Traverse City, Michigan
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| Traverse City, Michigan | |
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|
| Coordinates: | |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| State | Michigan |
| County | Grand Traverse |
| Incorporated | May 18, 1895 |
| Government | |
| - Mayor | Linda Smyka |
| Area | |
| - City | 8.7 sq mi (22.5 km²) |
| - Land | 8.4 sq mi (21.8 km²) |
| - Water | 0.3 sq mi (0.8 km²) |
| Elevation | 626 ft (191 m) |
| Population (2000) | |
| - City | 14,532 (city proper) |
| - Density | 1,728/sq mi (667.2/km²) |
| - Metro | 141,011 |
| Time zone | EST (UTC-5) |
| - Summer (DST) | EDT (UTC-4) |
| Website: http://www.ci.traverse-city.mi.us | |
Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the largest in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 14,532. In 2005, the Traverse City Micropolitan Statistical Area was the 13th largest in the United States, with a population estimate of 141,011. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County6, although a small portion lies in Leelanau County. Despite its modest population, Traverse City, especially its downtown, functions as the major commercial nexus for a seven-county area totaling over 7,000 km² and, along with cross-peninsula counterpart Alpena, is one of Northern Lower Michigan's two anchor cities.
Traverse City is the self-proclaimed Cherry Capital of the World, holding an annual week-long Cherry Festival the first full week in July to celebrate the fact. Besides cherries, the surrounding Tuscany-like countryside produces grapes, and is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest. Tourism, both summer and winter, is another key industry. Freshwater beaches, a mild summer climate, upscale golf resorts, vineyards, a nearby National Lakeshore, prodigious snowfall, nearby ski resorts and thousands of square miles of surrounding forests make Traverse City (based on AAA's 2005 TripTik® requests) the second most popular tourist city in the state behind Mackinaw City.[1]
Traverse City is a home rule charter city under the Home Rule Cities Act, incorporated on May 18, 1895. The city is governed by six commissioners and a mayor, elected at large. Together they comprise a seven-member legislative body. An appointed city manager serves as chief executive for city operations.
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[edit] History
Traverse City is named after the Grand Traverse Bay, which the city heads. The bay got its name from 18th century French voyagers who made la grande traverse or "the long crossing" across the mouth of the bay ([1]).
In 1847, Captain Boardman of Naperville, Illinois, purchased the land at the mouth of the Boardman River at the head of the west arm of the bay. During that year the captain, his son, and their employees built a dwelling and sawmill near the mouth of the river. In 1851 the Boardmans sold the sawmill to Hannah, Lay & Co, who improved the mill greatly. The increased investment in the mill attracted additional settlers to the new community.
As of 1853, the only operating post office in the Grand Traverse Bay region was the one located at Old Mission, which was then known as "Grand Traverse." While in Washington in 1852, Mr. Lay had succeeded in getting the U.S. Post Office to authorize a new post office at his newer settlement. As the newer settlement had become known as "Grand Traverse City," Lay proposed this name for its post office, but the USPS clerk suggested dropping the "Grand," in the name, as to limit confusion between this new office and the one at nearby Old Mission. Mr. Lay agreed to the name "Traverse City" for the post office, and the village took on this name.
[edit] Geography
The city sits at the head of Grand Traverse Bay, a long protected water of Lake Michigan. The city sits at the base of the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas. The Boardman River forms Boardman Lake in the city before draining into the Bay.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.5 km² (8.7 mi²). 21.8 km² (8.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.8 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (3.45%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 14,532 people, 6,443 households, and 3,485 families residing in the city. The population density was 667.2/km² (1,728.7/mi²). There were 6,842 housing units at an average density of 314.1/km² (813.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.00% White, 0.65% African American, 0.98% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.48% from other races, and 1.36% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.67% of the population.
| White | Black | Other |
|---|---|---|
| 96.00% | 0.65% | 3.35% |
There were 6,443 households out of which 24.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.7% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 45.9% were non-families. 35.9% of all households were made up of individuals and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.15 and the average family size was 2.82.
