Welcome to the city of
Auburn Hills Michigan
Auburn
Hills began as the town of
Auburn
in 1821 at
what is today the corner of
Auburn
and Squirrel Roads. Situated on the Clinton
River, it was named by Aaron Webster, the first settler, for Auburn, New York. His sawmill and grist mill
attracted settlers to
Auburn
.
After the streets were laid out in 1826,
Auburn
rivaled nearby Pontiac until the 1860s, when it lost its
prosperity. The town was renamed Amy in 1880, and it officially became
Auburn
Heights
in 1919. The area to the north
was
Pontiac
Township
,
which bordered the city of
Pontiac
on two sides.In 1908, automobile pioneer John Dodge bought a farmhouse 3 miles northeast of
Auburn
Heights
to use as his country retreat. His oldest child, Winifred Dodge, married real
estate baron Wesson Seyburn,
who built his own country retreat 2.5 miles north of
Auburn
Heights
.
The estate included hunting land, dog kennels, a swimming pool, horse
stables, and a 5,000 square foot Colonial
Revival house.
Pontiac
Township
purchased the
estate in 1976, and adapted the buildings for government use. Today, it is
known as the
Auburn
Hills
Civic
Center
.Pontiac Township
and
Auburn
Heights
together became the City of Auburn Hills in 1983. The first use of the name
"Auburn Hills," in 1964, was by Oakland Community College. They named
their campus (a former Nike missile base) at Featherstone and Squirrel
roads for the town and the hilly terrain in the area. Besides
Oakland
Community College
,
two other colleges, Oakland University, and
Baker
College
,
have campuses partially within the city limits.Auburn Hills roughly follows the course of Interstate
75 and is home to a prosperous business community. In the early 1980s,
Oakland
University
partnered with developers
to create a technology and research park on unused land it owned. The
Oakland
Technology
Park
was approved by the city in 1985, with Comerica, EDS, and Chrysler to build campuses there. Today, the city's many tech and office buildings
cause its population to swell to 80,000 during the workday.Many areas of the city still have a rural atmosphere, but land is being developed
fast. Great Lakes Crossing, a shopping mall,
opened in 1998. In 2002, the small downtown area at
Auburn
and Squirrel was revitalized as the "
Village
Center
"
with streetscape improvements. Pedestrian-friendly development is encouraged
in this district.
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