Interim Content

Detroit, Michigan Territory

Summary

Port city located between west end of Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair. State capital and county seat. French first visited site, ca. 1610, and established settlement and fort, by 1701. Britain obtained possession, 1760. Became part of U.S. territory, 1783. First incorporated as town, 1802. First incorporated as city, 1806, but incorporation later repealed; new city charter enacted, 1815. Heavily engaged in lake trade and shipbuilding. Area experienced cholera epidemics, 1832 and 1834, and destructive fire, 1837. Population in 1810 about 800; in 1830 about 2,200; and in 1838 about 9,300. Latter-day Saint missionaries first visited city, June 1831. JS and others visited city, 1834, and preached in area for about two weeks. Orson Pratt and Parley P. Pratt preached in Detroit, Oct. 1839; Parley P. Pratt estimated there to be about fifty church members in area.

Links

County
Wayne County
State/Province
Michigan Territory (now state)
Country:
United States of America