From the Milan News-Leader:
People often say Milan was founded in 1831. The community we know and love today was started that year with a two-story log cabin built by John Marvin for his family.
The Marvin cabin was placed on the north side of Plank Road, an Indian trail dating back many centuries. Another Indian trail led north and south within a few feet of Marvin’s log structure, along present-day Wabash Street.
Many of the Native Americans were transported out of Michigan just before the gush of settlers from New York, Vermont, England and Ireland who came to the area about the time Marvin arrived. The Erie Canal brought new farming families to the Milan area literally by the boatload.
Just before the arrival of those settlers, Lewis Cass, the Michigan territorial governor, was working hard to stop the federal plan to transport Indians. Cass was a friend of the Indians and wanted to help them stay put.
By 1830, he changed his mind. Cass felt the Indiana culture would be destroyed by the corrupting influences of the “white man.” He decided the Indians would maintain their way of life better on reservations further west.
Some of the Michigan Indians didn’t want to go. They held their ground. They actually bought some ground and farmed alongside the European newcomers, blending into the melting pot.
Today, in Milan and elsewhere in Michigan, we eat foods that were cultivated by the Indians. We use words taught us by the Indians. We travel on roadways first developed by the Indians. Many of our residents, knowingly or not, have Indian blood in their veins.
The first Indians came to North America at least 250,000 years ago. They crossed over from Russia to Alaska, and perhaps some floated across the Pacific in small boats by way of the islands.
There were Indians in Michigan at least 11,000 years ago, long before Columbus was born. We had woodland Indians here, following the glaciers. They hunted mastodon and caribou.
In their spare time, Indians domesticated the dog. Copper mines were operated 5,000 years ago in the Upper Peninsula by Indians, for making tools and weapons.
The Miami and Potawatomi Indians lived in southern Michigan in the late 1600s. At various times, the Ottawa, Huron and Chippewa (Ojibway) tribes hung out in the Milan area, too. They were attracted by the river, and the food they could find, grow or hunt by a river. Don’t believe the images of blood-thirsty savages shown in old movies — these Indians were peaceful.
Before John Marvin showed up, Indians in the Milan area grew their food, including corn, squash, beans, rice and tobacco. They had sugar made from the sap of maple trees. They also had musical instruments and set up clearings in the forest for huge dance parties.
Besides leather for clothes, Indians figured out a way to produce hand-woven fabric. The people lived in dome-shaped homes made of cut saplings, lashed together, covered with bark or skins.
Today’s picture was sent to me by Jasper Green Pennington of Ypsilanti, a member of the Washtenaw County Historic District Commission. The illustration, a diorama from the University of Michigan museums, shows what the homes looked like for the woodland Indians of the Chippewa tribe.
At least one Indian burial ground is located very close to Milan. Those who know about it want to keep its location a secret to prevent desecration.
The Treaty of Detroit was signed in 1807, transferring a large chunk of land from the Indians, including Milan. Later, that same land was resold in pieces to John Marvin and the other early settlers. In 1837, we were admitted as a state to the United States, with the name “Michigan,” which means “Great Water” in the Algonquin Indian language.
Thanks to John Farmer of York Township, and thanks to “Michigan: A History of the Wolverine State” by Willis F. Dunbar and George S. May, 1995.
Martha Churchill is a member of the Washtenaw County Historic District Commission. She can be reached at 439-4055 or MilanHistory@yahool.com.
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