Editing Wayne County, Michigan (section)

==History==
{{further|History of Detroit}}
[[File:Wayne County by proclamation 1796.jpg|thumb|Original Wayne County of the [[Northwest Territory]]]]
[[File:Detroit Police car in 1955.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Wayne County in 1955]]
Wayne County was the [[Northwest Territory#Counties|sixth county]] in the [[Northwest Territory]], formed August 15, 1796, from portions of [[Hamilton County, Ohio#History|territorial Hamilton County]], [[Knox County, Indiana#History|territorial Knox County]] and unorganized territory. It was named for the U.S. general [[Anthony Wayne|"Mad Anthony" Wayne]]. It originally encompassed the entire area of the [[Lower Peninsula of Michigan]], most of the [[Upper Peninsula]], as well as smaller sections that are now part of northern [[Ohio]], [[Indiana]], [[Illinois]] and [[Wisconsin]]. By proclamation of the Territorial Secretary and Acting Governor, [[Winthrop Sargent]], on August 15, 1796, the boundaries of Wayne County were declared to begin at the mouth of the [[Cuyahoga River]] then west to [[Fort Wayne, Indiana|Fort Wayne]], then to the southernmost point of [[Lake Michigan]] and along the western shore north to the territorial boundary in [[Lake Superior]] and then along the territorial boundary through [[Lake Huron]], [[Lake Saint Clair, North America|Lake St. Clair]], and [[Lake Erie]] back to the starting point.<ref name="Sargent">{{cite book | title = Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan together with Reports of County Pioneer Societies, Vol VIII. | url = http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbumbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(lhbum+5298a)): | access-date = October 15, 2006 | orig-year = 1886 | year = 1907 | edition = second | publisher = Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford | location = Lansing, Mich. | pages = 496–497 | chapter = Proclamation by Winthrop Sargent | chapter-url = http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lhbum&fileName=5298a/lhbum5298a.db&recNum=511&itemLink=r?ammem/lhbum:@field(DOCID+@lit(lhbum5298adiv236))%235298a0512&linkText=1 | archive-date = November 5, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151105132304/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem%2Flhbumbib%3A%40field%28NUMBER+%40band%28lhbum+5298a%29%29%3A | url-status = live }}</ref> The first division of the county into townships occurred November 1, 1798, into the four townships of [[Detroit]], [[Hamtramck, Michigan|Hamtramck]], [[Mackinaw Township, Michigan|Mackinaw]], and Sargent. The extent of Wayne county at that time included all the present state of Michigan in addition to parts of Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin, so that the townships erected at that time were vastly larger than the corresponding divisions of the present time.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fuller|first=George Newman|title=Historic Michigan, land of the Great Lakes; its life, resources, industries, people, politics, government, wars, institutions, achievements, the press, schools and churches, legendary and prehistoric lore.|publisher=National Historical Association, Inc.|year=1924|isbn=|location=Dayton Ohio United|pages=101}}</ref>

[[Image:Guardianbuilding.jpg|thumb|The historic [[Guardian Building]] in [[Detroit]] is the Wayne County headquarters.]]

On January 14, 1803, the Governor of [[Indiana Territory]], [[William Henry Harrison]], issued a similar proclamation defining the boundaries as beginning at a point where an east and west line passing through the southernmost extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect a north and south line, passing through the westernmost extreme of the lake, then north to the territorial boundary, then along said boundary line to a point where an east and west line passing through the southerly extreme of Lake Michigan would intersect the same, then along this last mentioned line to the place of beginning. This boundary would include [[Chicago]], Illinois, and a sizable strip of [[Wisconsin]] along Lake Michigan.<ref name="Harrison">{{cite book | title = Collections of the Pioneer Society of the State of Michigan together with Reports of County Pioneer Societies, Vol VIII. | url = http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/lhbumbib:@field(NUMBER+@band(lhbum+5298a)): | access-date = October 15, 2006 | orig-year = 1886 | year = 1907 | edition = second | publisher = Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford | location = Lansing, Mich. | pages = 540–542 | chapter = Proclamation by Governor Harrison | chapter-url = http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=lhbum&fileName=5298a/lhbum5298a.db&recNum=555&itemLink=r%3Fammem%2Flhbum%3A%40field%28DOCID%2B%40lit%28lhbum5298adiv3%29%29%235298a0009&linkText=1 | archive-date = November 5, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151105132304/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem%2Flhbumbib%3A%40field%28NUMBER+%40band%28lhbum+5298a%29%29%3A | url-status = live }}</ref>

These boundaries would be adjusted as [[Indiana]] and Illinois became states and as other counties were formed within [[Michigan Territory]].