Industries sprang up near the source of the raw material they utilized. What were originally small and medium-sized farming villages subsequently became manufacturing centers sending their products across the nation. For example, sheep raisers from the English town of Manchester settled just north of the trail, making Washtenaw County one of the leading wool producers in the nation. In the heart of the sheep raising area, Clinton was a thriving trade center, the largest village west of Detroit on the trail. Two rail lines crossed there making Clinton an excellent site for manufacturing. In 1866, a small group of businessmen formed the Clinton Woolen Mill. Using local Manchester wool, the mill manufactured clothing for soldiers in the two World Wars and the Spanish-American War, cloth for fire and police uniforms, and eventually material for automobile upholstery. The mill burned twice, once shortly after it opened and again in 1886 as a result of an explosion. Both times it was rebuilt within months. The mill closed in 1957, but the jobs and affluence it helped to produce left a legacy of beautiful old housing stock and once prosperous commercial buildings.
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