Although only 10 miles from French Fort Detroit (1701), it took 100 years before settlers reached Warren. Red Run Creek, a branch of the Clinton River, was the route early pioneers followed by canoe. It also provided the pathway later followed by the Moravian Trail, a 23 1/2 mile wagon road built in 1785 by Moravian missionaries and local Indians to reach the interior for settlement and homesteading. At the time, the territory was marshland, and Red Run Creek and similar waterways served as drainage outlets that helped dry the land and open the area for forestry and farming.