Coopersville: a farm town, a tourist train, and the home of "Runaway"

Coopersville is a small, rural town on the eastern edge of Ottawa County, and it has held onto its farm-country character — even today, more than half the land inside the city limits is still farmland. Two things give it an outsized claim to fame for its size. First, it’s the hometown of Del Shannon, the rock-and-roll singer who hit number one in 1961 with “Runaway”; the town celebrates him every summer with the Del Shannon Car Show. Second, it’s home to the Coopersville & Marne Railway, a nonprofit tourist train that runs old-fashioned excursion rides out through the surrounding farmland on themed trips throughout the year.

To dig into the local history, the Coopersville Historical Museum sits in a 1902 building that once served as a depot and power substation for the electric interurban railway that ran through town, with a Del Shannon exhibit alongside its railroad and pioneer displays — it’s at 363 Main Street, and the nearby Coopersville Farm Museum tells the area’s farming story. You can find the railway’s schedule at coopersvilleandmarne.org.