Macomb County is located in the eastern portion of Michigan and is considered part of northern Metro Detroit. Formally organized on January 15, 1818, the county was named after Alexander Macomb Jr., a Detroit-born veteran of the War of 1812 who distinguished himself in the Battle of Plattsburg. From the early days of the county's founding, when the government started selling parcels to settlers, the land was primarily used for farming. Truck farming was—and continues to be—greatly important to the farming communities in Macomb County, as crops have long been taken down to Detroit's Eastern Market to be sold every Saturday morning. Despite significant land development, which started in the 1970s at the boundary line of Hall Road and steadily moved north over time, Macomb County's agricultural heritage is still evident today, with a large percent of landmass remaining in farms.