Old Detroit - The Village of Redford

I have an old list of all of Detroit's annexations from incorporation in 1806 to the last set of annexations in 1925/1926. I've done much research on the annexations of Detroit throughout its history, so I'm familiar with most of the various annexations of parts of townships and a few incorporated villages within those townships such as the incorporated villages of Delray, Woodmere and Oakwood on the southwest side, and Fairview and St. Clair Heights on the eastside.

That said, one I'm less familiar with which ironically happens to be the more well known one and one that you can still see actual physical evidence of is the Village of Redford in Redford Township. Does anyone know exactly when the Village of Redford was incorporated, and does anyone know of any old maps that show the village limits/boundaries of this old settlement within Redford Township?

Of course, as we all know, we can still see the old village centered at Grand River and Lahser. What I'm interested in is how long the settlement within the township had existed as a seperate entity from the township before Detroit annexed the village and half the township in 1925?

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1182629131

There are maps of Redford Twp from late 18 century to early 100 on the walk at Redford ' s Community Center [[a former school, down the street from the Post Office on Beech-Daly) Also... The historical society is an old red schoolhouse on Beech between Schoolcraft and Plymouth. While it lasts. Property owner wouldn't continue the lease. The old schoolhouse on Beech is to be demolished.

I worked on a house at Faust south of Joy Rd. several years ago, built in the teens, and the homeowner mentioned that the deed said Redford Twp on it, which to my surprise, I didn't realize it went that far south. In yet another house I worked on, a classic Crafstman Bungalow kit house on Minock near Grand River, we found a bunch of old postcards that had fallen behind a built-in bookcase and were addressed to simply the recipients wife, Minock St. Redford, MI.

Townships are six miles square. Redford Township actually runs south from Base Line [[Eight Mile Road) for six miles, which would put it at Joy, I believe. From Inkster for six miles east, to Greenfield. Then within it, as different towns were formed, there was the Village of Redford. The unincorporated parts of the township remain Redford Township to date.

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Originally Posted by Hamtragedy

I worked on a house at Faust south of Joy Rd. several years ago, built in the teens, and the homeowner mentioned that the deed said Redford Twp on it, which to my surprise, I didn't realize it went that far south. In yet another house I worked on, a classic Crafstman Bungalow kit house on Minock near Grand River, we found a bunch of old postcards that had fallen behind a built-in bookcase and were addressed to simply the recipients wife, Minock St. Redford, MI.

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S of Joy is Dearborn Twp. N of Joy as mentioned earlier is Redford Twp. Most likely if it does not say Detroit and if the property is S of Joy it was in the City of Warrendale [[annexed in 1925). Not all twp are 36 sq miles. My cottage's township is a bit over 80 sq miles. Less than 1,000 people live in it!

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

S of Joy is Dearborn Twp. N of Joy as mentioned earlier is Redford Twp. Most likely if it does not say Detroit and if the property is S of Joy it was in the City of Warrendale [[annexed in 1925). Not all twp are 36 sq miles. My cottage's township is a bit over 80 sq miles. Less than 1,000 people live in it!

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1. Townships are 36 square miles [[6x6) by definition of the Northwest Ordinance. For governing purposes, some sparsely populated townships have been combined to permit a rational functioning government.

2. Incorporation of a village or town does not delete it from the township. Only by incorporation as a city does a locality cease to be a part of a township.

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Originally Posted by Hermod

1. Townships are 36 square miles [[6x6) by definition of the Northwest Ordinance. For governing purposes, some sparsely populated townships have been combined to permit a rational functioning government.

2. Incorporation of a village or town does not delete it from the township. Only by incorporation as a city does a locality cease to be a part of a township.

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Is that directed to me? If so it is about as obvious as filling your gas tank when the low gas light goes on. LOL

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Originally Posted by DetroitPlanner

Is that directed to me? If so it is about as obvious as filling your gas tank when the low gas light goes on. LOL

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The first one at you, primarily because as an old surveyor, I am careful about definitions. A township is 6x6.

The second point was directed at a post higher in the thread and not at you.

My first class in college was surveying! My dad practically raised me with a pole in my hand as he was just fascinated by it. You should have seen how excited he was when I bought a cabin on an irregularly shaped lot. On the first trip up he brought a transit.

Buy yourself a plane table, alidade, and stadia rod and do a topo survey of your property.

Thanks for the link, Thoswolfe. I'll see what I can dig up. It seems that the settlement/community of Sand Hill incorporated as the Village of Redford within the township in 1907, which means it existed nearly 20 years as a semi-independent [[as someone said above, incorporated villages in Michigan are only semi-autonomous of the townships in which they are located, unlike cities, which are fully seperated) village before being annexed to Detroit along with a good chunk of the rest of the township.

Sand Hill looked to be at Grand River and Lahser [[Old Redford), and another settlement just called "Redford" looks to be on 7 Mile where it crosses the river, and yet another settlement called "Bell Branch" looks to be at Telegraph and Fenkell. Belle Branch looks to have developed into "Redford Centre" [[or vice versa) and "Redford" into "DuBoisville" [[or vice versa). I wonder which of these three communities were included in the incorporated Village of Redford in 1907, if not all of them? It could have gone as far south as Telegraph and Fenkell, or part of the incorporated village would still exist in Redford Township, today, probably.

Hermod, I think you were probably a bit too forward and aggressive with your reply. Both of you are right. A survey township is 6x6, but when we're talking about "townships" here in Michigan, we're usually talking about them in their capacity as local governments. Michigan's civil townships [[general law and charter) are usually based around a survey townships, but they can be any size. In their capacity as local governments, one has to look no further than Northville and Plymouth townships to know that civil townships are carved up in not quite squares all over the state. And, of course, this totally goes out the window once you get to the lake and riverfront townships.

Anyway, thanks, again.

Dexlin, from what I can gather, Redford Center was the original name for what became Bell Branch at what's now Telegraph and Fenkell. It seems to have been the original settlement in Redford Township. No trace of the place seems to exist, save for the Redford - Bell Branch Cemetery on Telegraph south of Puritan.

Duboisville was centered around Berg Rd. and Seven Mile and was named for the original land owners. By the 1900s it appears on maps as "Redford." However, that place seems to disappear from maps after the area around Lahser and Grand River, formerly Sand Hill, became the Village of Redford in 1907.

Within a couple of years, much of the previous Redford was subsumed by the golf course that would eventually become the Rogell Golf Course, which just closed last year.

You can see why there's some historical confusion from these maps:

1904
Attachment 22965

1915
Attachment 22966

My old school, St. Mary's Of Redford, has always been cause for confusion. St. Mary's parish was originally part of Redford Township, then became part of Detroit in the 1920s. They never bothered changing the name of the school, so people very often assume it is in Redford. When people ask me where I went to school and I tell them, usually their first thought is that I meant Redford High, then that the school was in Redford. At some point the media started calling it Detroit St Mary's of Redford, but no one I know ever calls it that. Our school nickname was the Rustics and the church Sunday bulletin was and is the Tractor. That tells you what the area was like back in the day!

The best source for Redford history is the Redford Township Historical Commission. Check there facebook page. There are photos of old Redford Village and lots of info.