Territorial Road

In 1829 the Territorial Legislative Council of Michigan moved to survey land to create a road from the east side of Michigan Territory to the west. The act stated that the road would start at “Sheldon’s Inn,” a business located at what later became the intersection of Geddes Road and Michigan Avenue, and end at the mouth of the St. Joseph River at Lake Michigan. This route closely followed that of the St. Joseph Indian Trail, a route used for centuries by indigenous peoples. The territorial road’s survey was completed by 1831, but settlers on Michigan’s east side constructed and used the road by 1830. It later became part of a stagecoach line from Detroit to Lake Michigan. The line’s first coach left on May 30, 1834. Taverns and inns gave travelers a place to rest during long journeys. In 1836 the eighty-mile trip from Detroit to Jackson could take three days.

[Back]: In June 1834 the federal government allotted funds toward “certain roads in the territory of Michigan,” including $20,000 to upgrade and complete the territorial road that began at Sheldon’s Inn and would end at the mouth of the St. Joseph River. The road aided in the development of Wayne, Washtenaw, Jackson, Calhoun, Kalamazoo, Van Buren and Berrien counties. It also contributed to Michigan’s population increase of more than 250 percent between 1830 and 1840. The initial stretch of Territorial Road, beginning in Canton and continuing into Ann Arbor, became known as “Geddes Road” after 1930. It was named for brothers Robert and John Geddes, who were two early and influential settlers of Washtenaw County. When I-94 was completed during the mid-twentieth century, its route paralleled that of the original Territorial Road.