Berrien Springs, MI

At the 2020 census, Berrien Springs was a Berrien County village of 1,910 people in Oronoko Charter Township on the St. Joseph River. Its most unmistakable building is the 1839 county courthouse. The first case there, on April 11, 1839, involved ten dollars' worth of stolen boots, gloves, and a hat. When St. Joseph won the county seat in 1894, the courthouse changed jobs without leaving town: it became an armory, dance hall, classroom space for Andrews University, and a place of worship. Today the History Center at Courthouse Square also includes a log house, forge, records building, sheriff's residence, and jail.

Andrews University gives Berrien Springs a second large-scale story. The school began as Battle Creek College in 1874, moved to the St. Joseph River in 1901 as Emmanuel Missionary College, and took the Andrews name after a 1960 merger. Its campus now covers about 2,400 acres in the surrounding township. Each summer, the Berrien County Youth Fair brings livestock, exhibits, music, and generations of county families to the fairgrounds. Berrien Springs is a compact village with an old courthouse square, a major university beyond the village blocks, and a fairground that turns the agricultural county into a yearly gathering.