Eaton Rapids, the Island City

Eaton Rapids likes to call itself “the only Eaton Rapids on Earth,” and it has another nickname that’s just as fitting: the Island City. The downtown actually sits on an island in the middle of the Grand River, reached by a ring of bridges on every side — a layout you won’t find in many Michigan towns.

There’s history in the water, too. In the 1860s, people discovered mineral springs here, and the town boomed as a health resort — visitors arrived by the trainload to “take the waters” and stay at the bathhouses, and Eaton Rapids got billed as the “Saratoga of the West.” The spas are long gone, but the river still defines the town. Island Park, on the island downtown, has been a community gathering spot since the city bought it in the 1890s, and the Grand River draws people for fishing, paddling, and summer concerts.