Augusta, MI

Augusta is a Kalamazoo County village mostly within Ross Township, with 864 residents in the 2020 census. It sits about seven miles west of downtown Battle Creek and northeast of Galesburg, with the Kalamazoo River and Sherman Lake shaping the local geography. Fort Custer State Recreation Area begins immediately south of the village, spreading across 3,033 acres with three lakes, more than 40 miles of trails, and a former military training landscape. Galesburg-Augusta Community Schools puts the village’s middle school alongside the district’s primary and high schools in Galesburg.

Augusta’s signature cultural institution is The Barn Theatre, Michigan’s oldest resident summer-stock theater. The theater began as the Village Players in Richland in 1946; Jack and Betty Ragotzy moved the company into an Augusta barn, incorporated it in 1949, and bought the building in 1954. The stage now brings a sixteen-week professional season to a village better known on maps for parks, lakes, and nearby highways. Augusta holds an unusual combination: a state recreation area with military history, a regional school district, and a theater with deep roots in summer performance.