Maple Rapids Map
Maple Rapids is a village in Clinton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 643 at the 2000 census.
The village is in Essex Township in the northern part of the county. It is about 10 miles northeast of St. Johns, although the trip is longer as there are no direct routes.
In the early 19th-century Maple Rapids was a site where Maketoquit and his large band of Ottawa processed maple sugar, although their main base was further east in modern Shiawassee County, Michigan. It was named after the rapids on the Maple River by George Campau, (brother of Louis, founder of Grand Rapids), in 1826 when he built a trading post here. In 1852, William Hewett built a dam, a sawmill and a store, platted the land and became the first postmaster. The town was incorporated as a village in 1881 during the lumber boom.
Nearby cities include Pewamo, Ashley, Westphalia, Ithaca, Muir.