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Michigan Counties

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Michigan Counties

The boundaries of the 83 Counties in Michigan have not changed substantially since 1897.

Kalkaska County, Michigan

Kalkaska County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Kalkaska
Year Organized: 1870
Square Miles: 561

Court House:

605 N. Birch St.
County Courthouse
Kalkaska, MI 49646-0000

Etymology - Origin of County Name

The name Kalkaska is thought to be a Chippewa word meaning flat or burned-over country.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Set Off: 1840 as Wabassee County. Renamed Kalkaska in 1843

Organized: 1871

The first settler in Kalkaska County was an Englishman named William Copeland, who purchased land in the northwest corner of the county in 1855. The county was originally called Wabasee. The name Kalkaska is thought to be a Chippewa word meaning flat or burned-over country. Logging was the first important industry.

The discovery of substantial deposits of oil and natural gas resulted in the construction of a processing plant by Shell Oil Company in 1973 and a major economic boom in the community.

Neighboring Counties:

Antrim County (north)
Crawford County (east)
Missaukee County (south)
Grand Traverse County (west)

Cities and Towns:

- Blue Lake	township
- Boardman	township
- Clearwater	township
- Coldsprings	township
- Excelsior	township
- Fife Lake	village	Incorporated Area
- Garfield	township
- Kalkaska (County Seat)	village	Incorporated Area
- Oliver	township
- Orange	township

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

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."