Editing Leelanau County, Michigan (section)

== History ==
{{See also|History of Northern Michigan}}
Leelanau County was separated as an unorganized county in 1840 by the [[Michigan Legislature]].<ref name=clarke/><ref>{{cite book |author=George Dawson |date=1840 |title=Acts of the Legislature of the State of Michigan Passed at the Annual Session of 1840 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aDg4AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA196 |location=Detroit |pages=196-200}}</ref> In 1851, it was attached the [[Grand Traverse County, Michigan|Grand Traverse County]] for governmental purposes, and was temporarily given the name "Leelanau Township". In 1863, Leelanau County was organized in its own right.<ref name="clarke" /> The same year, the southern portion of Leelanau County was separated as [[Benzie County, Michigan|Benzie County]], and was subsequently attached to Grand Traverse County until 1869.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Benzie County, Michigan History |url=http://genealogytrails.com/mich/benzie/history.html |access-date=January 21, 2023 |website=genealogytrails.com}}</ref>

[[Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore]] was established in 1970, protecting much of the natural scenery of the area at the [[National Park Service|federal level]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Kalt |first=Brian |title=Sixties Sandstorm: The Fight Over Establishment of a Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 1961–1970 |publisher=Michigan State University Press |year=2001 |isbn=9780870135590 |location=East Lansing}}{{page needed|date=September 2014}}</ref>

In 2008, the [[county seat]] moved from [[Leland, Michigan|Leland]] to a site in [[Suttons Bay Township, Michigan|Suttons Bay Township]], near the town of [[Lake Leelanau, Michigan|Lake Leelanau]].<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" />