Some Early Detroit Maps

I've just come across some very early, large, detailed and legible digitized maps of Detroit which can be downloaded. I don't know how long they've been available online, but I've never seen them before.

This one covers enough area to show the locations of both the old and new city cemeteries. It's from one the year after the city acquired land for the new cemetery, and shows the Lane to Burying Ground, which Silas Farmer says was called Cemetery Lane, open to Jefferson. Later most of it gets closed off leaving just one block from Clinton to Gratiot called Paton Alley and subsequently renamed Raynor. The street at the south end of the new cemetery would be named Cemetery Street and I think was about where Vernor Highway is today. The map was drawn by the father of Silas Farmer.
Detroit 1835 by John Farmer JP2 [[23.3 MB)
http://www.loc.gov/item/79691130

This shows parcels of land with names of the owners for all the townships, and also, in the lower right corner, is an inset, enlarged map of Detroit with notable buildings indicated. The largest size is 286MB, but the 16MB JP2 version is quite legible.
Map of Wayne County 1855 by John Farmer TIFF [[286.2 MB) JP2 [[15.7 MB)
http://www.loc.gov/item/2012593158

This is a map showing early railroad lines in Michigan when Lansing was new.
1848 Doggett's railroad guide & gazetteer TIFF [[25.2 MB) JP2 [[1.4 MB)
http://www.loc.gov/item/98688497

Part of North-America including Detroit 1771 JP2 [[9.2 MB)
http://www.loc.gov/item/74692121

British and French dominions in North America 1774 JP2 [[54.8 MB)
http://www.loc.gov/item/74693177

Birds eye view of the central portion of the city of Detroit 1889 JP2 [[4.1 MB)
http://www.loc.gov/item/76693077

Views of Detroit 1852 TIFF [[145 MB)
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2012645630

I noticed Ruddiman property marked, in the 1855 map, close to the location where Henry Ford grew up. Edsel Ruddiman was the childhood friend of Henry Ford. Henry named his only child after his friend. In a 1876 plat, the Ford farm land is marked along with a 40 acre subsection labeled - H. Ford. My family's farm is also marked nearby on that map. That line of my family arrived in 1847. So 1855 might have been too early to acquire property. So this map you provided helps me in my research - thanks.

Thanks for the maps Brock7! I find these fascinating. I searched for some in a shared internet archive of French and Canadian sources; it is called the Canada France Archives and there are many available documents to download. Maps and letters and travel accounts, lists of military materiel, etc...

I chose two maps, one by Cadillac himself, or designed by him, and the interest here is in his list of inhabitants on the right of the map. You can see the Campau name prominent with two brothers sharing it. The spelling is old but in that era, french and english spelling of words and proper names was not all that stable.

The other map shows the delineation of territories bought by the French from the Hurons, villages and fields belonging to the Hurons, the Pottawatamee and the Ottawa.

http://bd.archivescanadafrance.org/a...=providers&ss=


http://bd.archivescanadafrance.org/a...d=&ss=&as=&ai=

Just found another interesting but low-res document in french archives. This is a 1750 census of Detroit. It lists men first at the left margin outside the columns, then women, boys, girls, slaves, quantities of wheat, cattle, horses, etc...

http://bd.archivescanadafrance.org/s...&as=&ai=&from=