Southfield Cemetery

Southfield Cemetery is a Michigan historical marker in Southfield, Oakland County, dedicated 1989.

23520 Civic Center Dr, Southfield

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Thaddeus Griswold sold several parcels of his farm to settlers who used the land for burial grounds. In 1847 these “proprietors” donated the land to the board of health which established a township cemetery. The most heroic figure memorialized here is Harry J. Brooks, a test pilot for the Ford Motor Company, who, in 1928, set a world distance record while flying the “Ford flivver.” On the return flight he crashed into the Atlantic. His remains were never found, but a headstone marks his place in the Brooks family plot.

TodayHistorical map

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Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1832 · Ohio Pocket Map (Mitchell, 1832) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1848 · Michigan. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1850 · Ohio (Cowperthwait, 1850) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1853 · Map of the surveyed part of Michigan (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1854 · A map of the surveyed part of Michigan / by John Farmer ; engraved by S. Stiles & Co. (University Library, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

Map of the surveyed part of Michigan, 1853, covering the location of Southfield Cemetery, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Map of the surveyed part of Michigan, 1853, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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Southfield Cemetery

Historical maps covering this location

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