How Gogebic County got its name
Gogebic County takes its name from Lake Gogebic -- an Ojibwe name, Agogebic, whose exact meaning has been debated for over a century. This was Lake Superior Chippewa country long before it was a county.
This far western corner of Michigan was Lake Superior Chippewa country long before it was a county. Gogebic is an Ojibwe name tied to Lake Gogebic, the big lake in the county’s east. The county’s current hazard plan gives the traditional meaning as “a body of water hanging on high.” Dwight H. Kelton’s 1884 Annals of Fort Mackinac used the older form Agogibing and instead translated it as “water-mould lake.” The sources do not agree, so it is better to leave the meaning unsettled. The Lac Vieux Desert Band still has its home in the Watersmeet area today.
The county came late, and came from iron. This land was part of Ontonagon County for years. Then the Gogebic Iron Range boom of the 1880s filled the area with mining towns. In 1887, the Michigan Legislature created Gogebic County from part of Ontonagon County. The new county kept the name tied to the lake on its eastern side, something more lasting than any ore body.
Bessemer became the county seat, and the courthouse went up in 1888 while the mining district was booming. The mines are quiet now, but the county name still points back to an Ojibwe word and the lake on its eastern side.
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Last reviewed against the listed sources: July 20, 2026.