[4] In the decades before it was settled by white immigrants, York Township and the surrounding area were the domain of the Potawatomi Indians.

The first recorded white settler in York Township was Fayette Barron, who built a homestead at what would become Metz in 1836.

The following year saw the arrival of the Powers families, who settled in the northwest sections of the township.

Two Powers brothers had scouted the area the year before, and now brought six families on a long journey from New York state.

At one point or another it boasted a sawmill, a hotel, physicians, an undertaker, and several of the more typical retail shops.