Local History

First settled by Caspar Salter in 1850.  The first plat was recorded  in 1920 and was called Manchester Park.  Other subdivisions followed, but the 1929 Depression brought the area back to virtual wilderness.  

In 1934, the subdivisions began again, and a solid home-owning community developed.  In 1949, it was renamed from its being in a heavily wooded area and from its then main thoroughfare, Harper Avenue, which begins in Detroit and named in 1874 for Walter Harper, founder of Harper Hospital, in Detroit.  Incorporated as a city in 1951.

Informational excerpts from Michigan Place Names, by Walter Romig, L.H.D.

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