1819
Bagley’s Corners
Amasa Bagley settled here in 1819, and the crossroads took his name. It was also called Bloomfield Center before the name Bloomfield Hills was adopted in the 1890s.
Source: Britannica: Bloomfield Hills
Orchards and weekend estates
Before the estates, the hills here were farms and fruit orchards. Amasa Bagley’s 1819 settlement gave the crossroads its first name, and by the 1890s Bloomfield Hills had stuck.
Around the turn of the twentieth century, Detroit business leaders started buying land for summer and weekend homes. The Booths were the first to stay year-round, moving into Cranbrook House in 1908.
Cranbrook takes shape
George Booth sketched much of the early estate himself. Albert Kahn drew Cranbrook House from those sketches, and the Greek Theatre followed in 1915–1916.
In 1925 Eliel Saarinen completed a master plan for an art academy, and the campus grew fast: Christ Church Cranbrook rose from 1925 to 1928 to designs by Bertram Goodhue Associates, Saarinen’s Kingswood School for Girls went up in 1930–1931, and the Cranbrook Institute of Science was rebuilt to his design in 1936–1937.
The Cranbrook Academy of Art Library and Museum came last, built from 1939 to 1942. The campus covers 319 acres today.
A city of its own
Bloomfield Hills became a village in 1927 and a city in 1932, with residents choosing cityhood to keep local control as Birmingham grew.
The city has contracted with Baldwin Public Library in Birmingham for library service since November 8, 2011, so residents carry Baldwin cards.
Source: Cranbrook House & Gardens: History · Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research: Timeline · City of Bloomfield Hills: New Resident Welcome Packet · Britannica: Bloomfield Hills