24/7 Trauma & Biohazard Cleanup Near River Downs Okemos, MI

Okemos is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Ingham County, lying mostly within Meridian Charter Township as a Lansing suburb just southeast of East Lansing and Michigan State University.

Freeman Bray founded the settlement in 1839 as a trading point with the Ojibwe people and platted it in 1841 under the name Hamilton.

In 1859, a year after his death, the Michigan legislature renamed the village Okemos in honor of Ojibwe Chief John Okemos, whose name meant 'Little Chief.'

The 2020 census counted 25,121 people in Okemos, living in 10,228 households — a 17.6 percent jump in population from 2010.

The Red Cedar River flows east to west through Okemos, and Ferguson Park on Okemos Road is believed to be the spot where Chief Okemos held powwows with his war chiefs.

The Hamilton Building near the Four Corners of Okemos, built for an ice-cream social debut on June 11, 1904, is the community's oldest commercial building.

Okemos contains a rare architectural treasure: the Goetsch–Winckler House, one of Frank Lloyd Wright's early Usonian homes.

The Meridian Historical Village in Okemos preserves a collection of relocated 19th-century buildings, including a schoolhouse, chapel, and farmhouse.

Okemos Public Schools, which operates Okemos High School, is consistently ranked among the top public school districts in Michigan.

In 2011, CNN Money ranked Okemos the 12th-best place in America for the 'rich and single.'