HISTORY

Horace Blackman of Tioga County, New York, settled what is now Jackson in July of 1829. Settlers continued to arrive, and a post office was opened in 1830. The name of Jacksonburgh was given to the settlement in honor of Andrew Jackson, but was changed to Jacksonopolis and then shortened to Jackson in 1833.

Jackson Michigan, Birth place of the Republican Party. On July 6, 1854, in Jackson, Mich., the Republican Party formally organized itself by holding its first convention, adopting a platform and nominating a full slate of candidates for state offices. Other states soon followed, and the first Republican candidate for president, John C. Fremont, ran in 1856 with the slogan "Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men, Fremont."