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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.

Macomb County, Michigan

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

County Seat: Mount Clemens
Year Organized: 1818
Square Miles: 480

Court House:

1 South Main Street
County Administration Building
Mount Clemens, MI 48043-2306

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Macomb County is named for US General Alexander Macomb, a notable officer of the War of 1812.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

County History

Macomb County is named for US General Alexander Macomb, a notable officer of the War of 1812.

Set Off: 1818

Organized: 1818

The Ojibwa were the first settlers in the area. The first Europeans arrived in the area during the 17th century. A Moravian colony was established in the county in the late 18th Century. They included French fur trappers and missionaries. In addition to the original French and English, later settlers included Germans, Belgians and others who came directly from Europe.

Macomb County was formally organized on January 15, 1818 as the third county in the Michigan territory. At that time, it covered a much larger area than it does today. In 1819 and 1820, large portions of the county were removed to form the counties of Oakland, Lapeer, Genesee and St. Clair. The county was named in honor of General Alexander Macomb, Jr. a highly decorated veteran of the War of 1812.

The county gained fame in the 1980s and '90s as a bellwether of state and national politics. Macomb's large cohort of working-class, socially conservative whites gave it one of the nation's most prominent concentrations of "Reagan Democrats", and outsider candidates with a conservative-populist bent have done well there in the past (e.g. George Wallace in 1968 and Pat Buchanan in 1992).

Neighboring Counties:

Across Lake St. Clair lies Chatham-Kent (east) and Essex County (south), Ontario, Canada
St. Clair County, Michigan - northeast
Lapeer County, Michigan - northwest
Oakland County, Michigan - west
Wayne County, Michigan - south

Cities and Towns:

- Armada	village	Incorporated Area
- Bruce	township
- Center Line	city	Incorporated Area
- Chesterfield	township
- Eastpointe	city	Incorporated Area
- Fraser	city	Incorporated Area
- Lenox	township
- Macomb	township
- Mount Clemens (County Seat)	city	Incorporated Area
- New Baltimore	city	Incorporated Area
- New Haven	village	Incorporated Area
- Ray	township
- Richmond	city	Incorporated Area
- Romeo	village	Incorporated Area
- Roseville	city	Incorporated Area
- Shelby charter	township
- St. Clair Shores	city	Incorporated Area
- Sterling Heights	city	Incorporated Area
- Utica	city	Incorporated Area
- Warren	city	Incorporated Area
- Washington	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."