This Michigan Village Was Named “Coral” For One Simple Reason

I came across this little Michigan town and felt I needed to share it with you.

It’s the village of Coral in Montcalm County. It’s easy for someone to just wanna drive through it or past it, but looking at some old 100-year-old photos of Coral, you may want to hang around for a bit and try to imagine what it was like to live here back in the 1800s and early 1900s.

Coral got its beginnings around 1860 when a lumber company, Stump and Morris, built a sawmill in this particular Maple Valley Township location. What to call it? Why not ‘Stumptown’ said Mr. Stump – and so it was.

Get our free mobile app

In 1862 all forty acres of Stumptown were platted by Charles Parker after arriving from Ontario and decided to give it a better name. He chose the name “Coral ‘ for the simple reason it was easy to spell. In fact, Parker built the very first structure in Coral, and you can see an old photo of that log cabin if you scroll down to the image gallery.

In the 1860s it became a station on the Detroit, Lansing & Northern Railroad and it finally achieved its own post office in 1869.

There is much more to read about this interesting little village, and you can find out more here.  Meantime, scroll down a way and take a look at the photo gallery.