[3][4] Both the county and the city were named for Michigan State geologist and Detroit Mayor Douglass Houghton.

In 1843, the Upper Peninsula was divided into Mackinac, Chippewa, Marquette, Schoolcraft, Delta, and Ontonagon Counties.

[10] Amid the Great Depression of the 1930s, a sharp increase in unemployment among workers in the mining and timber industries caused a pivot to potato production.

[11] In June 2018, a major flash flood caused sinkholes and washouts in the towns of Chassell, Houghton, Ripley, Lake Linden, and Hubbell.

This is the only land-based link between the Keweenaw Peninsula's north and south sections, making it crucial to local transportation.

The biggest ancestry groups were Finnish at 32.5% of the population, German at 14.0%, French at 9.4%, English at 6.2% and Irish at 5.1%.

Houghton County voters tend to favor Republican Party nominees.

The county government operates the jail, maintains rural roads, operates the major local courts, records deeds, mortgages, and vital records, administers public health regulations, and participates with the state in the provision of social services.

The county board of commissioners controls the budget and has limited authority to make laws or ordinances.

In Michigan, most local government functions—police and fire, building and zoning, tax assessment, street maintenance, etc.—are the responsibility of individual cities and townships.

",[citation needed] and has been inducted in the US Registry of Historic Districts and Buildings of the Upper Peninsula.

According to the Mining Gazette, "The materials used with the exception of the facing brick are the product of the Upper Peninsula" (July 25, 1886, p. 3).