Menominee, Michigan
Menominee is a city in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 8,599 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Menominee County. Menominee is the fourth-largest city in the Upper Peninsula, behind Marquette, Sault Ste. Marie, and Escanaba. Menominee Township is located to the north of the city, but is politically autonomous.
Menominee is part of the Marinette, WI–MI Micropolitan Statistical Area. Menominee and Marinette, Wisconsin are sometimes described as "twin cities." See Interstate Bridge (Marinette, Wisconsin – Menominee, Michigan)
History
Menominee was named after a regional Native American tribe known as the Menominee, whose name roughly translates into "wild rice," which they cultivated as a staple food. In historic times, this area was the traditional territory of the Menominee Indian Tribe. They were removed to west of the Mississippi River and now have a reservation along the Wolf River in North Central Wisconsin.
Menominee gained prominence in the 19th century as a lumber town; in its heyday, it produced more lumber than any other city in the United States of America. During this time of prosperity, the Menominee Opera House was built. It is being restored. In the 1910s a cycle car, the "Dudly Bug", was manufactured in Menominee. In the waning years of lumber production, local business interests, interested in diversifying Menominee's manufacturing base, attracted inventor Marshall Burns Lloyd and his Minneapolis company Lloyd Manufacturing, which made wicker baby buggies. In 1917 Lloyd invented an automated process for weaving wicker and manufactured it as the Lloyd Loom. This machine process is still in use today. In the 21st century, the economy of Menominee is based on manufacturing (paper products, wicker lawn furniture, and auto supplies) and tourism.