Grawn () is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

(CDP) in Grand Traverse County in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. At the 2020 census, the community's population was 816. The community is located within Blair Township on the border with Green Lake Township.

History

Grawn was founded in the 1870s as Blackwood after its first settler, James B. Blackwood. The

Chicago and West Michigan Railway The Chicago and West Michigan Railway (C&WM) is a defunct railroad which operated in the state of Michigan between 1881 and 1899.Central Michigan Normal School, and later the superintendent of

Traverse City Area Public Schools Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS; ) is a Public school (government funded), public school district based in Traverse City, Michigan, United States. This district includes 10 Primary school, elementary schools, 2 middle schools, 2 Se ...

. In the same year, the name was shortened to Grawn, and the village was given a post office with William H. Gibbs serving as the first postmaster. By 1905, potatoes had become the main crop of Grawn. In December 1995, a fire broke out at Carl's Tire Retreading Company in Grawn. The fire burned for 20 days and led to the evacuation of locals and of Blair Elementary School. In 2003,

PFAS Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (also PFAS, PFASs, and informally referred to as "forever chemicals") are a group of synthetic organofluorine chemical compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain; there are 7 millio ...

were found at the site and in local wells as a result of chemicals used to extinguish the fire. The community of Grawn was listed as a newly organized

for the 2010 census, meaning that it now has officially defined boundaries and population statistics.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the CDP has a total area of , all land.

Major highways

* runs west–east at this portion of its route through the center of the community.

Demographics

Education

The community is served by

References

Unincorporated communities in Grand Traverse County, Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan Census-designated places in Grand Traverse County, Michigan Census-designated places in Michigan Traverse City metropolitan area {{GrandTraverseCountyMI-geo-stub