Congratulations to Dearborn, City of the Week with WCSX! Dearborn is known for being home to the world headquarters of Ford Motor Company, The Henry Ford Museum, “the nation’s largest indoor-outdoor American history museum entertainment complex” (cityof dearborn.org), Greenfield Village, and more. Dearborn gets more than 1.6 million visitors each year.
The first European settlers came to Michigan in the late 1700s. The Dearborn area was settled in 1795 by French ribbon farmers. Ribbon farms were small strips of farming area that ran along river banks. The War of 1812 was a huge factor in Michigan’s settlement. After the war, settlers (especially those coming from New York) flocked to Michigan. In between 1830 and 1840 a crazy amount of new communities sprung up or were organized into official communities.
The region stayed a farming community until 1832 when it became the location of the Detroit Arsenal. Dearborn is named after Revolutionary War Hero, General Henry Dearborn, but its been known by several different names. Below, we run through the many names for what we know as Dearborn today.
The Ford Motor Company is a huge part of Dearborn’s history. In 1917, Ford Motor Company’s Fordson (later renamed River Rouge) Assembly Plant began construction. Did you know that Dearborn is actually made up of two cities? Scroll down to find out more about Dearborn and its history!
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Dearborn: City of The Week Factoids
