Michigan's biggest township (and the river that named it)

Clinton Township is what happens when a township never bothers becoming a city and wins anyway: with more than 100,000 residents, it’s the most populous township in Michigan and one of the ten largest communities of any kind in the state. The name comes from the Clinton River, which locals renamed on July 17, 1824 in honor of DeWitt Clinton — the New York governor whose Erie Canal was about to pour a generation of Yankee settlers into Michigan. The river that carried the canal-era pioneers still winds through the township today, trailed by parks and pathways.

Modern Clinton Township pairs that history with serious everyday convenience. The Mall at Partridge Creek brought something unusual to Michigan retail when it opened in 2007: a fully open-air shopping street where dogs are welcome year-round, complete with fireplaces and water stations — less a mall than a downtown the township never had. Add the civic campus, the riverside trails, and a location fifteen minutes from Lake St. Clair, and you can see how a “township” quietly became one of Michigan’s biggest hometowns.