Dundee Township

This is the story of “Small Town America”.  This is the story of the Dundee Township, Michigan.  My dad and his many brothers and sisters were born and raised here.  Along the banks of the River Raisin, everyone drives American made cars and trucks, they have frequent get-togethers like the Pumpkin Palooza, where bigger is better, and there is farmland in every direction, as far as the eye can see.  This is a place where 94 year old uncles still mow their own lawns, 87 year old aunts still work part time at the local church and cousins grow their own vegetables and Monarch butterflies.  He doesn’t really grow butterflies he just helps them along.  These people aren’t afraid of a little hard work.

As a young boy, when we would come to visit Grandma and Grandpa, we would venture north to see the Tigers play baseball, my brother’s and I would place pennies on the railroad tracks and wait for the train to come by and flatten them for us.  In the evenings we would wait for dark to come, borrow one of grandma’s Mason jars, and catch fireflies.   

Several years ago my cousin Rick bought the property next to Grandma’s house and built a house of his own.  After Grandma passed, he bought Grandma’s property.  Today he rents out Grandma’s old house.  It doesn’t look that much different today than it did when I was a young boy.

My dad was born in August 1930 and at that time the population of Dundee was in the hundreds.  In 2019, due businesses like Cabelas coming to town, the population had ballooned to 4,252 and the latest count in 2021 came in at 7,716.  Even the Kroger Grocery Store, in town, has grown. As you can see the population has increased drastically since that faithful day in August 1930.  However, Dundee has somehow managed to keep that “Small Town Feel”.