Keweenaw County, Michigan

Keweenaw County (Template:IPAc-en, Template:Respell) is a county in the western Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the county's population was 2,046, making it Michigan's least populous county.<ref name="QF">Template:Cite web</ref> It is also the state's largest county by total area, including the waters of Lake Superior, as well as the state's northernmost county. The county seat is Eagle River.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Located at the northeastern end of the Keweenaw Peninsula, Keweenaw County is part of the Houghton, Michigan micropolitan area. Keweenaw County contains two National Park Service units: Isle Royale National Park and Keweenaw National Historical Park. The county is part of Michigan's Copper Country region, an area where copper mining was prevalent from the 1840s to the 1960s.

File:Copper-24373.jpg

Polished native copper nugget from Keweenaw County. Keweenaw County copper mines were important producers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Haven Falls, Michigan.jpg

Haven Falls, on Haven Creek near Lac La Belle

History

Template:Further The county was set off and organized in 1861.<ref name="clarke2">Template:Cite web</ref> It is believed "Keweenaw" is a corruption of an Ojibwe word that means "portage" or "place where portage is made";<ref name="clarke2" /> compare the names of the nearby Portage Lake and Portage River which together make up the Keweenaw Waterway.<ref>National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for Keweenaw Waterway Lower Entrance Light, p. 13</ref>

Geography

Two land masses comprise most of the land portion of the county: Isle Royale and the northeastern half of the Keweenaw Peninsula. The county also includes the waters of Lake Superior between the two, extending to the state's water borders with Ontario and Minnesota. It is thus the largest county in Michigan by total area, at Template:Convert, of which just Template:Convert is land and Template:Convert (91%) is water.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Of all counties (or equivalents) in the United States, Keweenaw County has the highest proportion of water area to total area.

The largest lake entirely within the county is Gratiot Lake at Template:Convert, located at the base of the county's two highest peaks: Mt. Horace Greeley at Template:Convert and Mt. Gratiot at Template:Convert.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Other lakes include Lac La Belle near Bete Grise Bay, Lake Medora, Lake Fanny Hooe near Copper Harbor, Lake Bailey at the base of Mt. Baldy, and Schlatter Lake at the tip of the peninsula.

By land, one can only access mainland Keweenaw County via Houghton County.

National protected area

• Isle Royale National Park
• Keweenaw National Historical Park (part)

Major highways

• Template:Jct runs northeast–southwest through the upper center part of the mainland portion of the county. It enters the southern area of the county at Bumbletown passes Phoenix, Delaware, Mandan, Copper Harbor and terminates north of Lake Fanny Hooe.
• Template:Jct loops from Phoenix to the shoreline of Lake Superior, then runs northeasterly along the shoreline to the intersection with US 41 at Copper Harbor.<ref name="GMKC">Template:Google maps</ref>

Adjacent counties and district

Keweenaw County is the only county in Michigan to connect to the U.S. state of Minnesota via ferry service from Grand Portage to Windigo and Rock Harbor on Isle Royale.

By land

• Houghton County, south

By water

• Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada, north
• Alger County, east
• Marquette County, southeast
• Ontonagon County, southwest
• Cook County, Minnesota, northwest

Communities

File:Keweenaw County, MI census map2.png

U.S. Census data map showing local municipal boundaries within Keweenaw County

Village

• Ahmeek

Census-designated places

• Copper Harbor
• Fulton
• Eagle Harbor
• Eagle River (county seat)
• Mohawk

Civil townships

• Allouez Township
• Eagle Harbor Township
• Grant Township
• Houghton Township
• Sherman Township

Defunct townships

• Copper Harbor Township
• Sibley Township

Other unincorporated communities

• Allouez
• Bete Grise
• Betsy
• Bumbletown
• Central
• Copper Falls
• Delaware
• Eagle Nest
• Gay
• Hebards
• Lac La Belle
• Mandan
• Nepco Camp Number 7
• Ojibway
• Phoenix
• Rock Harbor Lodge
• Seneca
• Snowshoe
• Traverse
• Vaughnsville
• Windigo
• Wyoming

Ghost towns

• Clifton

Demographics

File:Population Change of Keweenaw County.png

The graph depicts the change in population of the county over its history. The record starts at 1870, and goes until 2018.

