Sterling Heights, Michigan, United States

🇺🇸 Sterling Heights is a city in Macomb County of the U.S. state of Michigan, and a suburb of Detroit. It is the second largest suburb in Metro Detroit, and the fourth largest city in Michigan.

History As a result of the War of 1812 and the 1817 Treaty of Fort Meigs, the area of the Michigan Territory which now makes up Sterling Heights was first surveyed by Deputy Surveyor Joseph Wampler; his survey was approved on February 20, 1818. Wampler had been one of two deputy surveyors of Perrysburg, Ohio, in 1816.

Originally created as part of Shelby Township in April 1827, it was broken off as Jefferson Township in March 1835. In March 1838, it was renamed Sterling Township.

Until the 1950s, Sterling Township was an agricultural area, largely devoted to growing rhubarb and other crops sold in Detroit. Road improvements led to decreased commute times and lower costs for the delivery of goods and services to and from businesses. The population increased when suburban homes were built for the workers in metropolitan Detroit's booming automobile industry. There was already a small village named Sterling in Arenac County. So when Sterling Township was incorporated as a city in 1968, the word "Heights" was added to the township name to satisfy a state law that prevents incorporated municipalities from having the same name.

Gerald Donovan became the first mayor of the city and F. James Dunlop became the first mayor pro-tem. In the 1960s and 1970s, many residents came to live in Sterling Heights to work in automobile plants operated by Chrysler and Ford. Lakeside Mall opened in Sterling Heights in 1976.

The city is home to many groups of immigrants. It has received many people of eastern European origins, including ethnic Albanians, Bosnians, Croatians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Poles, Serbians and Slovenians. After the 2003 U.S.-Iraqi War, millions of Iraqi citizens were displaced, particularly Iraqi Christians (Chaldean Catholics and Assyrians). Of these, 30,000-50,000 resettled in Sterling Heights, giving parts of the city the nickname "Little Nineveh", especially around 15 Mile Road and Ryan.

Geography Sterling Heights is a second-ring suburb, 14 to 20 miles (23 to 32 km) north of downtown Detroit. The city's southern border is 6 miles (10 km) from Detroit's northern border. The shape of the city is six miles long and miles wide. It is bordered to the south by the city of Warren, at its south-west corner by Madison Heights, to the west by Troy, to the north by Utica and Shelby Township, at its north-east corner by Macomb Township, to the east by Clinton Township, and to the south-east by Fraser.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Sterling Heights has a total area of 36.72 square miles (95.10 km²), of which 36.45 square miles (94.41 km²) are land and 0.27 square miles (0.70 km²), or 0.74%, are water. The Clinton River crosses the north-east part of the city, flowing east to Lake St. Clair east of Mount Clemens.

Education Sterling Heights is served by two public school districts: Utica Community Schools, which serves the northern half of the city, and Warren Consolidated Schools, which serves the southern half of the city. Utica operates two high schools in the city, Stevenson High School and Henry Ford II High School, while Warren Consolidated only operates one in Sterling Heights High School. Additionally, Parkway Christian School, a private K-12 Christian school, is also located in the city.

Media The city of Sterling Heights has three local newspapers, The Macomb Daily with daily and Sunday delivery (owned by the Journal Register Company), the Sterling Heights Sentry (C and G Newspapers), and the Sterling Heights Source (owned by Advisor & Source Newspapers), the last two are delivered to city residences free of charge. The city also has two local channels. SHTV is run by the city's community relations department and usually features locally produced programming (including City Council meetings) and community announcements. Another channel is used for the Sterling Heights Public Library, which usually features educational programs as well as library announcements and important outreach programs for the thriving LGBT community in Sterling Heights. SHTV is found locally on Comcast channel 5, on Wide Open West channel 10 and online. The public library channel is found on Comcast channel 12 and WOW channel 20. The city's official radio station is AM 1700. The city also releases a seasonal magazine and a city calendar free of charge to each city household and business.

WKEG, affiliated with Relevant Radio, is also based in Sterling Heights.

Transport: Road Sterling Heights sits on two main thoroughfares: State highways • M-53 commonly called Van Dyke Avenue or the Van Dyke Freeway (they split in the city, however, and rejoin to its north), which leads north into The Thumb of Michigan. • M-59, commonly called Hall Road once the freeway ends—which is the east–west connector from just north of Mount Clemens, through Utica as a surface road, and then becomes a limited access freeway to Pontiac, Michigan, being the main northern connector between Macomb County and Oakland County. In Sterling Heights, large areas are devoted to retail and commercial development (e.g., Lakeside Mall).

Other main roads • Mound Road is an important north–south artery that runs continuously through the city. Overall, the road starts south in Hamtramck and runs up to 32 Mile Road in Romeo. The road ends briefly at River Bends Park in Shelby Township (becoming Auburn Road), and continues just north of 22 Mile Road. • East-west travel is mainly on the "mile roads", beginning at 14 Mile Road through 20 Mile Road (M-59). 16 Mile Road, also known as Metro Parkway, is another major "mile road". See Roads and freeways in metropolitan Detroit. • Utica Road is an important diagonal connector that crisscrosses the city from south-east to north-west, going through the intersection of Dodge Park Road (across from the Sterling Heights city hall) via the first roundabout in Macomb County. • Dequindre Road is the border between the city of Sterling Heights and the city of Troy. It is also the border between the counties of Macomb and Oakland. • Hayes Road is the divider between Clinton Township (Between Utica Road and South of M59) and Fraser (Between Masonic and Moravian).