Parnell is an unincorporated community in Grattan Township, Kent County, Michigan, United States.

In the late 1830s and '40s, Irish immigrants settled the area, which had the advantages of prime farmland and a location reasonably close to a metropolitan center, Grand Rapids, Michigan.

That year, the community came together to worship with a priest sent from Grand Rapids, most frequently in the home of Michael Farrell.

[3] Saint Patrick School in Parnell was founded by Catholic priest James Crumley in 1893, and moved into its current building in 1963.

Parnell is also the home of a monastery of Discalced Carmelite nuns, founded in 1916.