This shows the boundaries of the original Ecorse Township in all its glory, as it was platted and formed by an act designated by the Michigan Territorial Legislature on April 12, 1827. 

Many French settlers, with the last names of Riopelle, Rousseau, Salliotte, LeBlanc, LeDuc and Labadie, were among the first inhabitants.

The total area of the township at formation was 54 square miles, being several old private claims and 41 sections and partial sections of land.  Neighboring townships were Bucklin, Springwells, Brownstown and Monguagon.

The Township of Taylor, formed by act of the Michigan State Legislature April 1, 1847
From a portion of the Township of Ecorse. 

Named after General Zachary Taylor, then a prominent national figure, and later twelfth President of the United States, Taylor comprised 24 square miles, and was organized to facilitate local government for settlers for whom the trip to the Detroit River was a time-consuming hardship. 

First settled about 1843, Taylor’s rich soil drew settlers rapidly and in 1860 the population had grown so that the post office of Taylor Center was established.

The village of Wyandotte incorporated as the city of Wyandotte April 8, 1867
From a portion of the Township of Ecorse. 

Dozens of lots were platted and sold in the 1820s for a “boon” town that did not materialize, until 1835 when Major John Biddle begun development.  America’s first Bessemer steel and steel rail was manufactured in Wyandotte in this era.

Former unincorporated territory annexed in the City of Wyandotte June 15, 1904.
From a portion of former South Detroit territory. 

Established in the early 1890s as a planned development of residential and industrial property.

The village of River Rouge incorporated as the city of River Rouge, April 3, 1922 

River Rouge was long a farming and sawmill town, and was incorporated as a village in 1899.

The village of Oakwood annexed BACK to the city of Detroit, May 3, 1922 

Originally bearing the post office designation Navarre,  the village was incorporated in 1910. It prospered as a pleasant suburb of Detroit, annexing territory in 1916.  It is the only plot of land in Ecorse Township successfully gained by Detroit.

An unincorporated portion of the Township of Ecorse annexed in the City of Wyandotte, April 14, 1924

During a period of feverish merger and annexation activity in the metropolitan Detroit area, foresighted citizens in Wyandotte looked westward.

In close competition with the neighboring village of Lincoln Park, additional subdivisions were acquired for future expansion. The city’s boundary was extended to Fort Street in the merger.

The village of Lincoln Park incorporated as the City of Lincoln Park, April 6, 1925

First incorporated as a village in 1921, and expanded by annexation in 1922, Lincoln Park is the site of Council Point, where Indian chief Pontiac held the important inter-tribal council in April 1763 to plan the famous siege of Detroit.

For many years a farming community, Lincoln Park grew rapidly with the construction of the Ford Motor Company Rouge Plant in nearby Fordson (now Dearborn) in the late 1920s.

The village of Melvindale incorporated as the City of Melvindale, Feburary 6, 1932

For many years a farm residential area called Oakwood Heights, it first incorporated as the village of Melvindale in 1925, and added territory by annexation in 1927.

The village was founded by land developers to provide desirable selected residential sites for workers in the nearby Ford Rouge Plant, and was named for Melvin Wilkinson, one of the developers, who died during the process of development. It has a total area of 2.72 square miles.

The village of Ecorse incorporated as the City of Ecorse, January 27, 1942

The site of a shipyard, and an important sawmill, the first plat of the village was recorded in 1834, but incorporation did not take place until 1902, when the name was changed from Grandport to Ecorse. At that time it was a popular summer resort for Detroiters and was referred to in the Detroit Free Press that year as the “Little Venice of the West End.” 

During the Prohibition era of the 1920s, Ecorse gained notoriety as a liquor-smuggling center, but was also an important industrial city. The Michigan Steel Corporation located there in 1922.

An unincorporated portion of the Township of Ecorse annexed to the City of Wyandotte, August 31, 1955

The widening of the 1930s placed the 1924 city boundary line within the northbound lane of traffic, creating jurisdictional traffic difficulties. A strip approximately fifty feet wide was annexed, carrying the boundary to the present centerline of Fort Street. During surveys for this move, a thirty foot strip, one mile long, lying (along) Pennsylvania Road, overlooked in prior annexations, was discovered & included in the merger.

Village of Allen Park & unincorporated portion of Ecorse Township, incorporated as the City of Allen Park,
March 7, 1957

This move came under threat of annexing a sizable desirable sum of the Township to the north by the City of Dearborn.

The City of Southgate incorporated October 3, 1958

On October 6, 1956, the remaining citizens of the Township of Ecorse determined by referendum to incorporate as the city of Southgate. After an unsuccessful first attempt at adoption, a charter was approved on September 30, 1958. Incorporation followed a week later as the Township Board dissolved, after transferring all assets and responsibilities of the Township to the new city.

The community had been designated as the unincorporated village of Southgate in 1953 by Township Board action in order to establish legal community identity.