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SHELBY TOWNSHIP — This photograph taken around 1895 shows the home of Ira Preston, an early settler of Shelby Township. Ira was born in Connecticut in 1785. As an adult, he moved to New York, married and had five children. He built a sawmill and made his living supplying lumber to his community.
Ira decided to leave New York, and in 1826 he purchased land on each of the four corners at the intersection of 25 Mile and Schoenherr roads. A year later, he came to the township with his wife and children, the youngest child being just 2 years old. They traveled by the Erie Canal and then on a steamship to Detroit. From there, the family traveled by ox cart through the wilderness to their property. After building a log cabin on the northwest corner of the crossroads for his family, Ira built a dam and sawmill on the Middle Branch of the Clinton River behind his cabin in 1828. He brought the mill irons from his mill in New York.
Ira and his wife had two more children while living in Shelby Township. They built their frame house, pictured here, which replaced the log cabin around 1835. Ira’s sons settled on the three other crossroad corners, building their own houses. The area became known as Preston Corners and later Prestonville. Ira Preston died in 1872 and is buried in Prestonville Cemetery. His house was demolished in 2009, and the site is now occupied by Shelby Township Fire Station No. 4.
— Hilary Davis, Shelby Township Historical Committee
