Delta 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 ...

in the Upper Peninsula in 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 Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

was 36,903. The

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 ...

Escanaba Escanaba ( ), commonly shortened to Esky, is a port city and the county seat of Delta County, Michigan, Delta County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located on Little Bay de Noc in the state's Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Upper Peninsula. The popu ...

. The county was surveyed in 1843 and organized in 1861. Its name originates from the Greek letter

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

(Δ), which refers to the triangular shape of the original county which included segments of

Menominee The Menominee ( ; meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recognized tribe of Na ...

, Dickinson,

Iron Iron is a chemical element; it has symbol Fe () and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth's o ...

, and Marquette counties. Recreation and forest products are major industries, and crops include hay, corn, small grains, potatoes, and strawberries. Delta County comprises the Escanaba, MI Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (41%) is water. It is the fifth-largest county in Michigan by land area.

Adjacent counties

By land * Menominee County (southwest,

Central Time Zone The North American Central Time Zone (CT) is a time zone in parts of Canada, the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It ...

border) * Marquette County (northwest) * Alger County (north) * Schoolcraft County (east) By water * Leelanau County (southeast) *

Door County, Wisconsin Door County is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, its population was 30,066. Its seat of government is Sturgeon Bay. It is named after the strait between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island. ...

(south, Central Time Zone border)

National protected area

* Hiawatha National Forest (part)

Communities

Cities

(county seat) *

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

Village

Garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

Civil townships

* Baldwin Township * Bark River Township * Bay de Noc Township * Brampton Township * Cornell Township * Ensign Township * Escanaba Township * Fairbanks Township * Ford River Township * Garden Township * Maple Ridge Township * Masonville Township * Nahma Township * Wells Township

Unincorporated communities

* Bark River *

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

* Chaison * Fairport * Fayette * Ford River * Garden Corners * Harris * Hyde * Isabella * Island View * Kipling * Lake Bluff * Maplewood * Nahma * Narenta * Perkins * Perronville * Rapid River * Riverland * Rock * St. Nicholas * Schaffer * Wells * West Gladstone

Indian reservations

* A small section of the Hannahville Indian Community, which has most of its territory in neighboring Menominee County to the west, extends into Bark River Township. * The Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians occupies a very small portion in the southwest city limits of

Demographics

The 2010 United States census indicated Delta County had population of 37,069. By 2020, its population was 36,903.

Education

School districts include: * Bark River-Harris School District * Big Bay de Noc School District * Escanaba Area Public Schools * Gladstone Area Schools * Mid Peninsula School District * Rapid River Public Schools

Government

Delta County operates the County jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major 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 participates with the state in the provision of 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.

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 ...

: Lauren Wickman *

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 ...

: Edward Oswald *

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 ...

/ Register of Deeds: Nancy Przewrocki * County Treasurer: Sherry Godfrey * Drain Commissioner: George Maciejewski * County Surveyor: Mel Davis * Circuit Court Judge: John B. Economopoulos * District Court Judge: Steven C. Parks * Probate Court Judge: Perry R. Lund (information as of September 2018)

Transportation

Major highways

* runs east–west through the lower part of the county, entering from Schoolcraft County east of Garden Corners and running westward to an intersection with US 41 at Rapid River. * runs north–south through central part of the county, entering from Alger County at Trenary, running southerly to Rapid River then southwesterly along the Lake Michigan shore to the southwest corner of county. * enters from Marquette County at the northwest corner of the county and runs southeasterly to intersection with US 41 at Gladstone. * runs east–west across the southwestern tip of the county, entering from Menominee County at Schaffer and running southeasterly to an intersection with US 41 west of Narenta. * runs from the southern tip of the Garden Peninsula at Fayette State Park to an intersection with US 2 at Garden Corners.

Airport

The county is served by Delta County Airport (KESC), southwest of Escanaba. It provides scheduled airline service to

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

and

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

References

External links

Delta County government website

Delta County Profile, Sam M Cohodas Regional Economist, Tawni Hunt Ferrarini, Ph.D.
* {{Coord, 45.78, -86.87, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-MI_source:UScensus1990 Michigan counties 1861 establishments in Michigan Populated places established in 1861