Clarkston: half a square mile around a mill pond

Clarkston is officially the City of the Village of Clarkston. It covers one-half square mile and is surrounded by Independence Township. The city’s master plan says 58 acres, or 17% of Clarkston, are water or wetlands. That helps explain why the Mill Pond and Clinton River feel like part of the town plan, not scenery at the edge.

Water power helped shape the settlement. A local history archive run with the city, district library, and historical society says Butler Holcomb bought 480 acres here in 1832, built the community’s first sawmill, and sold the mill and water rights to Jeremiah and Nelson Clark in 1838. MotorCities picks up the next step: the Clark brothers built a dam that year to form a 22-foot-deep mill pond and power their gristmill. The old city still wraps around that water system.

The pond stayed in Clarkston’s industrial story into the 20th century. After a flood, Henry Ford enhanced the dam in 1941 for a new Village Industries plant. The Henry Ford’s collection says the factory opened in 1942 and supplied seat covers, drill bushings, and other material.

The Clarkston Village Historic District joined the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 and became a local historic district the next year. Michigan’s preservation office says volunteers later spent four years documenting every resource in the district. The collaborative local project maps more than 100 historic structures and offers a walking tour that ties the streets, homes, mills, and pond together.