Oakland County, Michigan


Oakland County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is part of the metropolitan Detroit area, located northwest of the city. As of the 2010 census, its population was 1,202,362, making it the second-most populous county in Michigan, behind neighboring Wayne County. The county seat is Pontiac. The county was founded in 1819 and organized in 1820.
Oakland County is composed of 62 cities, townships, and villages, and is part of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city of Detroit is in neighboring Wayne County, south of 8 Mile Road. Oakland County is among the ten highest income counties in the United States with populations over one million people. It is also home to Oakland University, a large public institution that straddles the Auburn Hills and Rochester border.
The county's knowledge-based economic initiative, coined "Automation Alley", has developed one of the largest employment centers for engineering and related occupations in the United States, and some major employers include General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, collectively known as the Big Three.

History

Founded by Territorial Governor Lewis Cass in 1819, sparsely settled Oakland was originally twice its current size. As was customary at the time, as populations increased, other counties were organized from its land area. Woodward Avenue and the Detroit and Pontiac Railroad helped draw settlers in the 1840s. By 1840, Oakland had more than fifty lumber mills, processing wood harvested from the region and the Upper Peninsula. Pontiac, located on the Clinton River, was Oakland's first town and became the county seat. After the Civil War, Oakland was still primarily a rural, agricultural county with numerous isolated villages. By the end of the 19th century, three rail lines served Pontiac, and the city attracted carriage and wagon factories. In the late 1890s streetcars were constructed here and to Detroit.
At that time, developers made southern Oakland County a suburb of Detroit; a Cincinnati firm platted a section of Royal Oak called "Urbanrest." Migration worked both ways. Several thousand people moved from Oakland County farms to Detroit as the city attracted factories. By 1910, a number of rich Detroiters had summer homes and some year-round residences in what became Bloomfield Hills. The auto age enveloped Pontiac in the early 1900s. The Oakland Motor Car Company was founded in 1907 and became a part of General Motors Corp., which was soon Pontiac's dominant firm.
In the 1950s, the Detroit metropolitan population began migrating to the suburbs, aided by the GI Bill for veterans and federal subsidies for highways and freeways. Oakland County is among the ten highest-income counties in the United States with more than one million population. The median price of a home in Oakland County increased to $164,697, more than $30,000 above the national median. Oakland County is home to popular super-regional shopping malls such as Somerset Collection, Twelve Oaks Mall, and Great Lakes Crossing Outlets.
On March 10, 2020, Michigan reported the first 2 coronavirus cases, one of which was in Oakland County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water.
Oakland County was originally divided into 25 separate townships, which are listed below. Each township is roughly equal in size at six miles by six miles, for a total township area of. The roots of this design were born out of the Land Ordinance of 1785 and the subsequent Northwest Ordinance of 1787. Oakland County itself is a prime example of the land policy that was established, as all townships are equal in size. Section 16 in each township was reserved for financing and maintaining public education, and even today many schools in Oakland County townships are located within that section.
Wayne County, where the city of Detroit is located, borders Oakland County to the south. 8 Mile Road, also known as "Baseline Road" in some areas, is the boundary between these counties. The baseline was used during the original surveying for Michigan, and it serves as the northern/southern boundaries for counties from Lake St. Clair to Lake Michigan. As more working and middle-class populations moved to the suburbs from the 1950s on, this divide became historically known as an unofficial racial dividing line between what became the predominantly black city and almost exclusively white suburbs.
Since the late 20th century, however, the patterns of de facto segregation have faded as the suburbs have become more diverse. Middle-class African Americans have left the city, settling in inner-ring suburbs, notably Southfield, west of Woodward Avenue. Based on the 2010 Census, the following cities also have significant minority ethnic populations: Farmington, Farmington Hills, Novi, Oak Park, Lathrup Village, Orchard Lake Village, Rochester Hills, Troy, Wixom, West Bloomfield, Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, Ferndale, and Madison Heights. Ferndale has a concentration of Arab Americans, who also live in nearby areas, and numerous Asian Americans, particularly Indians, have also settled in these areas.

Adjacent counties

As of the 2010 Census, there were 1,202,362 people and 315,175 families residing in the county. 77.3% were White, 13.6% Black or African American, 5.6% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 1.0% of some other race and 2.2% of two or more races. 3.5% were Hispanic or Latino. There were 527,255 housing units at an average density of 564 per square mile.
Regarding ancestry, in 2000 14.4% of the population were ethnically German, 9.0% Irish, 8.5% English, 8.5% Polish, 5.7% Italian and 5.5% American, 87.4% spoke only English at home; 2.0% spoke Spanish, 1.3% Syriac and 1.0% Arabic. The population density as of the 2000 census was 1,369 people per square mile. There were 492,006 housing units at an average density of 564 per square mile.
The 2000 census showed two Native American tribes with more than 1,000 members in Oakland County. There were 2,095 Cherokee and 1,458 Chippewa.
The Jewish community of metropolitan Detroit, with a population of 72,000, is the 21st largest Jewish community in the nation. This community is concentrated in Oakland County, especially in West Bloomfield, Bloomfield Hills, Farmington Hills, Troy and Huntington Woods.
There were 471,115 households, of which 32.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them. 54.20% were married couples living together, 9.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.10% were non-families. 27.30% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.09.
Among Asian Americans, eight ethnic groups had more than 1,000 members in the county in 2000. The most numerous were those of Asian Indian descent, with 20,705. Next were those of Chinese heritage, numbering 10,018. Next were those of Japanese, Filipino Korean, Vietnamese, Pakistani and Hmong ancestry.
In 2001, Oakland County had the 36th largest Asian population of any county in the country. In 2002, of the Oakland-Wayne-Macomb tricounty area, Oakland County had 49% of the tri-county area's Asian population.
The county's population was spread out in terms of age, with 25.20% of people under the age of 18, 7.20% from 18 to 24, 32.40% from 25 to 44, 23.90% from 45 to 64, and 11.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.70 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $86,567, making Oakland County the 21st wealthiest county in the United States:. Males had a median income of $55,833 versus $35,890 for females. The per capita income for the county was $65,759. About 3.80% of families and 5.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.50% of those under age 18 and 6.50% of those age 65 or over.

