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Traverse City, Michigan

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Traverse City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. (For regional information, see the article on Northern Michigan.) As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 14,532. It is the county seat of Grand Traverse County6. Traverse City is the self-proclaimed Cherry Capital of the World; tourism is one of its key industries. Besides cherries, the surrounding countryside produces grapes, and is one of the centers of wine production in Michigan.

Traverse City is a home rule charter city, incorporated on May 18, 1895. The city is governed by six commissioners and a mayor, elected at large. Together they comprise a seven-member legislative body. An appointed city manager serves as chief executive for city operations.

Geography

Location of Traverse City, Michigan
Location of Traverse City, Michigan

The city sits at the head of Grand Traverse Bay, a long protected water of Lake Michigan. The city sits at the base of the Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsulas. The Boardman River forms Boardman Lake in the city before draining into the Bay.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 22.5 km² (8.7 mi²). 21.8 km² (8.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.8 km² (0.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 3.45% water.

Demographics

As of the census2 of 2000, there are 14,532 people, 6,443 households, and 3,485 families residing in the city. The population density is 667.2/km² (1,728.7/mi²). There are 6,842 housing units at an average density of 314.1/km² (813.9/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 96.00% White, 0.65% African American, 0.98% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.48% from other races, and 1.36% from two or more races. 1.67% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There are 6,443 households out of which 24.5% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.7% are married couples living together, 11.2% have a female householder with no husband present, and 45.9% are non-families. 35.9% of all households are made up of individuals and 13.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.15 and the average family size is 2.82.

In the city the population is spread out with 20.3% under the age of 18, 10.8% from 18 to 24, 29.6% from 25 to 44, 24.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 38 years. For every 100 females there are 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 87.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city is $37,330, and the median income for a family is $46,912. Males have a median income of $31,587 versus $22,512 for females. The per capita income for the city is $22,247. 8.4% of the population and 4.8% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 7.2% of those under the age of 18 and 7.9% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Tourism

The National Cherry Festival, held around July 4 every year is the main tourist draw to Traverse City. The festival features parades, fireworks, live music, and, of course, cherries.

Traverse City is also a popular destination for boating, sailing, wine and tourists wishing to see spectacular fall colors in bus-driven "color tours." Numerous golf and ski resorts nearby bring in large numbers of tourists.

The small Traverse City State Park, with about 250 campsites, is located in the city, some two miles west of downtown on 47 acres including a quarter mile beach on Grand Traverse Bay.

In the Leelanau Peninsula region, one attraction is the Leelanau Sands Casino in Peshawbestown, Michigan. The Leelanau peninsula is the little finger of the mitten-shaped southern portion of Michigan.

The inaugural Traverse City Film Festival was held July 27–31, 2005 in venues around downtown Traverse City, including a theater renovated by film festival volunteers. First-run feature and documentaries are being screened, panel discussions are planned and free family movies at the Open Space are scheduled. A driving force of the Traverse City Film Festival is Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore.

Media

Newspapers

The Traverse City Record-Eagle is a daily morning newspaper circulated in 13 counties in northwest lower Michigan. It is the only newspaper in northern Michigan to produce a Sunday edition. It is owned by Ottaway Newspapers Inc., the community newspaper subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co.

Daily editions of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, and Grand Rapids Press also are available on newsstands throughout the region.

Northern Express Weekly is the largest weekly newspaper in Northern Michigan, with distribution of up to 30,000 copies in 13 counties. It is owned and published by George Foster and Robert Downes.

Television

Traverse City has two television stations licensed directly to the city:

In addition, the city has a rebroadcast transmitter of Mount Pleasant, Michigan's PBS affiliate, WCMU-TV, operating on channel 46.

Stations licensed to Cadillac, Michigan can also be viewed in the area:

Cable television service is provided within Traverse City and many outlying communities by Charter Communications Inc. Public access programming is provided on channel 2.

Transportation

With a new terminal completed in 2004, Cherry Capital Airport, provides regularly scheduled passenger airline service to Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, as well as smaller Michigan destinations to the north.

Adjacent to the airport is a United States Coast Guard air station (CGAS), responsible for both maritime and land-based search and rescue operations in the northern Great Lakes region.

The city is a junction point for several highways:

The Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway (TSBY) provides freight rail service to the Traverse City area on track owned by the state of Michigan. The tracks were once owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (ex-Pere Marquette Railway) and the Pennsylvania Railroad (ex-Grand Rapids and Indiana Railway) but were purchased by the state in the late 1970's and early 1980's to preserve rail service in the area. Current freight traffic includes fruit/perishables, scrap metal, and lumber.

Regular intercity passenger train service ended on October 29, 1966 after the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) discontinued Grand Rapids, Michigan - Traverse City - Bay View, Michigan service. Since then, excursion passengers trains have operated in and out of Traverse City on an irregular basis. Recently, Lake Central Rail Tours has operated a summer excursion during the Cherry Festival. On May 11, 1996, the Grand Traverse Dinner Train began year round service from the Traverse City depot to Williamsburg, Michigan and to Walton Junction, Michigan. Unfortunately, dinner train service was suspended in 2004 after a derailment and the company entered into a bitter contract dispute with the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway. The dinner train equipment currently sits near the Traverse City depot waiting disposition.

Educational institutions

Healthcare

Main article: Munson Medical Center

Munson Medical Center is a regional medical referral center located in Traverse City serving patients from 32 counties in Northern Michigan and in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

Trivia

Traverse City is the birthplace of several celebrities:

Although not a resident, the singer-songwriter Jewel performed in Traverse City's coffeehouses during the time she attended high school at the nearby Interlochen Center for the Arts.

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