Brooklyn /

Brooklyn (formerly Swainsville) is a village in Jackson County of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the village population was 1,176. It is located just off U.S. Highway 12 (formerly U.S. Highway 112) in Columbia Township. Brooklyn is located in a portion of central lower Michigan known for its lush, rolling green landscapes in the Irish Hills area of Southeast Michigan which contains scenic lakes surrounding Hayes State Park and Cambridge Junction Historic State Park which adjoins the Michigan International Speedway. The area was primarily a summer vacation spot for residents of metropolitan Detroit who owned cottages near lakes in the area. With the nearby additions of Interstate 94 in the late 1950s and Michigan International Speedway in the late 1960s, Brooklyn established a year-round population. This city is also 14 miles (23 km) southeast of Jackson, 37 miles (60 km) southwest of Ann Arbor and 56 miles (90 km) southeast of Lansing, which is also a part of the Lansing Metropolitan Area and borders the edges of Metro Detroit. The village was founded by Calvin Swain, who filed the first land claim on June 16, 1832 and named his settlement Swainsville. A vote of