Emmet County, Michigan

Emmet County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 34,112, making it the second-most populous county in Northern Michigan (behind Grand Traverse County). The county seat is Petoskey, which is also the county's largest city.

Emmet County is located at the top of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, bounded on the west by Lake Michigan and on the north by the Straits of Mackinac. Its rural areas are habitat for several endangered species. Long a center of occupation by the Odawa people, today the county is the base for the federally recognized Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

History

Native Americans and New France

thumb|A detail from [[:File:1842 A new map of Michigan with its canals roads distances by H.S. Tanner.jpg|A New Map of Michigan with its Canals, Roads & Distances (1842) by Henry Schenck Tanner, showing Emmet County as Tonedagana, the county's name from 1840 to 1843. Several nearby counties are also shown with names that would later be changed.]]

Odawa history records that Emmet County was thickly populated by indigenous peoples called the Mush-co-desh, which means "the prairie tribe". They had an agrarian society and were said to have "shaped the land by making the woodland into prairie as they abandoned their old worn out gardens which formed grassy plains". Ottawa tradition claims that they slaughtered from forty to fifty thousand Mush-co-desh and drove the rest from the land after the Mush-co-desh insulted an Ottawa war party.

The Odawa were important prior to European colonization for their trading network throughout the Great Lakes area. The Odawa of nearby L'Arbre Croche fished, hunted, and grew and gathered produce, including corn, squash, onions, cucumbers, turnips, cabbages, melon, and wild strawberries. The Odawa bartered with the French at Mackinac Island, a major fur-trading center where Lake Huron meets Lake Michigan. They traded food, bark, and canoes for goods – like clothing and glass and porcelain beads. The canoes and food, including dried fish and meat and produce, supplied the fur traders who worked in the wilderness of the Great Lakes and the Upper Mississippi regions. They retained this influence into the 18th century, as French traders relied on them to take furs east from tribes they traded with to the north and west. When French explorers first came to this area, they claimed it as part of New France, based in today's Quebec province.

thumb|Homelands of [[Anishinaabe and Oji-Cree, ca. 1800]]

The Ottawa and Ojibwe tribes were the principal inhabitants of this area, extending across to Manitoulin Island and the Bruce Peninsula of Ontario, Canada. The French established Fort Michilimackinac in about 1715. It was a trading post and the basis of a multicultural settlement that developed around it. Seasonally numerous Native Americans of various tribes would come to trade there.

Pierre du Jaunay, a Jesuit priest from France, served as a missionary at Michilimackinac beginning in 1735. From the Sainte-Anne log church, he served the French and later British residents, neighboring Native Americans, and visiting traders and explorers for almost 30 years. Du Jaunay split his time between the Sainte-Anne church and the Saint-Ignace at L’Arbre Croche mission in Cross Village, where he had a farm. He was assisted by several French priests and some Native American slaves. The area was mostly reserved for native tribes by treaty provisions with the US federal government until 1875.

The Michigan Legislature renamed Tonedagana County as Emmet County, after Robert Emmet, on March 8, 1843. The lower portion of the county forms Little Traverse Bay at the mouth of the bear River. Emmet County is considered to be part of Northern Michigan

Adjacent counties

By land

Cheboygan County (east)
Charlevoix County (south)

By water

Charlevoix County (west)
Mackinac County (north; accessed via Mackinac Bridge)

thumb|The Tunnel of Trees, along [[M-119 (Michigan highway)|M-119 north of Harbor Springs.]]

Communities

thumb|right|375px|[[United States Census|U.S. Census data map showing local municipal boundaries within Emmet County. Shaded areas represent incorporated cities.]]

Cities

Harbor Springs
Petoskey (county seat)

Villages

Alanson
Mackinaw City (partial)
Pellston

Civil townships

Bear Creek Township
Bliss Township
Carp Lake Township
Center Township
Cross Village Township
Friendship Township
Little Traverse Township
Littlefield Township
Maple River Township
McKinley Township
Pleasantview Township
Readmond Township
Resort Township
Springvale Township
Wawatam Township
West Traverse Township

Census-designated places

Bay Shore (partial)
Bay View
Brutus
Carp Lake
Conway
Cross Village
Levering
Oden
Ponshewaing

Other unincorporated places

Appleton
Bay Harbor
Ely
Epsilon
Good Hart
Harbor Point
Sturgeon Bay
Stutsmanville
Van
Wequetonsing

Indian reservations

Burt Lake Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians
Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians occupies at least 13 scattered reservation areas within Emmet County, including portions within the city of Petoskey and the townships of Bear Creek, Bliss, Center, Little Traverse, McKinley, Readmond, Resort, Wawatam, and West Traverse.
Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians

Demographics

Emmet County operates the County jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, records deeds, mortgages, and vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of social services. The county board of commissioners controls the budget and has limited authority to make laws or ordinances. In Michigan, most local government functions – police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance etc. – are the responsibility of individual cities and townships.

