County note shelf
Clinton County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Clinton County. This shelf has 8 practical notes and 23 local stories.
31 notes
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- OutdoorsA waste-facility agreement helped build Granger MeadowsDeWitt Township's 76-acre Granger Meadows Park grew from a host-community agreement and was donated with its improvements in 2005.
- History and cultureDeWitt's river was named 'see yourself'The Looking Glass River that runs through DeWitt got its English name from the Ojibwe word Wabwaysin — 'see yourself' — for water clear enough to mirror the trees and your own face.
- History and cultureHow Fowler's church got a name nobody could fight overWhen Fowler's German and Irish Catholics each wanted their own national saint on the church, the parish settled the argument in 1881 by naming it for the Holy Trinity instead.
- History and cultureHow Uncle John's Cider Mill got its nameThe St. Johns cider mill on US-127 has pressed cider since the 1970s on a Beck family farm, and its name grew out of the question helpers kept asking founder John Beck.
- History and cultureMaple Rapids got rich on pine, not mapleNamed for the rapids on the Maple River by George Campau in 1826 — brother of Grand Rapids' founder — this Essex Township village made its real money sawing pine during Michigan's lumber boom.
- History and cultureOvid, Michigan, is named for a Roman poet — by way of New YorkA settler named the Clinton County village of Ovid after his old hometown in New York, which itself borrowed the name of the ancient Roman poet during a classical-naming craze.
- OutdoorsRose Lake: a state research lab you can hike and shoot atThe 4,000-acre Rose Lake State Wildlife Research Area near Bath is a working DNR study site with crop plots and old farmsteads, and it also runs one of mid-Michigan's busiest public shooting ranges.
- OutdoorsThe old Grand Trunk line is now 42 miles you can bikeThe Fred Meijer Clinton-Ionia-Shiawassee Trail runs 42 miles between Ionia and Owosso, passing through Fowler, St. Johns, and Ovid.
- History and cultureThe St. Johns courthouse clock that outlived its buildingClinton County's courthouse was rebuilt in 2000, but the old clockworks, the bell, and even the spiral stairs from the 1872 building were saved and live on inside the new cupola.
- History and cultureWacousta started as a mill town on the Looking GlassThe little crossroads of Wacousta in Watertown Township began in 1837 as a speculative mill venture on the Looking Glass River, before northern Lower Michigan was much settled at all.
- History and cultureA German Catholic settlement since 1836Westphalia's German Catholic roots, St. Mary's Parish, and farming traditions still define the community.
- History and cultureMint City, U.S.A.St. Johns is known as Mint City, U.S.A., with Clinton County mint farms, muck soil, and the annual Mint Festival.
- History and cultureThe Deadliest School Attack in American History Happened in MichiganOn May 18, 1927, a bombing at the school in Bath, Michigan killed 38 children and others — the deadliest attack on a school in U.S. history. A memorial park now marks the site.
- OutdoorsSleepy Hollow State Park and the county's wild sideSleepy Hollow State Park, Lake Ovid, Maple River wetlands, and Rose Lake give Clinton County a strong outdoors side.
- Money and taxesHow Michigan State University shapes East Lansing — including your taxesMichigan State University defines East Lansing's economy, housing market, taxable land base, and city-income-tax story.
- Rules and licensesRenting out a house in East Lansing? The rules are strictEast Lansing tightly licenses rentals, limits unrelated roommates in single-family neighborhoods, and uses rental overlay districts.
- History and cultureThree MSU Campus Stops Worth KnowingBeal Botanical Garden, the Broad Art Museum, and the Dairy Store make an easy, mostly free introduction to Michigan State's campus.
- Home and propertyNo city income tax in Clinton County's citiesSt. Johns, DeWitt, and Ovid do not charge city income tax, though Lansing and East Lansing slivers in Clinton County do.
- History and cultureLansing, birthplace of Oldsmobile and REORansom E. Olds made Lansing an auto town, from Oldsmobile and REO to today's R.E. Olds Transportation Museum.
- History and cultureThe Michigan State Capitol: a domed landmark you can tour for freeMichigan's 1879 State Capitol is a free-to-tour National Historic Landmark and the working center of state government.
- History and cultureMichigan's Capitol Looks Like Marble and Walnut — but a Lot of It Is PaintMuch of the marble and walnut in Michigan's 1879 State Capitol is actually paint — over nine acres of hand-painted surfaces designed to fool the eye.
- Cars and drivingThat '80s Rock Band? Named After a Michigan TruckThe band REO Speedwagon took its name from a Lansing-built delivery truck — named, in turn, for auto pioneer Ransom Eli Olds.
- History and cultureThe Olive Burger: Michigan's Love-It-or-Hate-It SandwichChopped green olives and a tangy mayo sauce on a burger — mid-Michigan's love-it-or-hate-it specialty, born in the old Kewpee chain.
- Money and taxesLansing and East Lansing both have a city income taxLansing and East Lansing both charge a local income tax, with 1% resident and 0.5% nonresident rates under Michigan's city-income-tax system.
- History and cultureMagic Johnson: From Lansing to HistoryFrom Everett High to a 1979 national title at Michigan State, the kid from Lansing helped change basketball forever.
- History and cultureThe MastodonBefore robins or white pines, Michigan belonged to the giants — and the mastodon, the state fossil, still turns up in farm fields where it browsed 10,000 years ago.
- Home and propertyOut in the township, you're on a well and septicOutside Clinton County's cities and village centers, many township homes use private wells and septic systems, and resale inspection is buyer-beware.
- History and cultureSt. Johns, the Mint Capital of the WorldClinton County leads Michigan in mint, and county seat St. Johns has celebrated its Mint Capital title with a festival every August since the 1980s.
- Money and taxesLive in a Michigan village? You pay an extra layer of property taxMichigan village residents usually pay village property taxes on top of township taxes, so the village boundary can change a buyer's total rate.
- Money and taxesBuying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxesMichigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxesIn Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not oneMost Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.