Montrose, Michigan

Montrose is a city in Genesee County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,619 at the 2000 census. The city is situated within Montrose Township, but is politically independent.

History
Montrose was first settled in 1835 by Daniel Pifford as part of present neighboring Vienna Township. Originally named Pewonagowink Township when organized in 1848, but was later changed at the request of John Farquharson, a Scot, renamed the township to Montrose to impress his Scottish friends. The village of Montrose was incorporated from a portion of the township in 1899.

Montrose today is supported by local agriculture and commuter traffic to the greater Flint area. It has its own school system. Since 1972, it has held the Montrose Blueberry Festival annually, every third weekend in August.

State St. in 1912.

Books about Montrose
The book No Quitters Here: Quest for the Dome by B.M. Woodward discusses the Montrose High School Football Team's ten year winning streak from 1988 - 1998.

Notable Residents
Michigan's former Lieutenant Governor, John D. Cherry, graduated from Hill-McCloy High School in Montrose. He was elected in 2002 as the running mate of Democrat Jennifer Granholm.

Ex-major league baseball player Scott Aldred graduated from Hill-McCloy High School in 1986. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers right out of high school.

Dan "The Beast" Severn was a high school amateur wrestling sensation from Montrose, setting a national record for consecutive pins (112 over 4 years) and winning the World Junior title in 1977. He was a three-time All-American at Arizona State University, and an alternate on the 1984 Olympic team. Severn runs a wrestling school and still competes as a pro wrestler and UFC-style competitor. In addition, he has won over 90 major amateur titles, and is a black belt in judo and sombo. Severn claims instead to be from Coldwater, Michigan; the reason behind this is not known.

Super-Chief Darrell Ellis is the current Police Chief and Fire Chief.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.9 square miles (2.4 km²), all land. Montrose is located on the Flint River in Montrose Township near the northwestern corner of Genesee County.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,619 people, 625 households, and 430 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,773.7 per square mile (686.9/km²). There were 668 housing units at an average density of 731.8 per square mile (283.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.34% White, 0.12% African American, 0.62% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.31% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.79% of the population.

There were 625 households out of which 35.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% were married couples living together, 13.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.2% were non-families. 27.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.56 and the average family size was 3.09.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 30.3% from 25 to 44, 20.9% from 45 to 64, and 12.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 92.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.9 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,667, and the median income for a family was $46,172. Males had a median income of $33,750 versus $25,000 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,056. About 6.1% of families and 7.8% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.4% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.