County note shelf
Gratiot County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Gratiot County. This shelf has 8 practical notes and 14 local stories.
22 notes
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- History and culture The college that turned itself Scottish Alma College opened in 1887 as a Presbyterian school, traded its 'Fighting Presbyterians' nickname for the Scots in 1931, and now pipes its graduates across the stage in kilts.
- Outdoors 17,000 acres of grown-back farmland, open to hunt The Gratiot-Saginaw State Game Area covers nearly 17,000 acres of woods, fields, and managed wetlands on the county line — one of the largest public hunting grounds in the Lower Peninsula.
- Outdoors An old farm that grew its wetlands back Forest Hill Nature Area north of Alma is a 90-acre former farm where a conservation district and a school agency rebuilt the wetlands and opened the trails to anyone, free.
- History and culture The 1881 brick house that became the county's attic Gratiot County's historical museum lives in a red-brick Victorian on Ithaca's Center Street, built in 1881 and filled with a century of local life from the 1850s to the 1950s.
- Outdoors Thirty miles of Pine River that ends two blocks from downtown The Pine River Canoe Trail runs about 30 miles through Gratiot County's farm country and floodplain woods, from Lumberjack Park near Riverdale down to within two blocks of downtown Alma.
- History and culture When Alma made the highest-octane gas in the world Leonard Refineries grew from a tiny 2,500-barrel-a-day plant on the Pine River into the first refinery anywhere to sell 96-octane gasoline, before merging into Total and leaving Alma in 1972.
- History and culture Why a town in mid-Michigan is named St. Louis St. Louis, Michigan, grew from Joseph Clapp's 1853 sawmill on the Pine River and took its name from St. Louis, Missouri — the city where the county's own namesake, General Charles Gratiot, spent his final years.
- History and culture Pompeii, Michigan, and the 'i' that took 40 years The Gratiot County village of Pompeii was settled in 1854 and spelled 'Pompei' for decades — until someone finally noticed the Italian original had a second 'i.'
- History and culture The brothers who gave away the land the railroad rode in on Breckenridge took its name from two brothers, Daniel and Justin, who ran a sawmill and handed over their own land for the railroad bed and a school when the rails reached Gratiot County in 1872.
- History and culture When St. Louis was 'the Saratoga of the West' In 1869 a salt-drilling crew in St. Louis struck 'magnetic' mineral water, and for a generation the town was a famous health resort with grand hotels and celebrity guests.
- History and culture Scotland, USA Alma's Scottish identity runs through Alma College, its tartan, and the annual Highland Festival and Games.
- History and culture The county seat and its courthouse Ithaca is Gratiot County's seat, anchored by its 1900 stone courthouse and historic downtown.
- Home and property The old chemical plant and the Pine River St. Louis has a long-running Superfund cleanup tied to the old Michigan Chemical/Velsicol plant, PBB, DDT, and the Pine River.
- Home and property The old county landfill: sealed, capped, and monitored The old Gratiot County Landfill in Bethany Township is a contained and monitored Superfund site tied to Velsicol/PBB waste.
- Money and taxes No city income tax here Alma, Ithaca, and St. Louis charge no city income tax; the nearest cities that do are Saginaw and Lansing, which tax commuters' wages at nonresident rates.
- Home and property Wind country: turbines on the skyline Gratiot County's wind farms can affect rural land through turbine leases, views, tax base, local rules, and state siting decisions.
- Home and property Out in the township, you're on a well and septic Outside Gratiot County's cities and villages, most township homes rely on private wells and septic systems.
- History and culture Gratiot County's other crop: wind Gratiot County hosts Michigan's largest wind installation — more than a hundred turbines whose lease payments support local farms, schools, and townships.
- History and culture The Middle of the Mitten St. Louis marks the geographic center of Michigan's Lower Peninsula and has a mineral-springs resort history.
- Money and taxes Live in a Michigan village? You pay an extra layer of property tax Michigan 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 taxes Buying in a township? Watch for special assessments on top of your taxes Michigan township buyers should check for special assessments that can add separate road, sewer, water, lighting, sidewalk, or drain charges.
- Money and taxes In Michigan, you get two property-tax bills a year — not one Most Michigan property owners get separate summer and winter tax bills, with local rules deciding what lands on each bill.