Was There an Actual Town Called Wheatfield in Ingham County?

Wheatfield, to me, is an enigma. Was it a town in Ingham County at one time in history, or has it always been just a township?

According to the book Michigan Place Names, the first person to settle in that area was David Gorsline in 1836; the community at that time was called 'Brutus'. In 1841, Gorsline changed the name to 'Wheatfield', after his home town of Wheatfield, New York.

A post office was implemented in 1851, closing down in 1855. Does that imply the extent of (the town of) Wheatfield's existence? Or was Wheatfield considered just a postal station and nothing else?

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Old maps and atlases don't seem to list a town of 'Wheatfield' anywhere in the township, so it is difficult to pinpoint where a town of Wheatfield existed. Sure, there's an old township hall still standing on Holt Road, but many times the town halls could be miles away from the town of the same name.

An 1874 atlas does show the property of one “E' Gorsline” near the center of the township.....but David settled further down closer to the township border which is currently the site of the junction of Waldo and North roads.

On the Michigan Genealogy website, David Gorsline was quoted back in the 1870s as saying “The township of Wheatfield has never had a store, tavern, church, saloon, or practicing physician located within its borders.” So does that indeed mean there was no town of Wheatfield? Just a post office for a few years?

One thing we do know, is that the township had many, many one-room schoolhouses, as you will see in the gallery below.

In closing, if anyone has any further info on a once-upon-a-town named “Wheatfield”, let me know......curious.