At tonight’s Ypsilanti City Council meeting, there will be a special presentation by Company E of the 17th Michigan Volunteer Infantry Regiment Inc. before Council votes on a resolution to install a Michigan Historical Marker in front of the Thompson Building on River Street in Depot Town.

That is cool. Really cool.

This marker will be a sister monument to the Stonewall Regiment marker in Middleton in Maryland County. Company E was composed almost entirely of students from the Michigan Normal School. The regiment left for Washington DC on August 27th, 1862 after less than one month of military training. Two weeks later on September 14th, the regiment participated in the Battle of Antietam. Of the 500 men, 27 were killed in the battle and 114 were wounded, some mortally.

Ypsilanti is home to eleven such green markers. Even though this resolution isn’t solving more pressing issues such as Water Street or financial solvency, this is still a marvelous idea and a great way to start the year. It plays on Ypsilanti’s rich history and possibly gives hope to the much beleaguered building. I just hope they don’t put it in a location such that it could be destroyed when the Thompson Building collapses.

The only cause of concern is whether or not it will eventually end up like the marker for the Interurban Historical Marker located in front of the New Beginnings Academy on East Michigan Avenue. That marker is faded, peeling and in need of much repair.

Here’s hoping for a good start to the new Council year.