Caro is a city in and the county seat of Tuscola County, Michigan, United States. The population was 4,328 at the 2020 census and 4,145 at the 2000 census.
Caro was founded on the ridge just above the site of the Chippewa Village that early on stood at the Oxbow in the Cass River that was known by Native Americans as “Pe-See-Kop-To-Qua-Yone.” It is now the site of the Caro Dam. At the gate of the Chippewa Village, The village became a boom town logging camp in 1848. The Johnson brothers, Daniel and Soloman, began to build the City of Zilwaukee, Michigan, from Cass River Pine timber that they logged from the land at Caro’s future site and bought in 1849.
In the 1856-57 session of the Michigan Legislature, road construction was authorized from Bridgeport in Saginaw County northeast to Forestville in Sanilac County, with a route that would pass through what is now Caro. Once the road was cleared, commercial interests began to be located here. Melvin Gibbs, who had been keeping a hotel in an old log house, in 1858 put up a new frame building known as the Gibbs House. In 1859, William E. Sherman built another hotel, which he named the Centerville House, based on the location being near the center of the county. The name Centerville became associated with the developing community.
In 1865, Centerville was selected as the county seat. A post office named Tuscola Center was established on April 25, 1866. To address the confusion caused by the differing names, community leaders met in 1868, and at the suggestion of William E. Sherman selected the name Caro, based on a variant spelling of the Egyptian city of Cairo.
On July 23, 2007, Governor Jennifer Granholm announced Caro as a community chosen by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) to take part in the Blueprints for Downtowns program. The city would receive a comprehensive, market-driven strategy toward developing an action-oriented downtown, resulting in economic growth, job creation and private investments.
Caro residents voted in favor of changing to the status of a city on November 3, 2009.
