Flat Rock, Michigan

Flat Rock is a city in Wayne County of the U.S. state of Michigan. A very small portion of the city extends into Monroe County. At the 2010 census, the city population was 9,878. Flat Rock is home to the Flat Rock Assembly Plant, owned by Ford Motor Company. As of 2012 it produces the 5th generation Ford Mustang and the Lincoln Continental. Flat Rock is the namesake of the famous Flat Rock Speedway, located in Berlin Charter Township in neighboring Monroe County.HistoryFlat Rock began as a Wyandot settlement. It was later designated as a reservation for the Wyandot, and still functioned as such in 1830.The first Euro-American settlers in Flat Rock were Michael Vreeland and his five grown sons between 1811 and 1820. Michael had been captured by British Rangers during the Revolutionary War and released after American independence. The family purchased 800acre. The town was called the Village of Vreeland until 1838 when the Vreeland family sold off the majority of the land and relinquished control of the area. The Vreeland families built the first grain and lumber mill, having brought the grinding stones from New York. Descendants of Michael Vreeland still live in the town and attend Flat Rock public schools, being the seventh generation to reside in the town their family founded.