|Ste. Marie, Michigan
Pat Quinn (D)
594 ft (181 m)
Ste. Marie is Michigan's most populous city, located at the northern tip of the Lower Peninsula. With Lake Michigan to the west and Lake Huron to the east, Ste. Marie is one of the busiest ports in the Great Lakes region. As of a 2013 estimate the Ste. Marie-St. Ignace metropolitan area had a population of 983,681. The city's population was estimated to be 717,157. As of a 2011 estimate, Ste. Marie surpassed Detroit as the most populous city in Michigan, when Detroit's population was estimated as 705,633 and Ste. Marie's was 712,402.
Located to the immediate west of Ste. Marie in Lake Michigan is Bay Ste. Marie, for which the city is named. The city is known for its French and Creole heritage. Ste. Marie is notable for its influential foods and French colonial architecture, both of which attract millions of visitors to city every year.
Ste. Marie is located in both Emmet and Cheboygan Counties in Michigan. It is the seat of both counties. Its location on the shores of Lake Michigan and Lake Huron form a half-moon shape. It is bordered by Charlevoix and Otsego Counties to the south, Mackinac County to the north, Lake Michigan to the west, and Presque Isle County to the east.
- Main article: History of Ste. Marie, Michigan
Colonial era Edit
The land at the tip of the Lower Peninsula was previously settled by the Odawa before the arrival of the French. Ste. Marie was founded in 1671 by Jacques Marquette and several other Jesuit missionaries. In 1734, Marie-Joseph Angélique allegedly started a great fire that burned most of the city. In the aftermath of the fire, most of Ste. Marie's monumental architecture was constructed.
Ste. Marie's only contribution to the French and Indian Wars was a number of French garrison sent to fight throughout New France. Nevertheless, the city was ceded to the British on February 10, 1763, under the Treaty of Paris. Sooites (a nickname branded by the French) resisted the British's strict rule of the city from 1763-1779. The Bloodless Rebellion of 1779 liberated the city from British rule and in 1783, Ste. Marie became part of the young United States.
On July 13, 1787, Ste. Marie became the capital and largest city of the Northwest Territory. Included in the Northwest Ordinance was the prohibition of slavery in the territory, liberating a total of 1,340 black slaves and bringing the total of free blacks in Ste. Marie to 2,472 of the total population of approximately 13,000.
19th century Edit
In 1812, the British captured nearby Fort Mackinac and occupied Ste. Marie. The Battle of Ste. Marie in 1814 was lost by the Americans, and to prevent an uprising in the city of 20,000; Ste. Marie was placed under martial law. The British retreated from the area months later in December 1814, and Ste. Marie was returned to American control on February 18, 1815.
On July 21, 1818 an earthquake with an intensity of M ~7.0 – 8.0 shook the city of Ste. Marie at around 2:15 a.m. The city which had been infamous for hastily, and often poorly built infrastructure experienced major damage. Fires were ignited by ruptured gas lines, which were particularly damaging in the poor, working class neighborhood south of the Place d'Buade. Approximately 27 aftershocks were recorded until the "Daylight Shock" was felt at 8:15 a.m., which was of the same intensity as the first. The earthquake of 1818 killed a recorded 498 individuals, but the toll may have been well over 750. 31,000 of the city's 33,445 were left without a habitable place to live.
Rebuilding and rebirth were rapid in the city's hardest hit districts and all elsewhere, due to a strong growth of industrial jobs. Germans, and later Irish immigrants passed through Mackinac Island in search of a better life. Segregation in Ste. Marie was based less on race than it was on money and social status. Many blacks from southern states sought freedom and opportunity in Ste. Marie in the years before the Civil War. In addition to blacks, white French Canadians began immigrating to the city after 1840; and by 1930 over 340,000