Troy community celebrates 70th birthday

TROY — Troy’s 70th Birthday Celebration at the Jeanne M. Stine Community Park June 14 invited residents and friends of the community to celebrate the history and amenities the city offers.

Troy’s origins stretch back to the 1800s when, after Michigan became a territory in 1805, the United States officially acquired land from local Native American tribes with the 1807 Treaty of Detroit. This led to the beginning process of surveyors measuring and marking out townships across the southeast section of the Michigan Territory.

“In 1817 a team surveyed Troy Township and the first parcels of land were purchased by speculators shortly after,” an excerpt from the document “A Short History of how Troy became a City” said. The document was provided by the Troy Historic Village. “With the Land Act of 1820, the price (of) property made it more affordable for settlers looking for new farmland. These parcels were especially appealing to farmers from New York and the east coast who wanted more than their dwindling family farms.”

Over the years, pieces of Troy property were annexed by neighboring communities like Clawson, Royal Oak and Birmingham, since it was still a township. However, in the 1950s, residents of Troy Township made efforts to become a city in order to halt any further annexation for the Vickers Corporation as it would provide benefits for Royal Oak but diminish Troy Township’s taxes and resources.

“They didn’t want to keep shrinking and have this happen over and over again, so this is why the Niles Barnard House that we have is very interesting,” Troy Historic Village Executive Director Jen Peters said. “That’s where Norman Barnard lived and that’s where they had some meetings to see what they could do and to figure out how to petition to become a city. What that meant, there’s a certain population density you have to have to become a city. So they looked at the maps and made sure they had that kind of density, they put together the petition, they put together a plan to get the petition signed secretly so that the city of Royal Oak didn’t know what was happening, and then they put together a plan to get that petition to Pontiac to submit it before Royal Oak submitted the petition to purchase land.”

Royal Oak attempted to contest this, but the courts ruled with the township and the residents were allowed to vote to become a home rule city, which residents did in June 1955. The process to officially become the city of Troy was completed on December 14, 1955.

Since then, Troy has seen dramatic growth with its various corporate headquarters facilities, shopping malls, and subdivisions.

Troy’s 70th Birthday Celebration took place on June 14 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Residents enjoyed music from Weekend ComeBack, a selfie station, an inflatable obstacle course and a bounce house, roller skating, a chance to view police and fire vehicles, free cake and different food options to purchase. The Troy Public Library’s bookmobile and booths from Stage Nature Center, Troy Historic Village, and the Troy Recreation Department were also set up.

During the event, Mayor Ethan Baker and members of the Troy City Council were presented with proclamations honoring the city from state Sen. Michael Webber (R-District 9) and state Rep. Sharon MacDonell (D-District 56), and Oakland County Commissioners Ann Erickson Gault (D-District 3) and Penny Luebs (D-District 2), as well as U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, who was not present during the event.

“We are a proud city, but we’re really thankful about the people of this community,” Baker said. “It’s all of you who are here throughout our community that make this city as great as it is. We can talk all we want about the wonderful businesses, all the city services, everything happening, but it is each and every one of you and all of our neighbors throughout our community that make this the best place.”