Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Omer, MI

Omer is a city in Arenac County, Michigan, and with a population of 274 at the 2020 census it is the least-populated city in the entire state — a status its signs on US-23 proudly proclaim as "Michigan's Smallest City."

Omer was settled in 1866, when George Gorie and George Carscallen built a sawmill along the Rifle River and founded the town as Rifle River Mills.

Omer got its unusual name because first postmaster George Carscallen wanted to call the town Homer, but Michigan already had a Homer, so he simply dropped the leading H.

Omer was split off from Bay County into the newly formed Arenac County in 1883 and briefly served as the county's first county seat.

Omer was incorporated as a city in 1903, but a devastating fire in 1914 destroyed about 40 buildings and ended the town's early prosperity.

The Second Arenac County Courthouse in Omer is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is now home to the Arenac County Historical Society.

At the 2010 census, Omer's 313 residents lived in 131 households spread across the city's roughly 1.16 square miles.

The Rifle River runs through Omer and is a popular spring fishing spot for sucker fish running up from Lake Huron, with an annual festival and fishing tournament held in the city.

Omer gained national attention in the late 1990s as the site of the "cussing canoeist" case, in which a man was ticketed under a century-old law for swearing after falling out of a canoe on the Rifle River; the law was later struck down as unconstitutional.