Huron

History

Huron Township was at the center of the "Firelands" region of the Connecticut Western Reserve. The first permanent settler in the area that became Huron Township was a Quebec-born trapper, trader and interpreter named John Baptiste Flammand (or, "Flemming"; and often misspelled "Flemmond"), who established a trading post about 1805, approx. two miles inland upon the east bank of the Huron River. Other French traders had preceded him, including Gabriel Hunot in the 1780s. Huron Township was established in 1809. Huron Village was later established between 1821 and 1824, when a town plat was surveyed, and port facilities at the mouth of the Huron River were developed; and the village quickly became a major shipbuilding center in the 1830s. (The community of Huron is sometimes mistaken to have been the same as the "town plat of Huron", also known as "the old County Seat" village, which was established about 1814, and was actually within the present Milan Township, formerly known as Avery Township before 1821). The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad greatly expanded Huron's port on the east bank of the Huron River beginning in 1880. The first cargo of iron ore at the W&LE docks was received May 21, 1884. The port is no longer in use today, but when operating accepted cargoes of iron ore and limestone from lake freighters. Huron was also the home port of several commercial fishing fleets before unbridled lake pollution decimated the industry on Lake Erie by the early 1970s. Water quality in Lake Erie has greatly improved as a result of strong environmental controls since then and sport fishing has increased in popularity in the area. However, the Lake faces new threats from algal blooms and several invasive species such as zebra mussels and Asian carp that may impact sport…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  13,605
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  12,670
• Red-winged Blackbird

  Agelaius phoeniceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  12,595
• Canada Goose (canadensis Group)

  Branta canadensis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,692
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  11,046
• Bald Eagle

  Haliaeetus leucocephalus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  10,797
• Great Blue/Cocoi Heron

  Ardea herodias Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,778
• Mallard

  Anas platyrhynchos Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  10,321

Most recent

• M 3 — 2026-04-26
  7 km SSE of Amherstburg, Canada
• M 2.5 — 2024-03-18
  4 km WSW of Millbury, Ohio
• M 2.6 — 2023-05-20
  3 km SSE of Walbridge, Ohio
• M 2.5 — 2022-01-27
  2 km NW of Lakeline, Ohio
• M 2.8 — 2022-01-04
  3 km NW of Timberlake, Ohio
• M 3.2 — 2020-08-21
  2 km SSE of Detroit Beach, Michigan