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History of the area
Native Americans
The first human inhabitants of the area were Native American tribes. About a
dozen tribes lived in southeastern Michigan during the 1600s and 1700s, some
only for a short time.
All but one tribe were considered part of the Algonquin nation, because their
language was derived from a mother Algonquin tongue. The other, the Huron, was
considered part of the Iroquois, because its language came from the Iroquois
language.
The Sauk and the Miami tribes were among the first to settle here. The Sauk were
primarily in the Saginaw River Valley. The Miami mostly were in the St. Joseph
area. Both had moved on to south by the time the white man began to settle here.
The major Native American occupants of Michigan during the 1600s and 1700s were
the tribes in the loose federation of the Three Fires – the Potawatomi, Ottawa
and Ojibwa, also called the Chippewa. The Ojibwa was and is the most prominent
tribe in Michigan. Experts estimate that about 15,000 Native Americans lived in
Michigan when the French first arrived in the early 1600s.
The Huron, later called Wyandot, was also a major tribe in this area at that
time. The Sioux and the Fox ventured through Michigan but never set up a
long-term permanent settlement here. The Erie also had dealings in this area.
Early settlement
The first permanent European settlement in southeastern Michigan was built by
Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and his soldiers when they landed in 1701 near
Cadillac Square in Downtown Detroit. At the time, the area was called New
France.
Present-day Dearborn, its eastern boundary more than five miles to the west
through dense forest, would not be settled for another 85 years.
Like Detroit, French were the first Europeans settlers in present-day Dearborn
and Dearborn Heights. Land in Dearborn was first farmed in the early 1780s along
the Rouge River in the southeastern part of the city. The farms, extending miles
into the forested land, were perpendicular to the river. They were nicknamed
ribbon farms because on a map, the properties resembled ribbons tied to the
river.
The agreed-upon year for the first permanent European settlers in present-day
Dearborn is 1786, when Pierre Dumais built a home for his family and him near
what today is Morningside Street near Dix.
In 1795, James Cissne became the first white settler in present-day west
Dearborn, starting his farm at the Rouge River and Rotunda Drive.
The first local roads were created shortly after, usually along established
Indian trails. Dearborn’s main thoroughfare, Michigan Avenue, was laid out along
the Sauk-Fox Trail, one of the principal Indian trails. Because the road was a
land route to Chicago, it became known as the Chicago Road. It was a main artery
of travel in pioneer times.
After the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, settlers began arriving in large
numbers, coming mostly from northeastern United States and Europe.
The first attempt to geographically organize the area was made Jan. 5, 1818,
when territorial Gov. Lewis Cass established Springwells Township. It initially
had no official western boundary, so it theoretically covered all of Dearborn,
Dearborn Heights and points west.
The western boundary of Springwells was defined when Gov. Cass made a special
proclamation Oct. 23, 1824, officially creating Bucklin Township. The boundaries
of Bucklin were Greenfield to approximately Haggerty Road and Van Born to Eight
Mile Road. Cass named the township after William Bucklin, supposedly when
Bucklin, local justice of the peace, agreed to serve for free if the township
were named for him.
A gubernatorial act April 12, 1827, again formally organized and laid out
Springwells and Bucklin townships and also created Huron, Plymouth, Ecorse,
Detroit and Hamtramck townships.
Due to growing population, the territorial government Oct. 29, 1829, split
Bucklin Township along what is today Inkster Road into Nankin (west) and Pekin
(east) townships. Pekin Township was renamed Redford Township March 21, 1833.
Eleven days later, the southern half of Redford Township was separated along
what is today Joy Road into its own township. Joshua Howard, the first commander
of the Detroit Arsenal after it was moved here, proposed naming the township for
Major Gen. Henry Dearborn. The suggestion was accepted.
Springwells Township experienced the first of many land losses March 31, 1833,
when the area north and west of old Baby Creek (Dearborn’s southeastern border)
was split off to create Greenfield Township.
Detroit subsequently annexed sections of Springwells Township many times over
the next 90 years. Springwells regained part of its former area in 1873 when the
section of Greenfield Township south of Tireman was returned to Springwells.
This is how Tireman became the northern city limit of east Dearborn.
On Oct. 23, 1834, Dearborn Township was renamed Bucklin Township. The name was
changed back to Dearborn Township March 26, 1836. The village of Dearbornville
incorporated in 1838 but reverted to unincorporated status in 1846.
Dearborn:
village, township
A key part of Dearborn’s early history is tied to the Detroit Arsenal, built on
the north side of Michigan Avenue at Monroe 1833-39. More information on the
arsenal can be found in the Landmarks section of the Guide.
In Dearborn’s early days, houses were few and mostly far apart. Dearborn was a
regular stagecoach stop along the Chicago Road, but travel slackened after the
railroad came through in 1837.
As more settlers came, the oak and maple trees were cut down and the swamps
drained to create farmland. This created a secondary industry in Dearborn as the
felled trees were turned into cordwood for the wood-burning locomotives. A
railroad woodyard was established here.
Dearborn’s oldest industry, brickmaking, resulted in many excavations and
quarrying to get the clay for the bricks. The pond southeast of Oakwood
Boulevard and the railroad track is a remnant of this excavation.
The heart of old Dearborn was along the old Chicago Road near the arsenal,
between the Rouge River and the railroad track.
