Township.
The township was named after Revolutionary War General Thomas Sumter
and was
incorporated April 6, 1840. The spelling of the name is different
because of a clerk’s
error. At one time, the mostly rural township had two small settlements:
Martinsville
and West Sumpter. The towns faded when the railroad came through
and made Belleville
the regional center of commerce. Today Sumpter is the most rural
and sparsely
municipality in Wayne County and has relatively few paved roads.
Farms are still a part
of the landscape, with agriculture output that includes sod, soybeans,
corn, and small
fruits. Although there are businesses in the township, most of
the residents earn their
primary income from employment outside the community.
The city of Belleville, Michigan, has two theories about how the name
“Belleville” came
to be. One theory suggests it was named after a early landowner
James Bell and the other
suggests a French influence: belle ville, or “beautiful city.”
In 1826, Caleb Marsh put a
dam across the Huron River to provide power for a sawmill. Marsh
sold his land to John
Graham, who sold it to Bell. Belleville began as a tiny community
within Van Buren
Township and eventually became the township’s hub because of its water
power ran mills
and it provided access to the railroad. Belleville was incorporated
as a city in 1946.
Today, Belleville is a little more than one square mile in area, Belleville
is located in
western Wayne County’s gently rolling hills along the southern shore
of Belleville Lake.
Belleville Lake has a unique history too. In the 1920s, Belleville
Lake was created when
Detroit Edison built a dam on the Huron River near Haggerty road.
The lake became a
major tourist attraction. Belleville is the hometown of the “Belleville
Three”—world
famous techno music pioneers Juan Atkins, Derrick May and Kevin Saunderson.
By Clicking on the Map Below, you can look at 1990 U.S. Census
Data for the
Township.