This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

The Creation of Farmington Township

The community we know today was once much larger.

Despite Michigan and the Northwest Territories being granted to the United States in the 1783 Treaty of Paris, a number of significant events had to take place before the land could be sold to the public and immigration of inhabitants could commence.

Earlier, we talked about the survey of the lands, which in Farmington Township took place in 1817. Just as important was the political “organization” of the land into counties and townships and the creation of the public offices which would supervise the activities of the new inhabitants.

Oakland County was officially organized on March 28, 1820, but reference to it by name is known as early as Jan. 12, 1818. Because of a near-total absence of inhabitants, the county was originally organized into just two “civil” townships. All townships from east to west (Ranges 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11), and in the southern two rows of “Towns” (1 and 2) formed Bloomfield Township, while all townships from east to west and in the northern three rows of “Towns” (3, 4 and 5) formed Oakland Township.

Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As settlers arrived, the division of townships became ever finer. On April 12, 1827, the two initial civil townships were further divided into five, with the grouping of the five townships in the southwestern corner of the county (present-day Milford, Commerce, Lyons, Novi and Farmington) forming the civil township of Farmington (pictured on the map). The first annual meeting of the inhabitants of this township was held on May 28, 1827, at the home of Robert Wixom in Section 15 of today’s Farmington Township.

Amos Mead and Seth Warner opened the meeting and led the people to choose William Yerkes as moderator and Erastus Ingersol as clerk for the day. Ballots were held for township officers, with the positions of supervisor, clerk, assessors, commissioners of highways, overseers of the poor, constable & collector, path masters, fence viewers and pound keepers elected.

Find out what's happening in Farmington-Farmington Hillswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Next, they voted to raise $25 to support the poor, and then constructed and adopted the "Township Bye Laws." Article 1 of the Bye Laws defined a legal fence and when it was required. Articles 2, 3 and 4 concerned the proper way to restrain and supervise stallions, rams and boars, respectively. And the final provision of the Bye Laws described when fines would be assessed and how the funds would be used.

In 1830, Farmington Township was again divided. The four western townships were organized as the civil township of Novi, and Farmington Township was finalized into the same land area as we know it today (the cities of Farmington and Farmington Hills). In 1834, Novi would be further divided into the four township names and boundaries of the present day.

As a side note, the people of Novi selected that name in 1830, due to writing fatigue. Before 1830, their area took its name from its post office, which was the West Farmington Post Office, and their address was written as “West Farmington Township, Michigan Territory.” Contrary to popular belief, Novi was not named for Station Stop Number VI on the plank road, since that road and its stops would not come into existence for another 20 years.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Farmington-Farmington Hills