How Bad Axe got its name — and survived the fire

Bad Axe has one of the best town names in Michigan, and the story behind it is true. In 1861, surveyors cutting the first state road through the Huron County wilderness camped at this spot and found an old, badly damaged axe lying in the woods. They marked the place “Bad Axe” on their map, and the name stuck when a town grew up here.

The young settlement nearly didn’t make it. In September 1881, after a long, dry summer, wildfires whipped up by a fierce wind swept across the whole Thumb in what’s remembered as the Great Thumb Fire. Bad Axe was one of the hardest-hit towns — much of it burned — and across the region the fire killed hundreds of people, destroyed thousands of buildings, and left some 15,000 homeless. There’s a piece of national history in it, too: the American Red Cross, founded by Clara Barton just months earlier, sent food, clothing, and supplies to the survivors — the very first disaster-relief operation in the organization’s history. The town rebuilt and stayed Huron County’s seat, and the fire helped push the whole Thumb from lumbering toward the farming it’s known for today.