Huron County, Michigan

Huron County Education, Geography, and History

Huron County is a county located in the state of Michigan. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 33,118. The county seat is Bad Axe.

Huron County is located at the northern tip of the Thumb, which in turn is a sub region of the Flint/Tri-Cities. It is surrounded on three sides by water - Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron and has over 90 miles (140 km) of shoreline, from White Rock on Lake Huron to Sebewaing on the Saginaw Bay.

Etymology - Origin of Huron County Name

Huron County is named for Lake Huron and/or Native American tribe of the same name

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Huron County History

Huron County is named for Lake Huron and/or Native American tribe of the same name

Set Off: 1840

Organized: 1859

Huron County was attached originally to Sanilac and Tuscola counties. It was created by Michigan Law on April 1, 1840 and was fully organized by an Act of Legislature on January 25, 1859. Sand Beach (now Harbor Beach) was then county seat, until 1865, when the court house burned with nearly all the records. It was moved to Port Austin and remained there until 1873, when the Board of Supervisors permanently made Bad Axe the County Seat.

The name Huron was derived from the word "hures" as used in the phrase "In elles hures" (what heads) as applied by an astonished French traveler to the Wyandotte or Huron Indians on beholding their fantastic mode of dressing the hair. These Indians were dispersed by the Iroquois in 1649.

In the 17th and early 18th century in this region, the Thumb of Michigan, the suffix "onti" or "ondi" was used in place names such as Skenchioetontius and E. Kandechiondius. "Onti" means to jut out. The name Wyandotte, Huron descendants, was said to mean "dweller's of the peninsula". A headland or peninsula in Onondaga is "onoentoto".

In the early 18th century, the Thumb of Michigan was called the best beaver hunting in America, and the Detroit region was called Tio-sahr-ondion, which was near Skenchioe [now Huron and Sanilac Counties]. Tiosahrondion meant "where it is beaver dams athwart many".

About 1700, on French maps, "Chasse des caster des ami de Francois" was the region of Saginaw and the Thumb of Michigan. It meant the beaver hunting grounds of the friends of France.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,137 square miles (5,530 km²), of which 836 square miles (2,170 km²) is land and 1,301 square miles (3,370 km²) (61%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Sanilac County (southeast)
• Tuscola County (southwest)
  

Education

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