Frederick Buhl was born in Zelienople, Pennsylvania on November 27, 1806, the second of eleven children.

[1] He went to Pittsburgh at the age of 16 to learn to be a jeweler, but ill-health forced him to change plans, and in 1833 he moved to Detroit.

[1] There, he formed a partnership with his brother Christian H. Buhl, a trained hatter.

[1] In addition to his furrier business, Frederick Buhl was the director of two banks, the president of Harper Hospital, president of the Fort Wayne and Elmwood Street Railway,[3] and one of the original directors of the Merchant's Exchange and Board of Trade.

[1] Buhl was a Republican,[4] and served on the city council, and was mayor of Detroit in 1848.