Manistee, Michigan, USA

Manistee is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Manistee County. The name "Manistee" is from an Ojibwe word first applied to the principal river of the county. The derivation is not certain but it may be from ministigweyaa, "river with islands at its mouth". Other sources claim that it was an Ojibwe term meaning "spirit of the woods".

Manistee Township is located to the northeast of the city but is politically separate. The city is located at the mouth of the Manistee River on Lake Michigan.

Missionaries visited Manistee in the early 19th century and a Jesuit mission house is known to have been located on the north-west shore of Lake Manistee in 1826. The village of Manistee was one of about 15 Ottawa (Indian) villages developed along the shore of Lake Michigan by 1830. Much of the Manistee River Valley, including Manistee itself, was an Ottawa Reservation from 1836-1848.

The first permanent Euro-American settlement was made on April 16, 1841, when John Stronach and his son, Adam Stronach, arrived at the mouth of the Manistee River in a schooner loaded with fifteen men and equipment and established a saw mill.

In 2000, Manistee made national headlines after a judge and jury convicted a woman for expressing privately to her mother her wish that immigrants would learn English, deeming it "insulting conduct" consisting of "fighting words" that was punishable under local ordinance. Allegations of improper procedure and irregularities in the court records appeared. Two years later (November 1, 2002) and after the defendant spent four nights in jail, the conviction was overturned by the state Court of Appeals.

In its heyday, Manistee was home to a booming logging industry. In the late 19th century, Manistee was one of the leading shingle manufacturing cities in the world with over 30 shingle mills on the Manistee river at one time. During the lumber boom of the 1880s, Manistee had more millionaires per capita than anywhere else in the United States.

Manistee is also associated with the salt industry. Today, Manistee is now the home of three factories on Lake Manistee; Packaging Corporation of America, Morton Salt, and Martin Marietta.

The town is also a local favorite for tourism and fishing on Lake Michigan brings true anglers from far and wide. Many water sports are practiced on the lakes such as yachting, sea kayaking, diving, kite-surfing and lake surfing.

Great Lakes passenger steamers have been operating since the mid-1800s. Several ferries currently operate on the Great Lakes (of which Lake Michigan is one) to carry passengers to various islands, including Beaver Island and Bois Blanc Island, Michigan. As of 2007, two car ferry services cross Lake Michigan, two on Lake Michigan: a steamer from Ludington, Michigan, to Manitowoc, Wisconsin and a high speed catamaran from Milwaukee to Muskegon, Michigan.

A few small cruise ships operate on Lake Michigan including a couple of sailing ships. The weather varies according to the region, river and season. Fall cruises to view the autumn colours will be cooler.

General Information:

Population: 6,226 (2010)
Language: English
Currency: US Dollar
Time Zone: Eastern(EST)(UTC-5) • Summer (DST) (EDT) (UTC-4)
ZIP code: 49660
Area code(s): 231