Bay City

Bay City. 1 City (1990 pop. 38,936), seat of Bay co., S Mich., a port of entry on the Saginaw River at its mouth on Saginaw Bay (an inlet of Lake Huron) inc. 1859 with the consolidation of several settlements along the river. Its harbor handles Great Lakes and ocean shipping. Bay City is the industrial, marketing, and transportation center of a rich farm area that yields sugar beets, potatoes, and dairy products. Shipbuilding is also important. The city grew as a large lumbering center, but when the forests were depleted (after 1890), it turned to diversified manufacturing. Saginaw Valley State Univ. is in nearby University Center. A state park and two state forests are in the area.

2 City (1990 pop. 18,170), seat of Matagorda co., S Tex., near the Colorado River and the Gulf of Mexico inc. 1894. It is a shipping and industrial center for a region that produces oil, gas, salt, beef cattle, rice, cotton, and grains. Plastics and chemicals are produced. The county museum is there, and Matagorda Bay and several Gulf beaches are nearby.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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