Wayne: Michigan's first county, named for Mad Anthony

Every Michigan county is younger than Wayne. It was organized in 1796 as part of the Northwest Territory, when the American flag first rose over Detroit, and at its founding it sprawled over land that now lies in five states. The name honors General Anthony Wayne — “Mad Anthony,” the Revolutionary War commander whose 1794 victory at Fallen Timbers and the treaty that followed opened Michigan to American settlement. He’s the reason a third of metro Detroit writes “Wayne” on its county line.

Being first still shows. Wayne County holds Michigan’s biggest city, its busiest border crossing, its great industrial story and its great cultural institutions — and beyond Detroit, three dozen distinct hometowns, from Grosse Pointe’s lakeshore to Downriver’s river towns to the western suburbs along Hines Park. Two centuries of American history happened here first: if you live anywhere in Wayne County, you live where Michigan started.