Open Historical Map/Projects/Michigan
Subprojects
Detroit
A project to recreate the development of Metro Detroit from the early 19th century to the present.
City of Detroit
A number of historic streets in the city proper have been added. As of this writing, much of these streets are in the Downtown area (including Midtown and Corktown), as well as in the Boynton and Oakwood Heights neighborhoods in southwest Detroit as part of the Ecorse Township street evolution project, and in parts of the North End as part of the Highland Park street evolution project, and in early 2023, streets in neighborhoods between Oakwood Heights and Corktown were mapped as well.
Sporting Venues
Currently mapped in the city are Olympia Stadium and Tiger Stadium (formerly Briggs Stadium, and originally Navin Field) as part of the Stadiums project.
Wayne County
Ecorse Township Streets
All existent streets through time in the present-day cities of Allen Park, Ecorse, Lincoln Park, Melvindale, River Rouge, Southgate, and Wyandotte, all of which were formed from this former township, have been mapped.
Highland Park Streets
All existent streets through time in the present-day city of Highland Park have been mapped.
Motor Racing Venues
Detroit Speedway at present-day Pennsylvania and Quarry Roads in present-day Southgate has been mapped as part of the Ghost Tracks project.
The Detroit Dragway in Brownstown Charter Township has also been mapped.
Oakland County
Macomb County
Sources
- Sanborn maps
- Other historical maps
- Old aerial photos, including from the DTE Aerial Photo Collection
- Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs subdivision plat archives
- Michigan Department of Transportation right-of-way maps
Contact
The main mapper for this project is matteditmsts.
Roads
The history of the Federal and State Highway Systems is well documented. MichiganHighways.org, copyright by Christopher J. Bessert has much information on these later developments.
Prior these highway systems, earlier routes were established by Act of State Legislature using authority under the Swamp Lands Act to grant federal lands in exchange for their construction. In additional to federally-constructed military roads, these territorial and later state roads were essential to the early economic development and their legacy is evident in the settlement patterns within the state (see Places section). Many mention of specific roads authorized by State Legislature is included in the "Index to Local and Special Acts", see "Resources" section below.
In 1905, the Michigan State Highway Department was created to oversee roads and administer state and federal aid funding. Every two years, the Department issued a report accompanied by a map showing the current trunkline roads and those roads funded by the Department. See the "Other Resources" section for a few of the maps preserved and made available online through Michiganology.org, a collaboration of the Archives of Michigan and Michigan Library, both official institutions of the State of Michigan.
Railroads
See OHM Railways Project, in particular the section titled "Michigan." Active Common Carrier railways, or those categorized within the Railroad classes system, are generally well-mapped in Michigan with much information available for viewing through OpenRailwayMap. Former railways however may be overidden by re-development and mapping with railway=abandoned in OpenStreetMap may not be desireable for map clarity. In particular, Michigan has a legacy of ephmeral networks of Forest railway, primarily used for primary transpoprtation and extraction of logs to sawmill sites. These may not be appropriate for mapping in OpenStreetMap due to redevelopment as highway=* or plowing during later agricultural land uses, making discontinuous and difficult to visualise as a network.
Places
Michigan's "Places", include hamlets, villages, towns, and cities. Often a settlement began with establishment of a post office or submission of a subdivision "plat". Federal records of Post Office Site Locations are available digitally at the US Archives (see "Resources" section below). The Michigan Legislature approved incorporation of villages and cities pursuant to the Territorial and later State Constitution. See "Resources" section for link to an index of State Acts of Legislature that include dates of many of these legislative actions, organized by name of the administrative unit. This index reports the year of incorporation or change, but to get the exact date as may be necessary for especially temporally complex changes and to improve precision, use the Index's citation to locate the specific Act within the individual annual volume of Local and Special Acts of Michigan Legislature, often also available through Hathitrust. These specific Acts often include the names of the applicants, petitioners, and others who may be of additional local historical interest.
Administrative Boundaries
Michigan's Territorial and later State boundary shifted a few times to much historical notoriety. The organization of counties and townships evolved as well and the changes are interesting and useful as a resource for understanding historical accounts that seem to include geographic references that are incongruent with modern boundaries and features. These administrative boundary changes are well described in the index of State Acts of Legislature, see "Resoures" section below.
Resources
Biennial reports of the Michigan State Highway Department
- State of Michigan Showing Reward and Federal Aid Roads Trunk Line Bridges To Accompany the Seventh Biennial Report of the State Highway Department
Additional Information
Please feel free to update or contribute to this page.