St. Ignace is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Mackinac County. The city had a population of 2,452 at the 2010 census. St. Ignace Township is located just to the north of the city, but the two are administered autonomously.
St. Ignace is located along Lake Huron in the Upper Peninsula on the northern side of the Straits of Mackinac. St. Ignace serves as a gateway to the state's Upper Peninsula for travellers coming from the Lower Peninsula, as the city is at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge, opposite of Mackinaw City. It has one of two ports which provide ferry service to nearby Mackinac Island.
St. Ignace's history dates back to 1671 when French Jesuit priests founded the St. Ignace Mission, which makes it one of the oldest European settlements in the state after Sault Ste. Marie. The area was previously inhabited by the Wyandot, as well as the Ojibwe and Ottawa tribes of Native Americans. St. Ignace soon became the center of fur trading with the French. It was incorporated as a village in 1882 and a city in 1883. The Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians is headquartered at St.