In the city the population was spread out with 20.3% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $37,330, and the median income for a family was $46,912. Males had a median income of $31,587 versus $22,512 for females. The per capita income for the city was $22,247. About 4.8% of families and 8.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 7.2% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] Education
- Northwestern Michigan College
- Traverse Bay Area Career-Tech Center
- Traverse City Central High School
- Traverse City Christian High School
- Traverse City High School (Alternative High School)
- Traverse City Saint Francis High School (a Roman Catholic school)
- Grand Traverse Academy (a Charter School)
- Traverse City West Senior High (established 1997 by a division of Traverse City Central)
- Trinity Lutheran School (Preschool-Grade 8) [2]
- Western Michigan University - branch campus
- Interlochen Arts Academy - Fine Arts Boarding and Day School located 10 minutes out of Traverse City.
[edit] Media
[edit] Print
The Traverse City Record-Eagle is northwest lower Michigan's newspaper of record. It is circulated in the thirteen counties surrounding the city and is the only newspaper in all of Northern Michigan to produce a Sunday edition. In December 2006 it was sold by Ottaway Newspapers Inc., the community newspaper subsidiary of Dow Jones & Company to Community Newspaper Holdings, Inc. (CNHI).
Daily editions of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, and Grand Rapids Press also are available on news stands throughout the region (Northern Express Weekly) is the largest weekly newspaper in Northern Michigan, with distribution of up to 30,000 copies in 13 counties. It is owned and published by George Foster and Robert Downes.
There is also an independent student bi-weekly newspaper called the White Pine Press at Northwestern Michigan College, with a circulation of 4,000.
At least two magazines are published in Traverse City, including Thirdeye Magazine, a bi-monthly periodical focusing on social and political issues as well as art, and Traverse, published monthly with a focus on regional interests.
Village Press Inc. is based in Traverse City. It publishes the Home Shop Machinist, Live Steam and Outdoor Railroading, Just Labs, Poining Dog Journal, Retriever Journal and Twin and Turbine Magazines.
[edit] Television
Traverse City is the largest city in the Traverse City-Cadillac-Sault Ste. Marie Designated Market Area, the largest television market in area east of the Mississippi River. Accordingly, most stations in this vast region are broadcast simultaneously on widely-spaced transmitters on separate channels.
Traverse City has two television stations licensed directly to the city:
- Channel 7: WPBN 7&4 (NBC) (Simulcast on Channel 4, Cheboygan)
- Channel 29: WGTU 29&8 (ABC) (Simulcast on Channel 8, Sault Ste. Marie)
Additionally, WGTU operates a station carried on Northern Michigan cable television systems, but not transmitted over the air:
The city also has a low power rebroadcast transmitter of Mount Pleasant's PBS affiliate, WCMU-TV, operating on channel 46 (W46AD).
Stations licensed to nearby Cadillac are considered local to Traverse City:
Cable television service is provided within Traverse City and many outlying communities by Charter Communications Inc. Public access programming is provided on channel 2.
[edit] Radio
The Traverse City area is the primary target of nearby Interlochen Center for the Arts's NPR member station Interlochen Public Radio.[2] IPR is one of the largest and furthest-broadcasting stations with a town the size of Traverse City's as its base; it serves a large portion of Northwest Lower Michigan via two stations: [3]
- IPR Music Radio (WIAA-FM 88.7)
- IPR News Radio (WICA-FM 91.5)
Northwestern Michigan College also boasts a volunteer community radio station, WNMC-FM 90.7. The station plays mostly jazz and blues during the day, swithcing to rock and electronic genres at night. The station manager is Eric Hines. Also on WNMC is the community radio program ([3]) Radio Anyway, where individuals can produce there own stories and features.
