Presque Isle County, Michigan facts for kids

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Presque Isle County

U.S. county

Presque Isle County Courthouse in Onaway

Seal

Location within the U.S. state of Michigan

Michigan's location within the U.S.

Country

United States

State

Michigan

Founded

1840 (created)
1871 (organized)
1875 (reorganized)

Seat

Rogers City

Largest city

Rogers City

Area

• Total

2,573 sq mi (6,660 km²)

• Land

659 sq mi (1,710 km²)

• Water

1,914 sq mi (4,960 km²) 74%

Population

(2020)

• Total

12,982

• Density

20/sq mi (8/km²)

Time zone

UTC−5 (Eastern)

• Summer (DST)

UTC−4 (EDT)

Congressional district

1st

Presque Isle County (/ˈprɛskiːl/ PRESK-eel) is a county in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,982. The county seat is Rogers City. The county was authorized by state legislative action on April 1, 1840, but the county government was not established until 1871. The government was reorganized in 1875.

The name is an anglicisation of the French word presqu'île or presque-isle, which means a peninsula, or literally, "almost an island". A large part of Presque Isle Township consists of that peninsula, with Lake Huron on the east, Grand Lake on the west, and narrow strips of land connecting it to the mainland at the north and south ends. The community of Presque Isle is near the center of this peninsula.

History

Early Native Americans living in the area were nomadic, using the land as hunting grounds. To them the land between the Ocqueoc and Swan Rivers was sacred ground. The name "Presque Isle" was given to the area by French fur traders who portaged over the strip of land that attaches Presque Isle to the mainland.

Early development of the area was delayed because it had no navigable river. The Ocqueoc River was Presque Isle's largest river but it was shallow and crooked, with many rapids. In the spring of 1839 a surveying party, contracted by the state of Michigan, reported that the land of this area was worthless. This further discouraged development until the 1860s when the Crawford family settled into a quiet cove of Lake Huron, south of present-day Rogers City. They intended to develop a stone quarry, but found the stone too flaky to be used as building material. Turning to lumbering, they sold the wood to steamers traveling the Great Lakes.

In 1868 W.E. Rogers, an Army officer, organized a surveying party to Presque Isle, with Albert Molitor as supervisor. Seeing the huge forests, they attempted to purchase Crawford's Quarry but were refused. They formed the Molitor-Rogers Company purchasing the land at the site of Rogers City. The following year a large party of German and Polish immigrants arrived and settled in the area. The Molitor-Rogers Company built a sawmill, store, boarding house, and blacksmith shop. The small city was solely supplied by the company. After a difficult winter in 1870–71, the community began to thrive.

The county's original settlers were lumbermen, fishermen and farmers. In 1907 a mining engineer/geologist from New York, H.H. Hindshaw, visited Crawford's Quarry and found it to be rich in limestone. Following this discovery, the Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company of Calcite, Michigan, was founded. The company purchased 8,000 acres (32 km²) at Calcite, the new name for Crawford's Quarry. Needing a means of shipping their product, the Bradley Transportation Company was formed. The company is known in the area for being the chief business, employing a significant portion of the area's residents. One of the darker aspects of the county's history involved the Bradley Transportation Company when one of their cargo ships, the Carl D. Bradley sank on Lake Michigan during a windstorm in November 1958 with the loss of 33 lives, 28 of whom resided in Presque Isle County (23 were from Rogers City, three were from Onaway and two were from Posen or Metz Township).

Today the world's largest limestone processing plant is in Rogers City, which is also a major Great Lakes Port. This is the best natural harbor on Lake Huron between Port Huron and Mackinaw City.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 2,573 square miles (6,660 km²), of which 659 square miles (1,710 km²) is land and 1,914 square miles (4,960 km²) (74%) is water. Although Presque Isle County is on Michigan's Lower Peninsula, it is considered to be part of Northern Michigan.

Geographic features

Ocqueoc Falls
Sacred Rock

Lakes

Grand Lake (Presque Isle, Michigan)
Long Lake (Preque Isle, Michigan)
Black Lake
Sunken Lake
Tomahawk Creek Flood
Rainy Lake
Ocqueoc Lake

Adjacent counties

By land

Alpena County (southeast)
Montmorency County (southwest)
Cheboygan County (west)

By water

Mackinac County (northwest)
Chippewa County (north)
Manitoulin District, Ontario, Canada (east)

Communities

U.S. Census data map showing local municipal boundaries within Presque Isle County. Shaded areas represent incorporated cities.

Cities

Onaway
Rogers City (county seat)

Villages

Civil townships

Allis Township
Bearinger Township
Belknap Township
Bismarck Township
Case Township
Krakow Township
Metz Township
Moltke Township
North Allis Township
Ocqueoc Township
Posen Township
Presque Isle Township
Pulawski Township
Rogers Township

Census-designated place

Presque Isle Harbor

Other unincorporated communities

Demographics

Historical population
Census	Pop.	%±
1860	26	—
1870	355	1,265.4%
1880	3,113	776.9%
1890	4,687	50.6%
1900	8,821	88.2%
1910	11,249	27.5%
1920	12,131	7.8%
1930	11,330	−6.6%
1940	12,250	8.1%
1950	11,996	−2.1%
1960	13,117	9.3%
1970	12,836	−2.1%
1980	14,267	11.1%
1990	13,743	−3.7%
2000	14,411	4.9%
2010	13,376	−7.2%
2020	12,982	−2.9%
2023 (est.)	13,285	−0.7%
US Decennial Census 1790-1960 1900-1990 1990-2000 2010-2018

At the 2000 United States census, of 2000, there were 14,411 people, 6,155 households, and 4,203 families residing in the county. In 2020, there were 12,982 people in the county.

As of 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $31,656, and the median income for a family was $37,426. Males had a median income of $31,275 versus $20,625 for females. The per capita income for the county was $17,363. About 6.80% of families and 10.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 13.10% of those under age 18 and 9.20% of those over age 64.

Historical markers

There are ten recognized Michigan historical markers in the county:

Bearinger Union School
Burnham's Landing
Elowsky Mill
Forty Mile Point Lighthouse / Graveyard of Ships
Lake Huron
The Metz Fire
Old Presque Isle Lighthouse
Presque Isle Electric Cooperative Monument
Presque Isle Light Station
World's Largest Limestone Quarry

Media

Newspapers

The Alpena News is the daily newspaper of record for much of the northeastern Lower Peninsula.
The Presque Isle County Advance is the weekly newspaper of Presque Isle County.

Television

The following television stations broadcast in Presque Isle County:

Channel 4: WTOM-TV "TV 7&4" (NBC) (Cheboygan; satellite of WPBN-TV, Traverse City)
Channel 6: WCML "CMU Public Television" (PBS) (Alpena; satellite of WCMU-TV, Mount Pleasant)
Channel 8: WGTQ "ABC 29&8" (ABC) (Sault Ste. Marie; satellite of WGTU, Traverse City)
Channel 10: WWUP-TV "9&10 News" (CBS) (Sault Ste. Marie; satellite of WWTV, Cadillac)
Channel 11: WBKB-TV "Channel 11 News" (CBS) (Alpena)
Channel 45: WFUP "Fox 32" (Fox) (Vanderbilt; satellite of WFQX-TV Cadillac).