| VILLAGE OF CLYDE |
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Phineas Davis, Jr., a native of Boston, Massachusetts, settled in Detroit in the late 1820's where he quickly became involved in a variety of business ventures. He was a partner in "The Hydraulic Company" which, in 1829, was granted a 20-year franchise (soon revoked) to supply water to the City of Detroit. In the 1830's he promoted the doomed Gibraltar & Flat Rock Canal; a scheme to construct a canal across the state to connect Lakes Erie and Michigan. Davis was also a major land speculator. Between May 1 and May 3, 1837, for example, he purchased eight different parcels in Sections 3, 10 and 11 of Highland Township. He thereafter sold a portion of the land in Section 3 to Morris Wheeler, a native of Bristol, New York, who settled on the property around 1840. Wheeler was soon joined by other settlers and the small community which grew up around his holdings came to be called "Wheeler" in his honor. Change came quickly, however, after completion of the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad through Highland Township in 1871. By 1872 a post office was established under the name "Clyde" (since there was already a Wheeler, Michigan, in Gratiot County). That same year Lyman Johnson came to Clyde, purchasing land in the east half of the northwest quarter of Section 10. Three years later, on June 3, 1875, Johnson caused county surveyor Julian Bishop to lay out streets and lots on thirteen acres of his property. The resulting Village of Clyde is seen on this map, taken from the 1908 Standard Atlas of Oakland County, Michigan.
