Westland, MI
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Westland is a
city A city is a human settlement of a substantial size. The term "city" has different meanings around the world and in some places the settlement can be very small. Even where the term is limited to larger settlements, there is no universally agree ...
in Wayne County in the U.S. state of
Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...
. A western suburb of Detroit, Westland is located about west of
downtown Detroit Downtown Detroit is the central business district and a Neighborhoods in Detroit, residential area of the city of Detroit, Michigan, United States. Locally, "downtown" tends to refer to the 1.4 square mile region bordered by M-10 (Michigan high ...
. As of 2022, the city had a population of 84,037.


History


Early history

During the 18th century, the area was inhabited by the people of a
Potawatomi The Potawatomi (), also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, ...
Native American village. Other tribes, particularly three Algonquian tribes, used the area as hunting territory. Though white settlers did not begin to settle the area until about 1824, they began passing through at the beginning of the 19th century. Before becoming Westland, the area had several other names. In 1827, the area became known as Bucklin Township, which included what is now the cities of Westland,
Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...
, Garden City, Inkster, Wayne, Dearborn,
Dearborn Heights Dearborn Heights is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Dearborn Heights is located about west of downtown Detroit. The city shares a small border with Detroit, and is considered a bedroom c ...
and Redford Township. In 1829, it was proposed that Bucklin Township be divided into Lima and Richland; the former is what eventually became Westland. Due to name conflicts under territorial law prohibiting duplication of post office names, Lima was renamed Nankin Township, after the Chinese city of
Nanking Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yan ...
, and Richland was renamed Pekin Township, after
Peking Beijing, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's most populous national capital city as well as China's second largest city by urban area after Shanghai. It is l ...
.


Later history

Nankin Township was mostly rural until World War II. The Norwayne subdivision is one of the oldest areas of the city, having existed for over 65 years. The area was built immediately after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
to provide temporary housing for returning soldiers who worked in nearby factories. By 1960, Nankin Township's population had increased to 70,000, giving the area the distinction of being the state's largest township. During the early 1960s, the city of Livonia wanted to annex the part of Nankin in which a large shopping mall, Westland Shopping Center, was to be built. The shopping center eventually opened in 1965, joining Northland and Eastland malls in Southfield and Harper Woods, respectively. In reaction to Livonia's annexation attempts, the people of Nankin Township voted on May 16, 1966, to take all other territory to form the City Of Westland. At that time, it was the fourth largest city in Wayne County.


Politics

The current mayor of Westland is Kevin Coleman. The legislative body of Westland is the City Council, which contains seven members. The current president of the city council is Mike McDermott. Other council members are Council President Pro-Tem Melissa Sampey, Peter Herzberg, Emily Bauman, James Hart, Andrea Rutkowski, and 1 vacant seat (to be appointed March 2024).