[edit] Tourism
The National Cherry Festival, held during the first full week of July every year, is the main tourist draw to Traverse City. The festival features parades, fireworks, live music, and cherries. It is estimated that the Grand Traverse region produces up to 360,000,000 pounds of cherries annually. The largest variety of cherry produced is the Montmorency cherry, or the "pie cherry". Other cherries grown in the region include the Ulster, or sweet cherry, and the Balaton (from Lake Balaton in Hungary), a cherry situated between the Montmorency and Ulster in terms of color and taste.
Traverse City is also a popular destination for boating, sailing, wine tasting, and tourists wishing to see autumn colors in bus-driven "color tours." Numerous golf and ski resorts nearby bring in large numbers of tourists. Among these are Mt. Holiday and Hickory Hills. Mt. Holiday has two chair lifts, while Hickory hosts only tow ropes.
The small Traverse City State Park, with about 250 campsites, is located some three miles (4.8 km) east of downtown on 47 acres (19 hectares) including a quarter mile beach on the East Bay arm of Grand Traverse Bay.
The Leelanau Peninsula directly west of Traverse City contains many attractions, including the Leelanau Sands Casino in Peshawbestown and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
The inaugural Traverse City Film Festival was held July 27–31, 2005, in venues around downtown Traverse City, including a theater renovated by film festival volunteers. First-run feature and documentaries were screened, panel discussions were planned and free family movies at the Open Space were scheduled. A driving force of the Traverse City Film Festival was Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore.
The city was also home to Clover, a Christian dance music festival, in August 2006.
The Great Lakes Bioneers Conference is held annually in the third week of October on the campus of Northwestern Michigan College. The conference is a satellite conference of the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, California. The Traverse City site focuses on durable ecological and socially just solutions to a diverse set of issues in the Great Lakes bioregion, and attracts visitors from across the watershed.
[edit] Downtown
The historic downtown area of Traverse City is the home of many shops, restaurants, and offices.The headquarters of Hagerty Insurance, the nation's largest classic/ collector car insurer, is headquartered downtown, in their new building on Lake Ave. The tallest building in Traverse City is The Park Place Hotel. It is 125 feet tall, and has 10 floors. In recent years there has been a boom in new building construction downtown. New developments include- River's Edge, Harbor View Centre, Radio Centre Phases 1 and 2, and The Larry C. Hardy parking deck. Recently there have also been several proposals which are undergoing approval, including one 7 story and one 8 story building.
[edit] Sports
Traverse City is home to a minor league baseball team, the Traverse City Beach Bums, who play at Wuerfel Park. The Beach Bums are a team in the Frontier League. The Traverse City North Stars are Junior "A" level hockey club (member of the North American Hockey League), and they play at the Center I.C.E. hockey arena. Traverse City also hosts the training camp for the Detroit Red Wings NHL hockey team. Traverse City is the home of the Traverse Bay Blues Rugby Football Club, established in 1973.
[edit] Transportation
With a new terminal completed in 2004, Cherry Capital Airport provides regularly scheduled passenger airline service to Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis and seasonally to New York as well as to smaller Michigan destinations to the north.[4] Adjacent to the airport is a United States Coast Guard air station (CGAS), responsible for both maritime and land-based search and rescue operations in the northern Great Lakes region.
Traverse City also has a public transportation system, the Bay Area Transportation Authority (BATA) which serves most of the Grand Traverse region with dial-a-ride services and a bus service, called the Cherriot, serves Traverse City and the urbanized areas of Garfeild Township. BATA recently revealed its first hybrid bus in December, 2005. BATA recently completed a downtown bus transfer terminal on Hall St. , which opened July 21, 2006. The terminal is used to transfer riders to different busses on different routes.BATA Cherriot Bus System Map
The city is a junction point for several highways:
- US 31 cuts west across the base of the Leelanau peninsula to Benzonia before continuing south to Manistee and other points on the Lake Michigan shore. Northwards, it continues along the east shore of Grand Traverse Bay to Charlevoix and Petoskey, ending just before reaching Mackinaw City and the Mackinac Bridge.
