Presque Isle County is a county located in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. According to the 2020 census, the population was 12,982. The county seat is Rogers City. The county was created by state laws on April 1, 1840, but the government was not set up until 1871. The government was changed again in 1875. The name comes from the French word presqu'île, which means a type of peninsula with a very narrow strip of land connecting it to another landform, often called a "presque-isle," or "almost an island." A large part of Presque Isle Township includes this peninsula, which has Lake Huron to the east, Grand Lake to the west, and narrow land strips connecting it to the mainland at the north and south ends. The community of Presque Isle is near the center of this peninsula.

History

Early Native Americans who lived in the area moved from place to place, using the land for hunting. To them, the land between the Ocqueoc and Swan Rivers was very important. The name "Presque Isle" was given to the area by French fur traders who carried goods over the strip of land that connects Presque Isle to the mainland.

The area’s early development was slow because it did not have a river that was easy to travel on. The Ocqueoc River, the largest river in Presque Isle, was not deep and had many bends, with fast-moving water. In the spring of 1839, a surveying group hired by the State of Michigan reported that the land was not valuable. This made people less interested in developing the area until the 1860s, when the Crawford family settled in a quiet cove of Lake Huron, south of modern Rogers City. They planned to build a stone quarry but found the stone too weak for construction. They then turned to cutting trees and sold the wood to ships traveling the Great Lakes.

In 1868, W. E. Rogers, an Army officer, led a surveying group to Presque Isle, with Albert Molitor as the leader. Seeing the large forests, they tried to buy Crawford’s Quarry but were refused. They formed the Molitor-Rogers Company and purchased land where Rogers City would later be built. The next year, a group of German and Polish immigrants arrived and settled in the area. The company built a sawmill, store, boarding house, and blacksmith shop. Only the company provided supplies to the small community. After a difficult winter in 1870–71, the town began to grow.

The county’s first settlers were people who cut trees, fished, and farmed. In 1907, a mining engineer from New York, H. H. Hindshaw, visited Crawford’s Quarry and found it rich in limestone. This led to the founding of the Michigan Limestone and Chemical Company in Calcite, Michigan, which bought 8,000 acres of land. To transport their product, the Bradley Transportation Company was created. This company became the main business in the area, employing many local people. A sad event in the county’s history was the sinking of the Bradley Transportation Company’s ship, the Carl D. Bradley, during a storm on Lake Michigan in November 1958. The ship lost 33 lives, 28 of whom lived in Presque Isle County (23 from Rogers City, three from Onaway, and two from Posen or Metz Township).

Today, the world’s largest limestone processing plant is located in Rogers City, which is also a major port on the Great Lakes. It is the best natural harbor on Lake Huron between Port Huron and Mackinaw City.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county covers an area of 2,573 square miles (6,660 square kilometers), of which 659 square miles (1,710 square kilometers) is land and 1,914 square miles (4,960 square kilometers), or 74%, is water. Presque Isle County is located on Michigan's Lower Peninsula but is classified as part of Northern Michigan.

• Ocqueoc Falls
• Sacred Rock

• Alpena County (southeast)
• Montmorency County (southwest)
• Cheboygan County (west)

• Mackinac County (northwest)
• Chippewa County (north)
• Manitoulin District, Ontario, Canada (east)

Communities

• Onaway
• Rogers City (county seat)

• Millersburg
• Posen

• Presque Isle Harbor

• Hawks
• Leroy
• Liske
• Manitou Beach
• Metz

Demographics

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 12,982 people, and the average age of residents was 56.1 years. Fifteen point four percent of residents were younger than 18 years old, and thirty-two point nine percent were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females, there were 100.7 males, and for every 100 females aged 18 or older, there were 100.7 males aged 18 or older.

The racial makeup of the county included 95.1% White residents, 0.3% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% Asian, less than 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 0.3% from other races, and 3.4% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race made up 1.2% of the population.

Less than 0.1% of residents lived in urban areas, while 100.0% lived in rural areas.

There were 6,047 households in the county, and 17.5% of these households had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 51.1% were married-couple households, 21.3% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 21.8% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.1% of all households included only one person, and 17.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 9,804 housing units in the county, and 38.3% of these units were vacant. Of the occupied housing units, 86.3% were owned by the residents, and 13.7% were rented. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.9%, and the rental vacancy rate was 10.1%.

At the 2000 United States census, there were 14,411 people, 6,155 households, and 4,203 families living in the county.

As of 2000, the average income for a household in the county was $31,656, and the average income for a family was $37,426. The average income for males was $31,275, and for females, it was $20,625. The average income per person in the county was $17,363. Approximately 6.80% of families and 10.30% of the population had incomes below the poverty line, including 13.10% of those under age 18 and 9.20% of those over age 64.

Government

Voters in Presque Isle County have mostly supported candidates from the Republican Party. Since 1884, the Republican candidate has won the county’s vote in 72% of elections (26 out of 36 total elections).

The county government is responsible for running the jail, keeping rural roads in good condition, managing local courts, recording legal documents like deeds and mortgages, keeping records of births and deaths, enforcing public health rules, and working with the state to provide social services. The county board of commissioners decides how money is spent and has some power to create rules, but most local laws are made by cities and townships. In Michigan, cities and townships usually handle tasks like police and fire services, building permits, property taxes, and street repairs.

Media

• The Alpena News is the daily newspaper for much of the northeastern Lower Peninsula.
• The Presque Isle County Advance is the weekly newspaper for Presque Isle County.

The following television stations broadcast in Presque Isle County:

• Channel 4: WTOM-TV "TV 7&4" (NBC) (Cheboygan; satellite of WPBN-TV, Traverse City)
• Channel 6: WCML "CMU Public Television" (PBS) (Alpena; satellite of WCMU-TV, Mount Pleasant)
• Channel 8: WGTQ "ABC 29&8" (ABC) (Sault Ste. Marie; satellite of WGTU, Traverse City)
• Channel 10: WWUP-TV "9&10 News" (CBS) (Sault Ste. Marie; satellite of WWTV, Cadillac)
• Channel 11: WBKB-TV "Channel 11 News" (CBS) (Alpena)
• Channel 45: WFUP "Fox 32" (Fox) (Vanderbilt; satellite of WFQX-TV, Cadillac).

The following radio stations can be heard in Rogers City:

NOAA Weather Radio broadcasts on 162.550 MHz (Call Sign KIG83, Alpena).

Transportation

Presque Isle County has one airport owned by the county, which is used by small planes and private pilots.

• Presque Isle County Airport – located southwest of Rogers City

The closest airports where passengers can board commercial flights are:
– Alpena County Regional Airport – near Alpena
– Cherry Capital Airport – near Traverse City

Major roads in the area include:
– US 23
– Business US 23
– M-33
– M-65
– M-68
– M-211
– F-21