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Bloomfield Blossoms: p. 018-019

Smith, Kay, 1925-

Bloomfield Township Public Library

Architecture, Domestic -- Michigan -- Bloomfield Township

Yntema, Theodore O.

McNeill, Howard H.

GB01a011

part of 'Bloomfield Blossoms' by Kay Smith

text, image

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PROFESSIONAL PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ATTRACTED TO BLOOMFIELD In the 1820s, when the first settlers came to build new lives in the uncharted regions of our Township, almost every pioneer among the first ten to buy land was a professional man. In the strip along the one roadway in existence at the time, the Saginaw Trail, these men settled: Dr. Ezra Parke and Dr. Ziba Swan, both physicians and educators; Judge Amasa Bagley, a first associate judge of the Territory who kept the position through and after Michigan became a state in 1837; Deacon Elijah Fish was a strong churchman and Bloomfield's first ecologist with his grove of maples and apple qrchards; Captain Chesley Blake, who commanded the steamer 'Michigan'; William Morris, a builder of enterprises such as our original gristmill, sawmill and brickworks; Captain Hervey Parke, a surveyor and teacher; Lemuel Castle, well-versed in the techinques of running the government and our first township super- visor, and many others. The fact that each of these men pioneering along the one three-mile strip along the trail and building the same log house which sheltered every first family, should so blaze a trail of distinguished service through this area's history is scarcely to be believed, yet it's true. In terms of residents who are professional people, only the numbers have changed since that decade 150 years ago. Today thousands of physicians, attorneys, architects, judges, engineers and businessmen gravitate to Bloomfield as a place to live, even though their work is done elsewhere.