Petoskey, Michigan

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Petoskey, Michigan
Location in the state of Michigan
Coordinates: 45°22′24″N 84°57′19″W / 45.37333, -84.95528
Country	United States
State	Michigan
County	Emmet
Government
- Mayor	Dale E. Meyer
Area
- Total	5.2 sq mi (13.5 km²)
- Land	5.0 sq mi (13.0 km²)
- Water	0.2 sq mi (0.5 km²)
Elevation	666 ft (202 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	6,080
- Density	1,211.1/sq mi (467.6/km²)
Time zone	EST (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	49770
Area code(s)	231
FIPS code	26-63820^GR2
GNIS feature ID	0634731^GR3
Website: http://www.ci.petoskey.mi.us/

Sidewalk in downtown Petoskey

Petoskey is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 6,080. It is the county seat of Emmet County ⁶.

Petoskey and the surrounding area are notable for being the setting of several of the Nick Adams stories by Ernest Hemingway, who spent his childhood summers on nearby Walloon Lake, as well as being the place, where for Calliope the protagonist of Jeffrey Eugenides' "Middlesex", life takes a severe and lasting turn. Petoskey is famous for a high concentration of Petoskey stones, the state stone of Michigan. Petoskey is the birthplace of Information Theorist Claude Shannon and Civil War Historian Bruce Catton and is the boyhood home of singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. "Petoskey" is said to mean "where the light shines through the clouds" in the language of the Ottawa (tribe) Indians (Little Traverse Bay Band) who are the original inhabitants. But verifiable is that The Petoskey stone and the city were named after Chief Ignatius Petosega(1787-1885) who founded the community. Petoskey's father was a French fur trader and his mother was an Odawa (Ottawa) Indian.

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

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Transportation
4 Colleges
5 Media
6 External links

Petoskey is on the southeast 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 5.2 square miles (13.5 km²), of which, 5.0 square miles (13.0 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.5 km²) of it (4.02%) is water.

As of the census ² of 2000, there were 6,080 people, 2,700 households, and 1,447 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,210.9 per square mile (467.6/km²). There were 3,342 housing units at an average density of 665.6/sq mi (257.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.18% White, 0.33% African American, 3.17% Native American, 0.81% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.20% from other races, and 1.30% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.17% of the population.

There were 2,700 households out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.8% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 46.4% were non-families. 39.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.14 and the average family size was 2.89.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.0% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 28.5% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 17.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 85.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $33,657, and the median income for a family was $48,168. Males had a median income of $35,875 versus $25,114 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,259. About 6.6% of families and 12.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.6% of those under age 18 and 8.4% of those age 65 or over.

US 31 connects with M-66 in Charlevoix, 16 miles to the west. I-75 is 23 miles to the east, via M-68 off US 31. Mackinaw City and the Mackinac Bridge are 37 miles north via US 31. M-119, accessible off US 31 four miles east at Bay View, continues around the north side of Little Traverse Bay and then on Lake Michigan to Cross Village. US 131 has its northern terminus in the city.

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 excursion trains, to Petoskey, are operated by Lake Central Rail Tours.

Historically, the Northern Arrow and other rail lines provided passenger traffic to Petoskey and Bay View, Michigan from as far as Chicago and Saint Louis, but these were discontinued in the late 20th century.