Starting later this month, folks who live in and around Lakeville will no longer be required to use Leonard as part of their address.

It’s all thanks to the yearlong efforts of a group of residents and officials who are passionate about preserving local history and are sticklers when it comes to geography.

Beginning March 25, a sizeable number of residents and property owners within the 48367 zip code will be given the option to list either Lakeville or Leonard as their mailing address, according to a Feb. 25 letter from Donald D. Dombrow Jr., operations programs support manager for the Detroit District of the United States Postal Service (USPS).

The 48367 zip code encompasses everything in Addison Township east of Lake George Rd. (see map on Page 12). Currently, all mailing addresses within that area are classified as Leonard.

After the change takes effect, Noble Rd. will serve as the line of demarcation. Both sides of Noble Rd. extending east to 36 Mile Rd. and all addresses south of Noble Rd. will be able to use the alternate mailing name of Lakeville if they wish. However, they will also be allowed to continue listing Leonard as their address.

“Please note that this change will not affect current customers who still desire to use the last line of Leonard, MI 48367,” Dombrow wrote.

“Anybody that doesn’t want to do it, they don’t have to do it. That was something that we made certain of,” said John Barczyk, the Lakeville resident who spearheaded the campaign for the change, which is one facet of an overall “Make Lakeville Great Again” movement.

“We’re not taking anything away from anybody. We’re adding to it,” said Bob Schram, a 76-year-old South Lyon resident who was involved in the campaign. “It’s always nice when you can (create) a win-win situation.”

Schram’s family has owned property on Lakeville Lake since 1906 and his mother, Cora, has lived there full-time since the 1970s. Cora will celebrate her 100th birthday on March 10.

After March 25, addresses north of Noble Rd. will remain Leonard mailing.

The 48367 zip code will not change. Lakeville and Leonard mailing addresses will share the zip code.

News of the postal service’s decision to allow the alternate mailing name was the culmination of a long, hard-fought battle for Barczyk, who will turn 72 on March 9, and his comrades

“I was so relieved (when Dombrow’s letter arrived),” he said. “You can’t imagine how much time I put into this.”

It should be noted that Lakeville currently has its own 48366 zip code, but that’s only used for mail that’s sent to post office boxes at the Lakeville post office. The 48366 zip code will remain in use and will not be affected by the new option.

“That stays the same. That doesn’t change,” Barczyk stressed.

What’s in a name?

On the surface, whether Lakeville or Leonard is used as a mailing address may not seem like a big deal. But, it’s something that Barczyk takes very seriously.

“When people around here are asked where they live, they say Lakeville,” he said. “It just seems to me that the post office should recognize where you actually live and not another (place) that’s (about 5) miles away. That just fundamentally seemed wrong.”

Schram agreed.

“Lakeville’s an entirely different town than Leonard. Nothing against Leonard at all,” he said.

After purchasing a summer home on the 460-acre lake in 1983, Barczyk and his family began regularly spending time in Lakeville. Four years ago, that home was torn down and a new one was built in its place. He and his wife of almost 50 years, Joyce, now live there full-time.

Over the years, Barczyk said he developed “a real love for Lakeville and Lakeville Lake.” He’s extremely knowledgable about the community’s history and for the past 20 years, he’s collected more than 100 vintage Lakeville postcards.

Settled in 1830, Lakeville was once a bustling, thriving village with a sawmill, tavern, hotel, gristmill, general store, post office, school and church. A plat map for it was recorded with Oakland County in 1840.

Lakeville never incorporated as a village, like Leonard did in 1889, nor did it ever have its own government apart from the township leadership. But, it had a strong sense of place among residents and visitors alike.

Despite its early success, Lakeville became a quieter, less active place as time marched on. All of the aforementioned businesses and institutions, with the exception of the Lakeville post office, established in 1836, closed their doors.

The most recent loss was Lakeville United Methodist Church on Milmine Rd., which held its final service in November 2016. The building was sold to a private party in July 2017.

To Barczyk, it began to feel as though Lakeville was vanishing.

“It bothered me for some peculiar reason,” he said. “I thought maybe there’s something we can do about it . . . It felt like it would be a shame to just let that disappear.”

History and community identity aside, having a Leonard mailing address has caused some practical issues on a day-to-day basis.

According to Barczyk, “neighbors have reported” that service businesses, like plumbers, “sometimes refuse service because Leonard is outside of their area.”

