Manistee

History

In 1751, a Jesuit mission was established in Manistee. Missionaries visited Manistee in the early 19th century, and a Jesuit mission house is known to have been located on the northwest shore of Manistee Lake in 1826. In 1832, a group of traders from Massachusetts built a log house up the Manistee River. However, they were soon driven off by the Odawa nation. The first white settlement and sawmill was built there in 1841. The first permanent Euro-American settlement was made on April 16, 1841, when John Stronach and his son, Adam Stronach, arrived at the mouth of the Manistee River in a schooner loaded with fifteen men and equipment, and established a sawmill. In 1846, the town was named "Manistee"; it was made part of Ottawa County, whose county offices were away at Grand Haven. After a series of new counties were organized, by 1855 Manistee was part of a large Manistee County that also included modern-day Wexford and Missaukee counties. Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell, Manistee's first lawyer, moved there in 1860 and remained there until his death in 1917. Ramsdell owned the first hardware store in the city, and was responsible for the construction of a bridge across the Manistee River. On October 8, 1871, the town was practically destroyed by fire; on the same day that the Peshtigo Fire, the Great Chicago Fire, and fires in Port Huron and Holland occurred, the Great Michigan Fire burned Manistee. Manistee was incorporated as a city in 1882. In 2000, Manistee made national headlines after a local jury convicted a woman for expressing to her mother near a Hispanic family in a restaurant her wish that immigrants would learn English; the judge described it as "insulting conduct" consisting of "fighting words", an offense that was punishable under a local ordinance.…

Geography

Manistee is in southwestern Manistee County in northern Michigan, bordered to the west by Lake Michigan and to the east by Manistee Lake. The Manistee River connects the two lakes, cutting through the middle of the city. According to the United States Census Bureau, Manistee has a total area of , of which are land and , or 27.6%, are water.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy
  Other · MANISTEE · 3,389 students · 18.1:1 ratio
• Manistee Middle High School
  High · MANISTEE · 687 students · 20.2:1 ratio
• John F Kennedy Elem School
  Elementary · MANISTEE · 279 students · 18.6:1 ratio
• Thomas Jefferson Elem School
  Elementary · MANISTEE · 259 students · 18.5:1 ratio
• Casman Alternative Academy
  High · MANISTEE · 63 students · 12.6:1 ratio
• Manistee ISD Center Programs
  Other · Manistee · 48 students · 6.9:1 ratio
• Oaks Correctional Facility
  High · MANISTEE