First settled in 1819, the village is located in the northernmost part of the township along Dixie Highway, on the southeast shore of Van Norman Lake.

In 1818, Alpheus Williams and his brother-in-law, Captain Archibald Phillips, entered the first land purchase for $2.00 an acre.

Archibald Phillips and Alpheus Williams purchased 161.4 acres in what would become Waterford Village, Michigan.

In 1818, the Oliver Williams family established the first farm settlement in the county on the banks of Silver Lake.

Archibald Phillips and Alpheus Williams continued on northward about nine miles to where the Clinton River crossed the old Saginaw Trail.

Williams and Phillips also built the first dam where the Clinton River crossed over the Saginaw Trail and erected the first saw mill there.

In 1826, Waterford Village's first cemetery was deeded by Captain Archibald Phillips to Governor Lewis Cass for burial purposes.

In 1837, Merrick and Bruce purchased it and built the first established store next to the original home of Alpheus Williams on the north bank of the Clinton River on Dixie Highway.

Circa 1857, Horace Huntoon (b.1837-d.1897) and a young handyman named John A. Griffen (b.1841-d.1917)[16] built a general store in Waterford Village on the southwest corner of Andersonville Road and Dixie Highway (now 5799 Dixie Highway).

From dry goods and tools to certain foods, patent medicines, household utensils, fancy jewelry, material for clothing, shoes, hats, cracker barrels, and even hard candy and a small selection of toys.

The store was idle for a few years in the early 1900s, but the second floor was used as a justice court, and a dance hall.

[25] In 1841, Stephen Besley (d.1869) began construction on a hotel at 5805 Saginaw Trail (Dixie Highway).

On December 31, 1890, the Waterford Exchange Hotel caught fire, causing the death of local resident Jeremiah G. Ganong (b.1802) on March 20, 1891, from smoke inhalation.

Built by the Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway, a subsidiary of the Grand Trunk Railroad, the depot stood on the northwest corner of the tracks on Depot Street (later called Airport Road).

Because of the railroad, the Waterford area, with its many lakes, quickly became a summer resort community and drew large numbers of vacationers from Detroit and other cities along the railway line.

While they were in service, they learned the east coast game of baseball (then spelled Base Ball) and brought it home with them.

The first newspaper to serve Waterford was The Oakland Chronicle, which began publishing May 31, 1830, by Thomas Simpson.