Disco

In the early 1830s, settlers mostly from New York cleared land and built log cabins on the corners of Shelby Township sections 9, 10, 15 and 16. They referred to this area between Mound and Jewell roads and 23 Mile and 25 Mile roads as "Utica Plains."

The village of Disco was platted in 1849 at the intersection of 24 Mile Road, known as Whiskey Road, and Van Dyke Ave. The name "Disco" has two possible derivations, from the Latin "Discare" to learn or an abbreviation for District of Columbia.

Disco consisted of two general stores, three wagon shops, two blacksmith shops, one harness shop, one paint shop, and the "Halfway House" hotel. There was also a resident physician. The principal industries were a wooden bowl factory, feed mill, cider mill and a planing mill.

Disco had daily mail with Mrs. J. Satler as postmaster. Disco was the halfway stagecoach stop on the Concord Coach Line carrying mail and passengers from Royal Oak to Almont.

Issac Monfort, Chauncey Church and John Noyes were encouraged by the success of the Romeo Academy. The school had 10 acres of land and $1,000 set aside to become a place of higher learning. A two-story school opened in 1850 as the Macomb County High School. Alonzo M. Keeler was principal, a post he held until 1864. The purpose of the facility was to prepare young men as teachers. It was renamed the Disco Academy in 1855. The building burned in 1880 and was replaced.

During 1890, an ownership controversy developed between the Disco Literary Society and the Shelby School District. The School District, users of the building for 53 years, became the sole owner upon payment of $400 to the Literary Society.

Two buildings eventually existed as part of Shelby School # 6. The back of one of the buildings had space for showing movies. The last remaining building was moved three times, eventually resting behind the " new " Disco Elementary School before its eventual demolition.

Religious groups used the larger of the two buildings. School trustees used the lower floor, and Methodists and later Congregationalists used the upper floor. Orestes Millerd, who settled in Shelby in 1827, built the first Disco Methodist Church. In 1890, worshipers started the Hope Methodist Church.

The Mennonites moved into the Disco area in the late 1800s with a Mennonite Church located on the south side of 23 Mile Road east of Shelby Road. It was a church until the early 1930s. In 1988, it was reconstructed into a home and moved east and to the north side of the road.

During Prohibition, the current McClenaghan's, formerly known as Ichabod's Bar south of 24 Mile Road on Van Dyke Ave., was a blind pig called the Yellow Canary when Disco was known as whiskey center. A half barrel of beer was obtainable from a Utica distillery for $8.

Prestonville

Located at the junction of 25 Mile and Schoenherr roads, the lost village of Prestonville featured a small interrelated community. John Tupper and Ira Preston started the community after Preston purchased five 80-acre land parcels on the Clinton River's middle branch from the United States Government in 1826. In groups of 20 individuals, the families came from New York in 1827. They brought with them the parts necessary for the construction of a small sawmill. The sawmill was the first in Macomb County. It operated for 40 years and disappeared in the 1870s.

The Preston family built an 18’x24’ shake roof log cabin with bark-covered gable ends, a blanket for a door and a floor made of split logs. Settlers obtained ice from the millpond, Cusick Lake or as far away as Lake St. Clair.

The Preston and Carleton family reunions were always big affairs. They included movies and an all-family member girl band.

Today, there are still a few reminders of Prestonville's past Shelby Township Fire Station No. 4 sits at the old Prestonville chick coop and is home to several artifacts from the original Ira Preston farmstead. A small building near the chicken coop is the first timber frame house Ira Preston built for his family. Plans are currently underway to restore this building. And just to the west on 25 Mile Road stands the Ira Luman Preston house, built-in 1856.

Ira Preston, in 1838, deeded a 1-acre parcel of his land for the establishment of the Prestonville Cemetery, which can be found on 25 Mile Road west of Schoenherr Road. The majority of the Preston and Carleton family members rest in the Prestonville Cemetery.

Before constructing a one-room schoolhouse, later identified as Shelby School #3, Prestonville residents traveled to neighboring villages for school. Grades 1-8 attended in Macomb Corners, and grades 9-10 went to Davis. The Normal Teachers School offered a one-year course in New Baltimore. Travel required a wagon cart to Chesterfield Township and then boarding the Interurban to New Baltimore.

In 1881, the Prestonville school enrollment consisted of 64 students. A teacher was paid $500 a year for his or her services. During the 1920s, seventh-grade students traveled to Utica for testing before qualification of passage to 8th grade. They also had to return before passage to the 10th grade. The school closed in 1954followed by the building's demolition in 2003.

Click to view photos from the lost village of Prestonville

Cooley's Corners

Located at the intersection of 24 Mile and Schoenherr roads, the lost village of Cooley's Corners got its name as home to Dr. Dennis Cooley. He was a botanist who wrote several papers on the area's plant life during the late 1880s. In addition to being a medical doctor, Dr. Cooley served as the Washington Postmaster from 1836 to 1859. 

Depew/Depew Siding

Depew/Depew Siding was a train stop at 23 Mile Road, half a mile east of Dequindre Road. This stop was a milk stop, located on the property owned by the Depew's around 1895. The area later became the G&H Land Fill.

Shelby Station/Shelby Crossing

The junction of the Michigan Air Line, later the Grand Trunk, railroad tracks at 25 Mile and Shelby roads was known as Shelby Station or Shelby Crossing. Today the only recognition of any old settlement is the Curtis Cemetery. The older structures in the area are long gone. These included a house and barn on the southwest corner. The barn burned down in the mid-1960s. A turkey farm with a house and barn also stood on the northwest corner.

Besides being utilized as a milk stop, residents could board the train for travel to Rochester. Residents had to watch out for hobos who frequented the train. Mr. Dull, who lived on the southwest corner, rode his handcart up the right of way to Washington, where he worked for Western Union.

On Oct. 28, 1881, 200 local citizens chased a bear for three miles and found it accompanying two "tame" Indians.

The Curtis Cemetery contains graves of notable residents such as Hiram Andrews, The Curtis family, Isaac and Mary Monfort, and veterans of the 1848 Mexican War and the U.S. Civil War.

SOURCES: Deborah J.Remer, Lost Villages, Small Towns and Railroad Stops in Oakland and Macomb County: Leeson, History of Macomb County: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection 1874-1912