Editing Muskegon, Michigan (section)

== History ==
[[File:Muskegon Michigan harbor entrance.jpg|thumb|left|The entrance to [[Muskegon Lake]] from [[Lake Michigan]]]]

The name "Muskegon" is derived from the [[Ottawa dialect|Ottawa]] {{lang|otw|mashkiigong}}, meaning "marshy river or swamp".<ref>{{cite book |last=Sherman |first=Elizabeth B. |year=2003 |title=Beyond the Windswept Dunes: The Story of Maritime Muskegon |page=2 |location=Detroit |publisher=Wayne State University Press |isbn=0-8143-3127-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ojibwe.lib.umn.edu/main-entry/mashkiig-ni |title=Ojibwe People's Dictionary: mashkiig |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=Ojibwe People's Dictionary |publisher=University of Minnesota |access-date=February 5, 2022 |quote=}}</ref>

The "Masquigon" River ([[Muskegon River]]) was identified on French maps dating from the late 17th century, suggesting French explorers had reached Michigan's western coast by that time. Father [[Jacques Marquette]] traveled northward through the area on his fateful trip to [[St. Ignace]] in 1675, and a party of French soldiers under [[René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle|La Salle]]'s lieutenant, [[Henry de Tonty]], passed through the area in 1679.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |title=History of Muskegon |url=https://www.co.muskegon.mi.us/770/History-of-Muskegon |website=co.muskegon.mi.u |access-date=7 June 2019}}</ref>

The county's earliest known Euro-American resident was Edward Fitzgerald, a [[fur trade]]r and trapper who came to the Muskegon area in 1748 and who died there, reportedly being buried in the vicinity of [[White Lake (Michigan)|White Lake]]. Between 1790 and 1800, a French-Canadian trader named [[Magdelaine Laframboise|Joseph La Framboise]] established a fur-trading post at the mouth of Duck Lake. Between 1810 and 1820, several [[French-Canadian]] fur traders, including Lamar Andie, Jean Baptiste Recollect, and Pierre Constant, had established fur-trading posts around [[Muskegon Lake]].<ref name=":0" />

Euro-American settlement of Muskegon began in earnest in 1837, which coincided with the beginning of the exploitation of the area's extensive timber resources. The explosion of the lumber industry in 1837 inaugurated what some regard as the most romantic era in the history of the region. Lumbering in the mid-19th century brought many settlers, particularly from [[Germany]], [[Netherlands]], and [[Sweden]].<ref name="St Mary">{{cite web|title=History of the Churches of St. Mary's, Our Lady of Grace & St. Jean Baptiste|url=http://stmarysmuskegon.org/home/history|website=Our Lady of Grace & St Mary Catholic Parishes, Muskegon|access-date=9 July 2015}}</ref>

Some Muskegon neighborhoods began as separate villages. Bluffton was founded as a lumbering village in 1862 in [[Laketon Township, Michigan|Laketon Township]]. It had its own post office from 1868 until 1892. Muskegon annexed it in 1889.<ref>Walter Romig, ''Michigan Place Names'', p. 68</ref>