Petoskey, Michigan, United States

🇺🇸 Petoskey is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Emmet County, and is the largest settlement within the county.

Petoskey is part of Northern Michigan, and is one of the northernmost cities in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Petoskey is located on the southern shore of Little Traverse Bay, a bay of Lake Michigan. Petoskey sits directly across the bay from Harbor Springs, another Emmet County city. Petoskey is a popular Midwestern resort town.

Petoskey lends its name to the Petoskey stone, a fossilized coral that is the state stone of Michigan.

History: Odawa inhabitants The Little Traverse Bay area was long inhabited by indigenous peoples, including the Odawa people. The name Petoskey is said to mean "where the light shines through the clouds" in the language of the Odawa. After the 1836 Treaty of Washington, Odawa Chief Ignatius Petosega (1787–1885) took the opportunity to purchase lands near the Bear River. Petosega's father was Antoine Carre, a French Canadian fur trader and his mother was Odawa.

Early Presbyterian missions By the 1850s, several religious groups had established missions near the Little Traverse Bay. A Mormon offshoot had been based at Beaver Island, the Jesuit missionaries had been based at L'arbor Croche and Michilimackinac, with a Catholic presence in Harbor Springs, then known as "Little Traverse". Andrew Porter, a Presbyterian missionary, arrived at the village of Bear River (as it was then called) in 1852.

Pioneer commercial interests Amos Fox and Hirem Obed Rose were pioneer entrepreneurs who had made money during both the California Gold Rush and at Northport selling lumber and goods to passing ships. Originally based at Northport, in the 1850s Rose and Fox (or Fox & Rose) expanded their business interests to Charlevoix and Petoskey. Rose also earned income as part of a business partnership that extended the railroad from Walton Junction to Traverse City. H.O. Rose, along with Archibald Buttars, established a general merchandise business in Petoskey.

After the partnership split, Rose relocated to Petoskey and in 1873 built the first dock in the town. When the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad was about to be extended into the Bay View area, Rose purchased much land in that area, as well as trolley cars, to enable transport between Petoskey and Bay View. Rose also developed the first general store, extensive lime quarries (Michigan Limestone Company, aka Petoskey Lime Company;), building the Arlington Hotel, and lumbering enterprises, and harbor improvements in 1893. He served as first president of the village and officiated at early commemorative public events. Rose's influence on the city was also commemorated by the naming of the H. O. Rose room at the Perry Hotel.

Passenger Pigeons In the late 19th century, Petoskey was in the region of Northern Michigan where 50,000 passenger pigeon birds were killed daily in massive hunts, leading to their complete extinction in the early 20th century. A state historical marker memorializes these events, including the last great nesting of the passenger pigeons at Crooked Lake in 1878. One hunter was reputed to have personally killed "a million birds" and earned $60,000, the equivalent of $1 million today.

Petoskey is noted for a high concentration of ancient fossil coral, now named Petoskey stones, designated as the state stone of Michigan.

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

With members descended from the numerous bands in northern Michigan, the Little Traverse Bay Band is a federally recognised tribe that has its headquarters at nearby Harbor Springs, Michigan. It also owns and operates a gaming casino in Petoskey.

Geography Part of Northern Michigan, Petoskey is on the south-east 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 5.29 square miles (13.70 km²), of which 5.09 square miles (13.18 km²) is land and 0.20 square miles (0.52 km²) is water.

Transport: Air • The nearest airports with scheduled passenger service are in Pellston Regional Airport and Traverse City Cherry Capital Airport.

Transport: Bus • Indian Trails provides daily intercity bus service between St. Ignace and East Lansing, Michigan and between Grand Rapids, Michigan and Petoskey. Transfer between the two lines is possible in Petoskey. • The EMGO/SRR bus service runs Monday through Friday, from Petoskey, Mackinaw City, Harbor Springs, and to multiple locations in Emmet County with flexible routes within many communities along the way.

Transport: 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/special excursion trains to Petoskey occur every now and then.

Historically, the Pennsylvania Railroad's Northern Arrow, the Pere Marquette Railway's Resort Special and other trains provided passenger traffic to Petoskey and Bay View, Michigan from as far as Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Detroit but these were discontinued in the late 20th century. The Pere Marquette trains (and later the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway) used its station, and the Pennsylvania Railroad its own separate station. The last Chesapeake and Ohio (successor to the Pere Marquette) trains were discontinued by 1963, thus ending scheduled passenger train service to Petoskey.

Marina • The City of Petoskey Department of Parks and Recreation operates a 144-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 initial designation as a "Michigan Clean Marina" in May 2007 and was recertified in 2010.

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 to Harbor Springs 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.

Education Among the many colleges in Michigan includes North Central Michigan College, located in Petoskey. The public school system consists of a high school, a middle school, and four elementary schools. Additionally, Petoskey Public Schools has a Montessori education building.

Media: Print • Petoskey News-Review

Magazines • Traverse, is published monthly with a focus on regional interests.

Media: Radio • WLDR (750) - country; simulcast of WLDR-FM Traverse City • WJML (1110) - Talk • WMKT (1270) - News/Talk (licensed to Charlevoix, studios in Petoskey) • WMBN (1340) - Sports Talk Radio

Local FM radio • WTLI (89.3) - contemporary Christian "Smile FM" • WTCK (90.9) - Catholic religious (Charlevoix) • WJOG (91.3) - contemporary Christian "Smile FM" • WBCM (93.5) - country; simulcast of WTCM-FM Traverse City • W237DA (95.3) - translator of WFDX-FM Atlanta (classic hits) • WLXT (96.3) - adult contemporary • WKLZ (98.9) - classic rock; simulcast of WKLT-FM Kalkaska • W259AH (99.7) - translator of WPHN-FM Gaylord (religious) • WICV (100.9) - classical (East Jordan); simulcast of WIAA-FM Interlochen • WMKC (102.9) - New Country (Indian River, Michigan, studios in Traverse City and Cheboygan) • WCMW (103.9) - CMU Public Radio (Harbor Springs) • WKHQ (105.9) - CHR/top 40 (licensed to Charlevoix, studios in Petoskey) • WLJD (107.9) - Christian (Charlevoix); simulcast of WLJN-FM.