Lake City, MI

Lake City sits on the western edge of Lake Missaukee and serves as the county seat of Missaukee County. Daniel Reeder built the first settler cabin near the lake in 1868, and the community first used his name. A post office opened as Reeder in 1872, then residents chose Lake City as the county seat by a single vote in 1873. The name changed in 1877; the village incorporated in 1889 and became a city in 1932.

The surrounding sandy soils helped make Christmas-tree farming a defining part of the local economy, earning Lake City the nickname “Michigan’s Christmas Tree Capital.” In 1984, a blue spruce from a local grower’s yard became the White House Christmas tree. M-55 and M-66 meet in town, linking the lake community to Cadillac, Manton, and northern Michigan. Summer brings the Greatest Fourth in the North, while the Festival of the Pines and winter lake activities keep the calendar moving after the trees and fall color have had their turn.