Livonia, city in southeastern Michigan, in Wayne County, between the Upper and Middle River Rouge. It is a residential, commercial, and manufacturing city located in the Detroit metropolitan region; automobile manufacturers are the city's largest employers. Livonia is the site of Madonna University (1947), a two-year college, and the Ladbroke Detroit Race Course, a center for horse racing.
The community, established in 1835 as Livonia Township, incorporated as a city in 1950. It drew its name from a historic region now occupied by the Baltic States of eastern Europe, reputedly to avoid duplications with any other Michigan city.
