Pleasant Ridge

History

Pleasant Ridge began when Burt Taylor subdivided the Mayday farm in 1913. The community incorporated as a village within Royal Oak Township in 1921 and again as an autonomous city in 1927. The origin of the name is believed to derive from the main thoroughfare of Ridge Road. One of the more notable establishments within the city was Hedge's Wigwam, which was a Native American-themed restaurant that operated from 1927 until 1967. Pleasant Ridge was actively involved in resisting the construction of the middle segment of Interstate 696 in the early 1960s. *Pleasant Ridge East Historic District *Pleasant Ridge Historic District Pleasant Ridge is bordered on the south by the city of Ferndale, which is considered the center of the LGBT community in the Metro Detroit region. The city of Pleasant Ridge is among the top cities in the nation with same-sex couple households, with at least 60 per 1,000 according to figures from the United States Census Bureau. A study by the Williams Institute from the University of California, Los Angeles recorded 59.55 same-sex couples for every 1,000 households in the city of Pleasant Ridge, while the state as a whole ranked low with only 5.6 for every 1,000 households. However, the study did not record the number of homosexual residents, only the number of same-sex households. The study listed Pleasant Ridge as having the highest same-sex household ratio in the state, ahead of Ferndale with 35.0 same-sex couples for every 1,000 households. These numbers rank Pleasant Ridge as having the seventh-highest same-sex household ratio in the nation. Cities in the nation with a higher ratio include Provincetown, Massachusetts; Wilton Manors, Florida; Palm Springs, California; Rehoboth Beach, Delaware; Guerneville, California; and West…

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• House Sparrow

  Passer domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  37,840
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  35,092
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  34,764
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  32,699
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  29,013
• European Starling

  Sturnus vulgaris Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  25,607
• Downy Woodpecker

  Dryobates pubescens (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  22,727
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  22,209

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2026-05-04
  8 km N of Maybee, Michigan
• M 3 — 2026-04-26
  7 km SSE of Amherstburg, Canada
• M 2.5 — 2022-05-23
  2 km NNW of Corunna, Canada
• M 3.2 — 2020-08-21
  2 km SSE of Detroit Beach, Michigan
• M 3.4 — 2018-04-20
  Michigan
• M 2.6 — 2017-05-14
  18 km ENE of Leamington, Canada