About the Village

The Village of Baraga is located in the northwestern part of Michigan's Upper Peninsula on L'Anse Bay, the lower part of Keweenaw Bay on the majestic Lake Superior shoreline. Baraga was founded on a site once occupied by an Indian Community, and the Village is today a part of the L'Anse Indian Reservation. In the seventeenth century, the first white men came to the area as French missionaries, voyageurs and traders following the south shore of Lake Superior westward from Sault Ste, Marie, finding it natural to stop along Keweenaw Bay. The early 1800's witnessed extensive area involvement in the fur trade. Father Frederick Baraga established a Roman Catholic Mission at Assinins in 1843. Both the Village and the County took Father Baraga's name. The Village of Baraga was incorporated in 1891. Lumbering, fishing, mining and agriculture attracted a variety of immigrants to the area and population peaked in the early part of the century. In recent years, the economy of the area has shifted towards manufacturing, tourism, and casino gaming and government services.