Michigan's Hidden Gem
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9/3/2007
Jackson is centrally located at the crossroads of Highway 127 (to Lansing) and Interstate 94 (to Detroit). It's a convenient 25-35 minute drive (depending on how fast you drive!) from the capitol of Lansing, home of Michigan State University (MSU), the city of Ann Arbor, which is home to the University of Michigan, or Toledo, Ohio. It is about a three hour drive from Chicago or a one hour drive from Detroit as well.
Most people don't realize everything Jackson has to offer and unfortunately, we are widely known for our huge state prison (that now sits well outside the city) but conjures up visions of halfway houses and criminals run amok. However, Jackson has so many positive things to offer. For the city's size, we have a surprisingly large number of restaurants, stores, family events, beautiful parks, waterways, and you don't have to drive all over heck to get to all of them. On top of that, the city and surrounding townships are full of beautiful old houses (and new ones too) very reasonably priced.
Jackson County sits atop one of North Americas Largest natural aquifers and is home to the headwaters of the Grand, Michigan's longest river at 260 miles, which is home to some of the most diverse wildlife found in Michigan. In fact, Jackson County is home to the largest number of natural wetlands in southern Michigan and has more than 200 miles of waterway that can be traversed using a canoe or kayak, not to mention an incredible number of lakes to visit.
Because of the central location on major highways, you'd think Jackson would be booming, right?. Well, not exactly. Over the past 20-25 years, Jackson has experienced an alarming decline in all of it's manufacturing businesses (a good 70% of all business in Jackson). Most of these jobs and factories have gone to Asia and Mexico. This greed-driven flight has left Jackson over a barrel and we are having to reinvent ourselves to become something a little different from the past and not end up a city full of skilled yet unemployed blue-collar workers. One thought is that Jackson, in the 1990's was pretty much left out of the economic plans drawn up by then Governor Engler, and his financial planners. Some think this may have been because Jackson does not have a large public university in its midst but it's still surprising as Jackson was such a hub for commerce over the past 100 years.
Jackson currently has a booming healthcare industry. Of course, healthcare is booming everywhere rig
Bp | Jackson, MI