Mill Race Historical Village
In 1827, John Miller built a grist mill on this site. The structure was replaced by Northville Mills in 1847. In 1919 mill owner Donald P. Yerkes sold the site to Henry Ford who razed the structure and built a valve factory across Griswold Street one year later. The factory was one of Ford's village industries, a group of rural plants that manufactured small automotive parts. The Ford Motor Company donated the land to the city of Northville in 1972 for use as a historical village.