page_title: Traverse City, Michigan
section_title: European-American settlement
hierarchical_section_title: Traverse City, Michigan / History / 19th century / European-American settlement
caption_attribution_description: English: Downtown Traverse City, MI, USA, as viewed from West Grand Traverse Bay.
context_page_description: Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County, although a small portion extends into Leelanau County. It is the largest city in the 21-county Northern Michigan region. The population was 14,674 at the 2010 census, with 143,372 in the Traverse City micropolitan area.
  The Traverse City area is the largest producer of tart cherries in the United States, as of 2010. Near the time of cherry harvest, the city hosts the annual week-long National Cherry Festival in the first full week of July, attracting approximately 500,000 visitors annually. The surrounding countryside also produces grapes, and is one of the centers of wine production in the Midwest. Tourism, both summer and winter, is another key industry. The Traverse City area features varied natural attractions, including freshwater beaches, vineyards, a National Lakeshore, downhill skiing areas, and numerous forests. In 2009, TripAdvisor named Traverse City the number two small town travel destination in the United States.
  In 2012, the city was listed among the 10 best places to retire in the country by U.S. News & World Report.
context_section_description: After the colonists came in, they discovered the Grand Traverse Bay. The bay earned its name from 18th-century French voyageurs who made la grande traverse, or "the long crossing", across the mouth of bay, from present-day Norwood to Northport. The area was owned by the French, followed by Great Britain as the Province of Quebec. After 1776, the area was owned by the Americans. On the Old Mission peninsula, Rev. Peter Doughtery started the first permanent settlement in 1839. This was called "Grand Traverse", and is today known as Old Mission.
  In 1847, Captain Horace Boardman of Naperville, Illinois, purchased the land at the mouth of the Boardman River (then known as the Ottawa River) at the head of the west arm of the bay, which at the time was still settled by Natives. During 1847, 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 (Perry Hannah, Albert Tracy Lay and James Morgan), who improved the mill greatly. The increased investment in the mill attracted additional settlers to the new community. Perry Hannah today is known as the founding father of Traverse City
caption: Downtown Traverse City as viewed from West Grand Traverse Bay
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