The Historic Townships of Detroit

[Don K]

Anyone know when Monguagon Twp turned into Southgate, Riverview, etc?

Looking at census reports and the websites for Riverview and Trenton, Trenton was incorporated as a village within Monguagon township sometimes before 1880. Riverview became a village in 1922. Trenton became a city in 1957, and Riverview in 1959, at which time Monguagon township went away. Southgate was formed from Ecorse township.

[Mark Smiles]

This Wayne County map from 1873 is a gem. It shows the original Townships in Wayne county.



http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/serv...-Michigan--Dra



I find Hamtramck Township quite interesting. This township is a little narrow. It is just south of Warren Township, from Dequinder to Hover, [[ Where the Railroad crosses 8 mile), The eastern border goes south on Hover for two miles then jogs to the west over to Conner, then South east to the Detroit River.

La Belle or Hog Island is included in Hamtramck Township. The Western Border of Hamtramck Township looks like it goes south from 8 mile along Dequinder to 6 mile where it jogs south west to Woodward [[At Midland Street or where the Railroad crosses?) . The border then goes down Woodward to around East Grand Boulevard where it heads back east staying above the Railroad tracks and curves around to Harper and Chene. The border then follows Chene south to Mack, Mack east to McDougal. McDougal south to Gratiot, then Gratiot back north Mt Elliot. The border of Hamtramck Township then goes down Mt Elliot to the Detroit River.



Everything to the East of Hamtramck Township would be in Grosse Point Township.



Greenfield Township is another lost Township, that perhaps lives on in Greenfield Village. It is somewhat mis-shaped and it existed just south of Royal Oak Township in Oakland County, and west of Hamtramck Township. It follows the common border with Hamtramck south from 8 Mile and Dequinder to around Woodward and Grand Boulevard. From Woodward the border headed South West towards McGraw and Livernois. The border then goes north on Livernois to Joy Road where it heads west to Greenfield Road. The Western Border went north along Greenfield back up to 8 Mile Road.





Springwells Township is south of Greenfield Township. They share a common border from Greenfield an joy east until Scotten street and McGraw. Then the border heads south along Scotten street to the Detroit River. The western Border goes from Greenfield and Joy, south on Greenfield to the Rouge river, then follows the Rouge River to the Detroit River.



Detroit has Springwells Township on the west side, Greenfield Township on the northwest corner, and Hamtramck Township on the north and east side.



With all the talk about right sizing Detroit, these Township boundaries may be a place to start. Radford and Dearborn Townships could expand back to their original sizes, Hamtramck Greenfield and Springwells could be restored.



One of the ideas behind 6 x 6 mile Townships was that if the town hall was in the middle, it would only be three or so miles at the most for anyone to walk or ride a horse to a Township meeting, and this was not an unreasonable distance.



Note: My descriptions were just from comparing the map to todays Google Map, and I hope to be reasonably correct, a better map would be nice.



There is also this Map of Detroit from a 24 years later, 1897 and you can see Detroit was growing.



http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/serv...-indexed-atlas

[MikeM]

I'll post thess again for reference:










Township boundaries changed over the years and not necessarily due to annexation. Also, parts of more than one township could be annexed at one time.

[Don K]

This Wayne County map from 1873 is a gem. It shows the original Townships in Wayne county.



http://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/serv...-Michigan--Dra

Great find! I'm a real geek about old maps like these.

I think we can see from these maps that the odd shapes of the townships in the areas within a couple of miles of the rivers and Lake St Clair resulted from keeping in place the original survey of the French long lots. I believe [[someone please correct me if I'm wrong) that when the federal surveyors came through to lay out the townships and ranges, they didn't mess with the areas that already had been surveyed by the French.

There's a way to test this. The deed to my house states that it's on lot xx of the xyz subdivision, in the eastern 1/2 of the NW quarter of section xx of T2N R10E. Anybody reading this who owns a house in the areas of the map with the funky diagonal lines [[roughly all of the Pointes, most of Harper Woods, Detroit within a couple of miles of the river, Hamtramck, Highland Park, River Rouge, Ecorse, Melvindale, northern Allen Park or Lincoln Park), does your property description include reference to section xx, TxS RxE? I'm betting the answer is no.

[Dexlin]

One of the most striking things I notice in early maps of Detroit is the incredibly lack of parkland. Now, I can completely get why Detroit wanted Belle Isle. There was no such thing at neighborhood parks in the city, even well after the turn-of-the-century. The only sizeable piece of greenspace was Elmwood, and that was a cemetary.

