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Branch

Ghost town · Branch County, Michigan

Coldwater West quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1960, 1:24,000)
Coldwater West quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1960, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Branch is a ghost town in Branch County, Michigan, recorded as human settlement in United States of America. It is the only former community in Branch County recorded on the federal names register, out of 39 across Michigan.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Branch as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 41.9294° N, 85.0546° W.

Key facts

Elevation957 ft
Nearest living townColdwater, MI
Distance to it3.1 miles
Coordinates41.92944, -85.05464

Open the location on a map

Then and now

Drag the slider: the old USGS map on the left, the same ground from the air today on the right. Both cover the same 1.9-mile square centred on the recorded location.

Branch today, aerial view
Coldwater West quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1960, 1:24,000)

Left: Coldwater West quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1960, 1:24,000), U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection. Right: The same ground today: NAIP aerial imagery, USDA Farm Service Agency, National Agriculture Imagery Program (via USGS). Both public domain.

What's there now

Branch is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Coldwater, MI (population 13,847), about 3.1 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 957 feet above sea level. The aerial view above shows what covers the ground today. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Nearby places

Sources and licences

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-06.