Shelby Township Reveals History

Dec. 13, 2010 - PRLog -- Local author Hilary Davis, for the Shelby Township Historical Committee, and Arcadia Publishing present  Shelby Township, the newest addition to the popular Images of America Series. Boasting over 200 vintage images, Shelby Township showcases an area that blossomed from a farming community to one of major transportation industry.

In early 1818, a 36-square-mile area of Michigan known as Town 3 N, Range 12 E was surveyed and opened for sale.  Ten years later, Shelby Township, blessed with abundant streams and fertile soils, was well on its way to becoming a prosperous farming community lasting well into the 20th century.  One of these farms was a station on the Underground Railroad and, 100 years later, home to boxer Joe Louis.

The doomed Clinton and Kalamazoo Canal was dug through the township in 1839, but railroads and the horse and buggy remained the preferred modes of transportation until the advent of the automobile.  By 1960, the automobile had changed the landscape, shifting it from farms to the tract housing, retail centers, and industrial complexes seen today.  

Highlights of Shelby Township:
•   Features more than 200 vintage images from public archives and private collections
•   Showcases several 19th century cemeteries that still exist around Shelby Township; including the Utica Cemetery, one of the oldest in the state of Michigan.
•   Pictures The Spring Hill Farm historic site, a documented station on the Underground Railroad and one-time country retreat of famous boxer Joe Louis, is located in Shelby Township’s River Bends Park

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or
(888)-313-2665.  

Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States.  Our mission is to make history accessible and meaningful through the publication of books on the heritage of America’s people and places.  Have we done a book on your town?  Visit www.arcadiapublishing.com.

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With more than 6,000 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.