Exploring is baked into the very soul of Mount Clemens. While today it is fun to visit the restaurants, bars, and other attractions downtown, and in years past the Clem was a favorite destination of celebrities seeking the benefits of its mineral baths, Mount Clemens owes its existence to the pioneering spirit of one man, Christian Clemens.
Christian Clemens was born in Pennsylvania on January 30, 1768, the son of a Mennonite farmer. His mother spoke only German. One of 13 children, he grew up working on the family homestead until he was 27. It was then the urge to explore beyond the world he had known took hold.
In 1795, he came to Detroit with a surveying party led by Lewis Cass, and three years later made the most important decision of his life—moving north to the Clinton River. On March 18, 1800, he purchased a distillery which had been built a couple years earlier—the first building in what would become Mount Clemens, the city that bears his name. Clemens continued to purchase land in the area, including a place for his home on what is today Gratiot Avenue.
In either 1802 or 1803, he married Elizabeth Allen. Elizabeth was a widow with two children—her husband, a physician from Detroit, had disappeared a year or so earlier. By 1806, the Clemenses had started a school in their home for area children. By 1818, a total of 15 families lived nearby and the settlement was named Mount Clemens.
Clemens, who served as a colonel in the local militia, Chief Justice of the County Court, and Judge of Probate, continued to grow Mount Clemens over the years. He donated land to the county to build the first courthouse—a log building constructed in 1818, after he was appointed to the position of judge by Lewis Cass, then governor of Michigan Territory. Clemens also gave land to build the first churches and cemetery in the area. He started several businesses, including a fur trading post and a tannery. He helped build a stagecoach line to Detroit. Christian Clemens was even one of the first trustees of the University of Michigan.
Perhaps the most interesting period of Christian Clemens’ life was during the War of 1812. At the time, according to the Eldridge County History, Mount Clemens (then called High Banks), was “an unbroken forest” with a handful of log buildings, connected by a rough dirt road. When hostilities with the British intensified, many High Banks settlers moved to Fort Detroit. The fort held out against the British for a few weeks before it surrendered. The rest of the militia was allowed to return home, but Christian Clemens was captured by British forces.
Imprisoned in the fort, it would be easy to assume that Clemens lived the typical life of a prisoner of war. Surprisingly, he befriended his captors, particularly two of the officers. He was allowed to roam the garrison and was even accompanied by a British lieutenant on trips outside the fort. On a number of occasions, Clemens even scaled the walls of the stockade to visit his family before returning to captivity. One time, Christian Clemens was found by British officers at home spending a quiet evening with his wife and children, smoking his pipe. He was quickly returned, the story goes, “without affording him any time to snatch his cap.”
Mount Clemens has changed a lot in the 225 years since Christian Clemens first arrived—the stagecoach line replaced by busy roads. Most importantly, his pioneering spirit lives on in every person who decides to open a new business, renovate a historic home, or just do their part to make this city a great place to be.