By the time Livonia Township was established in Michigan in 1837, the area was already home to several small villages.

One of the pioneers of Livonia was General John E. Schwartz, who initiated the area’s first significant settlement in the 1820s. In 1826, Schwartzburg saw the construction of a sawmill along the Rouge River, which paved the way for the development of a distillery, ashery, brickyards, hotels, and the town's first church. This sawmill also catalyzed the emergence of various businesses along river trails that later became known as Ann Arbor Trail, Stark Road, and Wayne Road.

This growth was short-lived, with the rise of the nearby Perrinsville, the destruction of a hotel due to fire and the implementation of prohibition laws contributing to the eventual decline of this settlement.

Around the same time, Joshua Simmons moved from New York to Livonia during the 1820s, where he purchased 160 acres of land for agricultural and milling purposes at Newburgh and Base Line roads. Simmons established a successful farm that produced crops such as wheat and oats. His sawmill produced lumber that facilitated the construction of homes in Livonia, Plymouth and Farmington. The Hill Family acquired Simmons’ farm and renamed it Greenmead in 1920.

Alexander Blue, another New Yorker, settled in Livonia during the 1830s, acquiring 80 acres in the Middle Belt-Schoolcraft area. In the 1850s, he built a notable house, which was later relocated to Greenmead in 1987. Alongside his success in farming, Blue was an influential political figure, serving as justice of the peace for 28 years, as township supervisor for three years and later assuming the role of postmaster.

Throughout the various villages of Livonia – such as Stark, Newburg, Perrinsville, Livonia Center, and Clarenceville – numerous enterprises emerged. This included sawmills, gristmills, cider mills, stores, farms, and hotels. A hub of activity materialized during the mid-1800s along Ann Arbor Trail in Newburg, which was centered around a stagecoach stop that catered to horse-drawn carriages traveling between Detroit and Ann Arbor. The stop provided lodging and stores to accommodate travelers.

Things changed in the 1870s when the Detroit-Lansing and Northern Railway constructed rail lines through the township between 1870 and 1871. The establishment of a rail stop at Livonia Station in the Stark village marked a turning point. The rail system moved people and local goods like apple cider, cheese and potatoes.


1900-1940

By 1920, two airports were developed in Livonia: One at the site of Wonderland Mall and the other at the intersection of Ann Arbor Road and Ann Arbor Trail.

The early 1920s saw the development of Northville Golf Club at Seven Mile and Newburgh. The club’s banquet room became a popular social venue, renowned for live entertainment, and it became a common hangout for members of the infamous Detroit Purple Gang, a prominent organized crime group active in the 1920s and 1930s with ties to Al Capone. The Golf Course operated until the 1980s and was later redeveloped into new homes and a medical office.

Also in the 1920s, property was planned for Livonia’s two historic neighborhoods: Rosedale Gardens, off Plymouth Road, and Coventry Gardens, off Five Mile Road.

This era also featured a legendary figure, Eddie Cicotte, a Major League Baseball pitcher who became embroiled in the notorious Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919. Legend has it that Cicotte used the $10,000 he collected from the gangsters to invest in a strawberry farm in the Seven Mile-Merriman area, where he lived until he died in 1969.

Wilson Barn was built in 1888, burned down in 1918, and rebuilt to produce a prominent dairy business. By the 1930s, the Ira Wilson and Son Dairy Company distributed milk through deliveries and stores across Metro Detroit.

The Wilson family eventually sold the business in 1981 to Melody Farms, owned by legendary Chaldean businessman Michael George, who is beloved in the local Chaldean community with his philanthropy and personal support to get many Chaldean-owned businesses started in Metro Detroit over many decades. Two transactions later, the operation is now run by Country Fresh, based in Grand Rapids. Wilson Barn is now owned and operated by its own nonprofit organization.

