|
Presque Isle County is a county located in the Lower peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the population was 13,376. The county seat is Rogers City.The county was set off on April 1, 1840 and a county government was first organized in 1871. The government was re-organized in 1875
Both the county and Presque Isle Township are named for Presque Isle (literally, "almost an island") which is French for "a narrow peninsula". A large part of the township consists of that peninsula, with Lake Huron on the east and Grand Lake on the west and narrows strips of land connecting it to the mainland at the north and south ends. The community of Presque Isle is situated near the center of this peninsula.
|
|
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 fur traders who portaged over the strip of land that attaches Presque Isle to the main land
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 the present-day site of 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 officer in the US Army, 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 began settling 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 original settlers of this county 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 was founded purchasing 8,000 acres (32 km2) at Calcite, the new name for Crawford's Quarry. Recognizing the need for a means of shipping their product the Bradley Transportation Company was formed. The company is known in the area for being the chief business, as a large number of the area's residents are employed by the company. 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 in a November Gale in 1958 with the loss of 33 lives, 29 of whom resided in Presque Isle County (26 were from Rogers City, two were from Onaway, and one was from Metz Township).
|