While the neighboring Macomb County was more inhabited by auto workers and other blue-collar workers, Oakland County's residents tended to be more affluent and generally white-collar (e.g. In the 1950s, Oakland County's population boomed as the Detroiters began migrating to the suburbs. The Oakland Motor Car Company was founded in 1907 and became a part of General Motors Corp., which was soon Pontiac's dominant firm. The auto age enveloped Pontiac in the early 1900s. By 1910, a number of rich Detroiters had summer homes and some year-round residences in what became Bloomfield Hills. Several thousand people moved from Oakland County farms to Detroit as the city attracted factories. Īt that time, developers made southern Oakland County a suburb of Detroit a Cincinnati firm platted a section of Royal Oak called "Urbanrest." Migration worked both ways. In the late 1890s streetcars were constructed here and to Detroit. By the end of the 19th century, three rail lines served Pontiac, and the city attracted carriage and wagon factories. After the Civil War, Oakland was still primarily a rural, agricultural county with numerous isolated villages. Pontiac, located on the Clinton River, was Oakland's first town and became the county seat. By 1840, Oakland had more than fifty lumber mills, processing wood harvested from the region and the Upper Peninsula. Woodward Avenue and the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad helped draw settlers in the 1840s. As was customary at the time, as populations increased, other counties were organized from its land area. See also: List of National Historic Landmarks in Michigan and National Register of Historic Places listings in Oakland County, Michiganįounded by Territorial Governor Lewis Cass in 1819, sparsely settled Oakland was originally twice its current size. It is also home to Oakland University, a large public institution that straddles the border between the cities of Auburn Hills and Rochester Hills. In 2010, Oakland County was among the ten wealthiest counties in the United States to have over one million residents. As of the 2020 Census, its population was 1,274,395, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan (behind neighboring Wayne County), and the largest county in the United States without a city of 100,000 residents.įounded in 1819 and organized in 1820, Oakland County is composed of 62 cities, villages, and townships. It is a principal county of the Detroit metropolitan area, containing the bulk of Detroit's northern suburbs.
0 kommentar(er)
