A small group of Lodi Township residents is preserving two major pieces of the township’s historical puzzle — its former Township Hall, which is the third oldest in the state, and its cemetery, where some of the earliest settlers of the township are buried.

Margaret O'Connor, Wayne Clements and Peg Canham, township residents and members of the Lodi Township Preservation Organization, have been fundraising, researching and adding elbow grease and paint to the interior of the township landmark that’s tucked into a field at the corner of Pleasant Lake and Zeeb roads.

Clements has fond memories of the building. He said he’d go with his father when he voted there.

“Being a part of this, I can relive those experiences,” he said. "It's fun to see the attitude of Lodi Township people to preserve what we have, and I think it will gain momentum ” with the addition of a memorial brick program.

About three years ago, there were bricks falling out of the building and workers needed to stabilize it, Clements said.

Jeff Proctor, a contractor, was brought in to work on the building and he followed the original plans as closely as possible, Canham said.

In fact, “restoration has been done to the windows, flooring, interior and exterior painting and brick replacement,” Canham said. “The hall is close to being ready to give back to the community the many years of history it represents.”

Four of the early voting booths remain inside the building, and the group hopes to turn the space into a small museum, which will contain photos and information that documents the township’s history.

“If anyone has any old photos they’d like to donate, we’d love to have them,” Canham said. In December, Canham, O’Connor and Margaret Brusher were recognized by the current Lodi Township board for their preservation efforts.

“It was nice to be recognized for our hard work,” O’Connor said of the award. “We scrubbed and scrubbed all those walls.”

Brusher was recognized for a substantial monetary contribution to the fundraising effort that raised about $35,000 to restore the building, which included a $15,000 contribution from the board to fix a back corner of the building that had buckled, Canham said.

So, with the building restored, the group is ready to work on the landscaping and transform the front of the building into an entryway that’s handicap-accessible.

Included in the plans is an entrance of memorial bricks and some plantings, and Larry Darling of Saline Township has been helping with those plans.

A member of the International Masonry Institute, he was also involved in the exterior restoration, bringing a class of Eastern Michigan University students to the town hall to study and work on the project.

To make it attractive and visitor-friendly, the group has begun a memorial brick fundraising effort for an area measuring about 22 feet by 16 feet. For $100 a brick, people can buy a memorial for family members.

The town hall served the community for 143 years and was built in 1867, she said.

On June 7, 1867, the land for the township hall was deeded from Charles and Sarah Jane Cornell to Egbert P. Hooper, William H. Humphrey, Olliton C. Sweetland and James Sage, the Lodi Township Board and their successors in office, according to a copy of the deed.

A sum of $40 was paid for the township hall land that was described in the deed as “at a stake 12 rods west from the northeast corner of section 21, town three south of range five east, thence west four rods, thence south five rods, thence east four rods, thence north five rods to the place of beginning, containing one eighth of an acre.”

Currently, the hall has no heat or air-conditioning. There’s electric coming into the building, Canham said, but there are no fixtures.

Canham is spearheading the brick campaign and anyone interested can pick up a flier at Lodi Township Hall at 3755 Pleasant Lake Road, call her at 734-944-2922 or email her at mcanham@comcast.net.

Lisa Allmendinger is a reporter with AnnArbor.com. She can be reached at lisaallmendinger@annarbor.com. For more Saline stories, visit our Saline page.