Westland Tutors Come To You

Westland, Michigan, has roots deep in the nineteenth century—this contrasts some of the more modern bedroom communities that were incorporated following the boom of Motor City in the early twentieth century. Quiet, small, and reminiscient of an era of settlers and early American cultivation, Westland’s grist mill, called Nankin Mill, is a sort of symbol of the significance of the city and its role in Michigan’s history.

Westland was originally conceived of as a stopping point on the days-long trip between Detroit and Ann Arbor. Early accounts of Westland describe it as dangerous wilderness, dense with wild animals. Disease was common, as well as a short life expectancy, but regardless, settlers and Native Americans who lived in the region saw it grow and prosper. In fact, Indian legend has it that the tribes referred to as the Three Fires – Odawa, Pottawattami, and Ojibwa – gathered to trade and hold tribal meetings near the mill where Tonquish Creek and the Rouge meet. Several old Native American paths crossed where Nankin Mills is located.

In 1842, Nankin Mill was completed and gristmilling began. Gristmilling is the process by which grains are ground up into flour. This requires use of heavy machinery, by modern standards and practices, but before industrialization, gristimilling relied on heavy stones to circle around and around a basin of grain, slowly pulverizing the material into finer and finer powder. Water power was often involved in getting the mechanism of the wheel to move, and with Nankin Mill’s close approximation to bodies of water, settlers were able to mill their grains with the aid of streams and rivers. Gristmilling became a thriving industry in Westland, since proper nutrition and bread in early settler and Native American diets proved to enhance health and life expectancy of the average person—just as good nutrition continues to do so today.

Nankin was a growing township in Westland by the time the mill was operational and local farmers who were growing grain had need of the mill’s services. Later, other businesses sprang up in the community, attracting more people to the area. Among later businesses were a blacksmith shop, printing shop, and a post office. Today, several of the homes from that town remain in Westland; they are reminders of a time of hardiness, hard work, and inspirational survival in an otherwise difficult environment to thrive.

Milling grain into flour is much like the pursuit of academic success. It takes hours of dedication and persistence. As the wheel circled over wheat time after time, so too must students circle their brains over the subjects they struggle with. Grade Potential tutors in Westland are there to encourage this sort of persistence, so that transformation can occur with enough dedication. It took a community to run Nankin Mill, and it takes a community of tutors to help lift struggling students from bad habits and replace them with good ones in order to see better grades and improved self-confidence that comes with favorable outcomes.