History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

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HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

from Lapeer county; one of the barns was raised in the forenoon and
the other in the afternoon, but local history fails to record which went
up first.
FIRST ROADS AND RAILROAD
Means of travel and communication are always provided in a new
country before it can expect any decided influx of population. The
Territorial road, from Rochester to Lapeer, was the first convenience
of this nature furnished the pioneers of Oxford township, and was
located through their section of the county in 1832. Its route was from
a point on the southern line of section 35, in a northwesterly direction
to the northern line of section 16, thence slightly to the northeast and
out of the township near the east line of section 4. It was a very important highway, and still maintains that position.
Another of the roads located at an early day was the one running
west from the Lapeer road, on the line between sections 4 and 9, and that
east of the Lapeer thoroughfare, between sections 22 and 27. William
M. Axford was the surveyor of these roads.
THOMAS
In 1872 the Detroit & Bay City Railroad was built along the general
line of the Territorial road to the center of section 9, whence it was continued in the same direction to a point near the northern boundary of
section 4, then passing into Lapeer county. This is now a section of
the Michigan Central. Soon after the building of the Detroit & Bay
City road there was a demand for a station and a village in the northern
portion of section 4, and John Thomas platted the eighteen acres on the
west half of the northwest quarter of that section in December, I873,
which has since borne his name. The first building erected at that point
was a grain elevator in I874; it was also used as a depot. In the fall of
that.year Francis brothers built a grain house and early in the next
year Mr. Thomas completed a storehouse in the eastern part of the
village. The depot was built in I875, a steam grist mill in I876, and, at
various periods since, Thomas has threatened to become quite an important shipping point. One of the most exciting local events occurred on
July 3, I902, when by a cloud burst and consequent railroad wreck two
persons were killed at Thomas.
This is really the only settlement in the township outside of Oxford
village, unless we except Oakwood postoffice, although most of the houses
clustering around it are located in the adjoining township of Brandon.
LAKES
There are a number of pretty lakes in the central and southern townships of the county, such as Stony, Squaw, Davis and Powell. Sections
3 and Io were originally covered with forests of white cedar, whose
products furnished thousands of rails. The largest of the lakes is Stony,
located on section I6 and covering about o10 acres. It is about two
miles northwest of the village of Oxford and the township has purchased a tract of land on its shores and improved it as a park.