Best Web Design in Commerce Township, MI (2026)

Web Design for Commerce Township, Michigan

Commerce Township spreads across nearly 30 square miles of western Oakland County about 34 miles northwest of downtown Detroit, and roughly 8% of it is water. It started as a lake resort destination and became a permanent suburb of 43,000 without losing the lakes, the Huron River, or most of Proud Lake State Recreation Area.

AppWT serves Commerce Township and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Commerce Township

Also known as. Commerce Twp. (the everyday short form). The Lakes Area (the west Oakland County identity it shares with Walled Lake, Wolverine Lake, Wixom, White Lake and Waterford, served by the Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce since 1950). Commerce Village (the historic crossroads hamlet at Commerce and Sleeth Roads, platted 1836).

History. Abram Walrod arrived as the area's first settler in May 1824. Commerce Township was organized for self-government on March 7, 1834, when the original Novi Township was cut into quarters to create Commerce and Lyon Townships. Milford Township split off from Lyon the following year, in 1835. The community of Commerce Village, at Commerce and Sleeth Roads, was platted in 1836. The township was originally settled as a resort destination. The permanent population came later, drawn by the same lakes and recreation land. Wolverine Lake, the township's namesake village lake, is man-made. Before 1918 Howard Stuart and L.A. Green conceived a plan to dam several small streams. The project was completed in March 1923, and residents petitioned to name the new community after Michigan's state animal, which was adopted by the end of that year. The village of Wolverine Lake incorporated in 1954 and remains inside the township's boundaries. Proud Lake State Recreation Area, most of which sits in the township, was one of ten state recreation areas established in southeast Michigan in 1944. In August 1994 police investigating a vehicle stop uncovered 17-year-old David Hahn's homemade radiation experiments. On June 26, 1995 the EPA designated the property a Superfund cleanup site, dismantled the backyard shed and shipped its contents to Utah as low-level radioactive waste.

Local economy. Commerce Township is a residential suburb of Metro Detroit whose growth has been driven by lake frontage, recreation land and Oakland County commuting distance rather than by a single industry. iLabs at the University of Michigan-Dearborn named Commerce Township a four-star eCities community in 2025, its fifth consecutive year, in a study of 277 Michigan communities measuring five-year changes in property values, community assets and tax rates. The township supports a Downtown Development Authority, and the Lakes Area Chamber of Commerce has served Commerce and its neighbors as west Oakland's regional chamber since 1950. The northern terminus of highway M-5 sits inside the township, giving it a direct expressway-grade link toward Detroit. Two school districts operate here, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools and Huron Valley Schools, and all three Walled Lake high schools (Northern, Central and Western) are physically inside the township, making public education a major local employer. The Commerce Township Community Library, created by township board resolution on February 23, 2005, moved into a purpose-built 35,000-square-foot facility in January 2017.

Culture and community. Silo Fest, held in September at Silo Ranch, runs 4 to 10 PM with live music, a beer tent, food trucks, vendors, hayrides, pony rides and games. Admission is $15, free for children under 8. Trail-or-Treat, the township's October event at Dodge Park, drew about 1,500 participants in its most recent run. The annual Tree Lighting at the Richardson Center is the township's December holiday gathering. Hockey is a real local strength. Connor Hellebuyck, Callie Shanahan and Anna Segedi all came out of Commerce Township into professional hockey. Connor Hellebuyck, born May 19, 1993 in Commerce Township, has won the Vezina Trophy in 2020, 2024 and 2025, the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP in 2025 (the first goaltender to take it since Carey Price in 2014-15), the Jennings Trophy in 2024 and 2025, and Olympic gold in 2026 with a 41-save performance in the final. Connor Rutz, a forward for Detroit City FC in the USL Championship, is from the township.

What makes Commerce Township distinct. It was never a working reactor, but it emitted radiation likely more than 1,000 times background, and he earned Eagle Scout rank shortly after the EPA hauled the shed away. Wolverine Lake is not natural. It was engineered by damming several small streams, finished in March 1923, and named after Michigan's state animal by resident petition. Interstate 275 was supposed to loop back to I-75 through this area. The project died because building around the township's lakes was too difficult and the property was too valuable, which is why M-5 simply ends here. About 8% of the township's 29.87 square miles is water. Alina Morse thought up sugar-free lollipops at age 7 and founded her company at 10. By 13 she was the youngest person ever on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine and had been invited twice to the White House Easter Egg Roll. The township does not rent its park pavilions to anyone. Every pavilion is first come, first served. The township's own website cites a population of 38,514 while the Census Bureau counts 43,054. The gap closely matches the 4,544 residents of the incorporated village of Wolverine Lake, so the township figure appears to count only residents outside the village. Treat the difference as a boundary definition rather than an error. Three separate Walled Lake high schools sit inside a township that contains no part of the city of Walled Lake, which borders it to the south.

Lakes-area township of about 40,000 in western Oakland County, settled in 1825 and grown around the upper Huron River chain of lakes

Notable. Home of the 3,030-acre Proud Lake State Recreation Area on the upper Huron River.

Commerce Township Landmarks and Local Life

• Byers Homestead - Huron River homestead park on land first settled in 1825 by Abram Walrod, Commerce Township's first European settler, preserving the residence, barns, and a wooden river bridge
• Proud Lake State Recreation Area - 3,030-acre state recreation area on the Huron River with 20 miles of trails, camping, and a 24-person rental cabin
• Huron River headwater lakes - Chain of lakes along the upper Huron River that defines the township's waterfront neighborhoods
• Dodge Park No. 5 - 48.84-acre township community park
• Robert H. Long Nature Park - Wetland nature park at 14 Mile and M-5 in the township's southeast corner

Commerce Township at a Glance

U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023.

• Median household income: $112,552
• Adults with a bachelor degree or higher: 46.6%
• Housing: 87.2% of occupied housing units are owner-occupied
• Housing: 76.6% of housing units are single-family detached homes