Editing Adrian, Michigan (section)

==History==
[[File:Adrian Comstock Land Certificate.jpg|thumb|left|A copy of the original land purchase by Addison Comstock for what would become the City of Adrian, dated 10 May 1826]]
Adrian was founded on June 18, 1826 by Addison Comstock.  The original name for the village was Logan, but was changed soon after to Adrian, perhaps in reference to the Roman emperor [[Hadrian]].<ref name="Knapp 1903">{{cite book|last1=Knapp|first1=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cwwwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA68|title=Illustrated history and biographical record of Lenawee County, Michigan|last2=Bonner|first2=Richard|date=1903|publisher=The Times Printing Company|location=Adrian, Michigan|pages=68–69}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Chronology of Adrian|url=https://www.adrianarchitecture.org/chronology|access-date=2021-09-14|website=Adrian Architecture|language=en-US}}</ref> The first operating railroad in Michigan was a horse-drawn train running between Adrian and Toledo in 1836.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.legislature.mi.gov/Publications/PortraitsofMI.pdf |title=Portraits of Michigan: History and Facts on Michigan |publisher=The Michigan Legislature |year=2015}}</ref>  Adrian grew quickly, with the sixth largest population in the state when Michigan was admitted to the Union in 1837, and the third largest population in the state by [[Template:Population of Michigan cities and counties (1860 Census)|1860]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://project.geo.msu.edu/geogmich/early_cities.html|title=Early Michigan cities}}</ref> Adrian was incorporated as a village on March 28, 1836, then as a city on January 31, 1853.

===Underground Railroad===
Evangelical and Hicksite [[Quakers]] in Southeast Michigan founded the first congregation of Quakers in Michigan in 1831. They also created a network of [[Underground Railroad]] stations in the Raisin River Valley. Daniel Smith was the first leader of the Raisin Valley Friends Meeting House. His daughter, [[Laura Smith Haviland]] became one of the most prominent equal rights activists and Underground Railroad operators in the nation.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Mull|first=Carole E.|title=The Underground Railroad in Michigan|publisher=McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers|year=2010|isbn=978-0-7864-4638-4|location=Jefferson, North Carolina, and London|pages=20}}</ref> Elizabeth Margaret Chandler established the Logan Female Anti-Slavery Society in October 1832. Chandler’s society preceded the Female Anti-Slavery Society in Philadelphia and the Michigan statewide organization.<ref name=":0" /> The Adrian-Tecumseh Underground Railroad network was established by a Baptist minister in northern [[Lenawee County, Michigan|Lenawee County]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Late 1800s and 1900s ===
[[File:Erie and Kalamazoo Banknote 1853.jpg|thumb|left|The Erie & Kalamazoo Rail Road Bank was chartered by the Territory of Michigan and opened in the village of Adrian in 1835.<ref name = "Laws of Michigan">{{Cite book | title = Laws of the territory of Michigan |volume= 3 | publisher = W. S. George & Co. | year = 1874 | location = Lansing, Michigan | pages = 1392–1397 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=3AGcAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1392}}</ref>]]

The only remaining piece of the [[Bank of Pennsylvania]]— one of the stone pillars — was moved to Adrian, Michigan and erected as the Civil War Memorial in commemoration of those in Adrian who died in the American Civil War.

In the late 19th century through early 20th century Adrian was known as the "fence capital of the world," when [[J. Wallace Page]] invented the first successful wire fence. Adrian became known worldwide as a fencing manufacturing hub and its fences were shipped as far as New York, Berlin, Asia, and Africa. The company sponsored the highly successful [[Page Fence Giants]] black baseball team.

Adrian was an early auto manufacturing hub.  One of the first motor vehicles, the [[Lion (automobile)|Lion]] automobile, was created in Adrian. Between 1900 and 1912, three major car models were manufactured in Adrian; in addition to the Lion the Murry Motor Car and [[Lenawee (car)|Lenawee]] Car were made by the Church Manufacturing Company in Adrian. The area was poised to be a world center until bad financial decisions at Church Manufacturing Company and a 1912 plant fire at Lion Automobile led to the demise of both companies.

Throughout the 1900s Adrian continued to grow, doubling in size, but as a slower rate than Michigan as a whole (which tripled in size).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=kf7tgg1uo9ude_|title = Population in the U.S. - Google Public Data Explorer}}</ref>