Congress authorized money for the survey of a military road between Detroit and Chicago in 1825. The intersection of the road and River Raisin was a natural place for a settlement. At the same time the Erie Canal was opening the Great Lake Basin to pioneers from New York. They named this community in honor of DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York.
The road from Detroit to Chicago needed stops for the stagecoach. The stagecoach started as semi-weekly and grew into a daily route by 1835. Clinton was incorporated in 1837. Within a decade of its settlement, the village had 10 general stores, several blacksmith shops, and a hardware store. The Atlas Fee and Grain Company was established in 1836.
| 
