Escapology Mt. Clemens82 Macomb Pl, Mount Clemens, MI 48043
Metro Detroit Macomb County City
Mount Clemens
Macomb's county seat and old mineral-bath town, where even Babe Ruth came to soak
- People (2025 estimate)
- 15,419
- Land area
- 4.1 sq mi · 10.6 km²
- From downtown
- 20.2 miles · 33 km · northeast
- Incorporated
- 1879
Nothing on our calendar here this week yet.
01 / Why it matters
Why Mount Clemens matters
Mount Clemens has been Macomb County's seat since 1818, sitting on the Clinton River and almost completely surrounded by Clinton Township. It's a small city, but a lot of county business happens here, and downtown is anchored by the 1933 Art Deco Macomb County Building.
For a century, from 1873 to 1974, the baths paid the bills: mineral springs bubbled up under town, and at the peak 11 bathhouses and a string of hotels waited on visitors. Clark Gable, Mae West, Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, William Randolph Hearst and the Vanderbilts all came here to soak.
The train depot has its own legend: in August 1862, 15-year-old Thomas Edison pulled a three-year-old boy out of the path of a train here, and the grateful father, the station agent, taught him telegraphy. The 1859 depot now houses the Michigan Transit Museum.
02 / Known for
What Mount Clemens is known for
The mineral baths: the first bathhouse, “The Original,” opened in 1873, and bath tourism was the city's biggest industry until 1974.
Thomas Edison learned telegraphy at the Grand Trunk depot here in 1862.
Macomb County's seat since 1818, with downtown anchored by the 1933 Art Deco Macomb County Building.
The Anton Art Center, housed in the 1904 Neoclassical Carnegie library and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2021.
The Emerald Theatre building, opened in 1921 as the Macomb Theatre movie palace and vaudeville house, designed by C. Howard Crane of Detroit's Fox Theatre fame.
The Mount Clemens Sugar Company turned sugar beets into refined sugar from about 1898 to 1950.
03 / What’s on
What’s on in Mount Clemens
Nothing on our calendar in Mount Clemens right now. Try the neighbors:
04 / Places
16 places on our site in Mount Clemens
Escapology Mt. Clemens82 Macomb Pl, Mount Clemens, MI 48043
Macomb County1 South Main St., Mount Clemens, MI 48043
Macomb County Chamber28 First St., Suite B, Mount Clemens, MI 4804305 / What to do
If you’re in Mount Clemens
Michigan Transit Museum
The 1859 Grand Trunk depot where Edison learned telegraphy, now a museum with vintage locomotives and cars, open Sundays 1 to 4 p.m. year-round, with occasional short train rides toward Selfridge.
Official site ↗Anton Art Center
A free gallery in the old Carnegie library on Macomb Place, with rotating exhibitions, art classes and a gift shop of local work, open Tuesday through Saturday.
Official site ↗Downtown Mount Clemens
The county seat's walkable downtown by the Clinton River, with its own events calendar.
Official site ↗
06 / History
Mount Clemens through the years
- 1795
Christian Clemens surveys the area; he settles here in 1799.
- 1818
On March 11 Mount Clemens becomes the Macomb County seat, the same year it gets its name.
- 1859
In the fall the Grand Trunk Western opens its Port Huron to Detroit line, with a depot in Mount Clemens.
- 1873
The first bathhouse opens, launching the mineral-bath era.
- 1879
Mount Clemens incorporates as a city.
- 1904
The Carnegie-funded public library, today's Anton Art Center, is built.
07 / Born here
5 people in our lexicon were born here
08 / People
Famous names from here
- Christian Clemens The town's founder, buried in Clemens Park just north of downtown.
- Uncle Kracker The “Follow Me” singer and former DJ for Kid Rock was born in Mount Clemens in 1974.
Sources
Population and area are Census Bureau figures (Mount Clemens city).
- 2020 Census, Michigan (PL 94-171)
- Census Bureau population estimates: cities and towns
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Clemens,_Michigan
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Clemens_station
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Art_Deco_architecture_in_Michigan
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Art_Center
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerald_Theatre
- michigantransitmuseum.com
- theartcenter.org
- mountclemens.gov
- downtownmountclemens.org
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Kracker
Change since 2020, per the Census Bureau estimate: −1.8 percent.
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