St. Ignace is located along Lake Huron in the Upper Peninsula on the northern side of the Straits of Mackinac.

The area was previously inhabited by the Wyandot people, as well as the Ojibwe and Ottawa tribes of Native Americans.

The Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians is headquartered at St. Ignace, and the city continues to have a high population of Native Americans.

Various cultures of Native Americans had inhabited the area for thousands of years before the first exploration here by French colonists.

Early historic peoples of the area in the 17th century were predominantly the Iroquoian-speaking Wendat, whom the French called the Huron.

French explorer and priest Jacques Marquette founded the St. Ignace Mission on this site in 1671 and was buried here after his death.

[7] He named it for St. Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit religious order, whose priests were active as missionaries across North America.

In 1673, Marquette joined the expedition of Louis Jolliet, a French-Canadian explorer, and departed from St. Ignace on May 17, with two canoes and five voyageurs of French-Indian ancestry (Métis) on a voyage to find the Mississippi River.

While separately exploring the Great Lakes region on the ship Le Griffon with Louis Hennepin, Sieur de La Salle reached St. Ignace on August 27, 1679.

The Ojibwe, who came to dominate most of the Native American territory of present-day Michigan in the 18th century, were allies of the French in the Seven Years' War against the British.

After the victory of rebellious colonists in the American Revolutionary War, in 1783 the village was included within the new United States, as part of what became called its Northwest Territory.

The Ojibwe had allied with Great Britain in the War of 1812, based on their long trading and a hope they would expel American colonists.

The fur trade declined at St. Ignace largely because the United States prohibited British Canadian traders from operating across the border after the end of the war.

At the same time European demand for North American furs was declining as tastes changed, and other parts of the economy grew.

Many local people kept businesses going by smuggling, but postwar prohibitions on the fur trade were more difficult to avoid.

[7] In the late 19th century, a new sector of its economy developed, as it began to attract tourists as a popular summer resort and for its connection to Mackinac Island.

[3] Point St. Ignace, which separates the Straits of Mackinac from Lake Huron, occupies the southern half of the city.

Castle Rock, a similar but taller stack for which admission is charged, is located three miles (4.8 km) north overlooking Lake Huron.

Rabbit's Back, a prominent promontory that also overlooks Lake Huron, is four miles (6.4 km) north.