Editing Saginaw, Michigan (section)

====Consolidation====
[[File:City Hall built 1890.jpg|thumb|Saginaw City Hall]]
[[File:Saginaw City from Courthouse 1888.jpg|thumb|Saginaw City, looking east from the courthouse towards the river, 1888]]
On June 28, 1889, the [[Michigan]] state legislature passed Act 455 to consolidate the cities of Saginaw and [[East Saginaw, Michigan|East Saginaw]] into a single city.<ref name="minutes">{{cite web |url=http://www.saginaw-mi.com/Government/Departments/CityCouncil/Minutes/2005/06-27-05%20Council%20Meeting-NA.doc |title=Minutes of City Council Meeting—June 27, 2005 |access-date=November 29, 2007}}</ref><ref name="charter">{{cite web |url=http://www.saginaw-mi.com/Government/charter/preface.php |title=City Charter Preface |access-date=November 29, 2007}}</ref> Prior to this consolidation, the nearby village of Salina had already become part of East Saginaw. The consolidation of Saginaw became effective with the election of officers on March 12, 1890.<ref name="charter" />

The provisions of the [[city charter]] were established by the same act of the legislature that provided for the consolidation. Saginaw was to be governed by a [[city council]] consisting of two [[aldermen]] elected from 21 wards and a mainly ceremonial executive [[mayor]] who was to have fairly weak powers. This was to be, as numerous other elected officials, along with elected or appointed boards, controlled much of the administrative and executive functions of government. The efficient and cohesive functioning of the Saginaw city government also was constrained by remaining rivalries between residents, business owners, and politicians from the former two cities. The distinctions and rivalries between Saginaw's east side and west side persisted into the 20th century in various forms, and continues to influence Saginaw's social, political, economic landscape, even into the 2010s.<ref name="rev-150th">{{cite journal |last=Thompson |first=Mike |date=June 2007 |title=Saginaw Celebrates its 150th Birthday! |journal=Review Magazine |volume=29 |issue=641 |url=http://review-mag.com/archive/640-649/641/Saginaw150.htm |access-date=November 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071022004509/http://www.review-mag.com/archive/640-649/641/Saginaw150.htm |archive-date=October 22, 2007 }}</ref>