Michigan's County Courthouses

Mackinac County

109 St. Ignace—Mackinac county’s art deco courthouse of  inherited a rich tradition. the story begins with the name of the county. the French changed the original native american word “Mishinnimakinong” to “Michilimackinac”—which was later shortened to Mackinac. Literally translated, the native name means “the land of the great fault.” there are a number of rock crevices in the area, and the name probably refers to them. Historians have discredited a different theory concluding that the inhabitants actually meant “Island of the tortoise” for nearby Mackinac Island. Mackinac was a strategic fort and center of trading that went from French to British to american control. Britain held the island in violation of the treaty ending the american Revolution and, after finally handing it over, soon found opportunity to regain control during the War of . Only after that war did america finally acquire lasting control. the island held the county seat at first. Its current city hall was constructed in  as the Mackinac county court House. In  Mackinac county heard the famous murder case of People v. Pond. the case became an important common law precedent for the right of a dweller in his home to defend against an assailant, even by deadly force if necessary , against an assault on an outbuilding—a net house in this case. the trial judge refused to instruct the jury on this right of the defendant, who was convicted. the Michigan Supreme court ordered a retrial, which never happened because Pond died first. But the precedent stood. around the same time the county was dealing with a mini–civil war waged against King James Jesse Strang and Mackinac County MacKInac cOunty his camp of Mormon followers. Much of the drama played itself out in court. Strang, a follower of Joseph Smith, claimed in  that he had a letter from Smith in which Smith said that he knew he would be a martyr and designated Strang as his successor. Most Mormons rejected the letter as a fake, but a sizeable minority followed Strang to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan off the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula, which at the time was under the jurisdiction of the court in Mackinac. Brigham young himself viewed Strang as his most dangerous rival. Strang and his flock of , or so quickly established themselves by about  and threatened the economic and political power of Mackinac Island and other surrounding areas. Local loggers and fisherman saw Beaver Island as the logical new center of commerce in the Straits of Mackinac. Fear and hatred of the Mormons made a tense situation worse. the fact that Strang ruled as an absolute monarch, instituted polygamy, and ordered all women to wear short skirts and bloomers did not help matters. Strang served for a while as a state legislator, and his end came at the hands of some angry constituents who were fellow Mormons. On June , , they lured him onto the u.S.S. Michigan, where, in broad daylight before scores of witnesses, assassins in hiding shot him twice in the head plus once in the back and then beat him with their pistols. the captain refused the local Mormon sheriff’s request to turn over the culprits. they were taken to the sheriff on Mackinac Island, where they were promptly released and hailed as heroes. none was ever convicted of a crime. Strang died of his 110 MacKInac cOunty wounds on July , refusing all the while to name a successor for his panic-stricken people. a few days earlier, according to one account, a mob led by the county sheriff “descended on Beaver Island, ravaged the Mormons’ property and drove the people, like so many frightened sheep, from the island.” a less brutal battle over the location of the county seat happened in the early s. St. Ignace, named by Jesuit missionaries for St. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, won the bitter fight by a vote of  to  on april , , and built a courthouse on the southeastern edge of the upper Peninsula. It was completed in the same year by architect Julius Hess at a cost of $,. It was a three-story square brick structure with a jail in the basement. Offices were on the first floor, while the court, judge’s chambers, and two jury rooms were on the second floor. the top floor was the residence of the sheriff, who was also custodian of the building and the grounds. Half embedded in the top floor was a large...