![Utica, Michigan Was Once Called Hog’s Hallow](http://townsquare.media/site/690/files/2023/01/attachment-Fu-2.jpg?w=630&h=373&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89&w=980&q=75)
Utica, Michigan Was Once Called Hog’s Hallow
The town of Utica is small but has a lot of history to it. Growing up next to it in Rochester Hills, it was always a fun area that, even though set up in the suburbs, always kind of has and still has a small-town feel to it. But while attempting to learn more about it, I discovered something about it I had never known before: It used to have a goofy-ass name...Hog's Hallow. Why on earth would anyone ever call this area that name? The history of the area may peer into the reasoning:
In May 1817, Nathanial Squire, a revolutionary war veteran and reputedly the first resident of Utica, Michigan moved west along the Clinton River from near Mt. Clemens, until he came to a high point of ground where the river and two [native] trails crossed. The rapidly growing settlement was variously called McDougalville, Hog Hollow, and Harlow.
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Shelby Township To The Rescue
The Township of Shelby actually had the info on this which blew me away. I knew it most likely had something to do with there being a lot of hogs in the area at some point, and my intuition was correct:
Wild boar roamed southern Michigan in the early 1800s, and one such creature had the misfortune to encounter a hungry band of hunters. After killing their bounty, the men found a sheltered spot, built a fire, and cooked a fine dinner. They commemorated the occasion by naming their location "Hogs Hollow".
They honestly should have stayed with it because they ended up renaming the town MacDougalville after a guy who showed up rocking the fiddle, made a bunch of promises to get more people to move to Hog's Hallow, and then never came back. Maybe he was eaten by a hog...
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