The Canton Township MPS is a

multiple property submission The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2003. A multiple property submission is a group of related structures that share a common theme. The Canton Township MPS consists of eleven houses (some with associated property and outbuildings) built between 1825 and 1904 and located in

Canton Township, Michigan Canton, officially the Charter Township of Canton, is a charter township of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the township had a population of 98,659. Canton Township is Michigan's second most-populated townshi ...

Early history and settlement

Although lands around

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

had been settled since the early 18th century, it took considerably longer for interior parts of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

to attract settlers. After the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, the United States began plans to expand into what was then the

Northwest Territory The Northwest Territory, also known as the Old Northwest and formally known as the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio, was formed from unorganized western territory of the United States after the American Revolutionary War. Established in 1 ...

. However, the British still held onto some trading posts in the area, and the Native Americans still held legal title to most of Michigan. The

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

removed the British from the area, and a series of treaties with area tribes removed most obstacles to settlement. However, it was commonly believed that the interior of Michigan was of poor quality:

Edward Tiffin Edward Tiffin (June 19, 1766August 9, 1829) was an American politician from Ohio. A member of the Democratic-Republican party, he served as the first governor of Ohio and later as a United States Senator. Biography Sources indicate that he was ...

, surveyor general of the United States in the 1810s, reported that the area consisted primarily of swamps, likes, and poor sandy soil. Thus, most early settlers headed for more southerly (and more easily accessible) lands near the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

, and surveying in Michigan wasn't begun until 1815. Eventually, settlers (primarily from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

) made it into the area. The first purchasers of land in Canton Township were Philander and Samuel Burd, who filed on May 30, 1825. A week later, Timothy Sheldon (builder of the

Sheldon Inn The Sheldon Inn was a two-story apartment building located at 44134 Michigan Avenue, in Sheldon Corners in Canton Township, Michigan. It was built in 1825, and previously used as a single-family home and a travelers' inn. It was listed on the ...

) and Lucretia Downer purchased property; by the end of 1825 thirteen people had settled in the township. The opening of the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing ...

in October 1825 made the journey to Michigan easier and spurred settlement in Michigan. Land purchases in Canton Township peaked in 1833, and all but 14 of the 328 parcels were sold by 1836. By the 1840 census, the population of Canton Township was 1081. Many families whose houses are included in this MPS were among the first wave of settlers purchasing property in Canton. Timothy Sheldon built his

in 1825 shortly after he arrived in the area. Moses Bradford (Benjamin's brother) also arrived in 1825, and John Patterson arrived in 1826. Elisha Kinyon, Orrin's father, bought land in 1831; both Orrin Kinyon and Benjamin Bradford purchased their own farms in 1835. These families, as were the bulk of Canton's early settlers, traveled from New York and New England to Michigan.

Later history

A second wave of settlers arrived in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Unlike the first settlers from New England, this second wave consisted primarily of immigrants from

Central Europe Central Europe is an area of Europe between Western Europe and Eastern Europe, based on a common historical, social and cultural identity. The Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) between Catholicism and Protestantism significantly shaped the a ...

. Two houses built by German immigrants or their descendants, the Phillip and Maria Hasselbach Dingledey House and the John and Edna Truesdell Fischer Farmstead. For the remainder of the century, the population of the area remained relatively stable, and farmland was passed from generation to generation. Whereas the early settlers engaged in subsistence farming, their descendants were able to turn farming into a business, with many going into the dairy business. In the twentieth century, farmers turned to market farming, delivering their produce and other goods to markets in Detroit and other area cities.

Architecture

Many of the early settlers in Canton Township were from New York and New England. These pioneers brought

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

-style architecture with them and implemented it when they constructed their own houses. All pre-1865 houses on this MPS were originally constructed in the Greek Revival style, although one (the Thomas and Maria Blackman Bartlett House) was later updated with Victorian elements. As the nineteenth century progressed, the local family farms prospered, and the farmers grew more affluent. This economic success was reflected in the increasing size and modernity of the houses built in Canton Township. Earlier houses were updated and/or enlarged as the residents were able to afford more space. At the same time, architectural styles changed, with later houses being of an upright and wing or gabled-ell design. Near the end of the century, typically Victorian house forms, Stick-Eastlake and Queen Anne were also used.

Houses in MPS

References

External links