[4] Ferndale is well-known for its downtown, as well as its position as the hub of the LGBTQ+ community in Metro Detroit, and a center of progressive politics.

[5] Native Americans were original inhabitants of the area now known as the City of Ferndale.

After the invention of the automobile and the development of the automotive assembly line, the population of Ferndale increased rapidly.

Through the early 1950s there were trolley (interurban railroad) lines in the median strip of Woodward Avenue from downtown Detroit to Pontiac.

In the 1970s, the Ferndale suburban community emerged as a place for families to raise children during the "Baby Boom" era, with its elementary schools, a downtown, city parks, active churches and civic groups.

Ferndale's downtown is formed by two major thoroughfares, Nine Mile Road and Woodward Avenue.

The city has continued to make itself more accessible to people by reducing traffic lanes on Hilton Road and Pinecrest Road, two major local north/south streets, and adding bicycle lanes.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.88 square miles (10.05 km2), all land.

Ferndale is bordered to the south by 8 Mile Road, to the north (west of Woodward Avenue) by Oakridge Street, and (east of Woodward Avenue) by 10 Mile Road and I-696.

Current city council members are Greg Pawlica, Laura Mikulski, Rolanda Kelley and Donnie Johnson.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the growth of the LGBT population in Ferndale, coinciding with a migration from neighborhoods in Detroit to communities north along Woodward Avenue, including Royal Oak, Pleasant Ridge and others.

The Motor City Pride festival moved to Ferndale from Royal Oak in 2001.

In 2006 the city passed an anti-discrimination ordinance protecting LGBT people from discrimination in public accommodations, housing, and business, with 70% in favor and 30% in opposition.

Affirmations, a 17,000-square-foot (1,600 m2) LGBT community center in Downtown Ferndale, opened its new, expanded building on Sunday June 3, 2007,[20] the same year the city elected the first openly gay mayor in Michigan.