Chums Corner, Michigan

{{Use American English|date=July 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Chums Corner, Michigan | settlement_type = [[Census-designated place]] (CDP) & [[Unincorporated area|unincorporated community]] | nickname = "Chums" | motto =  | image_skyline = Pit Spitters.jpg | image_caption = A [[Traverse City Pit Spitters]] game at [[Turtle Creek Stadium]] in Chums Corner | image_flag = | image_seal =  | pushpin_map = Michigan#USA | pushpin_label = Chums Corner | pushpin_label_position = right  | pushpin_map_caption = Location within the state of Michigan##Location within the United States | pushpin_mapsize = | image_map = Chums Corner, MI location.png | mapsize = 250 | map_caption = Location within [[Grand Traverse County, Michigan|Grand Traverse County]]

| coordinates = {{coord|44|40|19|N|85|39|23|W|display=inline,title}} | coordinates_footnotes = <ref name="GNIS">{{cite gnis|623278|Chums Corner}}</ref> | subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = {{Flagu|United States}} | subdivision_type1 = [[U.S. state|State]] | subdivision_name1 = {{Flag|Michigan}} | subdivision_type2 = [[List of counties in Michigan|County]] | subdivision_name2 = {{Flagicon image|Flag of Grand Traverse County, Michigan.svg}} [[Grand Traverse County, Michigan|Grand Traverse]] | subdivision_type3 = [[Civil township|Township]] | subdivision_name3 = [[Blair Township, Michigan|Blair]]

| government_footnotes = | government_type = | leader_title = | leader_name = | established_title = | established_date =  | unit_pref = Imperial | area_footnotes = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_26.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=May 21, 2022}}</ref> | area_magnitude = | area_total_km2 = 7.24 | area_land_km2 = 6.89 | area_water_km2 = 0.35 | area_total_sq_mi = 2.79 | area_land_sq_mi = 2.66 | area_water_sq_mi = 0.14

| elevation_footnotes = <ref name="GNIS"/> | elevation_ft = 889 | elevation_m = 271

| timezone = [[Eastern Time Zone|Eastern (EST)]] | utc_offset = -5 | timezone_DST = EDT | utc_offset_DST = -4 | postal_code_type = [[ZIP Code|ZIP code(s)]] | postal_code = 49685 ([[Traverse City, Michigan|Traverse City]]) | area_code = [[Area code 231|231]] | blank_name = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID | blank_info = 6223278<ref name="GNIS"/> | website = | footnotes = }} '''Chums Corner''' (also called Chum's Corner, Chums Corners, or simply Chums) is an [[Unincorporated area|unincorporated community]] and [[census-designated place]] (CDP) in [[Grand Traverse County, Michigan|Grand Traverse County]] in the U.S. state of [[Michigan]].<ref name="GNIS"/> According to the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], the population was 1,065. The community is located within [[Blair Township, Michigan|Blair Township]].

==History== Historically, the area that is now Chums Corner was traversed by what is now known as the [[Old Indian Trail (Michigan)|Old Indian Trail]], a trail which serviced travel for the [[Anishinaabe]] between [[Lake Mitchell (Michigan)|Lake Mitchell]], near [[Cadillac, Michigan|Cadillac]], and [[Grand Traverse Bay]], in [[Traverse City, Michigan|Traverse City]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Ettawageshik |first=Frank |date=2018-04-25 |title=Old Indian Trail - Cadillac to Traverse City |url=https://cadillacmichigan.com/old-indian-trail-cadillac-to-traverse-city/ |access-date=2024-08-25 |website=Cadillac, Michigan Area Visitors Bureau |language=en-US}}</ref>

Around 1932, Deronda "Chum" Crandall and his wife Eva began operating a gas station and a grocery store at a major highway intersection a few miles south of Traverse City. Over the years the intersection became known as "Chum's Corners". Chum sold the business and retired in 1953, and died in Traverse City in early 1959.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.blairtownship.org/About_Us/Pane_17.pdf |title=Revealing how Chum's Corner's came to be |access-date=2015-03-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402143045/http://www.blairtownship.org/About_Us/Pane_17.pdf |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The community of Chums Corner was listed as a newly-organized [[census-designated place]] for the [[2010 United States census|2010 census]], meaning it was given officially defined boundaries and population statistics for the first time.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-24.pdf|title=Michigan: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts 2010 Census of Population and Housing | date = September 2012|publisher = [[United States Census Bureau]]| work = [[2010 United States census]]| accessdate = September 17, 2021|page=III-5}}</ref> The population at this time was 946.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Michigan: 2010 |url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/2012/dec/cph-1-24.pdf |access-date=September 6, 2025 |website=www2.census.gov}}</ref>

In 2020, [[Chasten Buttigieg]], spouse of [[United States Secretary of Transportation]] [[Pete Buttigieg]], wrote ''[[I Have Something to Tell You]]'', a memoir which includes anecdotes about Buttigieg's childhood growing up in a neighborhood in Chums Corner.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Buttigieg |first=Chasten |title=I Have Something to Tell You |publisher=[[Atria Publishing Group]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-9821-3812-7 |edition=1st |location=[[New York City]] |pages=23–24}}</ref>

==Geography== According to the [[United States Census Bureau|U.S. Census Bureau]], the CDP has a total area of {{convert|2.66|sqmi|sqkm|2}}, all land.<ref name=CENS>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-24.pdf|title=Michigan: 2010 Population and Housing Unit Counts 2010 Census of Population and Housing | date = September 2012|publisher = [[United States Census Bureau]]| work = [[2010 United States census]]| accessdate = September 17, 2021|page=22 Michigan}}</ref>

===Major highways=== *{{jct|state=MI|US|31}} enters from the west and takes a 90° angle north in the center of the community. *{{jct|state=MI|MI|37}} runs south–north through the center of the community and merges concurrent with U.S. Route 31.

==Demographics== {{US Census population |2010= 946 |2020= 1065 |footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=http://www.census.gov/prod/www/decennial.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|accessdate=June 4, 2016}}</ref> }} {{Expand section|date=September 2021}}

==Education== It is within [[Traverse City Area Public Schools]].<ref>{{cite map |author = [[United States Census Bureau]] |date = January 1, 2020 |map-url = https://www2.census.gov/geo/maps/DC2020/PL20/st26_mi/schooldistrict_maps/c26055_grand_traverse/DC20SD_C26055.pdf |title = 2020 Census |map = School District Reference Map: Grand Traverse County, MI |scale = 1:97,877 |location = Suitland, Maryland |publisher = United States Census Bureau |access-date = April 16, 2023 }}</ref>

== Notable person ==

* [[Chasten Buttigieg]], spouse of former [[South Bend, Indiana|South Bend]] mayor and former [[United States Secretary of Transportation]] [[Pete Buttigieg]], was raised in Chums Corner.

==References== {{reflist}}

[[Category:Unincorporated communities in Grand Traverse County, Michigan]] [[Category:Unincorporated communities in Michigan]] [[Category:Census-designated places in Grand Traverse County, Michigan]] [[Category:Census-designated places in Michigan]] [[Category:Traverse City metropolitan area]]