Education

Westland and the city of Wayne form the Wayne-Westland Community School District. There are four high schools,
John Glenn John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space and the first to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1 ...
, Wayne Westland Community High School (formerly Tinkham Alternative Education), and William D. Ford Career Technical Center in Westland, and Wayne Memorial in Wayne. There is a historical site, Perrinsville School in Westland on Warren Road. Nearly all students that live in the city of Wayne go to
Wayne Memorial High School Wayne Memorial High School is a high school in Wayne, Michigan in Metro Detroit, on the corner of Glenwood Road and Fourth Street, sitting near the border of Wayne and its district partner Westland. It is a part of Wayne-Westland Community Sc ...
, along with some residents of Van Buren Township, Inkster, Romulus, Canton and southern Westland. Students in central Westland and portions of northern Westland, as well as isolated areas of neighboring Inkster and Canton, attend John Glenn High School. The northernmost portions of Westland are in the
Livonia Public Schools Livonia Public Schools (LPS) is a public school district in the Metro Detroit area, serving most of the city of Livonia Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is n ...
district. Portions of Westland that had been in the
Taylor School District The Taylor School District is a public school district in the city of Taylor, Michigan, Taylor in Metro Detroit, Michigan. The district serves Taylor and portions of Brownstown, Michigan, Brownstown, Dearborn Heights, Michigan, Dearborn Heig ...
prior to the 2013 dissolution of the
Inkster School District Inkster Public Schools (IPS), officially School District of the City of Inkster, was a school district headquartered in Inkster, Michigan, Inkster, Michigan in Metro Detroit. It served most of Inkster and a small portion of Westland, Michigan, W ...
are assigned to Taylor Parks Elementary School, Hoover Middle School, and Harry S. Truman High School in
Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...
. Portions in Livonia School District are assigned to Hayes (in Westland), Rosedale, Garfield, and Cleveland K-4 elementary schools.Official Zoning Map
" City of Westland. September 2014. Retrieved on April 21, 2016.
5-6 elementary schools include Johnson Upper Elementary School (in Westland) and Cooper Upper Elementary School (in Westland). Livonia SD middle schools serving Westland include Frost and Emerson. Livonia SD high schools serving Westland include Churchill High School and Franklin High School. There is a portion of southeastern Westland that is currently divided between Romulus Community Schools and the Taylor School District that was previously assigned to the Inkster School District.
Romulus Senior High School Romulus Senior High School or Romulus High School is the public high school in the city of Romulus, Michigan in Metro Detroit. History In 2013 Inkster High School closed due to the closure of the Inkster School District. Students in the Inkst ...
is the assigned high school for Romulus students. Students in the Inkster zone previously attended
Inkster High School Inkster High School was a high school in Inkster, Michigan in Metro Detroit. It was a part of Inkster Public Schools. History Inkster High School on Middlebelt was built in 1952. In 2013 the school had 940 students.Higgins, Lori.Inkster district ...
. There is a
charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of autono ...
in Westland,
Universal Learning Academy Universal Learning Academy is a charter school in Westland, Michigan, in the Detroit metropolitan area, serving grades Kindergarten through 12. History It was established in 2004 by Hamadeh Educational Services, a company created by Lebanese Amer ...
. Private schools: * Lutheran High School Westland * Hope Christian Academy, formerly Huron Valley Lutheran High School


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


Demographics


2020 census


2010 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2010, there were 84,094 people, 35,886 households, and 21,289 families living in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 39,201 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 75.8%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 17.2%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.5% Native American, 3.0% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 2.4% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino residents of any race were 3.8% of the population. There were 35,886 households, of which 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 37.5% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 16.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 5.4% had a male householder with no wife present, and 40.7% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.98. The median age in the city was 38.3 years. 22.1% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.5% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 27.7% were from 25 to 44; 26.6% were from 45 to 64; and 14% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 47.5% male and 52.5% female.


2000 census

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 86,602 people, 36,533 households, and 22,248 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 38,077 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 87.21%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 6.77%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.46% Native American, 2.81% Asian, 0.03%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.67% from other races, and 2.04% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 2.47% of the population. There were 36,533 households, out of which 28.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.4% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 12.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 39.1% were non-families. 32.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34 and the average family size was 3.00. In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.3% under the age of 18, 9.0% from 18 to 24, 33.9% from 25 to 44, 20.6% from 45 to 64, and 13.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.6 males. The median income for a household in the city was $46,308, and the median income for a family was $55,323. Males had a median income of $45,111 versus $30,143 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $22,615. About 4.7% of families and 6.8% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 7.6% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those aged 65 or over.


