Fort Saginaw, the military garrison established in 1822, which was located near the present-day intersection of Court and Hamilton streets, was the original nucleus of the Saginaw City business district. Two small residential districts located a respectable distance from Saginaw City's business district on N. and S. Michigan Avenue were the west side's grandest. Here were the residences of second-generation businessmen, lumbermen, and investors who built houses that closely paralleled the residential developments of the east side.