When Fr. Claude Jean Allouez came upon what is now known as Lake Michigan in 1677, he named it after the patron for the North American Jesuit missions, St. Joseph.
After all, the name “Lac St. Joseph” certainly sounded better than “Lake of the Stinking Water” and more reverent than “really large body of water,” which is what “Michigami” means in Ojibwe.
The Jesuits had a penchant for naming North American mission territory after St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
“The Pottawatomi and Miami missions at the southeast corner of Lake Michigan influenced the present names of the St. Joseph River, St. Joseph, Michigan, and the adjacent St. Joseph County, Indiana,” according to Jesuit priest Fr. Francis Filas in his 1962 book “Joseph: The Man Closest to Jesus.”
It was near the St. Joseph River where Fr. Allouez would be buried, after baptizing more than 10,000 Indian converts to Christianity over 24 years.
“Lake Michigan itself received the name of Lake St. Joseph from Father Allouez in 1677,” according to Fr. Filas. Fr. Allouez did so, appropriately, after having spent a decade in Sault St. Marie—named for Joseph’s spouse.
The beauty of Lake Michigan is something Fr. Filas surely appreciated. Beginning in 1950, the Jesuit priest taught at Loyola University-Chicago, which sits on the lake.
In fact, for many years Jesuit priests enjoyed a lakeside house until the university tore it down to make way for the new “Information Commons.” He likely walked out of the school’s chapel on fine Sunday mornings having Mass and enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the lake.
But the Jesuit and Catholic roots of Lake Michigan are often overlooked.
Fox 2 Detroit references the “Mishigami” and “stinking water” names but then skips over “Lac St. Joseph,” instead reporting the lake “was also called Lake of the Puants after the nations that lived along its shores.” It was named not in homage, but rather as an insult, to the Indigenous tribe. Puant translates to “stinkard.”
“Puans were reported to be the first indigenous tribe to meet with the first Europeans to arrive in Wisconsin,” the news outlet reported.
But even if the history books neglect Michigan’s Catholic heritage, place names remain. After all, Michiganders can take the St. Clair River from Lake Huron to Lake St. Clair—named after St. Clare of Assisi. Robert de la Salle, according to Michigan.gov, arrived on the shores of the lake on the saint’s feast day on Aug. 11, 1678.
Travelers can also take the Saint Lawrence River between Canada and the U.S. (And when they reach Montreal, they can stop at St. Joseph’s Oratory.)
Others might choose to travel west across Lake Michigan to Chicago, the home of Governor J.B. Pritzker. While he joked that he would be renaming the lake “Lake Illinois,” he might want to rename the state’s famous city, whose name either means “striped skunk” or “onion.” Of course, we already tried “Lac des Illinois,” according to Fox 2. The name didn’t stick.
While history books may have wiped St. Joseph’s name off Lake Michigan, it slyly lives on in a way through Indiana’s Calumet College of St. Joseph—which sits just two miles from the lake.
Matt Lamb is a journalist based in Indiana. You can follow him on X @mattlamb22.
