Pare Aux Vaches - Madeline Bertrand Park

Known as Parc aux Vaches, or “cow pasture,” this area was named by the French for the wild buffalo that once grazed here. Two major Indian trails crossed here: the Sauk Trail, also called the old Chicago Trail, which linked Detroit and Chicago; and the Miami Trail, which linked the Grand and the Wabash Rivers. About 1808, French fur trader Joseph Bertrand established a post in this area. Bertrand married Madeline, said to be the daughter of Potawatomi Chief Topenebee. Under the 1821 Treaty of Chicago, which ceded much of the lower southwest corner of Michigan to the United States, this site was deeded to Madeline Bertrand. Parc aux Vaches is now part of Niles Township.