Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Riverdale, MI

Riverdale is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Gratiot County in Michigan's central Lower Peninsula, lying mainly in Seville Township with a small portion extending into Sumner Township.

Arthur Newton first settled the area in 1874 and platted the community the following year along the Pine River.

Riverdale got its name by accident: its first postmaster wanted to call the post office Riverside for its spot on the Pine River, but that name was already taken by a Berrien County post office, so it became Riverdale when the office opened on March 10, 1876.

The community grew around a station on the Detroit, Lansing and Northern Railroad, which later became part of the Pere Marquette Railway.

When the railroad was abandoned and its tracks removed, the old rail bed was converted in 1994 into the Fred Meijer Heartland Trail, the 42-mile trail between Alma and Greenville that now has a trailhead in Riverdale.

The Riverdale Tavern has been operating since 1917, when Charles Green rebuilt on the concrete slab of his burned saloon, grocery and ice cream parlor — during Prohibition the building went back to selling groceries and ice cream.

Riverdale was listed as a census-designated place for the first time in the 2020 census, which counted 281 residents in the CDP's 0.70 square miles.

The Riverdale post office, in continuous operation since 1876 on North Lumberjack Road, serves ZIP Code 48877 across parts of three counties — Gratiot, Montcalm and Isabella.

Riverdale children attend Alma Public Schools to the east, and the Seville Township Library stands in the center of the community next door to the post office.