Elected officials

Prosecuting Attorney: James R. Linderman
Sheriff: Peter A. Wallin
County Clerk: Suzanne R. Kanine
County Treasurer: Mary Mitchell
Register of Deeds: Karen Cosens

<small>(information as of December 2020)</small>

Parks and recreation

Wilderness State Park is a state park in Carp Lake township on the shores of Lake Michigan. A prominent physical feature of the park is Waugoshance Point, which juts westward into the lake. Beyond the tip of the point, Temperance Island and Waugoshance Island are also parts of the state park. Waugoshance Point and the adjacent islands are nesting grounds for the endangered piping plover.
The Headlands is a 550-acre park located west of Mackinaw City, Michigan on the shores of Lake Michigan. The park contains woodlands, over two miles of undeveloped shoreline, and many species of rare and endangered plant life. Marked trails are provided for hiking, bicycling and cross-country skiing. In May 2011, Headlands Park was awarded International Dark Sky Park designation by the International Dark-Sky Association.

Economy

The economy of Emmet County, along with that of the rest of Northern Michigan, is heavily boosted by local companies and manufacturing. Corporations in Emmet County, such as those in the fields of aerospace technology, gambling and candy making, among others, drive the county's economy.

Manufacturing and industry

The Odawa Casino Resort in Resort Township is one of Emmet County's top attractions, as it is one of the many casinos in Northern Michigan. Along with the Odawa, the LTBB Gaming Administration in Petoskey is one of the other casinos in the area, employing 250 people. The Kilwins chocolate-manufacturing company is based in Petoskey, although over 100 locations of the store exist in 21 states, mostly in popular tourist destinations. The company, founded in 1947 under a similar name by Don and Katey Kilwin, specializes in making ice cream, candy, chocolate, and fudge. McLaren Northern Michigan Hospital in Petoskey is one of the top employers of Emmet County, with 950 employees. Overall, six companies in Emmet County employ 200 or more people. Moeller Aerospace Technology in Harbor Springs manufactures various products. The Petoskey News-Review is a daily newspaper, in circulation since 1878. Its current name dates from a 1953 merger with another newspaper company.

Transportation

State-maintained highways

is a north–south freeway that clips the extreme northeast corner of Emmet County in Mackinaw City. North of Emmet County, I-75 crosses the Straits of Mackinac via the Mackinac Bridge.
finds its northern terminus at I-75 in Mackinaw City. The highway continues east into Cheboygan County, and runs south along the coast of Lake Huron.
serves as the primary north–south thoroughfare in Emmet County. It connects the communities of Petoskey, Conway, Oden, Ponshewaing, Alanson, Pellston, Levering, and Mackinaw City. To the south, US-31 parallels the Lake Michigan coast.
has its northern terminus at US-31 in Petoskey. South of Emmet County, US-131 also serves as another north–south thoroughfare, taking a more inland route than US-31.
is an east–west highway. M-68 begins at US-31 in Alanson, and continues east via the communities of Indian River, Tower, and Onaway before terminating at Rogers City on Lake Huron.
is a north–south highway entirely within Emmet County. Beginning at an intersection with US-31 between Bay View and Conway, and follows the shore of Little Traverse Bay and Lake Michigan via Harbor Springs to an intersection in Cross Village. The Tunnel of Trees lies along M-119.

Previously, an additional highway, M-108, ran along the Emmet–Cheboygan county line in Mackinaw City. However, the highway was handed back to the Emmet County Road Commission in 2010.

County-designated highways

is an east–west road connecting Petoskey to I-75 at Wolverine in Cheboygan County.
is an east–west road connecting Pellston to M-27 in Cheboygan County.
is an east–west road connecting M-119 in Cross Village to US-31 in Levering and US-23 in Cheboygan.
is a north–south road connecting Horton Bay with US-31 near Bay Shore.
is a north–south road serving central Emmet County, connecting Harbor Springs and Cross Village via a more inland route than the one taken by M-119.
exists in two north–south segments. One segment, in the south of Emmet County, connects the Walloon Lake area with Petoskey, paralleling US-131. Another segment, in central Emmet County, connects Harbor Springs and Mackinaw City.

Bus

Indian Trails provides intercity bus service to Emmet County with stops in Petoskey and Pellston.

Air service

Emmet County is served by Pellston Regional Airport, with connections to Detroit and other locales in Northern Michigan.

References

External links

Emmet County official site