Web Design in Michigan Center, MI

About Michigan Center, Jackson County

Michigan Center is a census-designated place in Leoni Township, Jackson County, pressed against the eastern edge of the city of Jackson, and it held 4,609 residents at the 2020 census. It was platted in 1837 under the spelling Michigan Centre, and the name most likely refers to the Michigan meridian used to divide the state for surveying rather than to any geographic midpoint. Homes cluster around the north end of Center Lake, one link in a chain of connected lakes. A census-designated place is a statistical boundary the Census Bureau draws so it can count people, and it carries no government and no elected officials of its own.

History of Michigan Center

• Abel Fitch and Paul Ring platted the settlement as Michigan Centre in 1837, though people were living in the area from at least 1834, and Fitch became the first postmaster in 1838. The place grew as a mill town on a tributary of the Grand River and had a station on the Michigan Central Railroad. Neighboring Jackson then outgrew it, and Michigan Center has since become a bedroom community to that city.

Landmarks and Places in Michigan Center

• Center Lake - formed by a dam on a tributary of the Grand River in 1911; the community sits mainly around its northern end.
• Chain of lakes - Round, Price, Moon, Little Dollar, Dollar, Olcott, Little Olcott, Wolf and Little Wolf lakes lie on the same tributary.
• Leoni Township Park - the site of the annual Carp Carnival.

The Michigan Center Economy

• Michigan Center began as a mill town on a Grand River tributary and was served by a station on the Michigan Central Railroad. Jackson rapidly outpaced it and it has since become a bedroom community to the city.

Community Life in Michigan Center

• Michigan Center hosts the annual Carp Carnival each June at Leoni Township Park, with a parade, a fishing contest, midway games and rides, chicken barbecue dinners and a beer tent. The community is served by the Michigan Center School District. Residents move between the first several lakes in the local chain by small boat or personal watercraft.

Local reference: en.wikipedia.org