Introduction to Marquette Michigan USA

With a 2010 population of 21,355 [1], the city of Marquette is the largest municipality in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan [2]. Marquette is the seat of Marquette County [3] and is the regional center for commerce, recreation, education (Northern Michigan University), and health care (Marquette General Hospital) [4]. Marquette is in the Eastern Time Zone [5].

[1] http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/26/2651900.html
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquette,_Michigan
[3] http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/CountySeats.aspx
[4] http://www.mqtcty.org/about_us.html
[5] http://www.timetemperature.com/tzmi/marquette.shtm

Marquette is located on the northern coast of the central area of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, on the south shore of Lake Superior. Because of the city's location on Marquette Bay, the lake locally is to the east of the city [6]. The coordinates for downtown Marquette at Washington Street and Third Street are 46°32'36.78"N 87°23'43.48"W [7]. Elevation above sea level ranges from 180m (590.5ft) at the lakeshore to 223m (731.6ft) on the outskirts of the city to 443m (1,453.4ft) a few miles inland [7]. There are hills within the city. Move a cursor over the city in Google Earth to see the elevation go up and down.

Marquette is 182 miles north of Green Bay, Wisconsin; 298 miles north of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; 454 miles north of Chicago, Illinois; 164 miles west of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (the second largest city in the U.P.); 173 miles northwest of St. Ignace, Michigan, which is on the U.P. end of the Mackinac Bridge; 460 miles northwest of Detroit, Michigan; 252 miles east of Duluth, Minnesota; and 377 miles northeast of Minneapolis, Minnesota. All distances are downtown to downtown by car according to Google Maps. For Marquetters to go for shopping and fun to the nearest larger city, Green Bay, is a 3.5 hour drive each way.

[6] http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl
[7] http://www.google.com/earth/index.html

"Marquette County, on the shores of Lake Superior, was founded on the Iron Ore industry. ... Marquette County is the largest County in the State of Michigan with over 1,800 square miles of area. The city of Marquette is the largest city in the Upper Peninsula. Marquette County is home to Northern Michigan University and the Marquette General Health System, the largest regional health care system in the Upper Peninsula. Historically built on growth in the mining and forest product’s industries, Marquette County now offers a diverse economic base, which includes enhanced technological opportunities, a regional airport, a deep-water seaport, and expanded rail connectivity. All seasons recreational opportunities abound including a world-class point-to-point mountain bike race and cross-country ski marathon, with registrants regionally and from around the globe." (quote from COUNTY ECONOMIC PROFILES FROM MICHIGAN’S UPPER PENINSULA December 31, 2010, compiled by the Northern Michigan University Center for Rural Community and Economic Development)

That same document gives these statistics for Marquette County, Michigan:
County Population 2010: 65,884
Total Housing Units: 34,681
Median Home Value: $121,400
Home Ownership Rate: 74.4%
Median Household Income: $45,711
Feb 2010 Total Labor Force: 35,907
Feb 2010 Unemployment: 11.0%
Education: K-12 schools 9,916 students; Northern Michigan University 9,428 students
Climate: [averages] Summer High 70F; Winter High 27F; Annual Snowfall 184.7 inches

RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Casinos 1; Lighthouses 5; State Park Campgrounds 8; Total Campgrounds 16; Total Campsites 725; Bed & Breakfasts 3; Hotel/Motel rooms 1,273; Miles of Great Lakes Shoreline 83; Miles of hiking, skiing, bike trails 500; Miles of snowmobile trails 450; Miles of ORV [Off Road Vehicle] trails 8; Miles of scenic highway 450; Golf Courses 6

My wife and I lived in Marquette for four years, 2002 to 2006. Sometime before long I will tell about those years on my website, and I will put a link here. They were good, fondly remembered years on her and my life journeys. Here I will just share some general impressions and random memories, tinted by nostalgia.

I remember that whenever I was away to visit family and friends and returned, when I had started driving that less than five miles stretch of highway from Harvey to Marquette and came around a curve as the highway started following the Lake Superior shoreline and, across Marquette Bay, Marquette came into view, I always had a happy to be home feeling. That may have been because the drive across the U.P. from Escanaba to Marquette is a gauntlet in which the challenges are to not slide off the road on black ice miles from anywhere and to not hit a deer or, worse, a moose,

I grew up in Winthrop Harbor, Illinois, and whenever I bicycled the half mile to Lake Michigan to play on the beach, I liked to gaze into the distance over the lake. I would get an instant feeling of serenity, a mellow calming and quiet joy. Gazing out over Lake Superior in Marquette was like that, too, which is why I liked to often sit or stroll in Lower Harbor Park or Presque Isle Park.

I was a flatlander all of my life until I lived in Marquette. The U.P. is mostly uplands of very ancient rock, and Marquette is built on several hills. (Go to Marquette in Google Earth, move your cursor about, and note the ups and downs in elevation.) It is the first place I lived where one is more likely to look up or down a hill instead of straight ahead to look at buildings, and this new perspective added to my sense of being in a magical place.

That Marquette and vicinity is an enchanted place was confirmed for me by the people I met who gave up worldly comforts to live there. One man I got to know had been a corporation man in Chicago, responsible for overseeing sales in a large area of Illinois and Indiana. He gave that up to live in Marquette, supporting himself as a part-time freelance carpenter, doing jobs like mending people's porches.

Another man I met had been a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent who investigated bank frauds. He gave up that career, trained to be a nurse, and moved with his wife to Marquette, where as members of Pax Christi they were active in the local peace movement.

I met other people who came as Northern Michigan University students, as tourists, as hunters, as visitors, or on a job assignment and stayed or returned to live. Some retirees, the snowbirds, leave in October and return in May.

Dictionary.com says that 'to enchant' means "1. to subject to magical influence; bewitch; 2. to delight to a high degree; 3. to impart a magic quality or effect to." What makes Marquette and environs enchanting? The scenery -- forested rocky highlands, the great lake, the architectures of the town, etc. -- is a factor. The forest comes right up to the city, and while I lived there, the local newspaper sometimes had stories and photos of a beer or a moose in town. (Here is a more recent bear in Marquette news story.) Deer were common.

The air is another factor. I wonder if living by forest and water gives people an extra shot of oxygen that induces contentment, joy, and energy?

Another factor that at least for me was cause for wonderment was that in the summer the sun sets as late a 9:46 p.m., with twilight lasting till nearly 10:30.

In my experience, another factor is the people of Marquette and vicinity. They are very nice. From my wife's and my first visit until we moved away years later, that was a notable quality in Marquetters. The tellers in blue jeans in the banks and credit unions were nice; the store clerks were nice; people we got to know were nice; my employers and fellow employees were nice; people demonstrating on opposite sides of an issue were nice. To read my 2005 letter to the editor on the Marquette taboo against being not nice, click here. When people face long, snowy winters in a somewhat isolated little city and when a pillar of the local economy is tourism, people learn to be nice to each other to get along and to visitors to make a living.

And I loved Sweet Water Cafe on Third Street, with its fresh foods creatively prepared. The dining area was tranquil, and the kitchen was high energy. Sweet water is sugar maple sap before it is turned into maple syrup, and they serve it in season;

Or maybe the enchantment is just the spirit of the place, some sort of psychic or angelic force that, whatever is happening in my life, brings me an inexplicable emotional background joy while there.

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