Welcome to Rochester and Stoney Creek Village...
In the early
19th century, Avon Township was what is now pre sent day Rochester &
Rochester Hills. This was the first settlement in Oakland County,
Michigan at the convergence of Stony Creek, Paint Creek and the
Clinton River. In 1817 Revolutionary War veteran, James Graham, and
his family were the first settlers to this area. By 1820 there were
129 people in the Township. Many of these early settlers came from
Upstate New York, New England and Southern Canada by way of the Erie
Canal and worked their way north from Detroit. Lemuel Taylor and
his family became Stoney Creek’s first settlers in 1823.
In just a
year the village boasted a sawmill, gristmill, distillery and
blacksmith shop, followed by a hotel and a woolen mill. Stoney
Creek Village is listed on the National Register of Historical
Places and is home to many of Oakland County’s oldest an d most
well-preserved buildings. These include the Stoney Creek
School House, where local 3rd graders experience “old time
school days,” the Millerd House, built in 1827 and the site of local
Masonic Lodge meetings until 1844, the Mount Avon Cemetery, and
original buildings on the Van Hoosen Farm, present-day home to the
Rochester Hills Museum.
To learn more about Stoney Creek Village and
the communities of Rochester, Rochester Hills and Avon Township,
please visit the
Rochester/Avon Historical Society and the
Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm.
Photo of the Millerd House courtesy of the Rochester/Avon Historical
Society. Photo of the Sign of the Black & White Cow
courtesy of the Rochester Hills Public Library's
Greater Rochester History Online. |