Michigan Porch

Lake County, Michigan

Use this county page to find the right government office or narrow down to a city or township. The service directory covers common county jobs; the local pages add property-tax context, school-district rate ranges, nearby places, and Porch Notes tied to each community.

County snapshot

Cities

0

Townships

15

School districts

7

Primary home (PRE) rates, for homes with Michigan's Principal Residence Exemption, range from 26.6399 mills to 45.3482 mills.

Other property, often called non-homestead, usually means rentals, vacation homes, and second homes. Those rates range from 44.6399 mills to 63.3482 mills.

Rate rows come from the official Michigan Treasury millage-rate reports . Data used: 2025 Michigan Treasury Total Property Tax Rates. Last reviewed July 12, 2026.

Use this carefully: Michigan Porch uses the statewide published rates as a planning aid. The local assessor or treasurer controls parcel-specific values, due dates, and special assessments.

County service directory

Find the office before you make the trip

Some questions stay with the city or township. Others move to the county, a health district, or a court. Start with the job you need done, then confirm hours, fees, and forms with the office.

Official Lake County website

County websites are checked against the State of Michigan county website directory . State and court finders are used where one office or district can serve more than one county. Directory reviewed July 12, 2026. Office roles were checked against Michigan Vital Records, Michigan Treasury taxpayer resources, and State Tax Commission guidance.

Local pages

Places in Lake County

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Porch Notes

Local notes from Lake County

Stories, practical notes, and local details tied to places in this county.

Lake County · Outdoors

The Pere Marquette: Michigan's first National Scenic River

On November 10, 1978, 66 miles of the Pere Marquette became the first river in Michigan added to the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System — and it has never been dammed.

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Lake County · Outdoors

Troutarama: Baldwin's 70-year party for a transplanted fish

Every July since 1956, Baldwin throws a four-day festival for the brown trout — a European transplant first dumped into a river here in 1884, and the reason the whole town exists today.

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Lake County · Outdoors

Bowman Lake: a three-acre lake you have to walk to

A quiet 1,145-acre tract of national forest in Lake County built around a three-acre kettle lake, laced with 7.5 miles of foot trail and four walk-in campsites.

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Lake County · History and culture

Chase: the town with no river and seventeen mill whistles

Most lumber towns rode a river to move their logs. Chase had no big stream — so the railroad came instead, and by the mid-1880s seventeen sawmill whistles blew over a town of thousands.

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Lake County · History and culture

Luther: the town that was almost named Wilson

A sawmill firm called Wilson, Luther & Wilson founded this Little Manistee River village in 1881 and wanted to call it Wilsonville — until Lansing said the name was taken.

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Lake County · History and culture

Nirvana: the lumber town that sawed itself out of existence

A land-looker named Darwin Knight found a stand of premium white pine here in 1874, named the town for the Buddhist word for highest heaven, and watched eleven sawmills cut it all down.

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Browse all 16 Lake County notes →

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