Springwells:
village, township
The early settlement in what is now east Dearborn was in the western section of
Springwells Township, so called because of the many springs in the original
southeastern part of the township near Fort Wayne.
The township’s center of trade possibly was established earlier than the one at
Dearbornville, but it was not in present-day Dearborn.
Development was slow. Springwells consisted chiefly of large farms. German
immigrants settled in the area between Greenfield and Wyoming north of the
Chicago Road. St. Alphonsus Catholic Church began as a German school in 1846.
The parish formally organized in 1852.
Near the intersection of Warren Avenue and Greenfield Road was a small community
referred to as the Scotch Settlement, because settlers here were mostly of
Scottish or Scotch-Irish descent. Henry Ford (1863-1947), the great
industrialist, was born on a farm at Ford Road and Greenfield.
A growing community
Between 1920 and 1930, Springwells experienced massive changes, thanks in part
to the building of the Rouge Plant in 1917.
Population grew dramatically. Springwells incorporated as a village in 1919 and
as a city in 1923. The name was changed to Fordson in late 1925. It was one of
the largest growing cities in America during the 1920s.
The village of Dearborn greatly expanded its boundaries in 1925 and incorporated
as a city in 1927. It was during this decade that most of east Dearborn was
built. West Dearborn remained mostly farms and open land.
In January 1929, Fordson, Dearborn and part of Dearborn Township merged into
present-day Dearborn. Clyde M. Ford, mayor of old Dearborn, was the first mayor
of the new city, serving until early 1936.
Dearborn developed little during the 1930s and first half of the 1940s, first
because of the Depression and then because of World War II.
Dearborn –
the last half century
During the decade following the end of World War II, west Dearborn experienced
the same building boom east Dearborn did in the 1920s.
Young families moved in as fast as homes could be built. Overcrowding plagued
schools on the west side, just as it did in east Dearborn during the 1920s. No
sooner was one school built that another was needed.
The expansion of Ford Motor Co. was another big influence. The company donated
considerable land throughout the last half of the 1940s and the 1950s to the
city for educational or recreational use. Ford Motor Co. did extensive building
itself, including its new World Headquarters in 1956. Engineering and research
facilities and office buildings mushroomed all over the city.
During this time, population in east Dearborn started to decline as
neighborhoods and residents got older. Three schools in east Dearborn were
closed in the late 1950s. During the 1960s, the population leveled off in west
Dearborn and continued its decline in east Dearborn.
Population decreased throughout the area in the 1970s, reaching the point where
city and educational resources had to be consolidated. Several more schools were
closed.
At the start of the 1970s, Ford Land Development Corp. began to change the
landscape of the area. The Ford Motor Co. subsidiary created a master plan for
the development of Ford property in Dearborn, Allen Park and Melvindale.
Among the first projects completed were Fairlane Town Center, the Hyatt Regency
and the Parklane Towers. Every aspect of public life was considered in designing
the community. The project includes commercial, business, recreational and
residential properties. Elements of the master plan changed as the economy
changed, but the original goal remained the same. Today, most of the former Ford
land is developed.
In the 1990s, Dearborn’s Middle Eastern population started to play a major role
in the community, particularly in east Dearborn. Business districts that in the
1970s suffered from decay and neglect began to thrive. Warren Avenue underwent a
renaissance.
Increasing population in the city’s east end required the building of one new
school and replacement of two aging buildings. By the end of the decade, the
school district suffered – and still is – from overcrowded conditions throughout
the city.
Dearborn Heights history
The history of Dearborn Heights as a city begins in 1960. Annexation proposals
in 1958 and 1959 that would have added sections of Dearborn Township to the city
of Dearborn were defeated.
In early 1960, residents circulated petitions to determine interest in creating
a single city out of the two sections of the township. State law requires a city
be contiguous, so the township needed to annex a small part of the village of
Inkster to connect the northern and southern areas of the township to allow
incorporation. The township chose the quarter-mile-wide strip along the eastern
edge of Inkster.
Township officials heard the village of Inkster was considering city
incorporation. If Inkster became a city, the two township sections then could
only join by connecting through Nankin Township (present-day Westland).
Township officials rushed incorporation petitions into circulation and submitted
them Friday, March 4, 1960, to the county clerk’s office.
Inkster officials delivered their petition for incorporation into a city the
next business day, the following Monday, but too late to stop the township’s
incorporation proceedings. State law dictates that those delivered first take
precedence.
Inkster filed a lawsuit against Dearborn Heights’ incorporation, because it did
not want to lose the land.
The township still held an election June 20, 1960, to approve incorporation and
select city officials. Voters easily approved incorporation.
Inkster’s lawsuit delayed certification of the incorporation election results
until a court decision was reached. After nearly three years and several appeals
through the court system, the Supreme Court handed down a favorable decision
April 8, 1963, and Dearborn Heights officially incorporated as a city.
Since then, Dearborn Heights has gradually grown as a community. Initially,
residents relied heavily on resources of neighboring communities for activities.
Today, the city offers its own programs at one of several city centers around
the area.
Recent major municipal projects are the Richard A. Young Recreational Center and
the newly completed north-end fire station. In 2002, a new police station and
court building is to be built on Michigan Avenue at Beech Daly.
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