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Present Business - Buildings, Etc.

Farmington village now contains three churches, the town hall, school building, one hotel, a market, three physicians, - two allopathic and one homoeopathic, - one insurance agency, four general stores, one drug-store, one millinery and fancy-goods store, one hardware-store and tin-shop, one shoe-store and manufactory, two jewelers, one cabinet-shop, two saddlery- and harness-shops, two shoe-shops, three blacksmith- and carriage- ironing shops, two wagon-shops, one foundry, one saw-mill, and one grist-mill.

The Town-Hall

The Farmington town-hall is a two-story brick building thirty by sixty feet in dimensions, which stands on the principal street, near the business centre of the village, and is an edifice which, in solidity and architectural beauty, is excelled by very few, if any, of similar character, in Michigan, remarkable as this State is for the superiority of its public buildings.

The lot - about five-eighths of an acre - was purchased of Mrs. Cynthia M. Collins for eight hundred dollars, of which five hundred dollars was subscribed in the village as an inducement to secure the location of the building there. It was erected in 1876, and was completed, ready for occupancy, in December of that year. The contract price was four thousand one hundred and fifty dollars, which by certain extra expenditures was increased to a total of four thousand three hundred dollars. Of this the Masonic lodge paid eleven hundred and fifty dollars for a perpetual lease of the upper portion of the building, which left the whole expense incurred by the township at three thousand four hundred and fifty dollars, including the lot.

Prior to the completion of the hall, the township-meetings had been held at the public-houses, since the days of Nathan S. Philbrick and Solomon Walker.

The Farmington Foundry

The Farmington Foundry, located in Lapham's addition, was built and first operated by Joshua Simmons. From Mr. Simmons it passed into the hands of George Hilicker & Brother; then to the proprietorship of Kent & Sprague, after whom it was carried on by Lapham & Wilber, who were succeeded in the business by the present proprietor, George M. Alfred.

The foundry was formerly used in the manufacture of stoves; but at present its chief production is that of agricultural implement castings.

Shackleton's Mills

The grist- and saw-mills of John H. Shackleton are located on the mill-stream a few rods below the centre of the village, but within the corporation limits.

The water-power at this point was first utilized by Samuel Mansfield, who built a saw mill here (the third in the township) about 1833. A grist-mill was afterwards built at the same dam by Samuel Power. At the raising of the frame of this mill an accident occurred by which Thaddeus Andrews sustained severe injury, - the breaking of both wrists. The mills have now a steam-engine, auxiliary to the water-power, which was rendered neccessary both by increase of business to the grain-mill and by the steady decrease of water in the stream; a result which always follows the clearing of lands and demolition of the original forests.

The Loveridge Mill

The Loveridge saw-mill, about half a mile below Shackleton's, on the same stream, occupies the seat of the old saw-mill built by Darius Lamson about 1833. He also kept a small tavern there, and the place was at that time generally known as "Slab City." Across the end of his stable he had painted, in conspicuous characters, "18 miles to Detroit." The tavern was afterwards demolished, and Lamson removed to Grand Ledge, where he is still living. The mill was purchased and run by Pheroras I. Perrin and Henry Maxon. In the year 1874 it was destroyed by fire, and then the present mill was built in its place by A. N. Loveridge. Thaddeus Andrews was the millwright. A cider-mill, propelled by water from the same dam, was put in operation there by Louis Philbrick in 1876.

Delling's Saw-Mill

The Delling saw-mill, on a more easterly branch of the Rouge, which flows into Southfield, and is known there as Lee's creek, is located at the town line, on the eastern edge of section 13. It was built in 1828, by George Tibbits. Like all similar mills, it formerly enjoyed a much larger and more profitable business than at present, when logs are comparatively scarce, and the volume of water in the stream much lessened by the clearing and draining of the country. It is now owned by Elijah Delling.

The Bigelow Mill

The location of this mill is in the extreme northeastern corner of the township, on that branch of the Rouge river which flows through the village of Franklin, in Southfield. The first mill upon the Bigelow site was a saw-mill, erected in 1833, by Dorus Morton, who afterwards sold it to Edward Proctor and Francis Gurney. After them, the property was owned by William Adams and others, until it became the property of Mr. T. A. Bigelow, the present owner. The mill was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1873, and has not been rebuilt for sawing purposes; the entire water-power being now used for the manufacture of drain-tile and pressed bricks, both of which had been manufactured to a considerable extent before the burning of the mill.

Other Mills

Several other mills have at various times been erected and operated in the township, but have now passed out of existence. About the year 1835 a saw-mill was built near the centre of section 17, by Rev. Eri Prince, a Presbyterian clergyman, who was evidently a man of enterprise, and did not regard his sacred vocation as a bar to the exercise of another honest and honorable calling. His mill was above Steel's on the same stream. Probably it never performed a very large amount of work, and a few years ago it ceased to be used for the manufacture of lumber. It was then fitted up by John E. Davis as a cider-mill, and is still in that use.

About the same time a saw-mill was built on the stream a few rods below the Steel grist-mill, by Edward Steel and Byro French, - the latter a young man who had worked for a considerable time in Steel's employ. This was destroyed by fire in 1837, and then the irons, gearing, and dam were purchased by Myra Gage, who, being himself a millwright, rebuilt the mill, and afterwards sold it to Collins Miller. He in turn sold it to Warren Serviss and Mark Arnold, who were both coopers, as before mentioned, and who carried on their trade in connection with the mill.

A saw-mill was built about 1831, by Dr. Ebenezer Raynale, in the northwest quarter of section 12, about a mile and half above the Tibbets mill, and upon the same stream. The mill was sold by the doctor to John Wilcox. Its history was that of nearly all small dry mills. It remained in operation for a time, and then fell into dilapidation and disuse.

A few years ago a stream saw-mill was built on the southeast corner of section 30, by ___ Corey. During its existence it passed through the hands of several, and was finally destroyed by fire.