Emmet County, Michigan

Emmet County is a in the  of. As of the, the population was 31,437. The is.

The county was formed, from. It was first named Tonedagana County and renamed Emmet County on,. Emmet County remained attached to Mackinac County for administrative purposes until county government was organized in 1853. The county was named for the Irish patriot, who was hanged as a traitor to the British government at the age of 23. Sixteen counties were renamed in 1843 and five were given names of Irish origin, supposedly in deference to the increasing presence of settlers in Michigan with an Irish background.

Emmet County is located at the top of the mitten-shaped, with to the west, the  to the north,  to the east, and  to the south.

History
When European explorers and settlers first arrived in the area, and  Indians were the principal inhabitants. The established  in about 1715. The took the fort in  and continued to use it as a trading post. In 1763, Ojibwe Indians took the fort as a part of and held it for a year before the British retook it. The British abandoned the wooden fort in 1781 after building the limestone on nearby. An Indian community on the lakeshore in the western part of the county continued to thrive after the British abandoned the fort.

In the 1840s, Indian villages lined the Lake Michigan shore from present-day to. The area was mostly reserved for native tribes by treaty provisions with the U.S. federal government until 1875.

In 1847, a group of s settled on nearby and established a "kingdom" led by "King". There were bitter disputes between Strang's followers and other white settlers. Strang, seeking to strengthen his position became a member of the. In January 1853, he pushed through legislation titled, "An act to organize the County of Emmet", which enlarged Emmet County by attaching the nearby Lake Michigan islands to the county as well as a portion of Cheboygan County. Further, it attached the old, which was originally named Keskkauko County and was as yet still unorganized, as a township of Emmet County. Due to Strang's influence, Mormons came to dominate county government, causing an exodus of many non-Mormon settlers to neighboring areas. In 1855, the non-Mormon resistance succeeded in getting the Michigan Legislature to reorganize the County of Emmet with the islands, including Beaver Island and and, set off into the separate , which effectively eliminated Mormons from Emmet County government.

On, an election selected Little Traverse (now named Harbor Springs) as the county seat. However, at about this time, a group of investors were trying to promote development at Mackinaw City and due to their influence, in February 1858, the State Legislature passed an act establishing Mackinaw City as the county seat. The Emmet County Board of Supervisors protested that the county seat had already been established at Little Traverse, and in 1861, the act was repealed as unconstitutional. In a contested election in 1867, residents voted to move the county seat to, which was upheld by a Circuit Court decision in 1868. However, in 1869, Charlevoix County was split off from Emmet County and its county seat was now in another county. No provisions for official relocation were authorized, although served as the unofficial county seat until April 1902, when the present county seat of Petoskey was selected in a county-wide election.

was organized in 1853 and included all ot the nine townships presently in the southern half of the county. In the 1855 reorganization, four new townships were created by the State Legislature:
 * La Croix Township (name changed to in )
 * Old Fort Mackinac (later absorbed into other townships)
 * Old Fort Mackinac (later absorbed into other townships)
 * Old Fort Mackinac (later absorbed into other townships)

In 1855, county supervisors also established Arbour Croche Township and Utopia Township. The state had inadvertently drawn boundaries for Little Traverse and Bear Creek that such that one area was included in both. The county supervisors Arbour Croche was defined as having the same boundaries as the state-defined Little Traverse Township, excluding the area overlapping with Bear Creek. Eventually the name Arbour Croche disappeared in favor of Little Traverse. The township of Utopia was later absorbed into other townships.

In 1877, six additional townships were organized:

was added in 1878 and in 1879. and were formed in 1880, but were at that time part of. Those townships, along with Bear Creek, experienced numerous boundary changes. The now defunct townships of Bear Lake and Spring Lake were created out of portions of these townships. In 1897, the portions of these townships remaining in Emmet County were absorbed into Bear Creek and Springvale Townships.

Also organized in 1897 were (from portions of Friendship and Little Traverse Townships) and Egleston Township (name changed to  in 1903). In 1923, was the last township organized in the county, when it was detached from Carp Lake Township.

Geography
According to the, the county has a total area of 2,285 (882 ). 1,212 km² (468 sq mi) of it is land and 1,073 km² (414 sq mi) of it (46.97%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * (north)
 * (east)
 * (south)

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 31,437 people, 12,577 households, and 8,527 families residing in the county. The was 26/km² (67/sq mi). There were 18,554 housing units at an average density of 15/km² (40/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 94.33%, 0.47% or , 3.11% , 0.43% , 0.03% , 0.16% from , and 1.47% from two or more races. 0.91% of the population were or  of any race. 96.9% spoke and 1.1%  as their first language.

There were 12,577 households out of which 31.70% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 55.90% were living together, 8.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.20% were non-families. 26.90% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the county the population was spread out with 25.30% under the age of 18, 7.10% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 25.20% from 45 to 64, and 14.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 96.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.70 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $40,222, and the median income for a family was $48,140. Males had a median income of $33,385 versus $24,173 for females. The for the county was $21,070. About 4.50% of families and 7.40% of the population were below the, including 7.30% of those under age 18 and 7.80% of those age 65 or over.

Government
The county government operates the, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, keeps files of deeds and mortgages, maintains , administers regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of welfare and other social services. The controls the budget but has only limited authority to make laws or ordinances. In Michigan, most local government functions &mdash; police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc. &mdash; are the responsibility of individual cities and townships.

Emmet County elected officials

 * : James Linderman
 * : Peter A. Wallin
 * : Gail A. Martin
 * : Marilyn May
 * : Michele Stine
 * : Arden Bawkey

(information as of September 2005)

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