- M-37 runs almost due south through the Manistee National Forest to Grand Rapids. It continues north up Old Mission Peninsula to end at Old Mission Point in the middle of Grand Traverse Bay.
- M-72 runs east-west, connecting with Empire and the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore 22 mile west and with US 131, 25 miles east in Kalkaska.
- M-22 follows the Lake Michigan shoreline around the Leelanau Peninsula, providing a scenic drive.
The Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway (TSBY) provides freight rail service to the Traverse City area on track owned by the state of Michigan. The tracks were once owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (ex-Pere Marquette Railway) and the Pennsylvania Railroad (ex-Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad) but were purchased by the state in the late 1970s and early 1980s to preserve rail service in the area. Current freight traffic includes fruit/perishables, scrap metal, and lumber.
Regular intercity passenger train service ended on October 29, 1966, after the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) discontinued Grand Rapids - Traverse City - Bay View service. Since then, excursion passengers trains have operated in and out of Traverse City on an irregular basis. Recently, Lake Central Rail Tours has operated a summer excursion during the Cherry Festival. On May 11, 1996, the Grand Traverse Dinner Train began year round service from the Traverse City depot to Williamsburg and to Walton Junction. Unfortunately, dinner train service was suspended in 2004 after a derailment and the company entered into a bitter contract dispute with the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway. The train itself was removed to Owosso in mid-July of 2006.
[edit] Notable people
Traverse City is the birthplace of several celebrities:
- Mark Brammer, Michigan State University football player who received the All-America accolade in 1978.
- Jeremy Davies, an actor featured in Saving Private Ryan, Solaris, and CQ.
- Dan Majerle, former NBA basketball player who played for the Phoenix Suns and the Miami Heat
- Matt Noveskey, musician in the bands Blue October and (a+) machines.
- Kenny Oleson, guitarist for the pop music artist Kid Rock
- Carter Oosterhouse, carpenter on reality TV show Trading Spaces
- William G. Milliken, Republican Governor of Michigan from 1969 to 1983
- Martha Teichner, CBS News correspondent
- Craig Thompson, cartoonist and graphic novelist best known for Blankets
- Barry Watson, an actor whose credits include the television programs 7th Heaven and What About Brian
- David Wayne, Hollywood film and Broadway theatre actor
Although not a resident, the singer-songwriter Jewel performed in Traverse City's coffeehouses during the time she attended high school at the nearby Interlochen Center for the Arts.
Jazz musician Bob James, who created the instrumental theme song Angela for the sitcom Taxi and has been sampled by numerous hip-hop artists, is a resident of Traverse City.
[edit] See also
- Munson Medical Center - regional medical referral center serving patients from 32 counties in Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula
- Former Traverse City State Hospital - Historical Kirkbride Building now the site of the Grand Traverse Commons.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Rink, Jim (2006-05-18). 1.1 Million To Travel During Memorial Day Holiday. AAA Michigan. Retrieved on July 24, 2006.
- ^ NPR Stations in Traverse City, MI. NPR Find a Station. Retrieved on March 27, 2006.
- ^ Coverage Area. Interlochen Public Radio. Retrieved on March 27, 2006.
- ^ New State-of-the-Art Terminal. Cherry Capital Airport. Retrieved on March 27, 2006.
[edit] References
- The Traverse region, historical and descriptive, with illustrations of scenery and portraits and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. Chicago: H. R. Page & co., 1884. pp. 6,56.
[edit] External links
- Traverse City Record-Eagle, Daily Newspaper
- Traverse City Area Guide
- Traverse City Chamber of Commerce
- City of Traverse City official website
- Traverse City Convention and Visitors Bureau
- Downtown Traverse City Association
- Grand Traverse Herald, weekly newspaper
- Directory of Traverse City-related websites
- Traverse City travel guide from Wikitravel
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps, or Yahoo! Maps, or Windows Live Local
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Windows Live Local, WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
