Mackinaw City

History

The name of Mackinaw is a respelling of "Mackinac", a strait between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, an island in the strait, and an important trading-post on the island; ultimately from Ojibwe mishinii-makinaang (“at the place of many snapping turtles”). The predominant historic tribes in this area were three Algonquian peoples, known collectively as the Council of Three Fires: Ojibwe (Chippewa), Ottawa (Odawa), and Potawatomi at the time of French contact in the 17th century. These peoples had long frequented the surrounding region, which they called Michilimackinac, to fish, hunt, trade, and worship. Mackinac Island in the straits appeared to have the shape of a turtle. The Native Americans here had a creation myth based on the sacred turtle. The Straits of Mackinac was the center of two routes vital to the fur trade: one to Montreal in the east, by way of Lake Nipissing and the Ottawa River valley; and the other to Detroit in the south via Lakes Huron and St. Clair. The first European to pass the site of Mackinaw City was Jean Nicolet, sent out from Quebec City by Samuel Champlain in 1633 to explore and map the western Great Lakes, and to establish new contacts and trading partnerships with the Indian tribes of the region. His reports resulted in the French government providing funds to send settlers, missionaries, traders, and soldiers to the Great Lakes region. Father Jacques Marquette had established a mission on Mackinac Island in 1671 (which was shortly thereafter moved to St. Ignace on the Michigan peninsula, where it remained active until 1705). The construction of Fort de Buade at St. Ignace in 1681 was an attempt by the authorities of New France to establish a military presence at the Straits, but it closed in 1697. Mackinaw City's first European…

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Ring-billed Gull

  Larus delawarensis Ord, 1815 · Aves
  6,629
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  5,618
• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  5,214
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,408
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4,330
• American herring gull, Smithsonian Gull

  Larus smithsonianus Coues, 1862 · Aves
  4,243
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4,112
• Double-crested Cormorant

  Phalacrocorax auritus (Lesson, 1831) · Aves
  3,855

Largest nearby schools

• Mackinaw City K12 School
  Other · MACKINAW CITY · 143 students · 8.9:1 ratio

Most recent

• M 2.7 — 2016-06-28
  8 km ESE of De Tour Village, Michigan