Caro

History

Caro was founded on the ridge just above the site of the Chippewa Village that early on stood at the Oxbow in the Cass River that was known by Native Americans as "Pe-See-Kop-To-Qua-Yone." It is now the site of the Caro Dam in Section 10, Indianfields Township, Tuscola County. Caro would be built and organized on Section 3. On Section 10, at the gate of the Chippewa Village, the logging camp that started the "boom" in logging Cass River was established by Curtis Emerson in 1848. Paschel Richardson of Tuscola Village purchased land for logging on the future site of Caro or Section 3, Indianfields Township, also in 1848. The Johnson brothers, Daniel and Soloman, began to build the City of Zilwaukee, Michigan, from Cass River Pine timber that they logged from the land at the future site of Caro and that they bought in 1849. This was how the events would align. Gardener and Ephraim Williams about 1830 to the 1840s were agents of the American Fur Company that had a trading post on the Cass River. The post was described as at the "very short bend in the river." The bend was "shaped like a horseshoe." It was called in rough English "Skop-Ti-Qua-Nou." This was undoubtedly a slightly misspelled name for the Oxbow. Gardner Williams would purchase tracts of land next to the Chippewa Village in the 1850s that amounted in size to be more than what was the area of Caro. Caro residents voted in favor of changing to the status of a city on November 3, 2009. Village President Tom Striffler was elected to the position of mayor. Elected to the city council were Mike Henry, Rick Lipan, Joe Greene, Charlotte Kish, Amanda Langmaid, and Richard Pouliot.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water. Caro is located in central Tuscola County, surrounded by Indianfields Township on its west, south, and east. Almer Township borders the northern part of the city. The Caro post office, with ZIP code 48723, also serves nearly all of Indianfields and Almer townships, as well as smaller portions of Wells Township to the east of Indianfields, Dayton Township to the southeast of Indianfields, Fremont Township to the south of Indianfields, Juniata Township to the west of Indianfields, Fairgrove Township to the northwest of Indianfields, Columbia Township, to the north of Almer, Elmwood Township to the northeast of Almer, and Ellington Township to the east of Almer.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  1,286
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,107
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,084
• Mourning Dove

  Zenaida macroura (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  1,060
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  955
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  929
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  927
• Red-bellied Woodpecker

  Melanerpes carolinus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  906