Although Warren lay only 10 miles from French Fort Detroit, founded in 1701, settlers did not reach it for 100 years. The Red Run, a branch of the Clinton River, served as the route followed by fur traders and early pioneers by canoe. It also provided the path followed by the Moravian Trail into the interior for settlement and homesteading. In 1785, Moravian missionaries and local Indians built this 23 1/2 mile wagon road. At that time, the territory was marshland, and the Red Run and similar waterways provided drainage outlets that dried the land and opened the area for forestry and farming.