Mount Pleasant, city, seat of Isabella County, central Michigan, on the Chippewa River; incorporated as a city 1889. It is an agricultural center and the hub of a petroleum- and natural-gas-producing region, with many oil-related industries. Central Michigan University (1892), with its Center for Cultural and Natural History, is here. A Saginaw Chippewa Indian Reservation is nearby. The community was platted in the 1860s by a lumberman, who selected its name. Industrial growth was spurred by the arrival of the railroad in 1879 and the discovery of oil in 1927. Population 23,746 (1980); 25,946 (2000).
