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In the early 1800s the townships of Michigan were fewer and larger and the native tribes inhabited much of the land. The tribes signed the “Treaty of Detroit”, which had areas of land specified for each tribe and for the pioneers. The pioneers that settled in this area included George Johnson, William Osband and Glode Chubb, they were behind the growth of the townships, which emerged as the population grew.

The area that is designated Redmond today was part of the Bucklin township. The Rouge River’s middle fork intersects here and was an annual ceremonial meeting point for three Algonquin tribes, the Potawatomi, the Ojibwa and the Ottawa, the purpose of the meeting was to decide on hunting territories for the hunting season. In 1827 this area became known as Bucklin Township. According to Redford tutors it was named after Joseph Bucklin who shot the British Royal Navy Captain in the 1772 “Gaspee Affair” declared the first ‘Act of War’ by the American Colonists in the American Revolution.

A couple of years later it was put forward that the large area known as Bucklin Township was to be split into two new townships. This was agreed upon, and the two new townships started about opening their own various governing buildings and infrastructure. A problem arose when they went to open up the township’s post offices. The names of the new townships “Lima” and “Richland” were already in use elsewhere in the post office system, which according to Redford tutors was a ‘no-no’. A territorial law prohibited the post offices from sharing a name with another and so they decided to completely rename the two townships. In an effort to name them something that would not conflict with any other post offices in the country, it was suggested to pick a name from another country. The newspapers had recently published a series of articles about Robert Morrison and his work translating the bible into the Chinese language in order to bring the Christian religion to China. His work mainly took place in Canton and Macau, but the articles referenced other areas where the word was beginning to spread. Leading on from the articles two new names for the townships were sourced “Lima” became “Nankin” after “Nanking”, and “Richland” became “Pekin,” after “Peking.”

The townships continued to grow in population and were split further to accommodate all of the citizens and provide the necessary resources. In 1833 Pekin was split into two yet again, and the two halves were once again renamed. By this time the novelty of using the Chinese names had worn off. The northern half was renamed Redford as we know it today. The “Red” of Redford originates from the “Rouge River” that flows through the township.