Farwell

History

Farwell was founded in 1870 by Edmund Hall, John Van Riper, and George Hitchcock. The Farwell post office opened on January 20, 1871, with George Hitchcock serving as the first postmaster. It was informally platted in 1871 and officially platted the following year by Josiah Littlefield of Ann Arbor. The Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad had plans of expanding into the area on a new route connecting Saginaw to Ludington, which was completed by the end of the decade. The new community was named after New York native Samuel Farwell, who had an interest in the railroad and was a construction contractor. In 1871, Farwell became the first county seat of Clare County but lost the seat of government to Harrison in 1879 after the Farwell courthouse burned down two years earlier. Farwell incorporated as a village in 1879. In 1982, the Rock Road massacre occurred to the west of Farwell in Garfield Township. Due to its proximity to the village, it became known as the "Farwell Murders" and brought national attention to the area. In 2021, a woman named Judy Boyer, shot and killed 4 people in the same county. It became one of the worst murders the town had seen in decades. She pled guilty to the murders and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which is land and (2.84) is water. * runs west–east through the center of the village.

Race & ethnicity