Blood, Trauma, and Biohazard Cleanup in Sturgis, MI

Sturgis is the largest city in St. Joseph County in southern Michigan, at the intersection of US 12 and M-66 just north of the Indiana border, though the county seat is the smaller village of Centreville.

Sturgis was founded in 1827 when Judge John Sturgis settled in the St. Joseph Valley; local legend says the town took his name after territorial official Lewis Cass, who was with a surveying party that received a pan of biscuits from Mrs. Sturgis, insisted the town be named Sturgis.

Sturgis officially became a city in 1896.

Sturgis is known as the "Electric City" because of its municipal electric utility, which the city has operated since 1896.

The city-built hydroelectric dam on the St. Joseph River near Centreville began operating on September 3, 1911, and still serves Sturgis; its centennial was celebrated at Sturgis Dam Days in 2011.

The 2020 census counted 11,082 people in 4,242 households in Sturgis.

Hispanic or Latino residents made up 27.8 percent of Sturgis's population in the 2020 census.

Abbott Laboratories produces infant formula at a plant in Sturgis; the plant's February 2022 shutdown over bacterial contamination contributed to a nationwide formula shortage before production resumed that June.

The Sturges-Young Auditorium in Sturgis, opened in 1955 with 986 seats, hosted Duke Ellington's final performance on March 22, 1974, two months before his death.

Sturgis's historic 1895 rail depot, a 304-ton building with masonry walls up to two feet thick, was moved across town in 2014 and restored as the home of the Sturgis Historical Museum.