Disco, Michigan

Disco, Michigan was first populated by non-native Americans after 1830, by settlers who primarily migrated from New York State. Their homesteads were near the common corner of sections 9, 10, 15 and 16 of Shelby Township, then referred to as the "Utica Plains" vicinity. The village was platted in 1849, at the intersection of Whiskey Road (now 24 Mile Road) and Van Dyke.

Disco got its name from two possible origins: from the Latin "Discare" meaning 'to learn'; or as a contraction of District of Columbia.

The village was made up of two general stores, wagon shops, blacksmith shops, a harness shop, a paint shop, and a hotel named The Halfway House - as the village was at the mid-point of the Concord Coach Line running between Royal Oak and Almont. Industries included a feed mill, cider mill, wooden bowl mill, and a planing mill.

The Disco Methodist Church was established by Orestes Millerd, who had settled in the area as early as 1827. The Mennonite Church, built in the late 1890s, was used as a house of worship until the early 1930s. In 1988 the building was moved, and reconstructed into a home not far from its original site.

Today, a smattering of old homes and a namesake location on county road maps are all that remain of this early Shelby Township village.</P