Alcona County ( ) is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,167. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

is Harrisville. Alphabetically it is the first county in Michigan; as its flag states, it is the "First of 83".

History

The county was created by the state legislature on April 1, 1840. It was at first named Negwegon County, after the name of a well-known Chippewa chief, also known as "Little Wing". He was honored as having been an American ally against the British in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

. It was renamed to Alcona County on March 8, 1843, after a

neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...

created by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft from parts of words from Native American languages, plus

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and

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. These were amalgamated to mean "fine or excellent plain". He was an influential US Indian agent and geographer. Alcona County was initially attached to

Mackinac County Mackinac County ( , ) is a County (United States), county in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 10,834. The county seat is St. Ignace, Michigan, St. Ignace. F ...

for purposes of revenue, taxation, and judicial matters. The attachment shifted to Cheboygan County in 1853, to Alpena County in 1857, to Iosco County in 1858, and to Alpena County in 1859. Harrisville Township, then comprising the entire county, was organized in 1860. County government was organized in 1869, becoming effective on May 8, 1869. The county's slogan on its seal (a single gold star on a green field in the shape of Alcona County) is "First of 83," which refers to its place alphabetically among Michigan counties. In 2007, Alcona County discovered that $1.2 million was missing and was forced to alter its $4 million budget. An investigation revealed that Thomas Katona, who had been the county treasurer for thirteen years, had wired $186,500 of county funds to accounts associated with a well-known Nigerian scam. Katona, who had already lost more than $70,000 of his savings on the scam, ignored repeated warnings from friends and his bank that his so-called investments seemed suspicious. Katona was sentenced to 9–14 years imprisonment on June 12, 2007, by the 23rd Circuit Court. Judge William Myles said Katona's crimes warranted more severe punishment than called for in state sentencing guidelines, due to the amount of money involved and the number of victims in the case.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (62%) is water. The area is part of the Au Sable State Forest, specifically the Grayling FMU (Alcona, Crawford, Oscoda, and northern Iosco counties). The county is considered to be part of Northern Michigan. Alcona County has a shoreline on

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

. Through Lake Huron, Alcona County has a water boundary with the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The Au Sable River flows through the southwest of the county.

Lakes

Lakes in the county include: *

* Alcona Lake * Badger Lake * Bear Lake * Brownlee Lake * Byron Lake * Cedar Lake * Clear Lake * Crooked Lake * Crystal Lake * Curtis Lake * Honawan Lake * Horseshoe Lake * Hubbard Lake, one of the state's twenty largest inland lakes. * Hunter Lake * Indian Lake * Jenkins lake * Jewell Lake * Lost Lake * North Hoist Lake * North Lake * O'Brien Lake * Poplar Lake * Reid Lake * South Hoist Lake * Tompson Lake

Adjacent counties

Alpena County - north * Iosco County - south * Ogemaw County - southwest * Oscoda County - west * Montmorency County - northwest

National protected area

Huron National Forest The Huron National Forest is a United States National Forest, National Forest in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. It was established in 1909 after the logging era began to decline. In 1945, it was administratively combined with the Manistee Nati ...

(part)

Communities

City

* Harrisville (county seat)

Village

* Lincoln

Civil townships

* Alcona Township * Caledonia Township * Curtis Township * Greenbush Township * Gustin Township * Harrisville Township * Hawes Township * Haynes Township * Mikado Township * Millen Township * Mitchell Township

Census-designated places

* Hubbard Lake * Lost Lake Woods

Other unincorporated communities

* Alcona * Alvin * Backus Beach * Barton City * Black River * Bryant * Cheviers * Curran * Curtisville * Glennie * Greenbush * Gustin * Killmaster * Kurtz * Larson Beach * Mikado * Springport *

Spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

* Wallace

Ghost town

* Bamfield

Government

The county government maintains rural roads, operates the local courts, records deeds, mortgages, and vital records, administers

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

regulations, and works with state agencies to provide social services. The county board of commissioners controls the budget and has limited authority to make laws or ordinances. In Michigan, most local government functions — police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc. — are the responsibility of individual cities and townships. The Alcona County

Circuit Court Circuit courts are court systems in several common law jurisdictions. It may refer to: * Courts that literally sit 'on circuit', i.e., judges move around a region or country to different towns or cities where they will hear cases; * Courts that s ...

is part of the 23rd Circuit of Michigan. This multicounty circuit also includes Arenac, Iosco and Oscoda Counties. This court was previously part of the 26th Circuit, which included Alpena and Montmorency Counties.

