Commerce
Township
is a charter
township in Oakland County, Michigan, United
States. The population was 34,764 at the 2000 census. The terrain is
rolling hills but there are large expanses of flat land on which farms and,
more recently, subdivisions are built. The Huron River runs mostly north-south through
the township. Commerce was formerly a weekend and summer resort for Detroiters because of the area's small inland lakes and peaceful seclusion, but due to
recent development the cottages are now all permanent homes. There has been a
sharp increase in population in the last few years, mostly on or near the
several lakes and golf courses. Much of Proud Lake State Recreation Area is within the township. The northern terminus of M-5 is in Commerce. The busy highway would
have continued north to I-75,
but because of the area's high property value and the many lakes that dot the
landscape such a project would have been far too costly. Commerce Township
shares borders with West Bloomfield, White Lake, Milford Township, Walled Lake, Wolverine Lake, Novi,
and Wixom
Commerce
Township
is the hometown of the film productions
company Rocker Panel
Productions and Homedics
Our History
The Seneca who occupied the
West
Bloomfield
land before the coming of the white man had constructed
three villages in the area according to tradition. They located one on Fort
Hill along Honeoye creek. Hamilton Hopkins later owned a farm there in what
settlers called factory Hollow. Another
Indian
Village
was located in what was once called West Bloomfield Station. The Indians had
also established a third village in the southern part of the town.
Around these villages, the Seneca cultivated many fields of
corn, beans and squash and tended large orchards of apples and peaches.
The
first white men to arrive, (for which there is acceptable record), were the
Jesuits or "Black Robes" as they were sometimes called. After the
Seneca became disenchanted with the French, the Seneca, with some of the other
Iroquois nations, gradually allied themselves with the British. They fought
with them in the 100 years of wars in the wilderness which history designated
the French and Indian Wars.
The English in time defeated the French and made
North America
primarily English. Unfortunately for the
Seneca and some of the other nations of the Long House Confederation, they
remained allied with the British in the American Revolution. To punish the
Seneca, General George Washington planned and executed the Sullivan - Clinton
Campaign into the
Finger Lakes
and Genesee
Country. The Americans burned up their villages and fields so that they could
not continue to supply the British with food. While there is no record that the
main army went through any part of
West Bloomfield
,
there could have been raiding parties from the main body that came into the
area.
A decade after the campaign, General Amos Hall, Robert Taft,
Ebeneezer Curtis and Nathan Marvin purchased the land of what is now
West Bloomfield
. The first settler in the area was
Colonel Peregrine Gardner who built a house on the old Indian Trail, now Routes
5&20.
The first public religious service on record was held in 1790.
Elisha Wade held that Sabbath service in his own house. In 1795, Rev. Zadoc
Hunn, who resided in Bristol and
preached throughout the county, often came to the
Village
of
West Bloomfield
.
Rev. David Millard organized a church in 1818. Seven years later, the
congregation erected a building in the village. In the years following, other
mainline churches came to West Bloomfield: in 1851, a
Methodist
Church
, and in 1866,
St. Joseph
's Catholic Church.
In 1796 the
citizens opened their first schools. In 1812 an Academy was founded in
West Bloomfield
. Eight out of nine school districts
constructed school buildings. So, it was early on,
settlers had two of the
institutions of civilization - churches and schools.
Amos Hall, one of the early settlers of West Bloomfield had
emigrated from
Guilford
,
Connecticut
in 1890. Prior to the War of
1812, Hall organized, trained and commanded the county militia. During the war
on the Niagara Frontier, he performed good service there although he had no
practical knowledge of military affairs.
Returning to civilian life, he became publicly conspicuous in
the county as a state politician. In 1790, as Deputy Marshall, he took the
first census of
Western New York
. He acted as
Surrogate Judge in 1796-1799. He served as State Senator, 1811-1812.
Prior to and after the War of 1812, needed
manufacturing establishments were set up. Samuel Nichols built a distillery
about 1818. Jacob Erdle constructed a sawmill in 1824. Captain Arnold operated
a tannery. M. & D. Pillsbury fashioned axes. Rueben Pierce made wagons.
Baker built a chair factory and D.W. Pillsbury formed an iron foundry and wagon
shop. Edward Herrick built a brass foundry.
Village retail businesses were started early. Jacob Sears had a
tavern, Erastus Hunt, A. Headlee and Co., Ludwick C. Fitch and Augustus Hall
operated a general store and Dr. Hickox and Fairchild, a drug store.
West Bloomfield
was growing and blooming.
On February 11th, 1833, West Bloomfield was set off from the
old town of
Bloomfield
.
The new town included township #10 of Range 5 which lay east of Honeoye outlet.
Except for
Geneva
, this became the smallest
township in
Ontario
County
.
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