You are standing along Michigan Avenue, a road much older than the pavement that now covers it.

This road began like many other transportation routes through America, as a well-travelled Native American trade path. This original path, often referred to as the Great Sauk Trail, extended from Modern day Chicago, through Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, eventually terminating along the Detroit River not far from here. 

French explorers, fur traders, and missionaries, utilized the trail throughout the colonial period to expand their influence over the region and, following the French and Indian War, the British utilized the trade route for their own purposes, including expanding a series of frontier forts along the road.

During the American Revolution and the War of 1812, armies from both sides used the trail to move throughout the region. It was these experiences that led American leaders to realize the importance of maintaining a good road system within the region to both protect their citizens and expand economic interests. 

Through the lobbying efforts of Territorial Governor Lewis Cass and others, the U.S. federal government agreed in 1825 to fund the construction of a more permanent military road along the original route of the Great Sauk Trail. 

Constructed between 1829 and 1836, the route was renamed the Chicago Road and became an extremely valuable asset to the large number of Americans flooding into the Midwest and beyond.

When the U.S. State Highway system was developed in the 1920s, the route of the Old Chicago Road was chosen to be integrated into a portion of what would become U.S. Route 12 that extended from Detroit to Washington State and this section of Michigan Avenue lies along that route.

Credits and Sources:

Farmer, Silas (1889). The History of Detroit and Michigan; or, The Metropolis Illustrated; A Full Record of Territorial Days in Michigan, and the Annals of Wayne County (2nd ed.). Detroit: S. Farmer & Co.

Barnett, LeRoy (2004). A Drive Down Memory Lane: The Named State and Federal Highways of Michigan. Allegan Forest, MI: Priscilla Press.