These boundaries would be adjusted as Indiana and Illinois became states and as other counties were formed within Michigan Territory.Īccording to the U.S. This boundary would include Chicago, Illinois and a sizable strip of Wisconsin along Lake Michigan. On January 14, 1803, the Governor of Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, issued a similar proclamation defining the boundaries as beginning at a point where an east and west line passing through the southernmost extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect a north and south line, passing through the westernmost extreme of the lake, then north to the territorial boundary, then along said boundary line to a point where an east and west line passing through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect the same, then along this last mentioned line to the place of beginning.

The historic Guardian Building in Detroit is the Wayne County headquarters. The extent of Wayne county at that time included all the present state of Michigan in addition to parts of Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin, so that the townships erected at that time were vastly larger than the corresponding divisions of the present time. The first division of the county into townships occurred November 1, 1798, into the four townships of Detroit, Hamtramck, Mackinaw, and Sargent. Clair, and Lake Erie back to the starting point. By proclamation of the Territorial Secretary and Acting Governor, Winthrop Sargent, on August 15, 1796, the boundaries of Wayne County were declared to begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River then west to Fort Wayne, then to the southernmost point of Lake Michigan and along the western shore north to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior and then along the territorial boundary through Lake Huron, Lake St. It originally encompassed the entire area of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, most of the Upper Peninsula, as well as smaller sections that are now part of northern Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. Wayne County was the sixth county in the Northwest Territory, formed Augfrom portions of territorial Hamilton County, territorial Knox County and unorganized territory. Further information: History of Detroit Original Wayne County of the Northwest Territory

New mexico township and range map