to
Update
is a city in Clinton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 4,702 at the 2000 census.
The city is located within DeWitt Township, though it is politically independent. It is just north of Interstate 69, and just west of US 127, about 10 miles north of downtown Lansing.
DeWitt was named after DeWitt Clinton, Governor of New York during the 1830s. It was first settled by Captain David Scott, who moved here from Ann Arbor in 1833, and platted the land.
In 1839, the city began serving as the county seat, until it was moved to St. Johns in 1857, a city several miles to the north. This caused a stagnation in the economic growth of the city.
In the early 1900s, the Lansing and Suburban Electric Railway opened the community to a new era of prosperity. In 1929, the town was incorporated as a village, and was no longer under the full jurisdiction of DeWitt Township.
On October 21, 1930 a great fire swept though the downtown business district, destroying eight historic and business buildings. This included the destruction of the Clinton House/Hotel, which was a regionally famous establishment. The fire devastated the community, stagnating business growth once again. However, residential development did not slow, and thus DeWitt began its evolvement into the bedroom community that it is today.
DeWitt was incorporated into a city in 1965 as it became apparent to village officials that the needs of the community were becoming too difficult to manage under a rural government.
DeWitt was ranked as the 75th best place to live in the United States by CNN Money in 2005.