Leland is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...

(CDP) in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 377. It was the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

Leelanau County Leelanau may refer to a number of articles relating to the region of the northwestern Lower Peninsula of Michigan: Geography Settlements * Leelanau County, Michigan * Leelanau Township, Michigan * Lake Leelanau, Michigan Landforms * Lak ...

from 1883 to 2004, when a new government center was completed in

Suttons Bay Township Suttons Bay Township is a civil township and county seat of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,270 at the 2020 census. The village of Suttons Bay is located within the township along Grand Traverse Bay. In a 2 ...

, closer to the county's geographic center. Leland is located in Leland Township, which provides local government services. It is on M-22, at the mouth of the

Leland River The Leland River is a short river in the U.S. state of Michigan. Located in the unincorporated community of Leland, the river is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed Nov ...

(also known as the Carp River) on

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. Leland is the departure point for ferry service to both

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and South Manitou Islands. The Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is nearby and Traverse City is about to the southeast. Leaving Leland, going south on M-22, there is a sign that reads "45th Parallel Halfway Between Equator & North Pole".

History

Leland is built on the site of one of the oldest and largest

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

villages on the

Leelanau Peninsula The Leelanau Peninsula ( ) is a peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan that extends about from the western side of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan into Lake Michigan. Leelanau County encompasses the entire peninsula. It is often referred to as ...

. Where the Leland (Carp) River flows into Lake Michigan, there was a natural fish ladder (which was a traditional Native American fishing grounds). The settlement was called ''Mishi-me-go-bing'', meaning "the place where canoes run up into the river to land, because they have no harbor", or alternatively ''Che-ma-go-bing'' or ''Chi-mak-a-ping''. White settlers, who began arriving in the 1830s, also took advantage of the location as a fishing settlement. White settlement increased after Antoine Manseau, with his son Antoine Jr., and John Miller, built a dam and sawmill on the river in 1854. Construction of the dam raised the water level , and what had been three natural lakes in the river all became a single lake now known as

Lake Leelanau Lake Leelanau ( ) lies in the Leelanau Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The entire lake—which includes two bodies of water, usually referred to as ''North Lake Leelanau'' and ''South Lake Leelanau''—covers about and lies within L ...

(and is navigable all the way to the community of Cedar, about inland). The settlers built wooden docks, which allowed steamers and schooners to transport new settlers and supplies. From 1870 to 1884, the Leland Lake Superior Iron Co. operated an iron

smelter Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including Silver mining#Ore processing, silver, iron-making, iron, copper extracti ...

north of the river mouth, supplied with ore from the Upper Peninsula and

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

made from local maple and beech timber; the charcoal was produced in fourteen beehive kilns near the smelting furnace, which produced up to 40 tons of iron per day. In 1884, the plant was sold to the Leland Lumber Co., which operated a sawmill on the site. Other sawmills and shingle mills operated in Leland during the years 1885–1900. As early as 1880, commercial fishermen sailed out of the harbor to catch trout and whitefish, building wooden shacks where they processed their catch and serviced their fleet. Up to eight powered tugs once sailed out of "Fishtown", as the buildings came to be known. Today, the historic fishing settlement and two

fish tug A fish tug (sometimes called fishtug, fish tugboat, fishing tug, etc.) is a type of boat that was used for commercial fishing in the first half of the 20th century, primarily on the Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seawa ...

s, ''Joy'' and ''Janice Sue'', are owned by a non-profit organization, the Fishtown Preservation Society. Fishtown is home to a working fishery and a thriving charter fishing business. The riverfront is lined by a boardwalk and quaint shacks that have been converted into tourist shops. Around 1900, wealthy individuals from Chicago, Detroit, and other Midwestern industrial centers began to visit Leland and build summer cottages, arriving by Lake Michigan passenger steamer or by Lake Leelanau steamer from the railhead near Traverse City. This led to the construction of resort hotels, and the growth of Leland as a summer resort town.

