Frankenmuth is a city in Saginaw County

Saginaw County, Michigan

-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 210,039 people, 80,430 households, and 55,818 families residing in the county. The population density was 260 people per square mile . There were 85,505 housing units at an average density of 106 per square mile...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. The population was 4,838 at the 2000 census

United States Census, 2000

The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

. The 2009 census estimate places the population at 4,619. The city is located within Frankenmuth Township

Frankenmuth Township, Michigan

Frankenmuth Township is a civil township of Saginaw County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,049 at the 2000 census. The 2008 census estimate places the population at 1,919. The City of Frankenmuth is located within the survey township area, but is administratively...

, but is politically independent. Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland

Bronner's Christmas Wonderland

Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland is a retail store in Frankenmuth, Michigan that is the "World's Largest Christmas Store." Designed with an Alpine architecture and operating year-round, the building is 7.35 acres in size with landscaped grounds covering 27 acres...

, which bills itself as the World's Largest Christmas Store, is located in Frankenmuth. The most popular nickname is "Muth", but the city is also nicknamed "Little Bavaria" (see History below).
The area was settled and named in 1845 by conservative Lutheran immigrants from Franconia

Franconia

Franconia is a region of Germany comprising the northern parts of the modern state of Bavaria, a small part of southern Thuringia, and a region in northeastern Baden-Württemberg called Tauberfranken...

 (now part of Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

) in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.