History Of Royal Oak, Michigan
Royal Oak is a town in the U.S. state of Michigan in Oakland County. The city had a population of 57,236 as of the 2010 census.
The city is located along the Woodward Corridor and Royal Oak is also crossed by Interstate 75 and Interstate 696. As Metro Detroit’s northern suburb, the area is around 3 miles north of the city of Detroit. Inside Royal Oak Michigan, parts of the Detroit Zoo reach into adjacent Huntington Woodland.
Until 1891, and as a town in 1921, Royal Oak was not incorporated as a village. In 1819, during one of the surveying expeditions led by Territorial Governor Lewis Cass, it was named. At this small village, a large oak tree reminded Cass of the tale of the Royal Oak, where, after the Battle of Worcester, King Charles II of England was said to have hidden to avoid capture by the Roundheads. After that, many years after the United States had battled Great Britain across the northern frontier in the War of 1812, Cass named the city.
In the early 20th century, following Detroit’s booming development as a result of industrialization and its auto industry, Royal Oak grew as a suburb of Detroit.
On 14 October 1925, as a joint venture between the then-new City of Royal Oak and Oakland County, Michigan, the Royal Oak Farmers Market began as a truck market at the intersection of 4th and Troy streets. In the county, there were still numerous farmers. The new building is adjacent to the 44th district court at the intersection of 11 Mile Road and Troy Lane. It was built in the spring of 1927 and was consecrated on 1 July of that year.
Originally, the city center had a traditional combination of small-scale retail and trade to support the town of Royal Oak. It lost business to suburban malls with the growth of the highway system in the postwar period. But Royal Oak’s downtown has grown as an entertainment and nightlife destination since the late 1990s and early 2000s. In the city, a number of large condominiums and lofts have been developed, raising the population density of the downtown area.
Royal Oak has a government board-manager. A city commission composed of a mayor and six members of the commission is governed by it. A city manager is appointed by the city commission, who oversees the city’s daily operations.
Similar to that of neighboring upper middle-class neighborhoods such as Berkley and Madison Heights, Royal Oak has a below-average crime rate. The most prevalent crime was larceny-theft, accounting for 66.7 percent of all crimes in the area. Since 2000, five known killings have been committed: one in 2004, one in 2005, one in 2010, and two in 2011.