BTW, that little strip of land annexed in 1926 [[amongst the last pieces to be annexed) seems like a strange annex. It seems strange that they didn't annex in with the 1925 annex you see to the north and east. I wonder if this area [[of Gratiot Township, it looks like, since Mack was the border between it and Grosse Pointe Township) was developed and held out for a year?

[MikeM]

BTW, that little strip of land annexed in 1926 [[amongst the last pieces to be annexed) seems like a strange annex. It seems strange that they didn't annex in with the 1925 annex you see to the north and east. I wonder if this area [[of Gratiot Township, it looks like, since Mack was the border between it and Grosse Pointe Township) was developed and held out for a year?

Actually, the strip was part of Grosse Pointe Township. The border between the townships was not Mack but a line 100 rods or 160 rods, or something like that, north of and parallel to Mack Avenue. The Grosse Pointe villages made Mack their northerly limit and the remainder was left to township control. Two ballot proposals were put to a vote in Detroit and GP Township in 1925: to annex the srtip, and to annex the remainder of the township. The residents of Detroit voted in favor of both. The residents of the strip voted in favor of annexation; the remainder of the township - what would become Lochmoor - voted against [[by a vote of 9 -0!).

The same thing happend with the annexation of part of Gratiot Township to Detroit. A 1924 vote failed because residents in the more distant portions of Gratiot Township voted it down. The proposal was put to a vote later that year with the ballot language changed so that the entire township was not required to vote in favor of annexation, only the affected portion. That's how the 1925 territory was added to Detroit and the rest was left to incorporate as Harper Woods decades later.

[gazhekwe]

It seems we are only about halfway through a project to resurvey the state and re-determine accurate lines. Finding old corner markers is crucial. Can you imagine, looking for a fencepost or tree that was noted in a boundary description over 150 years ago? Maybe in another 25 years, the townships will be defined.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Oli...&view=ZW50aXR5

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Oli...&view=ZW50aXR5

[MikeM]

Brief history of Wayne County townships starts on p. 28 here: http://www.archive.org/details/manualcountyofwa00wayn

The annexation map I posted above is after p. 244.

[Dexlin]

I forgot to ask this earlier, but are there any old maps showing the city limits of Detroit upon its incorporation? The earliest maps I've seen generally come from the 1870's. I'm interested in how many square miles Detroit was upon its incorporation, and which streets were the original city limits.

[Zaddik]

You know there is a really good video about this on You Tube. The author is "urbanecondetroit" entitled Detroit Growth by Annexation.

[animatedmartian]

I forgot to ask this earlier, but are there any old maps showing the city limits of Detroit upon its incorporation? The earliest maps I've seen generally come from the 1870's. I'm interested in how many square miles Detroit was upon its incorporation, and which streets were the original city limits.

Actually, I think the yellow block that says 1806 in the annexation map above is the original city limits. That block would most likely be this...



The land area was 0.33 miles. According to this http://www.historydetroit.com/stats.asp#area

But... I'm somewhat confused because Detroit's actual street layout isn't the 1807 plan. It's actually closer to this 1830 plan...


In the 1830 map, there's farms on both sides of the city but it's smaller than the 1807 version. Not to mention the obvious grid placed over the lower left and the different street names [[I've never heard of anything in Detroit with Miami included in the name!) So I'm confused as to whether the 1807 plan was a pre-drawing or if the 1830 plan was a full map...

[cramerro]

It seems we are only about halfway through a project to resurvey the state and re-determine accurate lines. Finding old corner markers is crucial. Can you imagine, looking for a fencepost or tree that was noted in a boundary description over 150 years ago? Maybe in another 25 years, the townships will be defined.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Oli...&view=ZW50aXR5

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/Oli...&view=ZW50aXR5

I was helping someone with property in the UP get a better hold on where exactly the limits of his property were last week. He legal had the property start at the corner of a section, 80 rods east, then up to a 1930's fire road. I did some GIS-magic on the USGS topo maps and found him the GPS coordinates that I thought would be pretty close [[it was crosshairs on a PDF map with a coordinate toolbar plugin). He went out to the coords wth his GPS to the exact spot I gave him and found that they had placed a telegraph or powerline pole at the exact point, and it had marks of the original and subsequent survey dates al affixed to it that it was the sw corner of the township [[survey township, not jurisdictional townshi)p). In the middle of nowhere, basically.

Somewhat related, really cool IMHO.

[MrJones]

One of the most striking things I notice in early maps of Detroit is the incredibly lack of parkland. Now, I can completely get why Detroit wanted Belle Isle. There was no such thing at neighborhood parks in the city, even well after the turn-of-the-century. The only sizeable piece of greenspace was Elmwood, and that was a cemetary.

