Marquette

City and seat of Marquette County, in the north-central part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula; population (2000) 19,700. Marquette stands on a bluff overlooking Lake Superior, 106 km/66 mi north-northwest of Escanaba.

In 1849, Amos Harlow, the first settler, built a forge here for newly discovered iron from the Marquette Iron Range. Situated in a mining, lumbering, and agricultural region, the community became an important shipping point for lumber and iron ore. Marquette produces mining machinery, iron-ore pellets, cement blocks, and wood and foundry products. The city is the site of Northern Michigan University, which was founded in 1899 (Marquette University is in Milwaukee, Wisconsin). Tourists are attracted by Presque Isle Park, on a forested peninsula just north of the city.