Metro Detroit Oakland County City
Huntington Woods
"The City of Homes": English-style houses, a legendary golf course and a slice of the zoo
- People (2025 estimate)
- 6,274
- Land area
- 1.5 sq mi · 3.9 km²
- From downtown
- 12.1 miles · 20 km · northwest
- Incorporated
- 1932
Nothing on our calendar here this week yet.
01 / Why it matters
Why Huntington Woods matters
Huntington Woods is a small residential city squeezed between Woodward, 11 Mile, Coolidge Highway and I-696, and it doesn't even have a commercial downtown. It calls itself "The City of Homes," and that's exactly right: English-flavored houses, winding streets and a whole lot of quiet.
The name and the look both come from England. Developer I. C. Freud came home from Huntingdon and modeled the winding streets on the ridge after it, with names like York, Hereford and Dundee. From the 1920s on, Detroit executives, ad men and car designers built elegant homes here.
Two big green spaces take up a good chunk of the city: the western part of the Detroit Zoo and Rackham Golf Course, which local history says was the first 18-hole public course in Michigan. Huntington Woods also has the highest share of Jewish residents of any municipality in Michigan.
02 / Known for
What Huntington Woods is known for
"The City of Homes": there's no commercial downtown; the heart of town is the library, the Gillham Recreation Center and Burton Community Park.
Rackham Golf Course was designed by Donald Ross, opened in 1925, and Joe Louis, the "Brown Bomber," was a regular.
Part of the Detroit Zoo lies inside city limits; landowner George Hendrie pledged much of the land to the Detroit Zoological Society.
The Michigan municipality with the highest proportion of Jewish residents.
In 1971 the local Tribune reported the state's first one-man rubbish truck here, and the city was already running a paper recycling program.
03 / What’s on
What’s on in Huntington Woods
Nothing on our calendar in Huntington Woods right now. Try the neighbors:
04 / Places
1 places on our site in Huntington Woods
05 / What to do
If you’re in Huntington Woods
Detroit Zoo
A 125-acre zoo with more than 2,000 animals, and the first in the U.S. built around bar-less habitats; the penguin center and the polar bears of the Arctic Ring of Life are the crowd favorites. The official address is 8450 W. 10 Mile Road in Royal Oak.
Official site ↗Rackham Golf Course
A public 18-hole Donald Ross course on 10 Mile Road, next to the Detroit Zoo. The Rackhams gave it to the City of Detroit so people who couldn't afford private clubs could play too.
Official site ↗The Hill Historic District
Walk up the city's ridge, where the English-inspired streets curve past the best 1920s homes. The local historic district was created in 2004.
Official site ↗
06 / History
Huntington Woods through the years
- 1824
J. Lockwood, a War of 1812 veteran, receives the first land grant in what is now Huntington Woods.
- 1916
The Huntington Woods Subdivision is platted and the first house goes up on Borgman.
- 1925
Rackham Golf Course is completed.
- 1926
Huntington Woods incorporates as a village.
- 1928
The Detroit Zoo officially opens at its current site on August 1.
- 1932
Huntington Woods becomes a city.
08 / People
Famous names from here
- Kristen Bell Actress, born in Huntington Woods in 1980; she went to Burton Elementary here.
- Danny Fenster Journalist who was imprisoned in Myanmar in 2021; he grew up in Huntington Woods.
Sources
Population and area are Census Bureau figures (Huntington Woods city).
- 2020 Census, Michigan (PL 94-171)
- Census Bureau population estimates: cities and towns
- hwmi.org/residents/city_history.php
- hwmi.org/departments/parks_and_recreation/index.php
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rackham_Golf_Course
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit_Zoo
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntington_Woods,_Michigan
- detroitzoo.org/contact-us
- troon.com/course/rackham-golf-course
- hwmi.org/government/historic_district_information.php
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristen_Bell
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Fenster
- hwmi.org
Change since 2020, per the Census Bureau estimate: −1.8 percent.
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