Porch Notes
Plainwell, the Island City — where city hall is an old paper mill
History and culture
Plainwell calls itself the Island City, and it’s not a marketing stretch — it’s geography. In 1856 the Plainwell Water Power Company dug a millrace across a horseshoe bend of the Kalamazoo River, and the original downtown has been ringed by moving water ever since. You cannot enter the heart of Plainwell from any direction without crossing a bridge, which gives the little downtown — ice cream shops and all, this is a serious ice cream town — a charm most villages can’t buy.
The town’s best reinvention story is the mill itself. The Michigan Paper Company ran on the island’s riverfront for more than a century before closing, and instead of letting the hulk rot, the city bought the site and moved in: since 2014, Plainwell’s city hall and public safety department have operated out of the restored mill building, with riverfront trails threading the grounds. A company town that lost its company and turned the factory into its civic front porch — that’s about as Michigan as it gets, in the best way.
Where to see it
Cross any bridge into downtown Plainwell; the old Michigan Paper Company mill on the riverfront now houses city hall, and the island loop makes a fine walk.