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Surrounded by Walton Township, the City of Olivet, Michigan is in south Eaton County.

Marshall Road becomes Main Street within the city limits, and the city's north and south boundaries are made up of Bellevue Road and Butterfield Highway, respectively. South Ainger Road (Kalamo Street) connects with I-69 just north of the city limits.

Cities and villages within twenty miles of Olivet include Bellevue, Charlotte, Marshall, Springport, Potterville, Vermontville, Eaton Rapids, Battle Creek, and Nashville, while the unincorporated communities of Walton, Five Points Corner, and Brookfield are within ten miles.

Indian Creek flows through the northeastern segment of the city.

Although there were people living in the area before that time, the history of the city is tied to Olivet College. The Reverend John J. Shipherd, the founder of Oberlin College in Ohio, led a group of thirty-nine people to Michigan to form another college in 1844. The previous year, the Rev. Shipherd traveled to Michigan, intending to scout out a site for a new college in what is now Ingham County. En route, he spent the night in a settler's cabin near where he later built the college, in what is now Olivet. Continuing on the following morning, he lost his way in the wilderness and ended up back where he had spent the previous night

Considering it to be providential, he remained, deciding to build his college on a hilltop near the settler's cabin. He returned to Oberlin to set about recruiting a base of people to form his new college and Christian colony.

Among the thirty-nine people who agreed to come with him were William Hosford, Carlo Reed, Albertus L. Green, Phineas Hagar, Joseph Bancroft, Chauncey Cady, and the families of Wilson C. Edsell, Hiram Pease, Phineas Pease, and George Andrews, as well as Julia Edsell, Alice Green, and Abby Carter, who were living with the families of Mr. Edsell and the Rev. Shipherd. Already living in the area of Olivet were Hiram Burroughs, Newton L. Curtis, Captain J.W. Hickok, Isaac Hogle, and Parley Shumway.

Most of the new settlers set about building homes for themselves, while others moved into abandoned log cabins or were taken in by earlier settlers. They cleared trees, planted crops, and also build a sawmill and a grist mill.

Before the college could be built, however, the Rev. Shipherd came down with malaria and died on September 16, 1844. Nevertheless, the new colonists persisted, sending to Oberlin for Mr. Reuben Hatch, who was to become the first president of the new college in December of 1845.

Named for Mount Olivet of the Bible, the first chapel was built in 1846, although the college and community soon outgrew it as student enrollments increased.

Progress stalled during the Civil War, as all of the young men were called away to serve in the military. The first four graduating classes of Olivet College were made up solely of women. In 1865, after the war, the building was lengthened and a second floor was added, with the chapel on the second floor and classrooms on the first.

The townsite was platted by Carlo Reed and William Hosford in 1848. The first, albeit unofficial, post office was operated by Albertus L. Green, then a college student. Professor Oramel Hosford became the first appointed postmaster on August 17, 1849. Olivet was incorporated as a village in 1865, becoming a city in 1958.

Today, Olivet College is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. It followed Oberlin College as the second coeducational college or university in the United States.

The city's K-12 population is served by Olivet Community Schools, which operates two campuses: Fern Persons Elementary School, just outside the southern city limits, and the combined Olivet High/Middle School, in the northeastern segment of the city.

Currently, the city has a population of just over 1,700, which is its peak population thus far.

The focal point of this category is on the city of Olivet, Michigan. Appropriate topics include online resources representing the municipal government or any other governmental bodies within the city, as well as local schools, places of worship, organizations, businesses, industries, entertainment venues, sports facilities or teams, or recreational opportunities.

 

 

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