Washtenaw County Consortium, featuring Historical Attractions in the Washtenaw Area:

Washtenaw County History

Washtenaw County was formally established January 1, 1827, several years after the first pioneering settlers arrived to an untouched region cut by several Native American foot paths and travelers. According to Chapman’s History of Washtenaw County (1881), the Legislative Council of Michigan Territory defined the boundaries of Washtenaw County in 1822. Washtenaw is a variant of Wash-ten-ong, a Chippewa name for Grand River. The Huron River valley was originally home to a large Native American population. In 1680, the French explorer La Salle passed eastward through this region canoeing from Portage Lake down the Huron to Lake Erie. French fur traders and Jesuit missionaries soon followed.

The land was diverse, ranging from flat lake bottom land in the southeast to rolling hills filled with small lakes to the northwest. Woodlands punctuated with small “oak openings” (once referred to as arbors) filled the space in between. Four years after Michigan became a Territory in 1805, Godfrey, Pepin and La Shambre established a trading post known as “Godfrey’s, on the Pottawatomie Trail” in what is now Ypsilanti. Many pioneers saw economic opportunity by harnessing river power for sawmills and gristmills. Major Benjamin Woodruff, who purchased 160 acres of land in 1823 in Ypsilanti Township, is commonly acknowledged to be Washtenaw’s first settler. A year later John Allen collaborated with Elisha Rumsey to plat the town of Ann Arbor (originally “Annarbour”), named for Allen’s wife, Ann, and the burr oak opening present on the site.

Early area transportation networks developed from the rivers and Native American Trails. In 1827, the Chicago Military Road was built along the Great Sauk Trail (now Michigan Avenue from Ypsilanti through Saline and to Clinton). Two years later, the Territorial Road to St. Joseph (now US-12 parallel to I-94) was built. The completion of the Michigan Central Railroad’s Detroit-Ann Arbor connection in 1839 symbolized the beginning of a new era of immigration, economic accessibility and growth for Washtenaw County.

Since its founding, the County has grown in population, accommodating settlers from New England, New York, and southern Canada; and immigrants from Germany, Ireland, and other parts of Europe. The County has ranked among the top counties in Michigan for agricultural production, and become known for its sheep and as the home of the University of Michigan. The University, founded in Detroit in 1817, moved to Ann Arbor in 1837. In Ypsilanti, the Michigan State Normal School (now Eastern Michigan University) was established in 1849. It is the oldest teachers’ institution west of the Allegheny Mountains.

The County established its county seat in the City of Ann Arbor, but it also has several other cities and villages, including Ypsilanti, Saline, Chelsea, Milan, Dexter, and Manchester. It is filled with interesting architecture, beautiful landscapes, and many stories. To learn more about its history, please check out the references and web links below:

Bibiolography of General Histories:

Beakes, Samuel W. Past and Present of Washtenaw County, Michigan. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1906.

Chapman, Charles. History of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Volumes I and II. Chicago, Illinois: Chas. C. Chapman & Co., 1881.

Portrait and Biographical Album of Washtenaw County. Author and Publisher not identified. 1891.

Maps:

Bechler, Gustavus R., “Map of Washtenaw County, Michigan from surveys by G. R. Bechler and E. Wenig.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Bechler, Wenig, and Co., 1856.

Bechler, Gustavus R., “Map of the counties of Washtenaw and Lenawee, Michigan from special surveys and official records by G. R. Bechler and E. Wenig.” Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Samuel Geil, publisher, 1864.

Comer, P. J. and D. A. Albert, H. A. Wells, B.L. Hart, J. B. Raab, D. L. Price, D. M. Kashian, R.A. Corner and D. W. Schuen. Michigan’s Presettlement Vegetation, as Interpreted from the General Land Office Surveys 1816-1856. Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Lansing, Michigan. Digital Map. 1995.

Hinsdale, W. B. “Washtenaw County, Michigan: Map showing old Indian Trails, prehistoric sites, mounds, burying grounds, etc.” Ann Arbor, Michigan: George Wahr, publisher, 1927. Copy at the Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Houghton, Douglass. “Map of Washtenaw County [1844?].” Printed Materials Collection, Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Pettibone, S. Washtenaw County, Michigan Map, 1843. Printed Materials Collection, Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Rockford Map Publications, Inc. Plat Maps of Lima, Lodi, and Scio Townships, Washtenaw County, Michigan: Rockford, Illinois: Rockford Map Publications, Inc., 1973, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1981/82, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1994, 1997.

Weinlander, Paul. Township Plats of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 1934.

