Ithaca, MI

Ithaca is Gratiot County's seat near the geographic center of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The 2020 census counted 2,853 residents. The city sits where four townships meet - Emerson, Arcada, Newark, and North Star - but keeps its own municipal map in the middle of them. That central position is the reason Ithaca feels like a county-service town even though it is small enough to know its parks by name. Woodland Park, Atkinson Park, McNabb Park, and the Ithaca Dog Park make up the local green-space lineup.

McNabb Park also hosts the Gratiot Agricultural Society Expo and AYSO soccer, bringing county-scale events into the city. The city has one unified public school system spread across three buildings, and US-127 puts Ithaca on a direct north-south route through the county. That is a lot of county responsibility for a city this size and a useful clue to its role. Ithaca's local scoop is a four-township crossroads where county government, parks, school buildings, and the ag expo all fit into a compact center.