Petoskey, Michigan

Petoskey, Michigan

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Petoskey, Michigan

Sidewalk in downtown Petoskey

Petoskey is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,080. It is the county seat of Emmet County.

Petoskey and the surrounding area are notable for being the setting of several of the Nick Adams stories by Ernest Hemingway, who spent his childhood summers on nearby Walloon Lake, as well as being the place where for Calliope the protagonist of Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex" life takes a severe and lasting turn.

Petoskey is also famous for a high concentration of Petoskey stones, the state stone of Michigan. Petoskey is the birthplace of Information Theorist Claude Shannon and Civil War Historian Bruce Catton and is the boyhood home of singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens.

The name "Petoskey" is said to mean "where the light shines through the clouds" in the language of the Odawa Indians (Little Traverse Bay Band), who are the original inhabitants. But what is verifiable is that the Petoskey stone and the city were named after Chief Ignatius Petosega (1787-1885), who founded the community. Petoskey's father was a French fur trader and his mother was an Odawa (Ottawa) Indian.

This city was the northern terminus of the Chicago and West Michigan Railway.

Geography
Demographics
Transportation

Airports
Rail
Marina
Major Highways

Colleges
Media
References
Further reading
External links

Geography

Part of Northern Michigan, Petoskey is on the southeast shore of the Little Traverse Bay of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the Bear River. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.2 square miles (13.5 km²), of which, 5.0 square miles (13.0 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it (4.02%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 6,080 people, 2,700 households, and 1,447 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,210.9 per square mile (467.6/km²). There were 3,342 housing units at an average density of 665.6/sq mi (257.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.18% White, 0.33% African American, 3.17% Native American, 0.81% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.20% from other races, and 1.30% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.17% of the population.

There were 2,700 households out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.4% were non-families. 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 85.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,657, and the median income for a family was $48,168. Males had a median income of $35,875 versus $25,114 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,259. About 6.6% of families and 12.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.6% of those under age 18 and 8.4% of those age 65 or over.

Transportation

Little Traverse Bay at sunset, viewed from Petoskey

Airports

The nearest airports with scheduled passenger service are in Pellston Regional Airport^[1] and Traverse City Cherry Capital Airport.

Rail

Freight rail service to Petoskey is limited and provided by the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway (TSBY); however, the tracks are owned by the state of Michigan in order to preserve rail service in northern Michigan. Freight traffic includes plastic pellets delivered to a rail/truck transload facility for Petoskey Plastics. Occasional passenger excursion trains to Petoskey are operated by Lake Central Rail Tours. Historically, the Northern Arrow and other rail lines provided passenger traffic to Petoskey and Bay View, Michigan from as far as Chicago and Saint Louis, but these were discontinued in the late 20th century.

Marina

The City of Petoskey Department of Parks and Recreation operates a 100-slip marina located in Bayfront Park. The marina offers seasonal and transient slips, gasoline, diesel fuel, boat launch, wireless internet, 30/50 AMP power, water, pump-out, restroom/showers, playground and adjacent park grounds. The Gaslight District is connected to Bayfront Park via a pedestrian tunnel. The marina received designation of a "Michigan Clean Marina" in May of 2007. Reservations may be made via the State of Michigan DNR Reservation System.

Major Highways

	US-31 is a major highway running through the heart of the city. It continues southerly toward Charlevoix, Traverse City and Muskegon and northerly to a terminus near Mackinaw City.
	US-131 has its northern terminus in the city and continues southerly toward Cadillac and Grand Rapids.
	M-119, accessible off US 31 east of the city and Bay View, continues around the north side of Little Traverse Bay and then to Cross Village.
	C-58 begins at C-81 just east of the city and continues to Wolverine.
	C-81 is a north-south route passing just to the east of the city.