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Settlement

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At the corner of Grove and Prospect Streets, you will find a rock commemorating the first settlement in what is today Ypsilanti, Woodruff's Grove.  When the government decided to run the Detroit-Chicago Road 3/4 mile north of this settlement it dissolved to make way for the village of Ypsilanti.

The inscription reads:

Ypsilanti's Early Years

Important dates

• 1776-1781.  American Revolution.
• 1787.  Northwest Ordinance of 1787.
• 1809.  Gabriel Godfroy established a trading where the Sauk Trail intersected the Huron River (Where the Michigan Avenue bridge is today).
• 1812.  War of 1812 between the United States and the British.
• 1819.  Treaty of Saginaw.  Michigan's Governor Lewis Cass, purchased 6 million of acres of land from Native American tribes to be settled
• 1823.  Benjamin Woodruff established "Woodruff's Grove"
• 1825.  Judge A. B. Woodward and associates purchased land on the Detroit-Chicago Road to form a village, which they called "Ypsilanti."
• 1825.  Erie Canal opened—settlers could now travel by water from New York to Detroit.
• 1836.  William Watts travels to Ypsilanti to work at Mark Norris's mill
• 1837.  Michigan becomes a state!
• 1838.  Ypsilanti becomes a stop on the Michigan Central Railroad

Southeastern Michigan in the Unites States' Early Years

At the end of the American Revolution in 1781, the land that would be the state of Michigan was part of vast frontier.  In 1785 and 1787, laws were passed to organize what is today Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan.  This area, called the Northwest Territory, was to be mapped and governed in preparation for settlement.  One interesting note is that part of the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 made slavery illegal in the entire area.

In 1805, Michigan Territory became its own territory, and settlers were coming from the East to set up farms.  They found that in southeastern Michigan many different cultures had been living together (though not always peacefully) for years: the Potawatomi and Chippewa Indian tribes who had long been farming, hunting and trading in southeastern Michigan; the French who had explored Michigan and initiated a fur-trading industry in the 1600's, and the British who had controlled the fort at Detroit from the end of the French-Indian War (1763) until 1793.  The fur trading industry, though in decline at the time of Ypsilanti's settlement, trading posts in the wilderness were important places on the frontier.  In 1809, a Frenchman named Gabriel Godfroy set up a trading post on the west bank of the Huron River where Michigan Avenue now intersects it.  This was the only log structure in the area for over decade, and it did not survive.  The animals that were hunted for the fur were no longer plentiful, and the government encouraged more permanent forms of settlement.

In 1819, The Michigan governor bought 6 million acres of land from the Indian tribes, and news of this brought permanent settlers from the east looking for farmland.

First Settlements: Woodruff's Grove

On the corner of Prospect and Grove Streets is a stone marker of the original settlement in what today is Ypsilanti.  At this location, Benjamin Woodruff settled with his family in 1823.  Four years earlier Woodruff came to Ypsilanti from Sandusky, Ohio (before Cedar Point of course!), traveled through Monroe, Michigan and decided to settle in the vicinity of Godfroy's trading post where land was cheap.

Harvey Colburn (The Story of Ypsilanti, 1923) described life in this early log cabin settlement, including:

• The problem of mail delivery in the wilderness.  The nearest post office was in Detroit (a six day journey), and Woodruff as postmaster, would go to Detroit for the mail and always carry it around in his hat—just in case he ran into whatever settler had received a letter.
• The homes were log structures, and the luxurious ones included a plank floor and chimney made of sticks of clay.  Wolves could be heard howling through the night, and deer became a staple of the Woodruff's Grove diet, as farmers waited for their crops to grow.
• The settlement was built near two important Indian Trails.  In June of 1824, 300-400 of the Sac and Fox tribe was seen moving through Woodruff's Grove on their way to Ontario.
• The Fourth of July celebration in 1824 was a lively one.  The menu included: roast beef, chicken, new potatoes, green peas, beets, warm biscuits with butter and honey, cheese, rice, and raisin puddings and loaf cake.  Mrs. Woodruff was given the task of making a dish called "hot sling," but reportedly (and accidentally) added more whiskey than the recipe called for. There was a noticeable increase in good humor at the gathering!
• Malaria (high fever and chills) was a problem at the settlement, due to the mosquito-ridden conditions and muggy climate next to the Huron River.  Several people died or were too sick to tend to their crops during 1824-25.

The Birth of Ypsilanti

This group of cabins and farms was the first community in what is now the city of Ypsilanti.  In 1825, a decision made in the United States Congress would alter its development.  The Michigan territorial delegate to congress (Michigan wasn't a state yet), Father Gabriel Richard wanted the U.S. government to build a road from Detroit to Chicago.  After all, how were people going to settle in the territory, if they couldn't get to the land?  Sure enough, surveyors came to Washtenaw County to map out the Detroit-Chicago Road, and it was going to intersect with the Huron River...three quarters of a mile north of Woodruff's Grove.  An Indian trail, named the "Potawatomi Trail" ran East to West and the road surveyors followed this trail through Washtenaw County.  This spine of Ypsilanti's development is now Michigan Avenue.

The harsh conditions, and an untimely fire, along with being a little to far from the most important road in the Michigan Territory, caused the decline of the Woodruff's Grove settlement.  Judge Augustus B. Woodward (Woodward Avenue in Detroit is named after him) stepped in to design a new village.  Woodward, typical of an educated man of his day, was fond of Greek culture, and called the village Ypsilanti.  On the 1825 map, you see the names of Stewart and Harwood, who also were quick to purchase this valuable land located near a major road and river.

Settlers came, bringing their unique skills and industries to forge a successful village.  The chapter entitled, "The First Fifty Years," by Thomas N. Tobias Jr. in The History of Ypsilanti: 150 Years (1973) lists some of Ypsilanti first steps as a young community:

• 1825.  Jonathan Morton started Ypsilanti's first store on the northwest corner of Huron and Pearl Streets.
• 1826.  A militia was organized
• 1820's.  Schools for boys and girls were organized by private citizens.  The first classes were given by Olive Gorton who received $2 a week.  In 1831 original Ypsilanti proprietor, William Harwood, decided to built a more permanent public school building, the "red brick schoolhouse" Maple between Park and River Streets.
• 1827.  Taverns and hotels were needed to cater to the settlers arriving into the village.  One such place was built on the on the corner of Michigan Avenue and Washington Street.  It become the "Hawkin's House" in 1834, and remained there until 1879.
• By 1828 Ypsilanti had three flouring mills.  Using the power of the river was an important part of the village's development.  Mills were constructed first and foremost to make grain into flour.  Sawmills were built to create lumber and woolen mills to create cloth.

William Watts came to Ypsilanti in 1836 and worked at a mill owned by Mark Norris.  You can read the letter he wrote home to his family in England, which describes early life in Ypsilanti.  He also looks forward to the coming of the railroad, and when the tracks were laid out to Ypsilanti, the village was changed forever.  Goods and people could come and go from the community quickly and on a schedule.  Find out more about Ypsilanti in the Age of the Railroad in the Transportation section.