“You have to explain that your address is Leonard, but you’re really in Lakeville,” he said.

It also bothers Barczyk when businesses in Lakeville advertise and list Leonard as part of their address.

“I cringe every time I see an ad for the Celtic Knot . . . (Seeing Leonard in the address) drives me crazy,” he said.

Lobbying for change

Barczyk’s desire to not only preserve, but  reassert the community’s identity was the spark that ignited the campaign to persuade the USPS to make Lakeville a mailing address.

But, making that happen wasn’t as easy as waving a magic wand or saying ‘pretty please.’

It took tons of research, countless phone calls, gathering petition signatures and lobbying for help from big wigs in Washington D.C., according to Barczyk.

“You can’t imagine how difficult it was,” he said.

To demonstrate there was community support for the change, a petition was circulated. It was signed by Barczyk and 90 of his fellow residents.

“I think the key to the whole thing was the strong support of the community and the petition that we produced,” Schram said. “It’s all that positive support from the people here around the lake that gives you energy to do something like this.”

Support was also received from Michigan’s representatives in the United States Congress.

Schram and his sister Carol Vernier, an Addison Township resident, travelled to the national’s capital last June and met with Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s staff to get her involved in the effort and supportive of the change.

“Bob Schram was very helpful every inch of the way,” Barczyk noted.  “He was an integral part of the effort.”

For his part, Barczyk contacted then-Congressman Mike Bishop, who, in turn, sent an Aug. 10, 2018 memo supporting the change to USPS District Manager Karlett Gilbert.

In it, Bishop, a Republican, wrote, “I firmly believe that it would be good for Michigan, as well as the (residents) of the area, to acknowledge its existence as a real place. When asked where they live, they say ‘Lakeville,’ not Leonard . . . Leonard is not a postal distribution center (anymore) . . . There is no longer any rational reason (for) Leonard (to be) in the mailing addresses of Lakeville residents . . . In truth, this request is driven by fundamental logic – your address is where you live, not an arbitrary decision of a government agency.”

Schram believes having support from Bishop and Stabenow “helped grease the wheel a little bit for us.”

Addison Township Supervisor Bruce Pearson added his voice to the chorus when he sent a Jan. 8 letter to Dombrow.

“A great majority of the Addison Township residents that reside in the Lakeville area are very passionate about their request for this change, and I, as the township supervisor, fully support their request. This change will come with no negative consequences for anyone else residing within the township.”

Success

Schram believes the postal service made the right decision by granting Lakeville residents’ request.

“I feel very good about it,” he said. “Lakeville’s got a very big spot in my heart because of my ancestry here and my spending summers here growing up. It’s just a special, special place.”

Pearson was pleased by the news as well.

“I’m all about history. I think it’s a good thing (for) Lakeville (to) keep the little bit of heritage that it has,” he said. “Not very many people know (where) Addison Township is, but no matter where you go . . .  (if) you say, ‘I live in Lakeville,’ they all know where it’s at . . . (When people put their houses) up for sale anywhere around that lake, they don’t put Addison Township (in the real estate listing), they don’t put Leonard, they put Lakeville. It just makes sense to me (to have a Lakeville mailing address).”

As for the township hall, which is located on Rochester Rd. in the heart of Lakeville, Pearson said it’s going to continue using Leonard “for now” due to financial concerns.

“We’re not going to change all our letterhead. It costs a lot of money to change the letterhead,” he said.

Going forward, Barczyk hopes the public’s use of the Lakeville 48367 mailing address will help “resuscitate” the community and give people “some pride in where they live and the history behind it.”

He also hopes to see this change inspire more changes.

For example, when Addison Township constructs its new public library on a 3.8-acre site in Lakeville, Barczyk would like to see it renamed the Lakeville Library.

“It would tell people throughout the township and elsewhere exactly where it is located . . . It would tap into the enthusiasm we witnessed behind the address change (campaign) and the ‘Make Lakeville Great Again’ movement . . . The library committee should give ‘Lakeville Library’ branding some serious thought rather than just naming (the new facility) after its funding source or the geographic area it serves,” he wrote in an email.

Barczyk wished to thank others who aided the address change campaign, including Chuck Sargent and Wayne Hodges, both of whom serve on the Lakeville Lake Property Owners Association board, and Michele Michaels, postmaster of the Lakeville post office.