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History. The Alpena area is home to the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi people. These people groups inhabit the area surrounding the Great Lakes, including Michigan. The Thunder Bay Band of Chippewa and Ottawa merged with the Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians in the mid-1800s under Chief Way-ge-maw-waw-be.
Alpena’s story is rich with heritage and a changing cultural landscape that is both interesting and intriguing. This cozy Northeast Michigan community has had a knack for reinvention and the history books are dotted with the lineage of trailblazing pioneers who refused to let the town die.
Alpena, county seat of Alpena County, is located on the shores of Thunder Bay, an inlet of Lake Huron in northeast Michigan. Large limestone quarries near Alpena led to the development of substantial a cement-manufacturing industry. The first settlement was a trading post, established in 1835.
The historic port city of Alpena is nestled between a vast emerald forest and a clear blue bay. Founded in 1871, Alpena began as an early commercial fishing port and soon grew to be one of the nation’s most profitable lumber harvesting locations.
The story of our current name “Alpena” actually begins shortly after Michigan became a state in 1837. Mr. Douglas Houghton was assigned the task of surveying the northern part of the state and establishing county and township lines.
In 1855, before the city of Alpena was officially established, the lands around the mouth of the Thunder Bay River were purchased, sight unseen, by George N. Fletcher, James Lockwood, John Minor, and John Oldfield, who were seeking land for timber harvesting.
About Alpena. History of Alpena. Incorporated in 1871, the City of Alpena overlooks Lake Huron's picturesque Thunder Bay. The wood, cement, and heavy machinery industries of Alpena stemmed from a long industrial heritage that started with logging of the 1800s.