Clinton Township Historical Commission

Clinton Township, Michigan USA

The current members of the Clinton Township Historical Commission are:

Jim Hungerford, Chairman
Jim Kowalski
Gerald Oehmke
Mike Tilley
Maxwell Heiderer
Frank Valdez
Sharron Butala
Karen Stephens
Zach MacIntosh
Clinton/Macomb Library liason Jeanine Taylor

If you are interested in being appointed to the Clinton Township Historical Commission click contact the webmaster

Clinton Township Tomlinson Arboretum

The Arboretum is a 25 acre tree park. Here is a link to the web site. http://arboretum.ctwphc.org

If you have any lawn care/garden tools that you no longer need, please contact the webmaster. Wheel borrows, carts and hoses are especially needed.

GREATER CLINTON TOWNSHIP HISTORICAL SOCIETY

There will be a cleanup/planting day May 18 10am at the Historical Village. Please come!

The GCTHS partners with the Clinton Township Historical Commission to run the museums in the Historical Village. They also have free public programs at the Clinton Macomb Public Library and have a major role in the Festival of the Senses. Yearly dues are cheap. Maybe you should sign up and get on their e mail list. At our May 20, 2013 meeting Society member Don Green will present a program on the 1782 Moravian Settlement along the banks of Clinton River. New Gnadenhutten, "Houses of Grace" was the name of the Moravian settlement in Clinton Township, from 1782 to 1786. This religious community was one of the three earliest, non military settlements, in the future Michigan territory. Donald Green, former Historical Commission of Clinton Township and the Macomb County Historical Commission has researched extensively the Moravians and this religious community. He will share some of his findings about this settlement and the Moravians. You will also learn where these people have relocated and their current relationship to Clinton Township. This presentation will be highlighted by photograph slides. We have the front half of the auditorium (the part with the stage) There will be a sign directing you to the right door. The Historical Society web site has been updated as of March 2013. Check it out for future programs and events. clintontwphistory.org

Links

The web page for Clinton Township's Tomlinson Arboretum is a sub domain of the Historical Commission site. Click on http://arboretum.ctwphc.org

Hit reload to change the random pictures. This site contains a search on the left side. Enter the topic such as barn, festival, village, Indians etc

The following links may be of interest to those who seek information about local and Michigan history as well as general topics. Detroit Pix (memories from the past) It is worth a look. June 9 2007, a new link was added.Early Michigan History. Added August 12, 2009 is the David Rumsey Map Collection. This is good reading and should keep you up at night. Also, if you want to learn more about the history of the area, you can pay a visit to the Don Green Local History Room at the Clinton Macomb Public Library. Give the reference librarians your library card and they will give you a pass key.

Moravians

This is an account by the Historian Henry A. Ford.(Not the Henry Ford of automobile fame): http://www.ole.net/~maggie/macomb/moravian.htm.

Also feast your eyes on the Michigan Pioneer Series.

Pages 38-46 mention the Moravian Settlement in what is now Clinton Township The complete set is found in the Donald Green Local History Room in the Clinton - Macomb Library.

The History of Clinton Township

The History of Clinton Township Michigan

http://archive.org/stream/diaryofdavidzeis01zeis#page/n3/mode/2up

On July 22, 1782 David Zeisberger and his followers founded the first settlement in Clinton Township. He described the site of "New Gnadenhutten" in his diary, "founded on this side of the river a fine place to lay out a town on a height ... between the river and the height, there are many springs with many separate little brooks that flow into the river and have exceedingly good water. The land on the site of the town is so sandy ... the lowlands are very rich with heavy timber. We chose this place before all others for our town site ... heavily laden boats can go even to the fork, a half-mile higher up ... and canoes can go much further. We are glad and thankful to have found such a good and healthy a spot for a town site nothing was lacking. We found traces that long ago an Indian town must have stood on this place."

Clinton Township Historical Village

This is a panorama of the Clinton Township Civic Center, and the Historical Village. It also shows the Clinton-Macomb Public Library.

Click and drag on the picture to look around.

Thomas Dean

This is the exciting account of Thomas Dean.

He traveled in 1817 from New York to the Ohio River and northeast on the Wabash and eventually to Detroit. There are 77 pages to the series.
To see them all type "dean" in the search bar. With luck they will be in the proper order.

p1 1817 Journal Thomas Dean

The Moravians

The Moravians, was a nickname given to the religious group by Count Zinzendorf in 1727 while seeking refuge on his land. They pioneered worship in the vernacular, Scripture as the rule and source of all life, congregational hymn singing, and education for both sexes. In 1741 they established their center of operation in the New World at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for their mission to work among the Native American Indians.