I'm late to the conversation, but I enjoy this topic.
On the 1905 map of Fairview Villiage posted earlier by Brock7 there is a park named Presque Isle Park on the north side of Jefferson Ave at the end of Marshland Rd. [[now Lakewood).
The park didn't last long, as the last reference to it I've come across was 1914.

It would have been shortly after they built the neighborhoods south of Jefferson in that area [[1910) that the park disappeared -

[Dexlin]

Actually, I think the yellow block that says 1806 in the annexation map above is the original city limits. That block would most likely be this...

Thanks for that. I see from MikeM's map like you pointed out that the Cass and Adams were the west and north borders, respectively, and the river has always been the south border. Looking at the map you posted, I do remember that the Brush Farm was the eastern city limit upon incorporation, and that Brush Street was probably the western boundary of the farm.

Speaking of the farm still in existence upon the incorporation of Detroit, anyone know how deep Cass and Brush Farms went inward, and what were western and eastern borders, respectively [[the city being their eastern and western borders)?

[EastsideAl]

In the 1830 map, there's farms on both sides of the city but it's smaller than the 1807 version. Not to mention the obvious grid placed over the lower left and the different street names [[I've never heard of anything in Detroit with Miami included in the name!) So I'm confused as to whether the 1807 plan was a pre-drawing or if the 1830 plan was a full map...

The 1807 map is the city as planned under the post-1805 fire Woodward street plan. But, in reality, only the northern part of the plan was actually executed. Instead, the grid of the pre-fire British/French city grew and mostly remained south and west of Campus Martius. So, the 1830 map shows the city as it was actually laid out, and is heavily reflected in the present-day map of downtown Detroit.

Incidentally, Miami remained the name of that street until 1907, when it was changed to Broadway [[it was casually referred to as Miami for many years after that). It was named for the indians, not the city in Florida, which wasn't founded until 1896.

[Danny]

Here are border suburban cities that prevented Detroit's Annexation:

In Ecorse Township the northwest portion of area was developed into Oakwood Heights to house middle income workers for the Ford Rouge Plant in th early 1920s. The other part of Oakwood Heights was developed in southern portion of Springwells Township. Along Oakwood Blvd. and Fort St. After Detroit annexed the Oakwood Bvld. and Fort St. area in 1922, middle income folks who live at the Northern portion of Oakwood Heights [[ Ecorse Township) decided to vote for a incorporated village of Mevindale after Melvin Wilkinson. By 1933 to prevent Detroit to annex all of Mevindale Village, residents rushed to have Melvindale Village to become the city of Melvindale in 1933.

In the south central part of Ecorse Township residents rushed to have that area to become the Village of Lincoln Park in 1921 to prevent Detroit from annexing the area, residents voted to have the Village of Lincoln Park to become a city in 1925.

Residents at the south eastern part of Ecorse Township voted to have River Rouge to come a village in 1899. To prevent Detroit's annexation, residents voted to have area to become a city of River Rouge in 1922.

In 1902 residents who lived at the southern portion of Ecorse Township voted to have a village. As Michigan Steel Mill developed so did its neighborhoods [[ Including River Rouge) to prevent either River Rouge and Detroit to annex the area, residents rushed to have Ecorse to became a city in 1941.

Deabornville was incorporated since 1893 somewhat at Vernor and Dix-Toledo Rd. In 1910s Automobile mogul and pioneer Henry Ford threatened to have all of Dearbornville, and Dearborn Township to be annexed to Detroit if he didn't get his mega plant built at the River Rouge Area. The residents agreed. In the meantime folks in Springwells Township fight Detroit's annexations by annexing parts Springwells Village and parts of Dearborn Township. In the meantime white middle class farming families voted to have Inkster to become a village in 1926. They also annexed a small 1x3 mile area east of John Daly Rd. from Cherry Hill Rd. to Annapolis Rd. from Dearborn Township and 3x 1.5 miles west of John Daly Rd from Nankin Township.

By 1924 Springwells Village became a city to prevent Detroit's annexation attempts. The named was change to City of Fordson in 1925. In 1927 Dearbornville came the City of Dearborn in 1927 to fight Detroit's annexation attempts. As Detroit annexed the Village of Warrendale, residents voted to have Dearborn, Fordson and parts of Dearborn Township joined in and City of Dearborn grew into 7x 4.5 miles across making it the biggest suburb in Wayne County. What's left of the northern and southern pieces of Dearborn Township remained an unincorporated area. By 1925 to 1929 Detroit annexed pieces of northern portion of Dearborn Township. They were proposing to annex the Lower Rouge area all the way to Telegraph Rd, but land taxes can go up if Detroit vote yes. So they refused. Also the lower River Rouge area is too swampy, too low and it floods due to torrential rains.

What's left of the Northern and southern pieces of Dearborn Township residents voted to have found a city of Dearborn Heights in 1963 to prevent Detroit's reconsideration of annexation proposals. They also cut away the 3x 1.5 mile of Dearborn Township from Beech Daly Rd. to the Village of Inkster. White suburban middle class families wanted to have a city for their main reason: To prevent low-income African Americans who are settling at those government subsidized housing projects along Carlysle Rd. from Beech Daly Rd. to Inkster Rd. from enrolling their chidren to mostly white Crestwood and Westwood Public Schools District.

[takascar]

What a fascinating thread. So when did most of the ribbon farms disappear?

I know that in the area that I lived in [[Bedford, near E. Warren and Outer Drive), our subdivision [[East Detroit Development Co Subdivision #1 [[or was in #2)) was platted in 1916 or 1917. Prior to that, it was a farm. This sub includes Bedford, Devonshire, Haverhill and Buckingham from Mack to Harper. South of that is GP, So I'm assuming that the farm was from the lake to Harper and what is now 4 residential blocks wide. Thats a narrow, but long ribbon for a farm.

[Danny]

In the late 1920s Redford Township used to be 6x6 Mile area from Greenfield Rd. to Inkster Rd. and from W. 8 Mile Rd. to Joy Rd. The Village of Redford was on Grand River Ave. and 6 Mile Rd. [[McNichols) Both of area had gone bankrupt on land taxes and it have to annexed by Michigan Legislation and Detroit City Council to Detroit. The Village of Yew and is also annexed to Detroit. Detroit can only take 6x4 to 4.5 miles from east to west from Greenfield Rd. to Five Points to Dale Family Farm border near Telegraph Rd. to the rail road tracks and from West Parkway to Joy Rd. The Michigan State Boundry Commission proposed a Charter Township Bill of 1948. This would prevent cities to annex more township land as long as is charter township can provide police, fire depts, paved roads and sewage clean up. Redford Township became a charter township in 1950s. Neighborhoods were developed, however they get their sewage from Detroit. The new SBC laws were developed in 1978. Redford TWP. might violated the 1978 SBC law by not having all if its roads paved and not providing its own water and sewage clean up. This can lead proposals to have what's left of Redford Township to be annexed to Detroit, Livonia, Southfield and Dearborn Heights. The township board has fought with against 1978 SBC laws the granted temporary immunity from annexation if the township board can provide its own roads and water dept. They have neighborhood roads have been paved and the its own water and sewage dept. with conjuction to Detroit Dep.t of Waterworks taking care of. If Redford TWP. loses those depts, they lose immunity and annexation to Detroit, Livonia, Southfield and Dearborn Heights could happen.


Residents voted to have the Village of Hamtramck to became to village 1901. Residents also voted to have the Village of Hamtramck to become a city. Later, Detroit annexed what's left of Hamtramck Township in 1925. Highland Park became a village in 1910, then became a city in 1918 to prevent Detroit sneaky attempts for annexation proposals. Detroit annexed all of Greenfield Township by from 1916 to 1925. Also all of North Detroit Village, too.


Grosse Point Township [[ without the 'e' in pointe) used to be 7.2x to 5 and 7.2 to 5 miles from Hoover Rd. to Lake St. Clair and from E. 8 Mile Rd. to Conner Creek Family Farm border. Detroit annexed parts of Grosse Point Township from 1900 to 1920. In the Meantime White higher class families developed their homes along Lake Shore Drive. to prevent Detroit's annexation proposals Grosse Point Township split from Alter Rd and Mack Rd. Gratiot Township was formed Wayne County Legistation in 1895. Grosse Pointe was a full village from 1900 to 1925. Then White elitists decided to vote and split Grosse Pointe Village to separate cities: Grosse Pointe Park, Grosse Pointe, Grosse Pointe Farms, Grosse Pointe Woods. The Northestern part remained a incorporated village of Grosse Pointe Township [[ But people like to call it Grosse Pointe Shores) By 2009 Grosse Pointe TWP become offically Grosse Pointe Shores. In the meantime Detroit was annexed fewer parts of Gratiot Township. What left of Gratiot TWP became the City of Harper Woods in 1951.

[takascar]

I think East Detroit Development Co created these subdivisions but did not really build houses. I say that because of the wide disparity in ages between the houses in my old neighborhood [[some from the early 20's and some from the late 30's/early 40's). My guess is that they built the streets and put in the sewers and then sold lots to people. Does anyone know of a quick link that I could look at to see if they were placing ads in the paper for "lots in the country" back during that late 19-teens / early 1920's?

[EastsideAl]

What a fascinating thread. So when did most of the ribbon farms disappear?

Since so much of the land up and down our local waterways was originally platted by the French, there are actually still ribbon farms in this area. If you use Google maps satellite view to look along the rivers flowing into Lake Erie in Monroe County, or along the St. Clair River north of Algonac, and especially in Canada along the lower Detroit River, you will still see many of the long narrow fields characteristic of ribbon farms.

[Dexlin]

I think English was talking about the actual farms, and judging by the map MikeM posted near the top of the page, I'd bet that most of the farms were gone by 1910, at the very least they'd all been platted by then.

[Packman41]

Since brock7 identified NorrisTown, was there ever a village of Fairview, near the area of Fairview St near Mack , roughly where Southeastern High School is?

Yes, there was a Village of Fairview - sorry that I did not read this thread earlier.

A local guy, Nick Sinacori, has written extensively about this and gives presentations about the Village of Fairview. You can read more at this link:
http://www.motorcities.org/Story/The...acori-216.html

Fairview has a lot of automotive and horseracing lore and Nick's story is well worth reading.

"The Village of Fairview was incorporated on May 28, 1903 to fulfill paint manufacturer, Joseph Berry’s, desire to connect the eastern limits of Detroit to the summer home destination of Detroit’s wealthy in Grosse Pointe Farms".

"The boundaries of this fledgling community were Bewick Street [[after shipping magnate Charles Bewick) to the west and traveling east on what was called the Grosse Pointe Plank Road [[now East Jefferson Avenue). The eastern limit was Cadieux Road, named for the family that owned property at that location and the northern limit was Mack Avenue and the Detroit River to the south".

I guess that would cover the area around Southeastern High School.

[Danny]

Southgate was formed from Ecorse township.

Southgate become a city to prevent Lincoln Park from annexing that area.

[Danny]

I see that Plymouth TWP. used to be 6x6 mile TWP in 1875. After the Village of Plymouth and Village of Northville was formed, residents rushed voted to split Plymouth TWP. in two 6x3 miles by 5 Mile Rd. dirt farm road border. Northville TWP was formed. Later, The Village of Plymouth became a city and annexing only 2x 2.05 miles of the area. To keep the City of Plymouth from annexing Plymouth TWP. Residents sought the opportunity to make their township a charter for annexation immunity as long as the township follows SBC laws.

The Village of Northville was formed ni 1823. It became a city in 1955. Northville had annexed the southern portion of Novi Township and other parts Northville TWP. To Keep Northville for annexing nore land , residents voted to have the area chartered. But Northville TWP has a very weak community service so its not following the SBC requirements. In 2008 developers want to build their housing the retail near the old vacant Northville General Hospital. They need water and sewage from Detroit and can get it from Livonia connection. The developers wanted Livonia to annex the 7 Mile Rd and Haggerty Rd so they can develop that land. The annexation comes with a price higher property taxes from Livonia residents. So the Livonians vote HELL NO! the annexation of 1x1 mile area of Northville Township didn't happen.

[Dexlin]

Another questions, guys. Does anyone have any additional info on the villages of St. Clair Heights and [[on the far eastside) Woodmere [[one the southwest side)? Particularly, I'm looking for when both were incorporated and when St. Clair Heights was annexed [[Woodmere in 1905). I'm also looking for what the village limits were for each. The old maps show their general location, but I imagine that they were so short lived that they probably existed between when the maps were made.

It appears that St. Clair Heights was directly north of the village of Fairview [[1903-1907) on the far east side whose borders were Bewick to the west, Cadieux to the east, the Detroit River to the south and Mack on the north. This would make St. Clair Height's southern border Mack, but beyond that I'm not sure how far north, east and west it went.

Woodmere looks to have been immediately northwest and adjacent to the village of Delray [[1897-1905), but I can't find its borders of when it was originally incorporated.

BTW, it looked like the last incorporated village Detroit annexed was Warrendale, which existed less than a year from September 1924 to April 1925. All in all, it looks like Detroit annexed five incorporated villages.

EDIT: Hey, just thought of something that make this easier for the future. Someone good with paintshop and maps could overlay using a Goolge/Bing satellite aerial of the city the current city limits in one color, the former township limits in another, and then within that the village limits using a third color.