Midland, Michigan

Midland is a city in Midland County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 42,547 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland metropolitan statistical area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City combined statistical area. The city is bordered by Midland Township, though the two are administered separately.

Midland is located at the confluence of Chippewa and Tittabawassee rivers in Central Michigan. The city is home to the headquarters of Dow Chemical Company, one of the largest chemical producers in the world, which was founded by Herbert Henry Dow in the city in 1897. The city is also home to Midland Center for the Arts and Northwood University.

By the late 1820s, Midland was established as a fur trading post of the American Fur Company supervised by the post at Saginaw. Here agents purchased furs from Ojibwe trappers. The Campau family of Detroit operated an independent trading post at this location in the late 1820s.

Dow Chemical Company was founded in Midland in 1897, and its world headquarters are still located there. Through the influence of a Dow Chemical plant opening in Handa, Aichi, Japan, Midland and Handa have become sister cities. Dow Corning was also headquartered in Midland.

In 1969, the city unilaterally defined a Midland Urban Growth Area (MUGA), a two-mile territory around the city limits, in an attempt to control urban sprawl. As the county's only capable drinking water supplier, the city would provide water services to communities outside the MUGA such as the nearby village of Sanford. The city would not provide water services within the MUGA without annexation to the city of Midland. This allowed the city to control most of the growth in the county. Since 1991, the policy has since been revised with a series of Urban Cooperation Act Agreements with surrounding townships. Case-by-case redrawings of the MUGA line now allow Midland to sell water to the surrounding townships without annexation.

On May 19, 2020, the Sanford Dam and Edenville Dam both failed, prompting an evacuation of 10,000 Midland residents. Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared a state of emergency, predicting that parts of Midland and Sanford would be covered in nine feet of water within 12–15 hours. She urged residents to seek shelter with family and friends or at emergency shelters. This major "500 year" flooding event occurred just months after the COVID-19 stay at home order went into effect.

The city lies within eastern Midland County, with a small portion extending east into Bay County. Most of the city's area is incorporated from Midland Township. The city is 24 miles (39 km) northwest of Saginaw and 19 miles (31 km) west of Bay City. Midland, along with Saginaw and Bay City make up the Tri-Cities Area, a sub-region of Flint/Tri-Cities.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 36.3 square miles (94.02 km²), of which 34.4 square miles (89.10 km²) are land and 2.0 square miles (5.18 km²), or 5.41%, are water. The Chippewa River joins the Tittabawassee River at the city's downtown. The Tittabawassee is a tributary of the Saginaw River, flowing southeast to Saginaw Bay in Lake Huron.