Marine City, Michigan
Encyclopedia
Marine City is a city in St. Clair County
St. Clair County, Michigan
-Interstates:* I-69 enters the county from the west, coming from Lansing and Flint, terminating at the approach to the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron....

 in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Michigan
Michigan
Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

. Located on the west bank of the St. Clair River
St. Clair River
The St. Clair River is a river in central North America which drains Lake Huron into Lake St Clair, forming part of the international boundary between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan...

, it is one of the cities in the River District north of Detroit and south of Lake Huron
Lake Huron
Lake Huron is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Hydrologically, it comprises the larger portion of Lake Michigan-Huron. It is bounded on the east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the west by the state of Michigan in the United States...

. The population was 4,652 at the 2000 census. The city features auto ferry service to Ontario, Canada across the river.

Geography

  • According to the United States Census Bureau
    United States Census Bureau
    The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

    , the city has a total area of 2.5 square miles (6.5 km²), of which, 2.2 square miles (5.7 km²) of it is land and 0.3 square mile (0.776996433 km²) of it (11.34%) is water.
  • It is considered to be part of the Thumb
    The Thumb
    The Thumb is a region and a peninsula of Michigan, so named because the Lower Peninsula is shaped like a mitten; thus the Thumb is the area that looks like the thumb of the mitten. The Thumb is generally considered to be in the Mid-Michigan area of the state, located east of Flint/Tri-Cities...

     of Michigan
    Michigan
    Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

    , which in turn is a subregion of the Flint/Tri-Cities
    Flint/Tri-Cities
    The Flint/Tri-Cities Region or Saginaw Valley is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The region is composed of the area surrounding Flint, Michigan, the Tri Cities, the Saginaw Bay and Saginaw River . Flint's population is 102,434; it is the seventh largest city in Michigan...

    .
    • Marine City can also be considered as in the Blue Water Area, a subregion of the Thumb.
  • It is part of the Detroit-Warren-Livonia Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Detroit-Ann Arbor-Flint Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

History

The area of Marine City had been Ojibwa
Ojibwa
The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

 territory for centuries before the first European contact. French trappers and missionaries settled in Detroit and nearby areas during the colonial period. The first Catholic Church was built by French Catholics at Catholic Point, where they had bought land before the United States was formed.

It was not until after the American Revolution that European-American settlers arrived in any number. In the 1780s they obtained a deed for land from the Chippewa
Ojibwa
The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

 Indians. The Americans called the community "Yankee Point", because so many settlers came from the Northern Tier of states, with late 18th and 19th century migration originating from New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

. They also called the settlement "Belle River", later the name of a neighborhood.

The village was plat
Plat
A plat in the U.S. is a map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. Other English-speaking countries generally call such documents a cadastral map or plan....

ted as Newport in 1835-37. Although never incorporated by that name, it was known as "Newport" for 31 years. In 1865, it was incorporated as the Village of Marine City. Thriving on lumber and other commodity trade, the village re-incorporated as a city in June 1887.

The second half of the 19th century was the period of great growth in the village, with many workers employed in the lumber and shipping industries. Rafts of lumber filled the St. Clair River in the spring to be worked at Marine City or Detroit. Shipyards built some of the many ships that crossed the Great Lakes
Great Lakes
The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

. Lake steamers linked passengers with small towns around the lakes. Their decks were full and their flags were flying. Marine City was centered on a park by the river, where bands played in the gazebo during the summer.

As the lumber business ran down, the area became linked to other resource extraction. Ships carried iron from the Mesabi Range
Mesabi Range
The Mesabi Iron Range is a vast deposit of iron ore and the largest of four major iron ranges in the region collectively known as the Iron Range of Minnesota. Discovered in 1866, it is the chief deposit of iron ore in the United States. The deposit is located in northeast Minnesota, largely in...

 in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 to Ashtabula, Ohio
Ashtabula, Ohio
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,962 people, 8,435 households, and 5,423 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,775.9 people per square mile . There were 9,151 housing units at an average density of 1,211.8 per square mile...

 for steel. Marine City was where the captains of lake ships lived. Many worked for Pittsburgh Steamship Company, piloting iron ore ships from Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth, Minnesota
Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

 to Ashtabula and other ports.

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 4,652 people, 1,860 households, and 1,212 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 2,120.8 per square mile (820.2/km²). There were 2,006 housing units at an average density of 914.5 per square mile (353.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.29% White, 0.09% African American, 0.56% Native American, 0.26% Asian, 0.86% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 0.95% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.38% of the population.

There were 1,860 households out of which 33.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.2% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.8% were non-families. 30.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.50 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the city the population was spread out with 27.6% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 30.5% from 25 to 44, 19.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 90.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $40,146, and the median income for a family was $47,308. Males had a median income of $39,228 versus $23,677 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the city was $19,722. About 7.6% of families and 8.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.0% of those under age 18 and 16.1% of those age 65 or over.

External links

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