The 2010 United States census indicated Keweenaw County had a population of 2,156.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This decrease of 145 people from the 2000 United States census represents a -6.3% change in population. In 2010 there were 1,013 households and 614 families in the county. The population density was Template:Convert. There were 2,467 housing units at an average density of Template:Convert. At the 2020 census, its population was 2,046.<ref name="QF" />

At the 2010 census, 98.5% of the population were White, 0.1% Black or African American, 0.1% Native American and 1.2% of two or more races; a total of 0.7% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race); of them, 28.8% were of Finnish, 14.0% German, 9.0% English, 6.6% French, French Canadian or Cajun and 5.7% Irish ancestry.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> According to the 2022 census estimates, its racial and ethnic makeup was 97% non-Hispanic white, 0.3% Black or African American, 0.5% Native American, 0.2% Asian American, 2% multiracial, and 1.5% Hispanic or Latino of any race.<ref name="QF" />

Through a 2020 survey by the Association of Religion Data Archives, Keweenaw County's religious population was predominantly Christian with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America as the largest Christian group for the area. Following, the Roman Catholic Church was the second-largest Christian group in the county.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Politics

Keweenaw County was solidly Republican after the American Civil War, and until the Franklin Delano Roosevelt era. In 1900,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 1904<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and 1908<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> it stood as the nationTemplate:'s most Republican county. In his last election of 1944, Roosevelt became the first Democrat to win the county since Horatio Seymour in 1868.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> However, from 1964 to 1996 Keweenaw voted Democratic in every election except 1972 and 1980, thus standing as one of only six counties nationwideTemplate:Efn to support both Alf Landon and Walter Mondale, who suffered the two worst electoral vote losses since 1824. Since 2000, the county has become solidly Republican again.

Government

The county government operates the jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, records deeds, mortgages, and vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of social services. The county board of commissioners controls the budget and has limited authority to make laws or ordinances. In Michigan, most local government functions—police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc.—are the responsibility of individual cities and townships. The Keweenaw County Courthouse and Sheriff's Residence and Jail in Eagle River faces Lake Superior. The courthouse was built in 1866, followed by the sheriff's residence and jail in 1886, and then remodeled in 1925. In her book Buildings of Michigan, Eckert writes:<ref>Template:Eckert-Buildings of Michigan</ref>

"Like a meetinghouse on a New England public square, and enclosed by a Template:Convert high public wall on the east and south sides, ...transformed in 1925 into its present stark white classical appearance. The courthouse for this sparsely populated remote county is remarkable in its formality...These include the giant Doric columns with fillets and bases, a pediment forming a projecting portico, a modillioned cornice, and pedimented side dormers."

The courthouse still preserves its original appearance.

Sparsely-populated Keweenaw County was a mining center in the latter 19th century but in the 20th century turned into a resort community. Because of this trend, Keweenaw County is also the only county in Michigan to have a lower population in the year 2000 than in 1900.

Elected officials

• Probate Judge: Keith DeForge
• Prosecuting Attorney: Charles (Chuck) Miller
• Sheriff: Curt Pennala
• County Clerk/Register of Deeds: Julie Carlson
• County Treasurer: Eric Hermanson
• Mine Inspector: John Cima

(information as of January 2021)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

See also

• List of Michigan State Historic Sites in Keweenaw County, Michigan
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Keweenaw County, Michigan
• Copper Country

Further reading

• Template:Cite book

External links

• Keweenaw Liberty Library
• Keweenaw County Profile, Sam M Cohodas Regional Economist, Tawni Hunt Ferrarini, Ph.D.
• CopperCountry.com Tourism and Events Information for Keweenaw, Houghton and Ontonagon Counties.
• CopperCountryExplorer.com
• Keweenaw County Chamber of Commerce
• Keweenaw County government website
• Template:Cite web
• Hunt's Guide to the Keweenaw Peninsula
• Western Upper Peninsula Planning & Development Region