The Flat River is a tributary of the Grand River in the western part of the U.S. state of Michigan. It rises as the outflow of the six lakes (Six Lakes) system in Belvidere Township, west of Edmore in Montcalm County. It flows mostly south and slightly west through Montcalm County, Ionia County, and Kent County, flowing into the Grand River in Lowell. Other cities it flows through along the way include Greenville and Belding.
Two historic covered bridges cross the river. One, the Fallasburg Bridge, in Vergennes Township, Kent County is in Fallasburg County Park a few miles north of Lowell. The other, Whites Bridge is a few miles to the northeast in adjacent northwest Keene Township, Ionia County, near Smyrna.
There are 5 dams along the river: Greenville, Belding, Whites Bridge, Burroughs and Lowell.
It is the river named in the song "Sad Ballad of Jack Haggerty", sometimes known as "Flat River Girl."
Famous quotes containing the words flat and/or river:
“But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that hath dared
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
So great an object.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The name of the town isn’t important. It’s the one that’s just twenty-eight minutes from the big city. Twenty-three if you catch the morning express. It’s on a river and it’s got houses and stores and churches. And a main street. Nothing fancy like Broadway or Market, just plain Broadway. Drug, dry good, shoes. Those horrible little chain stores that breed like rabbits.”
—Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1909–1993)