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is a city in Montcalm County of the U.S. state of Michigan. Portions of the county are associated with the Western region while others are more closely associated with the Central Michigan region. The population was 7,935 at the 2000 census. Greenville residents can commute to jobs in the nearby Grand Rapids metro area.
Greenville is located on Native American lands of the Odawa Tribe. The Odawa are one of the three tribes of the Niswi-mishkodewin or Council of Three Fires. Greenville is named after its founder, John Green, who settled in the wilderness of the southwest part of the Montcalm County in 1844. John Green constructed a sawmill on the Flat River that is credited for attracting other settlers. The newly formed Green's Village attracted many people of Danish origin who followed another early Danish settler's positive letters home regarding the area. Because of the town's heritage, Greenville celebrates the Danish Festival every year on the third weekend of August. A post office was established on January 20, 1848, with Abel French as the first postmaster. John Green had the village platted in 1853 and it was a station on the Detroit, Grand Rapids and Western Railroad. Greenville incorporated as a village in 1867 and as a city in 1871.
Greenville is the home of the first Meijer grocery store as well as the hometown of its founder, Hendrik Meijer, and Hendrik's son and the chain's principal builder, Fred Meijer.
Greenville is also home to the Fighting Falcon, the lead plane of a wave of gliders during Operation Overlord. The Falcon was purchased with funds raised by the school children of the town, and was designated the lead aircraft in recognition of this achievement.
Since the foundation of Ranney Refrigerator Co. in 1892, the town has been known as the "Refrigerator Capital of the World." It has also been home to the Gibson, Frigidaire, and until recently, the Electrolux refrigerator factory. Electrolux closed the Greenville facility in early 2006, as it was in the process of relocating the factory to Ciudad Juárez in Mexico. This move by a profitable factory had serious impacts on 2,700 employees and their families.
Now the epicentre of "green" technology with the addition of solar panel manufacturer United Solar Ovonic and home to the brand new manufacturing and design centre of Northland Marvel undercounter refrigeration company just completed and part of the UK based AgaRangemaster group. Lafayette Street - Downtown district placed on the National and State Register of Historic Sites in November 2008.