Elected officials

Prosecuting Attorney A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in civil law. The prosecution is the legal party responsible ...

: Thomas Jay Weichel *

Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is common ...

: Scott A. Stephenson *

County Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts record keeping as well as general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keepin ...

/Circuit Court Clerk: Stephany Eller * County Treasurer: Cheryl L. Franks * Register of Deeds: Melissa A. Cordes * Road Commissioners: Alfred J. Scully, Harry L. Harvey, Theodore R. Somers (as of May 2018)

Demographics

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 10,942 people living in the county. 97.9% were

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.6% Native American, 0.2% Asian, 0.1% Black or African American, 0.2% of some other race and 0.9% of two or more races. 1.1% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race). By the 2020 census, there were 10,167 people in the county. In 2000, the median income for a household in the county was $31,362, and the median income for a family was $35,669. Males had a median income of $29,712 versus $20,566 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $17,653. About 9.10% of families and 12.60% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 17.80% of those under age 18 and 9.00% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Alcona County is served by three public school districts. Public school district boundaries are not coterminous with the county boundary or any municipality boundaries within the county. Only one district, Alcona Community Schools, is entirely contained within the county, enrolling 690 students for the 2021-2022 school year. Students on the southern side of the county are assigned to Oscoda Area Schools in the neighboring county of Iosco, while students on the western side of the county in Mitchell Township are assigned to Fairview Area School District, based in Oscoda County.
Text list
/ref> Each school district is supported by a different intermediate school district, with the majority of students enrolled in the county being covered by the Alpena–Montmorency–Alcona Education Service District, based in Alpena.

Districts

School districts include: * Alcona Community Schools * Fairview Area School District * Oscoda Area Schools

Politics

Alcona County has been reliably Republican since the beginning. Since 1884, the county has voted against the Republican nominee for president only five times.

Media

Newspapers

* The ''Alcona County Review'' located in Harrisville is the county's

newspaper of record A newspaper of record is a major national newspaper with large newspaper circulation, circulation whose editorial and news-gathering functions are considered authoritative and independent; they are thus "newspapers of record by reputation" and i ...

, and has served the community since 1877. * The '' Alpena News'' serves the northeastern lower peninsula. * The ''Oscoda Press'' is a weekly newspaper serving southern Alcona County and northern Iosco County. * Daily editions of the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

'' and ''

The Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...

'' are available throughout the area.

Radio

* WXTF-LP

Historical markers

* Greenbush School * West Harrisville Depot in Lincoln * Springport Inn, Springport home of Civil War Captain Joseph VanBuskirk.

Parks and recreation

There is a senior citizens center building that opened in the 1940s. In 2023 there was a controversy over how to use a $12,500,000 grant that was to be used to build a replacement building.

Transportation

Highways

* — north of Standish, it has been designated the Sunrise Side Coastal Highway. Parallels the Lake Huron shore, connects with M-72 in Harrisville. US 23 is the most proximate connector to Alpena and Mackinaw City. * — runs along the western side of the county, from US 23 north of Standish to Rogers City. * — In 1936, downtown Harrisville became the eastern terminus of the M-72, which runs across the lower peninsula from Empire, Michigan. It is one of three true cross peninsular highways.History of Michigan highways
/ref> * — runs from US 23 at Greenbush through Mikado to M-65 at Glennie. * — * — runs north–south from US 23 at Oscoda to US 23 south of Ossineke.

Airport

Alcona County has been a part of developing the Oscoda-Wurtsmith Airport, which became a public airport in 1993. It now occupies a portion of the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base, which is in Oscoda Township, Michigan in neighboring Iosco County, Michigan. It is primarily used for cargo and light general aviation activities. The Airport offers 24-hour near all weather daily access.

References

External links

Alcona County Government

Alcona County Review Newspaper

Alcona County Historical Society

Alpena News (serving N.E. Michigan)

Alcona Park
*
''Enchanted forest'', Northern Michigan source for information, calendars, etc.

Harrisville City Airport information and map

Information and links about Harrisville

* ttp://www.us23coastalhighway.com/ Sunrise side travel and information {{Coord, 44.71, -83.27, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MI_source:UScensus1990 Michigan counties 1869 establishments in Michigan