City of Milan

By Warren Hale, in about 1976, when he was President of the Milan Area Historical Society.

How the City of Milan, Michigan
Got It’s Name

Our first settler, John Marvin, arrived in the spring of 1831.  He built a combination log cabin, housing both his living quarters and a general store to supply travelers and homesteaders.  The cabin was located on the site of our present W. Main St. Municipal Parking Lot.  His arrival was closely followed the same year by farmers Bethuel Hack and Harmon Allen.  These three men and their families formed the nucleus for the present-day Milan.  There was no thought or intent on the part of these men to establish a town and thus, no townsite plan was drawn or filed.  Houses were built along Indian paths and wagon trails and the village simply “happened.”

By the spring of 1833, enough settlers had arrived to justify the establishment of a post office.  The United States Postmaster General appointed Bethuel Hack as our first postmaster on March 27, 1833.  The post office was designated as FARMERSVILLE because we were primarily an agricultural settlement.

Local flour mill operator, David A. Woodard, became our second postmaster on May 7, 1834 and promptly re-named the town WOODARD MILLS in honor of himself and also to get free advertising for his business.  His mill continues to serve local residents as our Community House.

Sometime in the interim between 1834 and 1836, Henry Tolan, our village’s first druggist, served as postmaster in an acting capacity and in an apparent fit of egotism, again changed the name of the post office to TOLANVILLE.  He operated the post office from his small drug store located on the corner of Main and Tolan Streets, the site of our present Western Auto Store.

Meanwhile, during the first five years of our existence, some individualists in our midst chose to retain the Township name of Milan as a suitable name for our new town as it was located primarily in that Township, a common practice in those times.  The Township had been named by Italian immigrants in honor and memory of their homeland and one of its principal cities, Milano or Milan, with the emphasis on the last syllable.

Thus evolved the unique situation of our town having four names at the same time, FARMERSVILLE, WOODARD MILLS, TOLANVILLE and MILAN.  Needless to say, a considerable problem was encountered relative to the efficient delivery of mail.

The matter was resolved, at least for postal purposes, on April 21, 1836, when the Postmaster General decreed that all mail to our village be directed to the post office of Milan.  However, because of the natural human resistance to change, all names persisted until the Civil War period when the name of MILAN generally became accepted.

MILAN was officially established as a Home-rule Village with a President and Council in the year 1885 and the name confusion was resolved once and for all.

Our final change in status occurred in 1967, when a drive, spearheaded by our local Junior Chamber of Commerce, resulted in MILAN attaining City designation with a Mayor at the helm, rather than a President.