Port Huron, Michigan

It is one of the oldest settlements in the state. To protect their fur trade against English aggression, the French built Fort St. Joseph here in 1686. When it burned in 1688, its garrison was transferred to Mackinac.

The first permanent settlement here was made by Anselm Petit in 1790. In 1814, it became the site of Fort Gratiot. The town was organized in 1828 and given a post office as Desmond on April 30, 1833, with Jonathan Burtch as its first postmaster by Circuit court permission, the Desmond and Gratiot plats were renamed Port Huron, as was the Desmond post office, both in 1837, the post office being so named on May 4. Incorporated as a village in 1849 and as a city in 1857.

Thomas Edison spent his youth in Port Huron. One of the earliest electrical utilities was formed in 1844. The 1891 railway tunnel, built beneath the St. Clair River to accommodate double decker trains is considered to have been the first electrified underwater tunnel.

Informational excerpts from Michigan Place Names, by Walter Romig, L.H.D.

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