About
Leslie is a small, friendly community located just south of our State’s Capitol. We’re right in the middle of Michigan’s centers of industry, politics and education, but we’re also worlds away.
We may be within easy distance of Michigan’s biggest cities, but Leslie is a small town, with a real Main Street that has shops, places to eat and drink and stock up on whatever you need. We are also proud of the fact that the people in town will greet you by name after your first meeting.
Leslie was first settled by Elijah Woodworth in 1836, who built the first log cabin in the city. It was originally named Meekerville after a famous pioneer to the area, Benjamin Meeker. Jerry G. Cornell named the town after a prominent Leslie family in eastern New York, his home state. The name Leslie was adopted officially when a post office was assigned to the area in 1841. Leslie was later incorporated as a village in 1869, and as a city nearly 100 years later in 1968.