Best Web Design in Coleman, MI (2026)

Web Design for Coleman, Michigan

Coleman is a small Midland County city of about 1,260 people that a land speculator named after himself in 1868, then watched explode into a lumber town with as many as 30 mills and roughly 20 saloons. When the pine ran out the railroad spur and, much later, two plastics plants kept it alive; if you have eaten off a Chinet plate there is a real chance it was made here. The rail line that created the town is gone, and its roadbed is now the paved Pere Marquette Rail-Trail running right through the middle of town.

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

About Coleman

Also known as. The Comets (Coleman Community Schools athletic identity).

History. In 1868 Seymour Coleman purchased 1,000 acres of land from lumber baron Ammi W. Wright, then surveyed and platted 160 acres into a village that would bear his own name. A sawmill was built in 1870 and the Flint & Pere Marquette Railroad came through in 1870-71; first settler Jonathan Pierce arrived with the railroad and established a mill and a hotel. During the lumber boom of 1870-1890 the area supported as many as 20 to 30 lumber mills at once, and the business district held three banks, numerous churches, mercantile stores, blacksmith shops, hotels and roughly 20 saloons. As the timber ran out the town's future looked uncertain, but in 1879 the railroad built a spur to Mt. Pleasant, which drew in new businesses and diversified the economy. Coleman incorporated as a village in 1887 and became a 4th Class City in 1905; it adopted Home Rule City status in 1969. The original railroad depot was destroyed by fire in 1901; an 1902 account records that the burned passenger and freight station 'has been replaced by a frame building with a brick platform.' Municipal infrastructure arrived in stages: electricity in 1910, a city water system in 1951, citywide sewer in 1970, and a new water tower in 1987. Rail service ended and the tracks through Coleman were removed by the 2000s; the corridor reopened as the Pere Marquette Rail-Trail through the city in 1994.

Local economy. Robinson Industries manufactures thermoformed plastic products. Founded in 1947 initially making refrigerator door slabs, it expanded into coolers, canoes, ice buckets and reusable plastic pallets, employing nearly 200 people. Huhtamaki Plastics produces plastic cups and food service items sold under the Chinet brand, with approximately 257 employees. Coleman is one of roughly 15 Huhtamaki North American manufacturing locations. Those two plants make manufacturing, rather than farming or retail, the dominant employment base for a city of only 1,262 residents. An industrial park opened in 2001 to attract additional employers. Coleman sits about 20 miles northwest of Midland, whose economy is anchored by Dow (roughly 4,003 full-time employees) and DuPont (roughly 697), making commuting a factor. The founding economy was lumber and rail freight, which collapsed once the pine was cut over between 1870 and 1890.

Culture and community. An annual Memorial Day parade honoring veterans, with a ceremony following the parade. An evening lighted Christmas parade held the second Saturday in December. The Coleman Comets are the athletic identity of Coleman Community Schools. The Coleman Area Library opened in 2002. The city operates a disc golf course. The Pere Marquette Rail-Trail through town serves as the local recreation spine for walking, running, biking, rollerblading and cross-country skiing.

What makes Coleman distinct. The city carries the name of the man who platted it for profit: Seymour Coleman bought 1,000 acres in 1868, surveyed 160 of them into a village, and gave it his own surname. At its boom-era height the business district recorded three banks and roughly 20 saloons -- in a town that counted just 111 residents at the 1880 census. Coleman's population peaked at 1,429 in 1980 and stood at 1,262 in 2020, making it unusually stable for a rural Michigan lumber town. The county profile identifies Coleman's distinct in-town districts by their local names, including 'Stoner's-ville' and 'Little Town.' If you have eaten off a Chinet plate or drunk from a Chinet cup, there is a real chance it was made in a town of about 1,200 people. Vern Ruhle, born in Coleman on January 25, 1951, pitched 13 MLB seasons and sat at the center of one of the most disputed calls in postseason history: in Game 4 of the 1980 NLCS, Philadelphia claimed he trapped a ball, umpires ruled it a catch, and it became a double play. Ruhle also threw the 1975 pitch that broke Jim Rice's hand, costing Boston its best hitter for that year's World Series run. He later coached pitchers for the Astros, Phillies, Mets and Reds before dying of multiple myeloma in 2007. Virginia Harriett Kline (1910-1959), born in Coleman, became a geologist, stratigrapher and librarian -- an unusual scientific career for a woman of her generation from a town this size.

Coleman Landmarks and Local Life

• Pere Marquette Rail-Trail Solar System Sculptures - A 90-inch-diameter sun sculpture in Coleman anchors a scale model of the solar system built along the trail at 600 million to one.
• Coleman Area Library - Founded in 1968 as a branch and independent since 1976, the library moved into its current building at 111 First Street in 2002.
• Pere Marquette Railroad station site - Coleman began with a sawmill in 1870, and a station of the Pere Marquette Railroad opened here the following year; the settlement incorporated as a village in 1887 and as a city in 1905.
• US-10 at Exit 103 - U.S. Route 10 runs as a four lane freeway along the northern border of the city, reached from Exit 103 at North Coleman Road, 20 miles northwest of Midland and 10 miles southeast of Clare.
• Robinson Industries - A thermoformed plastics maker founded in 1947 that started out on refrigerator door slabs, added coolers, canoes and ice buckets, then created reusable plastic pallets in the 1960s for the auto industry.
• Huhtamaki Plastics plant - A plant making plastic cups, fluted ice cream cups, plates and bowls sold in stores under the Chinet brand, and one of the largest employers in the city.

Coleman at a Glance

U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023.

• Median household income: About $41,458
• Housing: About 59% of occupied housing units are owner-occupied
• Housing: About 65% of housing units are single-family detached homes

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