Birmingham is an affluent city in Oakland County of the U.S. state of Michigan.
An upscale suburb of Detroit, the city hosts a downtown that attracts shoppers from throughout the Metro Detroit area. In the Metro area, the community is best known for its upscale shopping, dining, and housing, and it is considered one of the trendiest suburbs outside of Detroit.
The area comprising what is now the city of Birmingham was part of land ceded by Native American tribes to the United States government by the 1807 Treaty of Detroit. However, settlement was delayed first by the War of 1812 and subsequently by an unfavorable report by the Surveyor-General of the United States, Edward Tiffin regarding the placement of Military Bounty Lands for veterans of the War of 1812. Tiffin's report claimed that "There would not be an acre out of a hundred, if there would be one out of a thousand that would, in any case, admit cultivation." In 1818, Territorial Governor Lewis Cass lead a group of men along the Indian Trail. The Governor's party discovered the swamp was not as extensive as Tiffin had supposed. Not long after Cass issued a more encouraging report about the land, interest quickened in its suitability for settlement. The earliest land entry was made on January 28, 1819, by Colonel Benjamin H. Pierce (brother of future U.S. President Franklin Pierce).
Birmingham's downtown district has many coffee houses, ice cream parlors, upscale apparel and home furnishing shops, restaurants and theatres. The Townsend Hotel is one of the state's premiere locations for lodging and is the choice for many celebrities visiting or working in Southeastern Michigan. Google operates its Detroit-area offices in Birmingham.
Do you have bed bugs in Birmingham?
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National Geographic Bed Bug Preview:
