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Michigan Counties
 Click Image to Enlarge Michigan CountiesThe boundaries of the 83 Counties in Michigan have not changed substantially since 1897. |
Michigan CountiesThe earliest counties were organized by the territorial government as areas became settled. The first county was Wayne. Michigan had 38 counties by the end of the year in which it became a state (1837). Throughout the years some county names and many county borders have changed. The names of Michigan's 83 counties reflect the state's Native American, French, British and early American heritage. Thirty-two counties have names drawn from Native American languages; 29 are named for people; 16 are named for natural features such as rivers that already had been
given names; and 6 have names meant to describe the county's geography (e.g., Hillsdale).
Coincidentally, it was Jackson who, as one of his last acts in office, signed the 1837 bill making Michigan the 26th state.
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County Resources
The history of our nation was a prolonged struggle to define
the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local.
And the names given the counties, our most locally based jurisdictions,
reflects the "characteristic features of this country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history. Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally." |
