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Smyrna, Michigan is situated in southern Otisco Township, southwest of Belding, and near where Seely Creek flows into the Flat River. It is in the northwest quadrant of Ionia County.

The Double R Ranch Resort is located south of Button Road and west of the railroad and Whites Bridge Road.

The Flat River is a tributary of the Grand River. It begins as the outflow of First Lake, the last in a chain of connected lakes known as Six Lakes in Belvidere Township, Montcalm County, then flows mostly south and slightly west through Montcalm County, Ionia County, and Kent County, emptying into the Grand River in Lowell. Two historic bridges cross the river. One of these is the Fallasburg Bridge in Vergennes Township in Kent County, while the other is a few miles northeast in Keene Township, Ionia County, near Smyrna. Before it was destroyed by an arson fire in 2013, it was the oldest covered bridge of its kind in the state. Fund-raising efforts are underway to restore the bridge.

In Michigan, unincorporated communities don't have legally defined boundaries, but routes to and from Smyrna include Button Road, Whites Bridge Road, Dumon Road, Miriam Road, Ingalls Road, and Flat River Trail. The nearest highway is M-44 (Belding Road), a few miles north of Smyrna.

Cities and villages within twenty-five miles of Smyrna include Belding, Greenville, Saranac, Lowell, Ionia, Clarksville, Sheridan, Rockford, Lyons, and Hubbardston, while the unincorporated communities of Cooks Corner, Grattan, Parnell, and Fallasburg are within ten miles.

Munson Seely settled in what is now Smyrna in the 1830s, shortly after George W. Dickinson founded the former settlement of Dickinsonville, at the area where Dickinson Creek flows into the Flat River, northeast of Belding. However, Seely moved on to Muskegon County a few years later, although not before Seely Creek was named for him.

After Seely, Calvin Smith was the next to arrive in 1843. Soon afterward, George Dickinson purchased land around Seely Creek to build a gristmill.

Dr. Wilbur Fisher arrived in 1848, and arranged to have a post office established in Smyrna, which was his name for the community. However, according to postal regulations, the Smyrna community was too near to Cooks Corners, which already had a post office, for it to warrant a separate office. To get around this regulation, Dr. Fisher gave a location more than a mile away from the settlement, but just far enough to qualify for a post office. A post office was established as Smyrna on March 16, 1848, and it operated until February 5, 1984. Today, the community uses a Belding postal address.

Shortly afterward, George Dickinson platted and recorded a village site as Mount Vernon, although it was never incorporated as a village. While the post office retained the name Smyrna, the settlement was known as Mount Vernon or Mount Vernon Mills, for the Virginia estate of George Washington. The town eventually took the name of the post office, however.

Today, Smyrna is largely a residential community, although it is also a minor resort community.

This portion of our web guide is focused on the settlement known as Smyrna, Michigan. As the Otisco Township offices are located in Smyrna, its website is appropriate for this category, as are those of any businesses, industries, schools, churches, organizations, attractions, events, and recreational opportunities in Smyrna.

 

 

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