Bay county is named after the location it occupies. The county surrounds the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron and is appropriately named Bay County . Bay County is located at the upper base of Michigan 's "thumb". At one time the Chippewa, Hopewell, Ojibway, Ottawa and Potawatomi Indians lived along the banks of the Saginaw River. Archeological digs have determined the earliest permanent settlement dates back to 3000 B.C. Along the Saginaw River visitors today can still see the sacred burial grounds.

White Settlement began with Leon Tromble, who accepted an assignment from the federal government to build a house on the bank of the Saginaw River. Mr. Tromble was made an offer to trade his horse for the section of land he was settling, He turned down the offer because he considered the area to be uninhabitable swamp. Today the county seat which is Bay City encompasses all of the land offered to Mr. Tromble. Bay City is the location where the Saginaw River empties into Saginaw Bay making it a central distribution point for shipping on the Great Lakes.   Bay City owes its development to the lumbering industry to such an extent that there were estimated to be more sawmills in the area than any other during that time. By 1888, over four billion feet of lumber had been cut, enough to circle the globe four times with a four foot wide walk-way, two-inches thick. After the lumber boom, shipyards began producing freighters and During World War Two Bay City played a major role for the military building US destroyers and missile vessels for the Australian Navy.   After the war the Presidential Yacht "Honey Fitz" was manufactured for the Kennedy administration. Today, Bay City continues to be a major shipping port for sugar, concrete, and other industrial products.   With the Saginaw River flowing into Saginaw Bay Watershed and ultimately into Lake Huron, Miles of shoreline, and numerous rivers and streams, Bay County is very important in our Michigan History.

Bay County Websites and Locations of Interest

http://www.mmcctech.com/papers/bchist01.htm - Bay City History