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.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY 493
land entries within its limits were made by William Roberts, Masten W.
Richards, John Underhill and E. W. Fairchild-Mr. Roberts in I829 and
Mr. Richards in I830. The two last named actually settled on the old
Saginaw trail, near the site of what afterward (1836), was laid out as
the Hadley Cemetery, in sections I8 and I9.
The first town meeting was held at the house of Calvin Herrick,
April 6, 1835, and Nathan Herrick was elected supervisor.
GROVELAND AND AUSTIN
In the early years Groveland township had two villages on the Detroit
and Saginaw turnpike which flourished for a time. About 1836 Philip
McOmber built a large log house on that new and important highway,
opened a hotel and travelers for a long distance came to speak of Groveland Cottage, as the inn was called, in glowing terms. In 1837, or thereabouts, when a postoffice was established at that point it took the name
of Groveland, although the old-timers insisted on calling the place Groveland Cottage. Its location was about a mile south of Stewart lake.
Still further south, near the township line, a hotel was built on the
Saginaw road, at which the stage teams were changed and travelers
refreshed themselves. This point was also deemed of sufficient importance to warrant the establishment of a postoffice about I846. It was
brought about mainly through the efforts of David Austin Wright, an
old settler of the region, and the postoffice was therefore named Austin.
For several years before, it was Austin Corners, and was popularly
designated as such, long afterward. Since the establishment of the
rural delivery system the postoffice has been discontinued.
ALMOST A RAILROAD
The people of Austin, Groveland and the township in general had a
temporary revival of hope in the late seventies over the possibilities of
the Michigan Midland Railway. Although the line was surveyed through
their territory in I868-69 that is as far as the project went; but the Detroit
& Bay City was put through, a few miles to the southwest, which was
a decided push backward instead of forward. It was a blow from which
the township never quite recovered.
WHITE LAKE TOWNSHIP
White lake is in the middle tier of townships, the second from the
western line, and derives its name from the beautiful body of water which
it divides with Highland township to the west; its area in White Lake
township is about two hundred and fifty acres. Altogether, some thirteen hundred acres are covered by the various sheets of water elsewhere
within its limits, such as Cranberry, Oxbow, Long, Cedar Island, Round
and Cooley. The greater part of the township is drained by the Huron
river and its tributaries. These streams are small, and the only place
where the water power has ever been really utilized is at the point where
the Huron river issues from the southern shore of Oxbow lake.