Ludington

History

In 1675, Father Jacques Marquette, French missionary and explorer, died and was laid to rest near the modern site of Ludington. A memorial and iron cross were built in 1955 to mark the location. In 1845, Burr Caswell moved to the area near the mouth of the Pere Marquette River as a location for trapping and fishing. In July 1847, when he brought his family to live there, they became the first permanent residents of European ancestry. Two years later they built a two-story wood-framed house on their farm. After the organization of Mason County in 1855, the first floor of this building was converted into the county's first courthouse. Restored in 1976 by the Mason County Historical Society, the structure stands today as a part of White Pine Village, a museum consisting of several restored and replica Mason County buildings (see external links). The town was originally named Pere Marquette, then later named after the industrialist James Ludington, whose logging operations the village developed around. Ludington was incorporated as a city in 1873, the same year that the county seat was moved from the village of Lincoln to the city of Ludington.

Geography

Ludington is in western Mason County, on the east shore of Lake Michigan and north shore of its inlet, Pere Marquette Lake. It is north of Muskegon, south of Manistee, Michigan, and west of Reed City. According to the United States Census Bureau, Ludington has a total area of , of which are land and , or 6.80%, are water. The Ludington North Breakwall Light is at the end of the north pierhead on Lake Michigan. Ludington is part of Northern Michigan.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  4,023
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,553
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,283
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  2,968
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,740
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  2,728
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,666
• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  2,613

Most recent

• M 2.9 — 2024-08-02
  38 km ESE of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin