We are glad and thankful to have found such a good and healthy a spot for a town site nothing was lacking. We found traces that long ago an Indian town must have stood on this place. After much questioning they were vindicated. In July of 1782, DePyster provided the Moravian Missionaries with provisions and obtained a parcel of land on the Huron River from the Chippewa Indians for use until the war between England and the colonies was over.
Accounts vary as to the number of cabins erected from twenty to thirty with a chapel.
This was the first wagonway made into the interior of Michigan. The roads now that follow that course are Moravian to Schoenherr to Gratiot and Six Mile to Detroit City Airport. As a result of Britain losing the war and control of the fort at Detroit, the mission was vacated on April 20, 1786. The Moravians moved to Fairfield, Ontario, which was still under the protection of the British. Later they returned to Ohio.