Geography

Leland is in northern Leelanau County, on the west side of the Leelanau Peninsula. It is bordered to the west by Lake Michigan and to the east by the northern section of Lake Leelanau. The Leland River runs through the center of the community, connecting the two lakes. According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...

, the Leland CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 2.22%, are water.

Demographics

Transportation

*, the only road connecting Leland to the rest of the county. It leads northeast to Northport and southwest to

Glen Arbor Glen Arbor Township is a civil township of Leelanau County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 859 at the 2010 census. However, the population of the town expands rapidly during the summer months as a result of it being a summer ...

.
Manitou Island Transit
ferry service to North and South Manitou Island

Cultural institutions

* Leelanau Historical Society and Museum, 203 East Cedar Street
Leland Township Library
203 East Cedar Street

Michigan historical sites

* Walter Best Women's Club (Old Art Building), 1125 Main Street * Riverside Inn, 302 East River Street * Leelanau County Jail, 106 Chandler Street * Leland Historic District (Fishtown) * Greycote Cottage, 110 Pearl Street * W. K. Hatt Cottage, 410 North Main Street

Notable people

* Tim Allen (born 1953), comedian, actor *

Thomas W. L. Ashley Thomas William Ludlow "Lud" Ashley (January 11, 1923 – June 15, 2010) was an American businessman and politician of the Democratic Party. He served as a U.S. representative from Ohio from 1955 to 1981. Early life and education Ashley was b ...

(1923-2010), U.S. representative (Ohio) * The Ball Brothers, industrialists and philanthropists *

Charles E. Bennison Charles Ellsworth Bennison Jr. (born November 30, 1943) is an American bishop. He was the 15th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Pennsylvania. Education and family Bennison was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 30, 1943, and was ba ...

(born 1943), Episcopal bishop of

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

* Barbara Ninde Byfield (1930-1988), author, illustrator * Mark Clark (1896-1984), WW2 general,

Citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. In ...

president *

John J. Gilligan John Joyce “Jack” Gilligan (March 22, 1921 – August 26, 2013) was an American United States Democratic Party, Democratic politician from the state of Ohio who served as a United States House of Representatives, U.S. Representative and as th ...

(1921-2013), U.S. representative, governor of Ohio *

Alisha Glass Alisha Rebecca Glass Childress (born April 5, 1988) is an American former professional volleyball player who played as a setter for the United States women's national volleyball team. Glass played collegiate volleyball for Penn State, where she ...

(born 1988), Olympic volleyball player * Jim Harrison (1937-2016), author, township resident from 1968-2002 *

Harlan Hatcher Harlan Henthorne Hatcher (September 9, 1898 – February 25, 1998) served as the eighth President of the University of Michigan from 1951 to 1967. Biography Harlan Henthorne Hatcher was born on September 9, 1898, in Ironton, Ohio. He received ...

(1898-1998),

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

president * Arthur F. Lederle (1887–1972), U.S. federal judge * Alvin Mansfield Owsley (1888-1967), attorney, diplomat * Keewaydinoquay Peschel (ca. 1919-1999), ethnobotanist, herbalist, educator * Emelia Schaub (1891-1995), county prosecutor, first female attorney in Michigan *

Kathleen Sebelius Kathleen Sebelius (; née Gilligan, born May 15, 1948) is an American businesswoman and politician who served as the 21st United States secretary of Health and Human Services from 2009 until 2014. As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Sebeli ...

(born 1948), U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, governor of Kansas, daughter of

* Tobin Sprout (born 1955), songwriter, guitarist ( Guided by Voices)

Images

File:Leland Michigan Sign Looking North M-22.jpg, Sign on M-22 File:Leland Michigan Downtown M-22.jpg, Downtown Leland on M-22

References

External links

Leland Michigan Chamber of Commerce

Fishtown pictures
{{authority control Populated places established in 1853 Traverse City micropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Leelanau County, Michigan Unincorporated communities in Michigan Census-designated places in Leelanau County, Michigan Census-designated places in Michigan Former county seats in Michigan