The Felician Sisters purchased 320 acres of land between Schoolcraft, Five Mile, Newburgh, and Levan to support their ministries in 1926. They developed a convent and Madonna College in the 1930s, Ladywood High School in 1950, St. Mary Mercy Hospital in 1959, a Montessori preschool in 1976, and Angela Hospice in 1985.


1948-1955

Two developments in 1948 were key to launching Livonia’s transition from a sleepy rural township into a major Metro Detroit suburb. In 1948, a new state law inspired the construction of the Detroit Race Course, a horse racing track that operated for five decades at Middle Belt and Schoolcraft, and GM built a 1.5 million-square-foot transmission plant on Plymouth Road.

These two complexes sparked a boom of nearby residential and business development and led to Livonia becoming a city in 1950. Notably, Ford opened a National Parts Distribution Center and the Livonia Transmission Plant on Plymouth Road – bringing thousands of jobs to Livonia. Tennyson Chevrolet (now Feldman) and Bill Brown Ford also opened during this decade.

Livonia endured one of the nation’s worst industrial accidents in 1953 at the GM plant, which killed six, injured 15 others, caused $55 million in losses, and led to new industrial safety regulations. The property was quickly redeveloped into the Fisher Body plant.

The Livonia Observer Newspaper was established in 1955, once reached 14,000 subscribers, and printed other regional newspapers from a Livonia facility until December 2008. The last Observer newspaper was printed in 2022.


1956-1980

City leaders strategized industrial development between Plymouth and Schoolcraft roads around the railroad tracks in 1958, which evolved into a premier industrial corridor attractive for the automotive industry but separated from residential neighborhoods. At one time, more than 700 businesses operated in Livonia’s Industrial Corridor.

Retail business grew too, with the development of Wonderland Mall, anchored by Montgomery Ward and Winkelman’s, and others, which opened in 1958, and Livonia Mall, anchored by Sears and Crowley’s, in 1964. Schoolcraft College also opened in 1964.

Also, during this era, several influential family businesses opened: Bates Burgers opened in 1958, Daly Restaurant opened in 1959, Han-D-Dip opened in 1963, Awrey Bakery moved from Detroit to Livonia in 1967, and Primo’s Pizza opened in 1968.

As the city grew, there were political debates in the late 1960s about how Livonia would develop the I-96 and I-275 freeways. City leaders and developers shifted initial plans for both freeways so I-96 would support the city’s industrial corridor, and I-275 would meander into Livonia so the city could maximize tax base for significant office buildings and other businesses that were planned.


1981-2000

The freeway construction sparked new development in northwestern Livonia with the Embassy Suites Hotel on Victor Parkway, Comerica Bank operations center on Haggerty and Six Mile, and several office complexes utilized by major nationwide tenants around Schoolcraft College in the 1980s.

In 1988, Laurel Manor Banquet and Event Center opened on Schoolcraft west of Newburgh. In 1989, Laurel Park Place Mall opened with Jacobson’s as the anchor store (Von Maur today), and next to the mall, more office complexes, hotels, and a movie theater opened. By the end of the 20th century, about 97 percent of the city was developed.


21st Century

The new century brought new major redevelopments that reshaped the city.

The Detroit Race Course closed in 1998 and was then redeveloped into Millenium Park, with a variety of shopping and dining locations anchored by Costco, Home Depot and Meijer.

Wonderland Mall was redeveloped and returned to an open-air shopping center in 2005, anchored by Walmart and Target.

Livonia Mall was redeveloped to demolish the old, enclosed mall attached to Sears, and rebuilt the shopping center with Walmart, Kohl’s and several out-lot buildings with restaurants and stores.

Schoolcraft College was a source of multiple new construction projects over the past two decades with College Park, which produced several new restaurants, stores, and more office buildings, new medical facilities, and new sports facilities.

Throughout these decades, Livonia underwent significant transformation and growth, evolving from a series of small settlements into a community marked by its diverse economic activities and historical significance, shaping the area into what it is today.