Marine City, Michigan is on the west bank of the St. Clair River, roughly equidistant between St. Clair to the north and Algonac to the south, along M-29. The Marine City Highway is the city's northern border.

The Belle River flows south through most of the village before discharging into the St. Clair River at a point just south of Chartier Avenue.

Cities and villages within twenty miles of Marine City include St. Clair, Algonac, Marysville, New Baltimore, New Haven, and Richmond. Until 2018, the Sombra-Marine City (Bluewater) Ferry connected Marine City with Sombra, Ontario, Canada, on the other side of the St. Clair River.

Marine City is considered to be within the Blue Water Area, a subregion of the Thumb of Michigan. The city is bordered by Cottrellville Township to the south and west, China and East China Townships to the north, and the St. Clair River to the east.

The Ojibwa people occupied the area of Marine City for centuries before French trappers and missionaries entered the region in the 1600s, followed by European settlers in the colonial period. However, there weren't very many European settlers in the area until after the American Revolution.

In the 1780s, the new United States government obtained a deed for the region from the Ojibwa. At that point, the growing community was known as Yankee Point, as the majority of its settlers had come from the Northeastern states, particularly New England and New York. The settlement was also known as Belle River, which was Belle Riviere in French, a name later applied to a neighborhood.

One of the first European-American settlers was Samuel Ward, a lake captain who built a log house on what is now the city's main street in 1820. In 1822, the townsite was set off as Cottrellville for George Cottrell, a county commissioner. Samuel Ward became the first postmaster when a post office was established as Belle River on December 27, 1831. In 1835, General Duthan Northrop, a speculator for a Ohio land group, acquired much of the land in Belle River, and platted the village as Newport, but the post office retained the name of Belle River, as there was another Newport in Michigan. The state legislature renamed the village Marine in 1865, and the post office was renamed Marine City on May 20, 1865, a name that was accepted by the state legislature in 1867.

Marine City was incorporated as a village in 1865, and became a city in 1887.

Early industries in Marine City were shipbuilding and the lumber trade, and these industries employed a large number of the city's inhabitants. Lumber was floated down the St. Clair River in the spring, where they were processed either in Marine City or Detroit, and Marine City shipyards built several of the wooden ships that crossed the Great Lakes. Around the time when the lumber industry was in decline, freighters began moving iron ore across the Great Lakes, and many of the lake freighter captains lived in Marine City, which was the location of several shipyards.

By the 1920s and 1930s, rail and automobile traffic began to displace the importance of water transportation, resulting in a decline in Marine City's waterfront industries. In turn, this led to a slight decline in the city's population over a few decades.

Today, the demand for water-based recreation and tourism has picked up the slack. Additionally, the city has become known for its antique stores, theaters, and historical places.

With a current population of just over 4,000, Marine City's peak population was 4,652 in 2000.

The focus of this category is on Marine City, Michigan. Websites representing governmental bodies within the city, local businesses, industries, schools, places of worship, organizations, attractions, events, and recreational opportunities are appropriate resources for this category.

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