Chesaning ( CHESS-ə-ning) is a village in Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,394 at the 2010 census. The village is located within Chesaning Township.

The first mention of Chesaning in the written pages of chronicles is the Saginaw Treaty, signed in 1819. This unity was amid members of the Saginaw Tribe, Chippewa Indians, and the government of the United States. They customary a number of reservations, including 10,000 acres (40 km) along the banks of the Shiawassee River known as “Big Rock Reserve.” Chesaning is a Chippewa word meaning “big rock place”. The deal continued in effect until 1837 following a second agreement led to the remoteness being surveyed and offered for sale in 1841. The first home was sold at $5 per acre to brothers Wellington and George W. Chapman, and Rufus Mason. After making their house purchase, they traveled back to Massachusetts and moved their families to their additional wilderness home by late summer of 1842.

During the months they had been away from their land, several settlers had moved into the area, building a dam and a sawmill. A few years later, a grinding mill was added. The further settlers named their community “Northampton” in great compliment of the house they had left in Massachusetts. In 1853, the legislature tainted the name to Chesaning, the conventional name for the village and township. The first township elections, held in 1847, are considered to be the credited birthday of the community. The village, first surveyed in 1851, was organized in 1869. The early thing community was located upon the east side of the river. The plant setting provided an abundance of lumber, which was used to build many stores. However, the use of coal heating systems often caused major fires, which destroyed entire blocks of stores. The fires and the arrival of the railroad upon the west side community influenced the business Place to move upon the west side of the river.

The Owosso and Saginaw Navigation Company, organized in 1857 to assume merchandise by barge going on and the length of the river, began construction of a canal and lock upon the east side of the dam for hauling goods on the river. The river continued to be important for classified ad use until the railroad arrived in Owosso. The railroad through Chesaning, built in 1867, was first surveyed to be built approximately three miles west of Chesaning, going directly from Oakley to St. Charles. Luckily, Wellington Chapman donated $18,000, a considerable sum at the time, to the railroad to safe a rail descent through Chesaning. The rail was extremely important to the economy of the village.