Eaton Rapids, the Island City

Eaton Rapids gives you two local names to sort out. “The Only Eaton Rapids on Earth” is the city’s civic slogan. It is a cheerful claim, not a documented survey of every place name on the planet. “Island City,” though, describes something you can see on the map. The city’s About page says the downtown business district occupies an island in the Grand River, with bridges leading north, south, east, and west.

There is a second island just behind the business district. The city describes GAR Island Park as a separate two-acre landmass with a bridge on either side. So when someone says “the island,” it helps to ask whether they mean the downtown business district or the park.

The mineral-water chapter came later. In the 1880s, artesian wells helped turn Eaton Rapids into a health-resort town billed as the “Saratoga of the West.” Visitors came by train to stay at hotels and take the waters. The spas are gone, but the story is worth keeping — especially the part about why the supposedly magnetic water wasn’t magnetic at all.