Editing New Baltimore, Michigan (section)

== History ==
New Baltimore incorporated as a village in 1867 and as a city in 1931.<ref name="skinner">{{cite book|last1=Skinner |first1=Elmer |last2=Skinner |first2=Grace |year=1958 |title=Skinner's History Stories of New Baltimore |publisher=Self-published}} Republished in 1979 by the New Baltimore Public Library.</ref> Previously, it was split between [[Macomb County, Michigan|Macomb]] and [[St. Clair County, Michigan|St. Clair]] counties; however, in the 1970s, the city was able to petition to adjust the county boundaries such that it would align with the city's eastern border. This placed New Baltimore completely in Macomb County, where it remains to this day. The town sits on the waterfront along [[Lake St. Clair|Lake St. Clair's]] [[Anchor Bay (Michigan)|Anchor Bay]], and offers a public park, beach, and downtown-shopping district.

Prior to the arrival of European settlers, indigenous tribes are known to have inhabited much of New Baltimore's shoreline for thousands of years, and in the 1800s the land was recorded to have many ancient burial mounds and man made earth-works.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Wyckoff|first=Larry|title=Michigan's Indian Reservations, 1807 -1855|url=https://www.academia.edu/38816617|language=en}}</ref> W.B Hinsdale excavated multiple sites in New Baltimore, and recorded his countless findings in his novels in the early 20th century. Most of these locations have long been destroyed by treasure hunters and developed over, with an unfortunate though seemingly familiar lack of regard to the public's knowledge of the city's vast history with indigenous tribes.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hinsdale|first=W. B. (Wilbert B. )|url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/1265156.0001.001|title=Archaeological atlas of Michigan [by] Wilbert B. Hinsdale...|date=2008}}</ref>

German explorer Pierre Yax (b.1763) in Grosse Pointe, New France (now Michigan) was the first recorded non-Native American in the New Baltimore area.<ref>New Baltimore ~ Richard Gonyeau, Bob Mack, Alan Naldrett Arcadia Publishing, 2013 - History - 127 pages</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">Detroit in Its World Setting: A Three Hundred Year Chronology, 1701-2001  edited by David Lee Poremba</ref> Pierre Yax was a son of [[Johan Michael Jacks]], the first German in what would eventually become the state of Michigan.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Pierre Yax arrived in New Baltimore in 1796 and subsequently obtained a land grant signed by President John Quincy Adams on July 23, 1826. The land grant tracked back to a land patent Yax had in 1812, when Michigan was still part of the Michigan Territory.<ref>New Baltimore  By Richard Gonyeau, Bob Mack, Alan Naldrett P.7</ref>

Later, other French settlers came to this area and took residence along the waterfront and rivers.  They developed farms that had narrow frontage of 400 of 900 feet and extended inland from the water. Generally, the depth of the parcel was determined by how far a man could plow or cultivate in a day.<ref name="naldrett">{{cite book|last=Naldrett |first=Alan |year=2011 |title=Images of America: Chesterfield Township |location=Charleston, SC |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |isbn=978-0-7385-7803-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PkyvaAk4cvwC}}</ref>

The first evidence of a settled community came in 1845, when a [[Mount Clemens]] businessman, Alfred Ashley, platted {{convert|60|acres}} of land lying on both sides of Washington Street. This would become known as the village of Ashley. On September 20, 1851, a post office called Ashleyville was established with Ashley as postmaster. Ashley also opened businesses in lumbering, shipping, and real estate.<ref name="skinner"/> The original village of Ashley occupied what is now the center part of downtown New Baltimore, extending northwest along Clay, Base and Maria Streets from Anchor Bay. The land was subdivided in the typical gridiron fashion used in most American communities at that time. Over the years, irregularities developed in the gridiron subdivision pattern because of the lack of local controls, conflicts with French claims, and changing land uses, particularly along the waterfront area. This created problems in both subdivision patterns in general and waterfront use in particular that remain today.{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} This original settlement bore Ashley's name until 1867, when the village name was changed to New Baltimore.<ref name="skinner"/>

Throughout its history, New Baltimore has been linked to the regional economy by virtue of the city's access to the waterfront and the region's transportation network. In its early years, New Baltimore took advantage of its waterfront location to operate port facilities exporting agriculture and manufacturing products to other communities. The area was known for the manufacturing of barrels, brooms, bricks, coffins, corsets, and creamery products. Lumber products and building materials were shipped by boat from the local mills. Development was heavily oriented to the waterfront, where shipping piers extended a hundred or more feet into the lake.<ref name="skinner"/>

As automobile transportation increased in importance and travel patterns changed, so did the development of the city. Goods were no longer shipped by water and the waterfront slowly changed. Between 1860 and 1880, New Baltimore changed from a strong manufacturing and exporting community to a thriving community in [[Macomb County, Michigan|Macomb County]] with many resort activities and well-known commercial establishments. The community was a popular getaway spot for Metro Detroiters and boasted an opera house, hotels, salt baths (which nearby city of Mount Clemens was famous for in the late 19th and early 20th centuries), summer and winter recreational activities, saloons, a brewery and numerous resort and commercial establishments. The city was in the path of a steam locomotive line that ran between [[Detroit]] and [[Port Huron, Michigan|Port Huron]] in the late 19th century.<ref name="naldrett"/> As technology changed, the city constructed an electricity plant to accommodate inter-urban passenger trains, which lasted until the mid-1920s.<ref name="skinner"/> Today, access to the city is provided via [[Interstate 94 in Michigan|Interstate 94]]. The historic New Baltimore water tower was demolished in the summer of 2015 and raised in the park to take its place was the State's tallest flag. The flagpole stands at 160 feet tall on the shores of Anchor Bay at Walter and Mary Burke Park. The New Baltimore Lions Club raised more than $100,000 to have the flagpole installed with the intention of creating a landmark for boaters after the city's historic water tower was demolished. A dedication ceremony took place in October 2016.