Editing Big Rapids, Michigan (section)

==History==
Big Rapids was settled in 1855 by brothers George and Zera French. As the village of Leonard, at the intersection of Elm and Stewart streets, it became the seat of Mecosta County on February 11, 1859,<ref name=LeonardHistoryJW>{{cite web |url = https://mecosta.migenweb.org/leonardvillage.html |title = The Village That Time Forgot |work = In The Woods |first = Jim |last = Wood |year = 1999 |access-date = December 14, 2023 |via = MIGenWeb }}{{sps|date=December 2023}}</ref> but local lumbermen knew the site as Big Rapids. On September 29, 1859, the Leonard post office was renamed Big Rapids.<ref name=LeonardHistoryJW /> Big Rapids was platted on November 3, 1859, surrounding the courthouse site of Leonard.<ref name=LeonardHistoryJW /> The unincorporated community of Big Rapids was first cited on June 10, 1861, rather than Leonard, when the Mecosta County board of supervisors mentioned their seat of government, and in 1865 was consistently cited throughout the year.<ref name=LeonardHistoryJW /> Big Rapids was incorporated as a city in 1869.<ref name=LeonardHistoryJW /><ref>{{cite book |first = Walter |last = Romig |year = 1986 |title = Michigan Place Names: The History of the Founding and the Naming of More than Five Thousand Past and Present Michigan Communities  |series = Great Lakes Books |location = Detroit |publisher = Wayne State University Press |page = 61 |oclc = 756403524 }}</ref>