989 Area Code 🌍☎️

Saginaw, Michigan is a city in Saginaw County in Central Michigan's Greater Tri-Cities region, located along the Saginaw River with a 2020 population of 44,202 and a metropolitan area population of 190,124. Established as a fort following the 1819 Treaty of Saginaw, the city became a thriving 19th-century lumber town and evolved into a major 20th-century manufacturing center driven by General Motors' automobile and automotive parts production. As a Rust Belt city, Saginaw experienced industrial decline, unemployment, and population loss, though it maintains a higher proportion of manufacturing jobs than the U.S. average and now focuses on innovation and clean energy development. The city's name likely derives from Ojibwe words meaning "place of the outlet," though it was historically believed to reference the Sauk people due to Samuel de Champlain's cartographic error. Louis Campau established the first permanent non-Native settlement in 1816 with a trading post on the Saginaw River's west bank, and the modern city formed from the 1889 consolidation of East Saginaw and Saginaw City. Midland is a city in Central Michigan located at the confluence of the Chippewa and Tittabawassee rivers, serving as the county seat of Midland County with a population of 42,547 as of the 2020 census. The city is home to the worldwide headquarters of Dow Chemical Company, founded by Herbert Henry Dow in 1897, making it one of the largest chemical producers globally, and also hosts Midland Center for the Arts and Northwood University. Established as a fur trading post by the American Fur Company in the late 1820s, Midland evolved into a major industrial hub, with sister city ties to Handa, Aichi, Japan, stemming from Dow Chemical's influence. The city implemented the Midland Urban Growth Area (MUGA) policy in 1969 to control sprawl through water service leverage, later refined through Urban Cooperation Act Agreements starting in 1991. In May 2020, simultaneous failures of the Sanford and Edenville dams triggered a "500-year" flooding event that evacuated 10,000 residents, with Governor Gretchen Whitmer declaring a state of emergency. Bay City is the county seat of Bay County, Michigan, located on the Saginaw River just upriver from Saginaw Bay in Central Michigan's Greater Tri-Cities region, with a 2020 population of 32,661. Originally settled by Leon Tromblé in 1831 and established as Lower Saginaw in 1837, the city was incorporated in 1865 after being renamed Bay City when placed in the newly organized Bay County in 1857. The city developed into a major industrial hub during the late 19th century, driven by lumbering, milling, and shipbuilding that capitalized on the Saginaw River's deeper waters for commerce, with the notable Defoe Shipbuilding Company constructing naval vessels until its closure in 1975. Several historic bridges span the Saginaw River through Bay City, including Liberty Bridge, Veterans Memorial Bridge, Independence Bridge, and Lafayette Avenue Bridge, while numerous mansions from the industrial era remain registered as state and federal historical landmarks. The city expanded to include West Bay City in 1905 and remains the principal city of the Bay City metropolitan area.