Nestled in the rolling hills that parallel the slow moving St. Joseph River, Buchanan, Michigan was originally known as McCoy Creek, named after Russell McCoy who came here shortly after the area was first settled in 1833.  The town was founded on the banks where the St. Joe dropped 60 feet creating a powerful surge of water that propelled the 13 mills that would soon be built along the creek. It was flour mill owner John Hamilton who, in 1842, changed the name to Buchanan, in honor of Senator James Buchanan (later to be the 15^th President of the United States), an avid supporter of the Michigan territory becoming a state.

Before there were roads, rivers were the byways of our country and back then the St. Joseph was a major transportation route for the Native American tribes who lived in Southwest Michigan particularly the Pottawatomie whose villages stretched for miles along the riverbanks.

During the Civil War, Bear Cave, located just north of Buchanan, was a stopping point on the Underground Railroad as slaves made their way from the South through Michigan and then on to Canada.

With this rich history, much of it preserved such as in the city's historic Front Street, a wonderful section of Buchanan lined with vintage homes from the turn of the last century and Pears Flour Mill, a working grist mill, the only remaining one from those heady days of river commerce, the city, though focused forward remains true to its fabled heritage.

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