produced refrigeration units, was the village’s major employer after World War II until it closed in 1969. The company brought many people seeking work to town resulting in larger classes of 50 to 60-plus students in the village’s schools.

The Deerfield centennial committee of 1973 wrote an extensive history book for the village’s 100th anniversary of its incorporation.

St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Deerfield was founded in 1864.
St. Alphonsus Catholic Church in Deerfield was founded in 1864.

Notable milestones of the village’s past 50 years include the 2003 closing of the Deerfield Co-op, the Deerfield schools merging with Britton-Macon in the 2011-12 school year and an update of the community’s water system in 2003-04 with a new water tower, water transmission lines and plant improvements.

Today, the Lightning Quick Gas N Go, Deerfield Feed & Pet Supplies, Dr. Kent J. Benham dentist office, A&E Shiver Shack and Fall's A-1 Auto Care are the village’s main downtown businesses. Agriculture continues to be a major driver of the community’s economy.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Deerfield to celebrate sesquicentennial with family fun, music, games