The city of Southfield is located in Oakland County, Michigan, approximately 19 miles northwest of Detroit and 38 miles northeast of Ann Arbor. Although the Detroit region has a rich history of non-Native settlement that dates back to the early 17th century, Southfield itself was not born until 1817, when the Michigan territorial governor Lewis Cass organized its surveyance. The city’s official founder was John Daniels, who established his homestead in 1823 and was followed by several other families from Birmingham and Royal Oak, Michigan, as well as settlers from the East Coast. They chose the name “Southfield” because of their location in the south fields of Bloomfield Township. Throughout the town’s first decades, government meetings were held in private homes, in John Thomas’ tavern and various other places of business until an official town hall was constructed in 1873. A post office finally opened in 1933, and starting in the 1950’s, the new city’s population bolstered as people began to move from downtown Detroit into the suburbs. Much of Southfield’s growth took place in the latter half of the 20th century with the addition of a city hall, a Civic Center complex, and other amenities that have added to the city’s reputation as a business and cultural center for Southeast Michigan.

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