Historic Howell Theater315 E Grand River Ave, Howell, MI 48843
Metro Detroit Livingston County City
Howell
A county seat of hot-air balloons, melon ice cream and an 1881 opera house
- People (2025 estimate)
- 9,896
- Land area
- 5.0 sq mi · 12.9 km²
- From downtown
- 49.2 miles · 79 km · northwest
- Incorporated
- 1863
Nothing on our calendar here this week yet.
01 / Why it matters
Why Howell matters
Howell is the seat and largest city of Livingston County, right along I-96. Brick storefronts on Grand River Avenue, the red-brick 1889 courthouse and an 1881 opera house set the tone downtown. Livingston County is part of the six-county Detroit–Warren–Dearborn metro area, so Howell is officially Metro Detroit, on its western fringe.
Howell is a festival town. The Michigan Challenge Balloonfest has been held here since 1985, with its Balloon Glow lighting up balloons on the ground at dusk; August brings the Howell Melon Festival with melon ice cream and a race, and October the Halloween events of the Legend of Sleepy Howell.
Its past isn't spotless: from the 1970s on, the area carried a reputation tied to the Ku Klux Klan. Residents answered together. In 1994, after a rally by fewer than a dozen Klansmen from out of town, people showed up with brooms, mops and buckets to symbolically cleanse the courthouse steps, and in July 2024, after a white supremacist march, they washed the downtown sidewalk the same way.
02 / Known for
What Howell is known for
The 1889 Livingston County Courthouse, designed by Albert E. French and on the National Register since 1976.
The Michigan Challenge Balloonfest, with hot-air balloons and an evening Balloon Glow every summer since 1985.
The Howell Melon Festival and its Howell Melon ice cream.
The Howell Opera House, a downtown fixture since 1881.
The Legend of Sleepy Howell, the city's October Halloween tradition.
03 / What’s on
What’s on in Howell
Nothing on our calendar in Howell right now. Try the neighbors:
04 / Places
5 places on our site in Howell
Historic Howell Theater315 E Grand River Ave, Howell, MI 4884305 / What to do
If you’re in Howell
Howell Opera House
The 1881 opera house is run by the Livingston Arts Council today: concerts, exhibits and a winter market for local makers from October to early March.
Official site ↗Downtown Howell (Grand River Avenue)
Walk Grand River Avenue past the historic brick blocks and see the red-brick courthouse with its clock tower; the county's veterans memorial stands on its lawn.
Official site ↗Howell Carnegie District Library
A classic Carnegie library building with local history archives and a genealogy department.
Official site ↗
06 / History
Howell through the years
- 1835
Flavius J. B. Crane and Edward Brooks lay out the village in July, and the first building, the Eagle Tavern, goes up.
- 1836
The first post office opens, and on March 24 the legislature creates Livingston County with Howell as its designated seat.
- 1863
On March 14 the legislature establishes Howell as a village.
- 1881
The Howell Opera House is built.
- 1889
The Livingston County Courthouse is built.
- 1994
On October 22, out-of-town Klansmen rally on the courthouse steps; county residents stay away, and the next day they gather to symbolically cleanse the steps.
07 / People
Famous names from here
- George Jewett the first Black football player in Big Ten history coached Howell High School's first football team in 1895, making him Michigan's first Black high school football coach
Sources
Population and area are Census Bureau figures (Howell city).
- 2020 Census, Michigan (PL 94-171)
- Census Bureau population estimates: cities and towns
- cityofhowell.org/residents/about_the_city_of_howell/history.php
- www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/metro-micro/geographies/reference-files/2023/delineation-files/list1_2023.xlsx
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howell,_Michigan
- wcsx.com/2025/06/28/balloonfest-in-howell
- howellmelonfestival.com
- howellrecreation.org/sleepyhowell
- thelivingstonpost.com/25-years-ago-when-livingston-county-told-the-kkk-where-it-could-go
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livingston_County_Courthouse_(Michigan)
- howelloperahouse.com
- howelllibrary.org
- thelivingstonpost.com/newest-college-gridiron-rivalry-honors-coach-of-howell-high-schools-first-football-team
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Jewett
- cityofhowell.org
Change since 2020, per the Census Bureau estimate: −1.7 percent.
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