Saint Clair County, Michigan
| St. Clair County, Michigan | ||
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 Location in the U.S. state of Michigan |
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 Michigan's location in the U.S. |
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| Founded | March 28, 1820 (created) 1821 (organized) |
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| Seat | Port Huron | |
| Largest city | Port Huron | |
| Area | ||
| • Total | 837 sq mi (2,168 km2) | |
| • Land | 721 sq mi (1,867 km2) | |
| • Water | 115 sq mi (298 km2), 14% | |
| Population | ||
| • (2010) | 163,040 | |
| • Density | 226/sq mi (87/km²) | |
| Congressional district | 10th | |
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | |
| Website | www |
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St. Clair County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan bordering the St. Clair River. As of the 2010 census, the population was 163,040. It is the 13th-most populous county in the state, and the county seat is Port Huron, located at the north end of the St. Clair River at Lake Huron. The county was created September 10, 1820, and its government was organized in 1821.
St. Clair County is part of the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geographically, it lies in the Thumb area of eastern Michigan.
An expedition led by the French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle named the namesake lake as Lac Sainte-Claire, because they entered the lake on August 12, 1679, the feast day of Sainte Clare of Assisi. The lake is named on English maps as early as 1710 as Saint Clare. By the Mitchell Map of 1755, the spelling was given as St. Clair, which is the current version. Located along the western shores of Lake Saint Clair and the St. Clair River, the county was named for them.
The name is sometimes attributed to honoring the American Revolutionary War General and Governor of the Northwest Territory Arthur St. Clair, but it was established with the current spelling long before St. Clair was a notable figure. The earlier spelling of the lake's name may have been conflated with that of the general, as several political jurisdictions near the lake and the river, such as St. Clair County, St. Clair Township, and the cities of St. Clair and St. Clair Shores, share this spelling. See also, List of Michigan county name etymologies.
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