Kensington, Michigan

Coordinates: 42°30′42″N 83°39′33″W / 42.51167°N 83.65917°W

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Kensington, Michigan
Unincorporated community and former village
Kensington Location within the state of Michigan
Coordinates: 42°30′42″N 83°39′33″W / 42.51167°N 83.65917°W / 42.51167; -83.65917
Country	United States
State	Michigan
County	Oakland
Townships	Lyon
Settled	1831
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code(s)	48178 (South Lyon)
Area code(s)	248
FIPS code	26-84240^[1]
GNIS feature ID	1627218^[2]

Kensington is an unincorporated community and former village in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located within Lyon Township.

Settled in 1831, Kensington suffered population loss when the railroad diverted the Detroit to Lansing traffic southward to South Lyon. The later building of I-96 and the Kensington Metropark in the 1950s caused the community to disappear.^[3]

History

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Kensington was settled in 1831 and platted in 1836.^[3] On June 9, 1834, a U.S. Post Office opened with the name of Lyon on Kent Lake Road between Grand River Avenue and Silver Lake Road (42°30′42″N 83°39′33″W / 42.51167°N 83.65917°W / 42.51167; -83.65917). On September 5, 1836, the Lyon Post Office was renamed Kensington.^[4] By 1854 it had over 300 residents. With the building of the Detroit, Lansing and Lake Michigan Railroad in 1871 it suffered a significant loss of population that was further accelerated by the building of the Michigan Air Line Railroad in 1882 that went through New Hudson.^[3] On July 31, 1902, the Kensington Post Office was closed.^[4] By 1905 there were only four families left in the village. Most of its buildings were leveled when Kensington Metropark and I-96 (then US-16) were built in the 1950s.^[3]

External links

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Michigan’s Ghost Towns – Kensington Village

Sources

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^ "U.S. Census website". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved January 31, 2008.
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kensington, Michigan
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Hagman, Arthur A., ed. Oakland County Book of History. 1970. p. 34.
^ ^a ^b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kensington Post Office (historical), Michigan & GNIS in Google Maps Citation: Ellis, David M. Michigan Postal History, The Post Offices 1805-1986. 12-Dec-1993.

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