First official record relating to Oakland County was an executive proclamation made by Lewis Cass, the governor of the Territory of Michigan, on January 12, 1819, requesting that the boundaries of a new county be established and a county seat be selected. Pontiac was chosen as the county seat.
As the county grew in population it was divided into townships. The township of Commerce was organized in 1834.
There were no roads— a great drawback to the settlement of the county. An Indian trail from Detroit to Saginaw was the nearest approach to a road leading toward the region which is now Oakland County. This trail was nearly impassable during the greater part of the year and only ponies and footmen could use it even in the dryest season.
In 1817 a road was begun which followed the Indian Trail starting in Detroit and going toward Pontiac which is now known as Woodward Avenue.
The first public buildings of Oakland County were built in 1823 and 1824. They were the courthouse and jail combined, and they were built of logs. The jail was on the first floor and offices on the second.
The county did not grow very rapidly in population or business until railroads began to be built. The population of the whole county in 1820 was 330.
The first railroad track built in the county was at Birmingham in 1839.
The first pioneer who came to Commerce Township was Abram Walrod and he settled near what is now the village of Commerce in May, 1824. It was then just a wilderness with no villages or stores or houses and much of the land was swampy with subterranean lakes that made the land very wet and soggy and hard to build roads.
Mr. Walrod came from New York State and he built a plain log house. All the land had to cleared before he could plant crops.
A month later another pioneer, Walter Hewitt, came to what is now Commerce Township and a year later another immigrant from New York came and settled. More and more settlers came every year.
These first settlers had to go to Pontiac and Detroit for their groceries and provisions and to Northville and Farmington for flour. There were no roads and the pioneers all joined together in cutting away the underbrush to get to these towns. They traveled by oxen and wagons. They had to undergo hardships of every kind, but they were a healthy and ambitious class of settlers. They came with a determination to stay and make their homes here in the wilderness. And today we can see the results of those early pioneers who came and cleared and worked the land.
The first hewn log schoolhouse was built in 1834 at Stonecrest across from the bank in Walled Lake. It was used for 12 or 15 years and then a frame school was built and Mrs. Fannie Tuttle was the first teacher. The first religious services were held in the old log school.
The first road was laid out in 1833 and was known as the Romeo and Ann Arbor road, now known as 14-mile road of Pontiac Trail.
The first Post Office was established about 1832. The mail was transported from Farmington to Walled Lake on horseback. The mail was carried in the postmaster’s pocket and later as the mail increased, he carried it in his hat.
In 1838 the first burying ground was laid out in Commerce Township and it is the cemetery of Wixom. It was known then as the “South Commerce Burying Ground Company”. The first person to be buried in the cemetery was Mrs. Justin Walker.
Compiled by former WHS member and Wixom teacher, Lillian Coe
