Place Information
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Wayne County is a county in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2000 census, the population was 2,061,162. The 2005 population estimate is 1,998,217. The county seat is Detroit6, the largest city in Michigan.
History
Wayne County was one of the first counties formed when the Northwest Territory was organized. It was named for the American general "Mad Anthony" Wayne. It originally encompassed the entire area of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, as well as small sections that are now part of northern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. By proclamation of the Territorial Secretary and Acting Governor, Winthrop Sargent, on August 15, 1796, the boundaries of Wayne County were declared to begin at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River then west to Fort Wayne, then to the southernmost point of Lake Michigan and along the western shore north to the territorial boundary in Lake Superior and then along the territorial boundary through Lake Huron, Lake St. Clair, and Lake Erie back to the starting point.
These boundaries would be adjusted as Indiana and Illinois became states and as other counties were formed within Michigan Territory. Timeline
Population History
Note: Total for 1800 comprises population reported for Wayne County, Northwest Territory (which may have included some persons in present-day northern Ohio), and for Machilamackanack, Indiana Territory (251 persons and 300 "boatmen from Canada, &c."). Total for 1820 excludes population (1,444) of Brown and Crawford Counties, and total for 1830 excludes population (3,635) of Brown, Crawford, and Iowa Counties, all enumerated in what is now Wisconsin. Total for 1890 includes 1 Indian in prison, not reported by county.. The 1810 census was reported in terms of four Civil Districts of a single Wayne County: Michilimackinac, Detroit, Erie, and Huron. The 1810 population shown in the table for Mackinac County is that reported for Michilimackinac Civil District, for Macomb County that reported for Huron Civil District, for Monroe County that reported for Erie Civil District, and for Wayne County that reported for Detroit Civil District. Research TipsExternal links
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