County note shelf
Montcalm County Porch Notes
Stories, practical details, outdoor places, tax quirks, and local history connected to Montcalm County. This shelf has 8 practical notes and 23 local stories.
31 notes
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- History and culture The glider Greenville's schoolkids bought Greenville schoolchildren raised over $72,000 in 1943 to buy gliders built by their hometown Gibson plant, and one of them led the first wave into Normandy on D-Day.
- History and culture A whole 1900s village rebuilt near Sidney Heritage Village at Montcalm Community College near Sidney is a cluster of 28 old buildings — a log cabin, town hall, jail, print shop — moved in and restored to show turn-of-the-century county life.
- Outdoors The 1880 trestle that moved to Stanton South of Stanton, the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail crosses Fish Creek on an 1880 railroad trestle that was relocated from Greenville — one landmark on a 42-mile rail-trail through Montcalm County.
- Outdoors Tower Mountain: a free rope tow in town Greenville runs a small city park with the only rope-tow ski and sledding hill in Montcalm County, free to anyone, whenever there's four inches of packed snow.
- History and culture Trufant's fences made of pine stumps Around Trufant, Danish farmers clearing the pine made fences out of the giant stumps — pulling them, tipping them root-side-out in long rows, some of which still stand more than a century later.
- History and culture Crystal: the lake came first, then the town The community of Crystal in eastern Montcalm County borrowed its name from the lake it grew up beside — and when the lumber ran out, the water is what kept the place alive.
- History and culture Edmore, where a realtor wrote his name on the map A real-estate man platted Edmore in 1878 and folded his own name into the town's; the sandy plains turned it into potato country, and the Potato Festival still runs every September.
- History and culture Greenville's museum, where the Refrigerator Capital keeps its receipts Greenville once called itself the Refrigerator Capital of the World, and the Flat River Historical Museum keeps the story — including refrigerators the laid-off workers signed.
- History and culture Howard City: where two railroads crossed Howard City grew up around a railroad junction where the Grand Rapids & Indiana met a second line from the east, and it shared a union depot between them.
- History and culture Lakeview did exactly what its name says A New York settler platted Lakeview in 1867 on the west bank of Tamarack Lake and named it for the view — a plain-description name in a state full of borrowed ones.
- History and culture Stanton was first called Fred Montcalm County's seat sits in tiny Stanton because voters moved it to the county's center in 1860 — to a settlement first named Fred, renamed for Lincoln's war secretary.
- Outdoors Tamarack Lake has its own little government The 330-acre all-sports lake at Lakeview is tended by a lake improvement board — the small, dull, county-organized body that keeps the weeds down and can show up on a lakefront tax bill.
- History and culture The college the county voted itself in 1965 Montcalm Community College sits on College Drive near Sidney because county voters approved a college district in 1965 to put a two-year degree within reach without leaving home.
- History and culture The prison on Boyer Road The Carson City Correctional Facility opened in 1989 on Boyer Road and became one of the largest steady employers in a rural corner of Montcalm County.
- Outdoors Vestaburg State Game Area: 2,900 acres that belong to you Roughly 2,900 acres of public fields, brush, and wetland near Vestaburg, managed by the DNR for pheasant, turkey, rabbit, and deer — and open to anyone, hunter or not.
- History and culture Sheridan, named for a cavalry general The village of Sheridan honors Union cavalry general Philip Sheridan; it boomed on what was called some of Michigan's richest pine, and once made furniture and spark plugs.
- Outdoors Six Lakes, named by counting The community of Six Lakes sits in Belvidere Township beside a chain whose names run plainly from First Lake through Sixth Lake.
- History and culture Cedar Lake: a boarding school built a town The tiny crossroads of Cedar Lake, east of Edmore, grew up around a Seventh-day Adventist boarding school founded in 1898 — now Great Lakes Adventist Academy on a 400-acre campus.
- History and culture The French general the county is named for Montcalm County is named for Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, the French general killed defending Quebec in 1759 — a man who never saw Michigan and died fighting the side that would later govern it.
- History and culture From the Refrigerator Capital to the birthplace of Meijer Greenville's working history includes a century as the Refrigerator Capital of the World and the birthplace of Meijer.
- History and culture The Danish Festival City Greenville's Danish Festival celebrates the Danish immigrant heritage that has shaped the city since the 1850s.
- Outdoors The Flat River and the Fred Meijer trails Greenville and Edmore connect into the Fred Meijer trail network along the Flat River and north toward Alma.
- History and culture The "Supercenter" — That Giant One-Stop Store — Was Invented in Grand Rapids Meijer pioneered the American supercenter in Grand Rapids in 1962 — the one-stop store that Walmart and others would later chase.
- Home and property No city income tax in Montcalm County Greenville, Stanton, and Carson City levy no city income tax, but commuters to Grand Rapids or Ionia pay those cities' nonresident rates.
- Home and property Lake country: buying on the water in Montcalm Lakefront buyers in Montcalm County should ask about lake boards, special assessments, lake levels, boat rules, and septic systems near the water.
- Home and property Out in the township, you're on a well and septic Outside Montcalm County's cities and village centers, township homes often use private wells and septic systems, and resale inspection is buyer-beware.
- Home and property Wind energy: an active local issue No wind farm operates in Montcalm County today, but recent proposals and state siting rules make wind energy worth asking about when buying rural land.
- Outdoors Ninety-two miles, no cars: the White Pine Trail towns The Fred Meijer White Pine Trail runs 92 miles from Grand Rapids' edge to Cadillac, giving a string of small towns a linear state park for a main street.
- 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.