Owosso is in
Shiawassee County, and in the
Central Region. This community is located west of
Flint between
Saginaw and
Lansing along Highway 52 on the banks of the Shawassee River.
Owosso was named after a Shiawassee Indian Chief Wasso who presided over the area and was taken along with his tribe to a reservation following the Treaty of 1836. First settlers to the area were Benjamin and Alfred Williams in 1833. Originally named Big Rapids, it was officially given a post office with the name changed to Owosso in 1838. It was incorporated into a city in 1859.
Owosso survives today by its significant auto industry, related manufacturing, plastics, furniture and electrical parts production. Owosso is the home of author James Oliver Curwood, whose stories about the Yukon and Northwest Territories, have been made into movies (his "castle" can be visited in the park by the Shiawassee River).
