Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Clare, MI

Clare is a city near the geographic center of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, lying mostly in Clare County with a small portion extending into Isabella County.

Clare was founded in 1870, incorporated as a village in 1885, and incorporated as a city in 1891.

Clare is known as the "Gateway to the North" and the "Crossroads of Michigan" because US-10, US-127, and M-115 all meet there, putting it on the route of nearly everyone driving from southern Michigan to the northern Lower Peninsula.

The 2020 census counted 3,254 people in Clare living in 1,433 households, with a median resident age of 38.3 years.

Downtown Clare is home to Cops & Doughnuts, the Clare City Bakery in operation since 1896 that nine Clare police officers bought in 2009 to save it from closing; the bakery went on to win the Cooking Channel's Donut Showdown and has grown to four Michigan locations.

Across the street from the bakery stands the Doherty Hotel, opened in 1924 by former state senator Alfred James Doherty at the US-10 and US-127 crossroads; during Prohibition it was associated with Detroit's Purple Gang, and in 1938 gang associate Isaiah Leebove was shot dead in its Tap Room.

Two Clare properties are listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the Clare Downtown Historic District and the Clare Congregational Church.

The Pere Marquette Rail-Trail, a roughly 55-mile rail trail running west toward Baldwin, has its eastern end in Clare.

Clare County around the city is home to a large Amish community, one of the notable populations of the mid-Michigan countryside.

Clare celebrates its heritage each year with an Irish Festival, a nod to the Irish roots reflected in the city's name.