In early 1818, a 36-square-mile area of michigan known as town 3 n, range 12 e was surveyed and opened for sale. ten years later, shelby township, blessed with abundant streams and fertile soils, was well on its way to becoming a prosperous farming community lasting well into the 20th century. one of these farms was a station on the underground railroad and, 100 years later, home to boxer joe louis. the doomed clinton and kalamazoo canal was dug through the township in 1839, but railroads and the horse and buggy remained the preferred modes of transportation until the advent of the automobile. the packard motor car company purchased over 400 acres in the township in 1926 and installed a world-class automobile testing facility. by 1960, the automobile had changed the landscape, shifting it from farms to the tract housing, retail centers, and industrial complexes seen today.