Next March will mark the 187th anniversary of the founding of Farmington. An interesting historical account of it was left to us by the pioneer settlers, recorded in the 1877 History of Oakland County.

It tells us that Arthur Power, with his sons, John and Jared Power, and hired helpers David Smith and Daniel Rush, left Ontario County, New York, about Feb. 1, 1824, to initiate their settlement in Michigan. They traveled by horse-drawn sleigh, crossing the Niagara River and proceeding through Canada to arrive at Windsor on Feb. 15.

They purchased supplies in Detroit and traveled by the Saginaw Indian Trail Road (now Woodward Avenue) to Royal Oak and from there to Hamilton's (now Birmingham). They then proceeded by the settlements of Morris Jenks, Sly, Durkee and Baker to their land, which they reached late in the afternoon on March 8, about an hour before sunset.

Without much delay, John Power and David Smith seized their axes and attacked one of the largest trees on both sides at once. Soon, before sunset, the old giant, which had stood there unharmed for a century, trembled, swayed and fell crashing to the ground. This was the first tree felled in preparation for white settlement in the township of Farmington.

This founding event that began the history of Farmington Township was itself the result of an incredible list of accomplishments, chronicled here:

• Winning the Revolutionary War by George Washington's convincing victory over Cornwallis at York Town in 1781.

• The signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783, which, in part, granted the Northwest Territories to the United States.

• The Ordinance of 1785, which approved the survey and sale of land in the Northwest Territory.

• The Northwest Ordinance of 1787, which set up the government, township structure and school system in the Northwest, as well as granted rights to inhabitants and laid the foundation for the formation of future states.

• The concluding of the Treaty of Greenville with the Indians of the Northwest Territory in 1795 providing numerous reservations for the Indians, and open land for white settlement.

• The British seizure of the Northwest Territory during the War of 1812.

• The signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1814, returning the Northwest Territories to the United States.

• The surveying of Northwest Territorial land, initiated in 1815, which resulted in the survey of Farmington Township in 1817.

• Arthur Power's selection and purchase of property in Farmington Township in 1823.

      Through the descriptions given in the 1877 History of Oakland County, it was possible to pinpoint within a few yards the exact location of the felling of the first tree in 1824. That site is denoted by the historical marker "Where Farmington Began," which can be found on the east side of Power Road a quarter-mile south of 11 Mile Road. In that first year of white settlement, this area was cleared for subsistence farming, and other new landowners arriving in Farmington first stayed there while locating and clearing their own land and building their first log cabins.