Disco, Michigan was a village in what is now

Shelby Charter Township, Michigan Shelby Charter Township, officially the Charter Township of Shelby, is a charter township located in Macomb County, Michigan, Macomb County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The township is an affluent northern suburb of Detroit. As of the 2020 U ...

. Disco was located at the intersection of Whiskey Road (now 24 Mile Road) and Van Dyke Road. It was platted in 1849. It was first populated by European settlers, mainly from New York State around 1830. Their homesteads were near the common corner of sections 9, 10, 15 and 16 of Shelby Township, then referred to as the "Utica Plains" vicinity. By coincidence, the offices and township hall of the Charter Township of Shelby are now located in the Southeast quadrant of this same roadway intersection. Disco got its name from two possible origins: from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

word "Discare", meaning 'to learn'; or as a contraction of

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Disco never incorporated, although the local high school, the "Disco Academy" gained some recognition and a post office operated named Disco from May 5, 1854, until July 31, 1906. Disco had two general stores, wagon shops,

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

shops, a harness shop, a paint shop, and a hotel named The Halfway House - as the village was at the midpoint of the Concord Coach Line running between

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County, Michigan, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Metro Detroit, Detroit, Royal Oak is located roughly north of downtown Detroit. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 cens ...

and

Almont, Michigan Almont is a village in Almont Township, Michigan, Almont Township, Lapeer County, Michigan, Lapeer County, Michigan. Its population was 2,846 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Almont was first settled in 1828 by James Deneen. ...

. Industries included a feed mill,

cider mill A cider mill, also known as a cidery, is the location and equipment used to crush apples into apple juice for use in making apple cider, hard cider, applejack, apple wine, pectin and other products derived from apples. More specifically, it ...

, wooden bowl mill, and a

planing mill A planing mill is a facility that takes cut and Wood drying, seasoned Wood, wooden boards from a sawmill and turns them into finished dimensional lumber. Machines used in the mill include the Thickness planer, planer and matcher, the Moulding plan ...

. The Disco Methodist Church was established by Orestes Millerd, who settled in the area around 1827. The Mennonite Church, built in the late 1890s, was used as a house of worship until the early 1930s. In 1988 the building was moved, and reconstructed into a home near its original site. Today, only a small number of old homes and a namesake location on county road maps are all that remain of this early Shelby Township historic village.
See also: "The Lost Village of Disco" on the Shelby Township Historical Society website.Leeson, History of Macomb County: Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collection 1874-1912

References

{{Macomb County, Michigan Populated places established in 1849 History of Michigan Ghost towns in Michigan Former populated places in Macomb County, Michigan 1849 establishments in Michigan