Canton Michigan, a little history

When you are relocating to Michigan and looking for Metro Detroit real estate Canton is a town you should look at.  Under the Canton category on this web page you will find Canton Michigan real estate statistics, Canton History, Canton styles of homes.

Canton History

Civilization arrived in Canton by the 1820´s.  The first land grant in Canton was given to Philander Burd in 1825.  In 1834 a six square mile area bounded by Joy Road on the north, Van Born Road to the south, Hannan to the east and Napier to the west became known as Canton, Michigan. Canton was named after a city in China due in part to the enhanced trade relations the United States had with China at that time.

Canton was primarily farm land throughout its history. But among the corn fields and woods existed two small villages: Sheldon Corners and Cherry Hill.

Sheldon Corners was established in 1825 by Timothy & Rachel Sheldon after spending a night alongside the Sauk Trail (A.K.A. Michigan Ave.) under a large tree. They built an inn (which still stands) for other weary travelers heading westward.

Cherry Hill boasts Cantons first church-the Cherry Hill United Methodist Church and Cemetery, (1834). Cherry Hill was first known as ‘The Ridge’, and was later renamed Cherry Hill Village. About 1865 after Abner Hitchcock built his inn and named it the ‘Cherry Hill House’ after the abundant wild cherry trees growing there. In the 1940s Henry Ford built one of his ‘Village Industries’ in Cherry Hill and adopted the Cherry Hill School as part of the Greenfield Village School System, offering the students many wonderful new opportunities.

In 1874 the first township hall was built on the corner of Canton Center and Cherry Hill Roads. It seated 400 people and was built at a cost of $700.  Since the beginning Canton was a farming community Farm.  From 1925 to 1970 Canton was touted as the ‘Sweet Corn Capitol of Michigan.’ Canton became one of Michigan’s first Charter Townships.

Dairy farming was also important in Canton due to its central location. At first farmers took their milk to local creameries located in the villages of Sheldon Corners and Cherry Hill. Today one large dairy herd still exists in Canton, run by descendants of another early family, the Gills.

For more on Canton Real Estate or other Metro Detroit real estate information check out the categories on the side of this page or visit my other Michigan real estate site www.michiganrelocationguides.com    Search Michigan homes for sale by clicking on the ‘Search for Homes’ button above

My quote of the day is:

A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.  ~Tenneva Jordan

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