Clinton Township Historical Commission

The GCTHS partners with the Clinton Township Historical Commission to run the museums in the Historical Village. This is The Greater Clinton Township Historical Society web page http://clintontwphistory.org It was updated May 1 2019.

Fox School Memories

This is an account by Steve Ellis

Moravian Hall

The Township Hall more commonly referred to as Moravian Hall, was located on Moravian Drive about 1/2 of a mile south of the Clinton River.

In 2001 the Township Hall was moved from the Moravian Drive location to the Townships Historical Village near Canal Road & Romeo Plank Road. After repairs and updating it was re- dedicated on July 14, 2003.

The Clinton & Kalamazoo Canal

When Michigan became a state on January 26, 1837, it was a land of vast forests and marshland which made travel to the interior extremely difficult. In order to help the movement of new settlers inland, the state legislature passed the Internal Improvement Act, which provided for three railroads and two canals.

The most ambitious of these improvements was a canal 216 miles long from Mount Clemens to a now extinct village named Singapore at Lake Michigan. Approval of the canal construction was popular because many who came to Michigan traveled by way of the newly completed Erie Canal and understood the advantages of canal travel. Clinton Township and the Clinton River were, in fact named after Governor DeWitt Clinton of New York who was instrumental in the construction of the Erie Canal.

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."