Best Web Design in Clare, MI (2026)

Web Design for Clare, Michigan

Clare sits almost dead-center in Michigan's Lower Peninsula at the junction of US-10 and US-127, a genuine crossroads that leans hard into an adopted Irish identity of shamrocks and festivals. This town of about 3,250 punches far above its weight in fame thanks to Cops & Doughnuts, a bakery run by its own police officers, and the storied, reputedly haunted Doherty Hotel. It straddles two counties, mostly Clare County with a small southern slice reaching into Isabella County.

AppWT serves Clare and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Clare

Also known as. The Crossroads of Michigan. Gateway to the North. City of Festivals.

History. Clare was founded in 1870 with the arrival of the Pere Marquette Railroad and named after Clare County, which an Irish surveyor had named around 1843 after County Clare in his native Ireland. The post office opened January 20, 1871; the community incorporated as a village in 1879 and as a city in 1891. The city grew at the convergence of the Pere Marquette and Ann Arbor railroads and later US-10 and US-127, earning its nickname 'The Crossroads of Michigan.' In 1976 the Clare Chamber of Commerce formally adopted the Irish theme, promoting it on billboards and in window displays and giving Clare its official shamrock symbol. In the 1930s Clare became an oil-boom town; local firm Mammoth Producing and Refining grew into the largest independent producer east of the Mississippi River.

Local economy. Clare began as a lumbering-era railroad hub and later rode a 1930s oil boom centered on the Mammoth Producing and Refining Corporation. Its modern economy is a retail and tourism crossroads anchored by US-10/US-127 traffic and a walkable downtown historic district. Cops & Doughnuts is a major economic draw, reporting more than 500,000 visitors in 2015 and expanding to multiple locations across Michigan.

Culture and community. As the 'City of Festivals,' Clare hosts a four-day Irish Festival each March featuring parades, bed races, a kids' fun run, a craft show, and a leprechaun contest, drawing thousands of visitors. Other annual events include Summerfest with fireworks over Shamrock Lake, a free summer concert series in City Park, the fall Clare Spook-Tacular, and a December Christmas celebration. Cops & Doughnuts, opened in 2009 by nine Clare police officers to rescue the failing Clare City Bakery, has become a beloved statewide brand. The 30-mile paved Pere Marquette Rail-Trail runs from downtown Clare east to Midland.

What makes Clare distinct. In Clare, the cops really do run the doughnut shop: nine officers bought the town's failing 1896 bakery in 2009 and turned it into a nationally known business. The Doherty Hotel taproom was the scene of a 1938 Purple Gang murder, when oilman Carl 'Jack' Livingston fatally shot his attorney and business partner Isaiah Leebove, then was acquitted on a plea of temporary insanity; the hotel is said to be haunted. Despite being an incorporated city, the U.S. Census classifies Clare as 100% rural. The city line splits two counties, with most of Clare in Clare County and a southern portion in Isabella County. U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow grew up in Clare, and Major League Baseball player Wayne Terwilliger was born there.

Clare Landmarks and Local Life

• The Doherty Hotel on McEwan Street is a landmark inn and the site of a notorious 1938 gangland shooting.
• Cops & Doughnuts occupies the former Clare City Bakery building at 521 N. McEwan Street - which dates to 1896
• The Clare Downtown Historic District and the Clare Congregational Church are both listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Shamrock Lake (Lake Shamrock) and the south branch of the Tobacco River run through town.

What AppWT Web & AI Solutions Builds for Clare Businesses

AI-first web design, SEO with GEO and AIVO, voice-search readiness and ongoing care. See the full service list.

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