Discreet Biohazard Cleanup Near West Reading Reading, MI

Reading is a small city in Hillsdale County in far southern Michigan, pronounced RED-ing, surrounded by Reading Township along state highway M-49.

Reading was settled in 1835 and was originally called Basswood Corners, after clumps of basswood trees at its main intersection.

Reading received its post office on December 14, 1840, taking its name from the township, which was itself named after Reading, Pennsylvania.

The community was platted in 1852 around a new sawmill, gained a railway station in 1869, incorporated as a village in 1873, and became a city in 1934.

The 2020 census counted 1,094 people in Reading, and the city had 392 households at the 2010 census, with an average household size of 2.72.

Reading is remarkably stable in size: its population has stayed between roughly 950 and 1,200 people for well over a century, from 1,096 residents in 1900 to 1,094 in 2020.

The entire city covers just 1.01 square miles, all of it land, making it one of Hillsdale County's most compact communities.

Reading is served by its own district, Reading Community Schools, which also covers portions of several surrounding townships.

Reading sits in Hillsdale County, the only county in Michigan that borders both Indiana and Ohio, and the county holding the southernmost point in Michigan.

NFL player Keith Lincoln was born in Reading, and the notorious 19th-century career criminal Sile Doty died there.