Hell, Michigan
Hell, Michigan is a town, population 266 (83o 59' W, 42o 26' N) in southwest Michigan, in Livingston County, Michigan, near Howell Township, Michigan and the border with Washtenaw County, Michigan.For several hundred years, the low, swampy area was occupied mostly by the Potawatomi tribe. Later, in the early 19th century, it was the most unpleasant part of a trail between Lansing and Dexter (which at the time contained a major farmers market) and a point on the route taken by traders portaging between the Huron River and the Grand River.
In the late 1830s, George Reeves, a New York farmer, started several businesses in the area -- a general store, and a mill, and a distillery -- which became the core of a minor population center; by the 1840s, enough people had immigrated to make a 70-person school viable (assuming 19th century birth rates, this pegs the population somewhere close to its current level).
In 1841, as the story goes, Reeves was asked what he wanted the town to be called and responded, "I don't care, you can name it Hell if you want to." His later attempts to rechristen it Reevesville or Reeve's Mills proved futile.
Hell's main export is, appropriately, kitsch. Among other things, it has a "fully non-accredited" college, Damnation University -- DamU to alumni -- that sells half-singed diplomas, and a small post office in the back of the general store popular with irate taxpayers and recent divorcees. Also a motorcycle dealership and an ice cream parlor, which bear mentioning by virtue of being the only other businesses in town.
The zip code is 48169.
