Michilimackinac Chronology

Pre-Fort Period

1,000 BC
to
1650 AD
Semi-nomadic peoples at Straits of Mackinac.
By
1650 AD Anishanabeg people at Straits of Mackinac.
1634 Jean Nicolet passes through the Straits of Mackinac looking for the Northwest Passage.
1670 Father Claude Dablon, S.J. visits Straits of Mackinac and winters on Mackinac Island.
1671 Father Jacques Marquette, S.J. brings Hurons to Straits of Mackinac, and establishes Mission of St. Ignace on north side of straits near existing Odawa village.

Odawa Warriors

1670s Fur trade community flourishes around St. Ignace Mission.
1680s Fort DuBaude established near mission (possibly as late as 1690).
1697 Fort DuBaude abandoned, but community remains, eventually moving to south side of straits.
1705 Jesuits abandon and burn mission of St. Ignace.
1706 French fortify St. Ignace in response to unrest at Detroit. Jesuits thereafter maintain seasonal mission at St. Ignace
1708 Major fire damages Odawa village and fort.
1708 - 1710 Odawa relocate village to south shore of straits.
1714 Jesuits reestablish mission of St. Ignace on south shore of straits.

Artist's redition of the French settlement built on the south side of the straits in the early 1700s.

Fort Michilimackinac Period

1715 French military reestablish presence at straits and construct Fort Michilimackinac near Odawa community and Jesuit mission on the south side of the straits.
1716 Residents of Fort Michilimackinac participate in victorious attach on Fox tribe in Wisconsin.
1728 Commandant of Michilimackinac leads combined French, Odawa and Ojibwa force from Michilimackinac into Wisconsin to defeat the Fox. The Fox avoid battle.

Fox warriors resisted French expansion into the western Great Lakes despite repeated military expeditions against them. (Bibl. Nat. Paris)

1733 Another force of French and American Indian allies assembles at Michilimackinac and launches an expedition into Green Bay against the Fox. Commandant of Michilimackinac killed in battle. Expansion of fort begins with new layout for buildings.
1739 Michilimackinac serves as base for French expedition against the Chickasaw south of the Ohio River. Despite some success, Chickasaw never decisively defeated.
1742 Odawa relocate 25 miles south at L'Arbre Croche. Jesuits transfer St. Ignace mission to new location, but maintain a parish church at Fort Michilimackinac.
1743 New parish church building constructed at Fort Michilimackinac and named in honor of Ste. Anne.
1744 Tensions between French and English erupt into "King George's War."
1747-1748 Fort repaired and expanded.
1747 American Indian unrest and attaches on French at Michilimackinac and Detroit.
1751 Construction of new guardhouse authorized. Expansion of fort toward lake authorized.
1752 Charles Langlade leads party of Odawa and French in a successful raid on the aggressive English traders at Pickawillany in Ohio country.
1753 Large Indian council held at Fort Michilimackinac. Each nation agrees to ally with the French.
1755 Warriors from Michilimackinac help defeat General Edward Braddock at Fort Duquesne in Pennsylvania.
1760 French defeated at Montreal, following the fall of Quebec in 1759. New France passes into British hands. Troops from Fort Michilimackinac present at both battles. French evacuate fort in October.
1761 British take control of Fort Michilimackinac in September following French and Indian War.
1763 Fort Michilimackinac attacked and captured by American Indian tribes as part of Pontiac's Uprising.

Artist's rendition of the attack on Fort Michilimackinac, 1763

1764 Fort Michilimackinac returned to the British by American Indians. British arrive aboard the Schooner Gladwin, the first sailing vessel to call at the straits since the ill-fated Griffin in 1679.
1765 Jesuit mission of St. Ignace at L'Arbre Croche closes. Development of Michilimackinac suburbs begins.
1766 Commandant Robert Rogers dispatches exploration party in search of northwest water passage to Pacific Ocean.
1770 Soldiers' Barracks and Commanding Officer's House completed.
1772 - 1775 Major repairs and improvement to walls, platforms, stairs and gates.
1773 New King's Storehouse completed.
1774 Commandant DePeyster holds council of Ojibwa and Sioux at Michilimackinac.
1779 Clearing of land begins on Mackinac Island in October. First house moved in November.
1780 - 1781 Fort Michilimackinac moved to Mackinac Island. What is not moved is burned.
Post-Fort Period
1857 Modern-day Mackinaw City is platted. Site of fort at "Old Mackinac Point" reserved within a community park.
1880 Railroad arrives at Mackinaw City and small community develops according to 1857 plat.
1904 Village of Mackinaw City transfers park to State of Michigan.
1909
Park designated "Michilimackinac State Park" and placed under the care of the Mackinac Island State Park Commission.

Michilimackinac State Park attracted a growing number of campers in the early twentieth century.
1920s Park develops into a popular summer campground.
1930s Early reconstruction of fort palisade erected on original site.
1958 Park Commission begins historical museum program.
1959 Professional archaeology begins at fort site.
1960 1930s fort dismantled and reconstruction of fort based on archaeological evidence begins.
Archaeological excavation at Fort Michilimackinac, 1960