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is a city in the northwest part of Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. Livonia is a very large suburb with an array of traditional neighborhoods connected to the metropolitan area by freeways. The population was 100,545 at the 2000 census. The municipality is a part of the Detroit metropolitan area, and located approximately northwest from downtown Detroit, and two miles (3 km) from the western city limits of Detroit (Redford Township lies in between the two).
First settled by pioneers from New England and New York, an act by the Legislature of the Territory of Michigan established the borders of Livonia Township on March 17, 1835. The settlers brought with them the name "Livonia", a name that had already been given to Livonia, New York, Livonia, Pennsylvania and a region of the Baltic Sea named Livonia in present day Estonia and Latvia, from which many early settlers came.
Livonia was incorporated into a city on May 23, 1950, by vote of the citizens of the township. A significant motivation was to gain tax revenues from the DRC (Detroit Race Course), which was Michigan's only thoroughbred horse racetrack at the time. The track closed in 1998.
Livonia has been visited by six U.S. presidents, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George H.W. Bush.