Jackson

Jackson is a city located in Jackson County, Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 33,534. The city is located along I-94 and U.S. Route 127, approximately 40 miles west of Ann Arbor. Lansing, Michigan's capital city, is just 35 miles north of Jackson. The city is the core of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 160,248. Jackson was founded in 1829 and named after President Andrew Jackson. The Michigan State Prison, Michigan's first prison, opened in Jackson in 1838 and is still in operation.

Jackson was once known as the "birthplace of the Republican Party." In the 1850s, politicians would meet there to argue against the expansion of slavery. The party now recognizes its actual birthplace as Ripon, Wisconsin, but there is still a plaque commemorating Jackson as the party's history in the city's Under the Oaks City Park. The park has been visited by numerous Republican presidents. In the early twentieth century, Jackson became an automotive manufacturing center that attracted southerners and immigrants to its factories, resulting in a significant population increase.