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Emmet County is a county located in the U.S. State of Michigan. As of 2000, the population is 31,437. Its county seat is Petoskey 6.
The county was formed April 1, 1840 from Mackinac County. It was first named Tonedagana County and renamed Emmet County on March 8, 1843. Emmet County remained attached to Mackinaw County for administrative purposes until county government was organized in 1853. The county was named for the Irish patriot Robert Emmet, who was hung 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 Lower Peninsula of Michigan, with Lake MichiganLake Michigan is one of the five North American Great Lakes. It is bounded, in clockwise order from the south, by the US states of Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan, which is named for it. Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly w to the west, the Straits of MackinacThe Mackinac Straits is the strip of water that connects two of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and separates the Lower Peninsula of Michigan from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is a shipping lane connecting, for instance, the steel mil to the north, Cheboygan CountyCheboygan County is a county located in the U. State of Michigan. As of 2000, the population is 26,448. Its county seat is Cheboygan 6. Geography According to the U. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,293 km˛ (885 mi˛). 1,853 km˛ (716 mi˛) of to the east, and Charlevoix CountyCharlevoix County is a county located in the U. State of Michigan. As of 2000, the population is 26,090. Its county seat is Charlevoix 6. Geography Lake Charlevoix, with 17,200 acres surface area and 56 miles of shorline, is a very prominent feature of th to the south.
When European explorers and settlers first arrived in the area, OttawaThe Ottawa (also Odawa or Odaawa are a Native American people. They are related to but distinct from the Ojibwe tribe. They lived near the northern shores of Lake Huron. There are approximately 15,000 Ottawa living in Michigan, Ontario, and Oklahoma. and Ojibwe Indians were the principal inhabitants. The FrenchThe French established colonies across the New World in the 17th century. They were developed to export sugar and furs among other products. North America Explorers and settlers from France settled in what is now Canada, the Mississippi Valley and along t established Fort MichilimackinacFort Michilimackinac was an 18th century French, and later British, fort and trading post in the Great Lakes of North America. Built around 1715, it was located along the southern shore of the strategic Straits of Mackinac connecting Lake Huron and Lake M in about 1715. The British took the fort in 1761 and continued to use it as a trading post. In 1763, Ojibwe Indians took the fort as a part of Pontiac's Rebellion and held it for a year before the British retook it. The British abandoned the wooden fort in 1781 after building the limestone Fort Mackinac on nearby Mackinac Island. 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 Harbor Springs to Cross Village. The area was mostly reserved for native tribes by treaty provisions with the U.S. federal government until 1875.
In 1847, a group of Mormons settled on nearby Beaver Island and established a "kingdom" led by "King" James Jesse Strang. There were bitter disputes between Strang's followers and other white settlers. Strang, seeking to strengthen his position became a member of the Michigan State House of Representatives. 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 Charlevoix County , 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 Northand South Manitou Island, set off into the separate Manitou County , which effectively eliminated Mormons from Emmet County government.
On April 27, 1857 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 a 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 Charlevoix, which was upheld by a Circuit Court decision in 1868. However, in 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 Harbor Springs served as the unofficial county seat until April 1902, when the present county seat of Petoskey was selected in an county-wide election.
Charlevoix Township 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:In 1855, county supervisors also established Arbour Croche Township and Utopia Township. The state had inadvertantly 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, exluding 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:
Also organized in 1897 were West Traverse Township (from portions of Friendship and Little Traverse Townships) and Egleston Township (name changed to McKinley Township in 1903). In 1923, Wawatam Township was the last township organized in the county, when it was detached from Carp Lake Township.
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