The Michigan Ghost Town of Tokio, Calhoun County
Michigan has its share of towns that share the names of other towns, countries, states, er cetera. One such little hamlet is one that many Michiganians have never heard of before, except for some of the residents in Calhoun County: The community of Tokio – yes, just one-letter different from Tokyo, Japan.
Tokio – in Marengo Township – is one of Michigan’s ghost towns with nothing left to show it ever existed, except for some farms.
On the northeast corner of 23 Mile Road and J Drive North there was a grocery store/gas station that pretty much was the entire business section of Tokio. The structure sat on land that was originally the farmland of Charles Miller during the mid-late 1800s.
In the 1900s, 10 acres of the land was sold to a Mr. Kimmel, who built the structure as a house and store with a single gas pump.
During the 1920s this is where locals came not just for food & fuel, but to meet neighbors and gab for a while. It was also the home of proprietor Frank Budd. In fact, this little four-corner stop was also known as Tokio Corners.
This was the hub of Tokio until the Great Depression hit in 1930...from there, it was just a matter of time before it closed.