The legacy of Native Americans in the Great Lakes State

(MICHIGAN) Michigan became a state during the winter of 1837. But Native people had a strong influence on the area long before then. 

The State of Michigan is home to more than 240,000 Native American and Alaska Native residents and 12 federally recognized tribes. 

These tribes include the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians, Hannahville Indian Community, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, Lac Vieux Desert Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi, Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, and Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. 

Several Michigan cities received their names from tribes. Escanaba, a town in Michigan’s upper Peninsula is an Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indian word that means “flat rock”. The City of Munising, which means “place of the great island”, was also named by Native Americans.

Mackinac Island, a popular vacation spot in Michigan, derived its name from the Native American language. According to Pure Michigan, Native Americans originally named the island Mitchimakinak meaning big turtle because of the island’s shape.  

In addition to Michigan city names, other Native influences are still felt in Michigan today. 

According to Experience Grand Rapids, Native Americans of the Hopewell culture lived in the Grand River Valley of the Grand Rapids region as far back as 2,000 years ago. The Hopewell built mounds, burial places, and religious sites. 

Today, the Norton Mound Group, one of the most noteworthy Hopewell Mound sites, is located southwest of downtown Grand Rapids. It is also registered on the National Register of Historic Places. 

The people of the Three Fires, the Ottawa (Odawa), Chippewa (Ojibwa), and the Potawatomi had ties to Grand Rapids, as well. Establishing villages around 1700 A.D. 

In 1821, many of these Native Americans became displaced from their homes. 

The Treaty of Chicago issued the land south of the Grand River to the U.S. government. 

Farther south, members of the Wyandotte Tribe, which now resides in Oklahoma, were instrumental in the founding of Detroit. Members of the Wyandot Nation lived along the Detroit River for centuries before European colonists arrived. 

Members of the tribe fished, swam, and built canoes, living on both the present day United States side of the Detroit River and the Canadian side. 

In 1842, most of the Wyandot were forced to go west to what was known as Indian Territory in Oklahoma and Kansas. 

Today, Michigan’s tribes have a significant impact on Michigan’s economy, including tribal gaming facilities that generated nearly $3.4 billion in economic impact and supported 21,540 jobs in 2019, according to a study by the American Gaming Association.

A fraction of this economic impact is also outside of gaming. Data from the same study shows almost $300 million was generated by non-gaming business entities owned by nine of Michigan’s Federally Recognized Tribes. Those non-gaming industries include manufacturing, real estate, construction, professional services, finance, and insurance.

“I look back at a time not so long ago where federal policy has gradually moved from assimilation towards self-determination,” said Eugene Magnuson, CEO of Manistee, Mich.-based Little River Holdings, the economic development corporation of the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians. “This impact study evaluates and quantifies the economic contributions tribes can realize, if only allowed to. The ability for true self-determination is represented in the economic results achieved within this report.”

Native American tourism is also expanding as more work is done to recognize and honor Michigan’s Indigenous roots. Find opportunities to learn more about Native American history and culture within the state’s Upper Peninsula, Lower Western Peninsula, and Eastern Lower Peninsula here.