Northport, Michigan
Encyclopedia
Northport is a village in Leelanau Township, Leelanau County
Leelanau County, Michigan
-History:The county's name is said to be a Native American word meaning "delight of life", but it is a neologism made up by Indian agent and ethnographer Henry Schoolcraft, who sometimes gave the name "Leelinau" to Native American women in his tales. He created many faux Indian place names in...

 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"....

. The population was 648 at the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

. When Leelanau County was formed in 1863, Northport served as the first county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 from 1863 to 1883.

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 village has a total area of 1.7 square miles (4.4 km²), all land.

Notable residents

Northport has gained fame for being an area where the rich and famous can live quietly and anonymously. According to the Leelanau Visitors Guide: "Chef Mario Batali
Mario Batali
Mario Batali is an American chef, writer, restaurateur and media personality. In addition to his classical culinary training, he is an expert on the history and culture of Italian cuisine, including regional and local variations. Batali co-owns restaurants in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles,...

 lives north of town at Cathead point, and comedian and actor Tim Allen
Tim Allen
Tim Allen is an American comedian, actor, voice-over artist, and entertainer, known for his role in the sitcom Home Improvement...

 routinely spent summers in Northport until his divorce. If investing is your pleasure, you may have heard of Mark Spitznagel
Mark Spitznagel
Mark Spitznagel is an American hedge fund manager, derivatives trader, and value investor.Spitznagel is known for a hugely profitable billion dollar derivatives bet on the stock market crash of 2008, for allegedly crashing the market again in May 2010, as well as for his highly unconventional...

, who manages a multi-billion dollar hedge fund. He summers in Northport Pointe
Northport point
Northport Point is an unincorporated community in Leelanau County, Michigan. Located at the tip of the Leelanau Peninsula and was developed over 100 years ago as a recreational and vacation destination. Founded in 1899, Northport Point became a permanent summer mecca for many big-city families from...

, a posh community just outside the village." (Batali's and Spitznagel's Northport home and farm, respectively, both were featured in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

.)

Speedskater and 2010 Olympic silver medalist Jonathan Kuck
Jonathan Kuck
Jonathan Kuck is an American speed skater and silver medalist in the Winter Olympics.At the 2010 Winter Olympics, Kuck won a silver medal in the team pursuit along with Brian Hansen and Chad Hedrick...

 regularly vacations with his family at their summer home just outside of Northport. Notable astronaut and NFL star Adam Alington claims Northport as his hometown.

The second commander of the American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...

, war hero and businessman Frederic W. Galbraith
Frederic W. Galbraith
Frederic W. Galbraith was the second national commander of the American Legion. He had been highly decorated as a soldier during World War I and was instrumental in helping to make the American Legion the largest and most powerful veteran organization in the world at the time of...

, maintained a summer home in Northport during the 1910s and early 1920s. Future Pulitzer prize
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...

 winning author Marquis James
Marquis James
Marquis James was an American journalist and author, twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his works The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston and The Life of Andrew Jackson....

 was among the many prominent guests at his Northport home. (The History of the American Legion" by Marquis James. Pg 192. 1923.)

Places of interest

Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...

 designed the Amy Alpaugh House located in Northport in 1947.

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 648 people, 272 households, and 174 families residing in the village. 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 389.7 per square mile (150.7/km²). There were 391 housing units at an average density of 235.1 per square mile (90.9/km²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.14% White, 0.31% African American, 2.16% Native American, 0.31% Asian, 0.31% 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 0.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.55% of the population.

There were 272 households out of which 21.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.2% 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, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.7% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.69.

In the village the population was spread out with 18.4% under the age of 18, 4.2% from 18 to 24, 17.4% from 25 to 44, 28.7% from 45 to 64, and 31.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 50 years. For every 100 females there were 86.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.0 males.

The median income for a household in the village was $40,368, and the median income for a family was $48,750. Males had a median income of $31,042 versus $26,786 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 village was $23,786. About 6.7% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.0% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

External links

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