Bay City, Michigan
Bay City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Michigan, United States. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the principal city of the Bay City metropolitan area, which is coterminous with Bay County as part of the larger Greater Tri-Cities region of Central Michigan.[3] Several historic bridges cross the Saginaw River in Bay City, including Liberty Bridge, Veterans Memorial Bridge, Independence Bridge, and Lafayette Avenue Bridge.
For the township in Charlevoix County, see Bay Township, Michigan.Michigan Sugar is also based in Bay City.
Sports[edit]
Bay City is the home to the Tri-City Ice Hawks of the United States Premier Hockey League.
The Bay City Billikens and Bay City Wolves were a minor league baseball teams that were based in Bay City. The Wolves played as members of the Class B level Michigan-Ontario League from 1919 to 1926, winning league consecutive championships in 1923 and 1924. The "Billikens" were a Southern Michigan League team, with Bay City teams playing from 1907 to 1915 as members of the Class C league.[38]
In 1926, the Wolves played a partial season in the Class B level Michigan State League, which was formed through a merger of the Central League and Michigan-Ontario League during the season. The Wolves captured the Michigan State League championship in their final season.[38] The Bay City Wolves teams hosted minor league home games at Clarkston Park in Bay City.[39]
Media[edit]
The city's main newspaper is The Bay City Times.
Bay City is also part of the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City television market, and the Saginaw-Bay City-Midland radio market.
I-75
BS I-75
US 10
US 23
M-13
: This short freeway was once a segment of US 23. It is now a connector freeway between I-75 and M-13.
Conn. M-13
M-15
M-25
M-84
M-247
In popular culture[edit]
The Bay City Rollers, a Scottish band, were named after this city after the band randomly threw a dart at a map.[61]
The singer Madonna, who was born in Bay City, referred to her birthplace as "a little, smelly town in Northern Michigan" for which she has had great affection on national television.[62][63] Mike Buda, former Mayor in the 1990s, commented: "Madonna was absolutely right", explaining that air pollution from the gas refinery and a neighboring beet sugar plant was in fact so bad that the EPA forced the industries involved to pay a cash settlement to families, like those of Madonna's grandmother Elsie Fortin, with homes in the Banks neighborhood.[64]
The story of Bay City's refusal to have a commemoration sign about the singer was described in a book Madonnaland (2016) by Alina Simone.[65] The sign was subsequently posted in 2022 near her birthplace, the former Mercy Hospital, now known as Bradley House.
Bay City has four sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International: