About the Area
Farmington: 160 Years
Into the wilderness that was Michigan came in 1824 -- the first Farmingtonians. Quakers, from a settlement called Farmington in upper New York State; they arrived via sleigh across a frozen Ontario and Detroit River. This was exactly one year before the opening of the Erie Canal, which was to flood the Michigan Territory with settlers.
Led by Arthur Power, the small party of five felled the first tree at a site near today's Eleven-Mile and Power Road, making a small clearing and registering land acquisition. They returned the following spring with their families.
Within a few years, 30 families had settled the area -- among them the Collins, Warners, Botsfords, Garfields, Aldriches and Drakes. A small settlement where two Indian trails met -- at Shiawassee and Farmington Road -- soon boasted stores and churches, a school and mills.
Farmers settled the surrounding Township, which became agricultural. They sent 37 sons to the Civil War, and about 50 to World War I. In the 1850's a plank road was laid from Detroit to Lansing down what is today's Grand River Avenue, with tollgates at intervals. Stagecoaches carrying 24 passengers sped their nineteenth century politics and lobbyists to the Capitol.
A disastrous fire in 1872 destroyed the Masonic Lodge, the Township offices and several stores and buildings in downtown Farmington. This necessitated extensive rebuilding; one blessing was the erection of a new Town Hall. This lovely Second Empire building standing today at the intersection of Farmington Road and Grand River, served as center of government and community affairs for nearly 100 years, and -- a national landmark-- is still under the loving care of the Farmington Masonic Lodges.
Farmington was the lifelong home of Fred Maltby Warner; Michigan's first three-term governor (1904-1910) whose family home on Grand River, erected in 1869 by his father, P.D. Warner, is today's cherished Farmington Museum.
In 1867 the village of Farmington was incorporated; in 1927 it became a City. The City of Farmington Hills, incorporating what was left of the entire Township, achieved city-hood in 1973.
Orchards, famous throughout Oakland County, make the area a paradise of blossoms in springtime. Later (1900-1930) the rural charm and beauty attracted wealthy bankers and businessmen, who established summer and country homes throughout the Township.
Today Farmington is widely known as a dynamic center of fine residences and subdivisions, excellent schools -- including the Orchard Ridge Campus of Oakland Community College -- model industrial parks, and two registered historic districts, one of them on the National Register. Over 70,000 people today call this area -- which totaled less than 1,000 in 1900 -- home.
By Jean M. Fox