History of St. Ignace

Today, the people of St. Ignace welcome visitors from all over the world to enjoy the natural beauty, alluring attractions, and friendliness of this uniquely wonderful vacation destination.

In the early 1900s, the few cars traveling the Straits crossed on railroad ferries at a cost of $4.00 each! In 1923, the Michigan State Ferry Service was established to transport autos between St. Ignace and the Lower Peninsula at the reasonable cost of $2.50. During its first year of operation, 10,351 vehicles made the 1 hour crossing. In 1956, with 5 ferries running, about 1 million vehicles were transported across the water. During summer weekends, holidays and hunting season, as many as 9,000 cars were ferried, bringing line-ups of several miles and waits of 6 - 12 hours.

The Mackinac Bridge replaced the Ferry Service in 1957. In its first few months of operation, the Mackinac Bridge recorded 140,000 vehicle crossings. Today, the Mackinac Bridge provides safe crossings for more than 4.5 million vehicles annually.

Mackinac or Mackinaw?

The native people called the area Michinni-makinong. The name was shortened over the years by French and British settlers. In the 1600s, the French pronounced the ending as "aw", which translated to their spelling as "ac". Michilimackinac, Fort Mackinac, Mackinac Island the Straits of Mackinac and the Mackinac Bridge are spelled with an "ac", but pronounced "aw". Upon the arrival of the British, a village established as Mackinaw was pronounced as "aw" and also spelled that way.

Would you like to know the history of the Mackinac Bridge?

How about Before the Bridge? The history of St. Ignace?

Books are now available at the:
St. Ignace Chamber of Commerce
560 North State Street
St. Ignace, Michigan 49781
1-906-643-8717

Before the Bridge....
A History and Directory of St. Ignace and nearby localities.
Published by the Kiwanis Club of St. Ignace, 1957

The long, rich history of this area cannot by any means be related in detail in this one volume, which is, we hope, only the first step in assembling and preserving local history and family records. From the storehouse of information already assembled, and from the memories of some who will be stimulated, plus other facts which are sure to come to light as time passes, it is probable that one or more supplemental issues will be printed in the future.

Mighty Mac

Mighty Mac
The Official Picture History of the Mackinac Bridge
By Lawrence A. Rubin

From the beginning, May of 1954, every phase of construction was photographed. Under the auspices of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, its photographer, the late Herman Ellis, and his assistants, Harold Bell and Mickey Duggan, took some 3,000 black and white photographs and 1,000 colored transparencies, covering in detail the building of the bridge.

"These magnificent pictures, which tell the story of the world's greatest bridge, make an historic record of one of mankind's most dramatic feats of engineering and construction."
- G. Mennen Williams
Govenor of Michigan
Term: January 1949 to January 1961