Government

The county government operates the jail, operates the major local courts, keeps files of deeds and mortgages, maintains vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of welfare and other social services. The county board of commissioners controls the budget but has limited authority to make laws or ordinances. In Michigan, most local government functions—police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc. — are the responsibility of individual cities and townships. Oakland County has an elected sheriff, and his or her law-enforcement services are used throughout the county. Fourteen cities/townships do not have municipal police forces, but rather contract with the sheriff for police services specific to the municipalities. For instance, the city of Rochester Hills does not have a "Rochester Hills Police Department," but instead has an established sheriff substation in the city with deputies who are dedicated to that city only. That branch operates as the Oakland County Sheriff's Department, Rochester Hills substation. The sheriff operates in the same manner with other municipalities who opt not to have their own police agencies. This typically is a cost-effective way for municipalities to provide police services to its citizens. The county sheriff also maintains a civil division, marine division, alcohol and traffic enforcement units, and an aviation division.

Elected officials

Roads that are not maintained by a local community are maintained by the independent Road Commission for Oakland County, which is governed by three board members appointed by the Oakland County Board of Commissioners.
Road Commissioners: Eric. S. Wilson, Chairman; Gregory C. Jamian Vice Chairman; Ron Fowkes
Dennis G. Kolar, Managing Director

Oakland County Service Center

The East Campus of the Oakland County Service Center is located in Pontiac. It includes the county courthouse and jail for adults.
The West Campus of the Oakland County Service Center is located in Waterford Township. This includes the Oakland County Executive Building and Conference Center, and the Oakland County Children's Village, the county's juvenile detention center for children. The Children's Village acts as one of the support sites for the Waterford School District.

Politics

Oakland County was historically a classic bastion of suburban conservatism, and was hence a longstanding stronghold of the Republican Party. However, since the 1990s it has become more competitive and has voted for the Democratic candidate for President in the last six elections. Republican strength is concentrated in the many exurban townships of the county, while Democratic strength is concentrated in suburbs such as Royal Oak, Birmingham, West Bloomfield, and Southfield. Other suburbs such as Novi, Plymouth, and Troy are relatively split between the two parties, with younger adults tending to support Democrats and elderly residents tending to support Republicans.
In 1996, Bill Clinton became the first Democrat to secure the plurality of Oakland County presidential votes since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and only the fourth to do so since 1892. Al Gore and John Kerry also carried the county, by narrow margins, against George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, respectively. In 2008, Barack Obama became the first Democrat to win a majority in the county since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. He again carried the county in 2012, though by a smaller margin.
While the Democratic Party has found increasing success in Presidential elections in Oakland County, the state Republican Party has remained strong in some recent gubernatorial and state elections. The county favored former Gov. Rick Snyder by a 22-percent margin in the statewide elections and again by a 12-point margin in , but Governor Gretchen Whitmer carried the county by 17 points in 2018. While Republicans held a majority on the County Commission for most of its history, following the 2018 elections, there are 11 Democrats and 10 Republicans.
In the 116th Congress, Oakland County is represented by four Democrats, Brenda Lawrence, Andy Levin, Haley Stevens and Elissa Slotkin. Slotkin and Stevens were first elected in 2018, flipping Republican-held seats.

Transportation

Air

The following airports are located in neighboring counties:
's Wolverine serves Oakland County with 3 daily trains each way, stopping in Pontiac, Troy, Royal Oak, and continuing on to Chicago.

Mile roads

The conditions on most non-residential roads in Oakland County are not favorable to bicycling. Exceptions to this are primarily in the inner-ring suburbs within the southeast corner of the county. This is due to their street grid.
A primary reason for these unfavorable cycling conditions is the Road Commission for Oakland County has a policy of not accommodating bicycles on the road. As a result, some communities have designated sidepaths as bike routes which do not meet the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials guidelines for bicycling facilities and have been found to be less safe than on-road bike facilities.
As a result, there are no designated Bicycle Friendly Communities within Oakland County.
Only the city of Ferndale has a built comprehensive bicycle network of bike lanes and signed shared roadways.

Education

The County of Oakland counterpart in public education is the Oakland Schools, an Intermediate school district.

Higher education

Oakland County is home to several institutions of higher education.
The NFL's Detroit Lions played their home games at the Pontiac Silverdome from 1975 through 2001, when they moved to Ford Field in Downtown Detroit. The Silverdome was also the site of Super Bowl XVI, where the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, the first of 5 Super Bowl titles for the 49ers.
From 1988 to 2017, prior to the move to Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, the Detroit Pistons played their home games at The Palace of Auburn Hills and from 1978 to 1988, they played at the Pontiac Silverdome.
The Pontiac Silverdome also hosted various other sporting events, prior to being demolished in 2017.
The demolition of The Palace of Auburn Hills began in February 2020.

Communities

Cities

Quarton Lake also known as The Old Mill Pond.

Rivers

There are five rivers in Oakland County:
Clinton River
Flint River
Huron River
Rouge River
Shiawassee River
The headwaters of each of these rivers lie in Oakland County.