BlockBefore

Otsego, Michigan

17 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1916 and the latest in 1982. It stands in Otsego City. It lies in ZIP code area 49078. It stands on Gun River. The Survey maps it on the Otsego quadrangle. 4,120 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 709 feet above sea level.

Otsego within Allegan County

Population over time

2 figures

Otsego grew from 3,956 to 4,120 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20103,956
20204,120+164 (+4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 17 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

5,329 words on this township

History of Allegan and Barry Counties Michigan 1880, published 1880 names this settlement in its chapter on Otsego City. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

The village of Otsego, an incorporated municipality of some 1200 inhabitants, is an important station on the line of the Kalamazoo division of the Lake-Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, and is pleasantly located on the Kalamazoo River, sot here flows rapidly to the westward.

Passage source: History of Allegan and Barry Counties Michigan 1880, published 1880.

With its great and unsurpassed water- power privileges, Otsego is rapidly moving to the front as a manufacturing centre. The flouring-mills manufacture flour from more than 200,000 bushels of wheat yéarly. Theye are mills for planing and for the manufacture of sash, doors, blinds, and fanning-mills, and an extensive chair-factory, which employs 100 hands. Hoes, corn-knives, and rakes are made in large quantities, - also carriages, wood-turnings, ete., - and there is an ample supply of all the smaller mechanical shops usually found in country villages.

Passage source: History of Allegan and Barry Counties Michigan 1880, published 1880.

As already mentioned, Samuel Foster and his family were the first settlers upon the village site, locating here in the fall of 1831. About one year later, by an understanding with Samuel Foster, who pre-empted it, Horace H. Comstock purchased the land from the general government, and through his influence.a post-office named Otsego was soon after established, Dr. Foster becoming the postmaster. Mr. Comstock was a native of Otsego Co.,N. Y. He came to the Territory of Michigan-in 1831 or 1832, and during the early days of both this and Kalamazoo County he was a most prominent actor, and operated largely in purchasing lands, platting villages, erecting mills, store-houses, dwell ings, ete.

Passage source: History of Allegan and Barry Counties Michigan 1880, published 1880.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Otsego City - it names this place 10 more 10 times.

Fires near this place

18 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 18 fires within 5 miles of Otsego between 1993 and 2020, burning about 26 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Equipment and vehicle use8
Missing data/not specified/undetermined5
Debris and open burning3
Natural2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
19 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesPLAINWELL DPS 0002076 - 2018
25 August 2019Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesGOBLES-PINE GROVE FD 0000127 - 2019
29 July 1996Debris and open burningunder an acreMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 July 2020Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesOTSEGO FD 0443 - 2020
23 May 2020Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesGUN PLAIN CHARTER TWP FD 0000072 - 2020
9 April 2019Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesOTSEGO FD 243 - 2019
29 April 2018Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesGUN PLAIN CHARTER TWP FD 0000047 - 2018
31 March 1993Debris and open burning1.0 acresMichigan Department of Natural Resourcesnot named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Allegan County

Mines and quarries near this place

4 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 4 workings within 5 miles of Otsego: 3 past producers, 1 producer. 1 still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay, Limestone, General. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Cushman Bros Clay PitClayPast Producer
Hervig Mall PitLimestone, GeneralPast Producer
Allegan Co PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Smith PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Allegan County

Storms near this place

10 since 1997

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Otsego in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2026: 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 tornado. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
August 2022Thunderstorm WindOtsego$250,000Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in and near Otsego.
August 2022Thunderstorm WindOtsego$150,000Several large trees and tree limbs were blown down and one landed on an American legion building. There were numerous power outages and a shed was also destroyed.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindOtsego$75,000A 65 mph wind gust was reported in Otsego. Numerous trees and power lines were blown down in and around Wayland.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindOtsego$15,000Several trees were blown down.
July 1997Thunderstorm WindOtsego$15,000Allegan County Central Dispatch reported downed trees and power lines in Otsego Township. High winds brought down a large branch, crushing a car, in the 400 block of Kalamazoo Street in Otsego.
September 2006HailOtsego$10,000Seven eighths inch diameter hail was reported by the public in Otsego.
June 2001HailOtsego$10,000no account filed
March 2003Thunderstorm WindOtsego$5,000Two trees were blown down in Otsego.
April 2003Thunderstorm WindOtsego$5,000An isolated severe thunderstorm brought down several trees and wires in Otsego. Several wires were also blown down two miles south of Holland.
April 2026Tornado (EF0)Otsego-Widespread tree damage occurred along the tornado path. Several large barns were heavily damaged and multiple homes and businesses lost roofing material or were |damaged by fallen trees. Debris from one business landed on US-131|forcing it to be closed for a period of time following the tornado. The tornado continued into Barry County.

Every storm recorded in Allegan County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Plainwell2.9 miles17
Monteith Station5.2 miles9
Watson5.3 miles9
Martin6.0 miles9
Hooper7.9 miles9
Neeley8.0 miles9
East Martin8.4 miles9
Merson9.2 miles13

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on OtsegoAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2224644The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 634156. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.