Ypsilanti Historical Society. Combination Atlas and Map of Washtenaw County, Michigan. Reproduced by Unigraphic, Inc., Evansville, Indiana, 1981. Reprint of Illustrated Atlas, Chicago, Illinois: Everts and Stewart, 1874; and Standard Atlas of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Chicago, Illinois: George A. Ogle and Co., 1895 and 1915.

Selected additional references:

Armstrong, William J. Papers concerning the Survey of Washtenaw County. Manuscript Collection. Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Cutcheon, B. M. “Log Cabin Times and Log Cabin People.” Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections, Vol. 29, 1898.

Davis, Rev. Lorenzo. “The Pioneer Ministers of Washtenaw County.” Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections 28 (1898): 214-223.

Davis, Rev. Lorenzo. “Recollections of Early Ministers of Washtenaw County.” Michigan Pioneer and Historic Collections 9 (1886): 155-161.

Finney, Byron Alfred. History of Washtenaw County. Vol. III, Historic Michigan, George Newman Fuller, ed. Dayton, Ohio: National Historical Association, Inc., 1924.

Florer, W. W. Washtenaw, Westphalia, Frankenmuth, Detroit, 1848. Vol. 1, Early Michigan Settlements. Ann Arbor, Michigan: By the author, 1941.

Frost, Clarence. “The Early Railroads of Southern Michigan.” Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections 38 (1911): 498-499.

Fuller, George N. “Introduction to Settlement of Southern Michigan.” Michigan Historical Collections 38 (1911): 539-579.

Hanel-Gerdenich, Ina. “The German Settlement of Western Washtenaw County, Michigan.” Final paper, History 505, Eastern Michigan University, April 1995.

Hanel-Gerdenich, Ina. Superior Township, Washtenaw County, Michigan: Intensive-Level Historic Survey. Final Report to the Superior Land Conservancy. 1996.

Hanel-Gerdenich, Ina. Washtenaw County Thematic Survey. Final Report to the Washtenaw County Historic District Commission. 1997.

Hennings, Thomas P. Looking Back: The History of Northfield Township and the Whitmore Lake Area. Northfield Township: Northfield Township Historical Society, 1985.

Jenks, William L. "Michigan Immigration." Michigan History 28 (1944): 67-100.

Johnson, Hildegard B. "The Location of German Immigrants in the Middle West." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 41 (1951): 1-41.

Johnson, Hildegard. “New Land Assignment through the Land Ordinances.” Chapter 3. Order Upon the Land. (In Course Pack for GEO 330: Settlement Geography Class, Eastern Michigan University, Winter 1992).

Marsh, Nicholas A. Remembering Delhi Mills. By the author, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1984.

Marsh, Nicholas A. Scio Village: Ghost town with a Past. By the author, Mansfield, Ohio, 1995.

Rose, Gregory S. "South Central Michigan Yankees." Michigan History (March/April 1986): 29-39.

Schmid, Friederich. "The Schmid Letters, 1833-1879." Translated by Emerson E. Hutzel. St. Louis, Missouri, 1953. Manuscript Collection. Bentley Historical Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Seymour, C. B. “Early Days in Old Washtenaw County.” Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections. Vol. 28, 1897-1898, 391-399.

Sheldon, Samuel R. The Michigan Central Railroad and Washtenaw County’s Changing Economic Geography from 1820 to 1850. M. S. Thesis, Eastern Michigan University, Department of Geography, 1967.

Sias, Margaret L. “Historical Overview as Related to the Changing Landscape of Lima [Township, Michigan] 1825-1981.” Mill Creek Research Council Survey Report, 1981.

Stephenson, O. W. Ann Arbor: The First Hundred Years. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, 1927.

Ten Brook, Andrew. "First German Settlement." In S. W. Beakes, Past and Present of Washtenaw County. Chicago, Illinois: S. J. Clarke Publ. Co., 1906.

Thaden, J. F. “Ethnic Settlements in Rural Michigan.” Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station Quarterly Bulletin 29:2 (1946): 102-111. Accompanying map, 1945.

Trautmann, Frederic. "Glimpses of Michigan in 1855: The Travels of Johann Georg Kohl." Michigan History 67, no. 4 (July/August 1983): 33-39.

Additional Web Links:

HISTWEB: http://gisweb.ewashtenaw.org/website/histweb/viewer/viewer.htm

Ann Arbor History, with links to County references: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moaatxt;idno=BAC4701.0001.001

Genealogical Society of Washtenaw County, with links to references: http://www.hvcn.org/info/gswc/bibliography/bkwashtenaw.htm

Washtenaw County Historical Society: www.washtenawhistory.org