Standish is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 1,581. It is the county seat of Arenac County. The town was platted by John D. Standish in 1871. Before the plat was formally recorded, Standish sold some of his land in the community and the town was initially named "Granton. " Standish, who owned the town's first business (a sawmill), had the name changed back. It was incorporated as a village in 1893 and a city in 1903. The Jackson and Lansing Railroad reached the community in 1871. It is home to the Standish Maximum Correctional Facility. In late 2009 the facility was considered, along with the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, as the United States site for more than 220 prisoners relocated from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. Many neighbors of both sites expressed concern, with opposition expressed in Michigan and Kansas. In December 2009, the detention camp was slated for relocation to Thomson, Illinois.