Kalkaska was a word Henry Schoolcraft created, it was originally spelled Calcasca . Some say it's a play on words by Henry Schoolcraft as his family name formerly was Calcraft . The K's may have been added to make the name appear more like a Native American word.

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 contruction of a processing plant by Shell Oil Company in 1973 and a major economic boom in the community.

Kalkaska is in the northwestern lower peninsula of Michigan.