City services

Westland has a full-time police department and fire department. The fire department offers advanced
EMS Ems or EMS may refer to: Places and rivers * Domat/Ems, a Swiss municipality in the canton of Grisons * Ems (river) (Eems), a river in northwestern Germany and northeastern Netherlands that discharges in the Dollart Bay * Ems (Eder), a river o ...
, fire protection and prevention, and several specialized rescue teams. The city is known for having an abundance of parks. Hines Park (Wayne County Parks) is located in the northern region of Westland. Residents along this corridor enjoy seeing deer, foxes, and hummingbirds all year long as well as easy access to the bike paths of Hines Park. Westland also has numerous City-owned parks throughout many of the neighborhoods. Many residents from surrounding cities go to Hines Park year-round. The Westland Public Library (or William P. Faust Public Library of Westland) offers
book A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, ...
s,
magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...
s,
CDs CDS, CDs, Cds, etc. may refer to: Finance * Canadian Depository for Securities, Canadian post-trade financial services company * Certificate of deposit (CDs) * Counterfeit Deterrence System, developed by the Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence ...
,
playaway Playaway is a brand of portable media players designed for circulation in libraries by Playaway Products, LLC, based in Solon, Ohio. The format is used in institutional lending, such as in public and school libraries. Playaway's library Web si ...
s,
video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
s,
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
s, and electronic materials through access to subscription databases. The City of Westland offers automated recycling services. For waste disposal, residents have black bins for garbage, and blue bins for recycling. Recycle bins are picked up every other week, while trash is picked up weekly. The former Eloise psychiatric hospital is due as of 2021 to be redeveloped as a commercial centre and hotel. The building dates back to 1839: the Wayne County Hospital ceased operating from the site in 1984, and it was used as offices for Wayne County employees up until 2016. There are numerous Nature trails near Westland, Newburg lake is the nearest one to Westland.


Notable people

*
Mike Modano Michael Thomas Modano Jr. (; born June 7, 1970) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played as a Centre (ice hockey), center and spent most of his career with the Minnesota North Stars/Dallas Stars franchise. He spent the fina ...
, NHL Hall of Fame hockey player *
Daron Cruickshank Daron Jae Cruickshank (born June 11, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing as a lightweight for the Xtreme Fighting Championships. A professional competitor since 2008, he also formerly competed for the UFC, King of the ...
, MMA Fighter, UFC *
Josh Gracin Joshua Mario Gracin (; born October 18, 1980) is an American country music singer. While serving in the US Marine Corps, he first gained public attention as the fourth-place finalist on the second season of ''American Idol''. After his elimina ...
, country singer *
Ryan Scott Graham Ryan Scott Graham (born January 30, 1990, in Westland, Michigan) is the bassist/backing vocalist of New York pop-punk band State Champs. Ryan also has an acoustic solo project titled ''Speak Low If You Speak Love''. Ryan is the former guitarist o ...
, musician * Eric Haase, catcher, Milwaukee Brewers *
Danielle Hartsell Danielle Hartsell (born November 21, 1980, in Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, maki ...
, pair skater *
Steve Hartsell Steve Hartsell (born January 6, 1978, Ann Arbor, Michigan) is an American former competitive pair skater. With sister Danielle Hartsell, he is the 1999 U.S. National Champion and the 1997 World Junior Champion. After his sister retired, he ska ...
, pair skater * Motoko Fujishiro Huthwaite, teacher, served in
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
* Mike Kelley, artist *
Jeremy Langford Jeremy Langford (born December 6, 1991) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans, and was selected by the Chicag ...
, running back, Chicago Bears *
Charlie LeDuff Charles Royal LeDuff (born April 1, 1966) is an American journalist, writer, and media personality. He is the host of the ''No BS News Hour with Charlie LeDuff''. LeDuff was employed by ''The New York Times'' for 12 years, then employed by ''The ...
, journalist and author Clemens, Paul.
Breakdown ‘Detroit: An American Autopsy,’ by Charlie LeDuff
" ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
''. February 22, 2013. Retrieved on July 12, 2014.
*
Wanda Young Wanda LaFaye Rogers, née Young (August 9, 1943 – December 15, 2021), was an American singer, known for being a member of the Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes, and after 1965, the lead singer. Biography Early life Young was ...
, singer,
The Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group formed in Inkster, Michigan, Inkster, Michigan in 1960, consisting of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was ...


References


External links


City of Westland official website
{{Authority control Cities in Wayne County, Michigan Metro Detroit 1966 establishments in Michigan Populated places established in 1966 Ford village industries