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Zeba, Michigan is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in northern L'Anse Township, on the southeastern shore of Keweenaw Bay on Lake Superior, Baraga County, in the Upper Peninsula.

The Zeba CDP is just north of L'Anse, and connected to it by Pequaming Road, which runs along the bay, or Skanee Road, a little further inland. After passing into the center of Zeba, Skanee Road runs east to McComb Corner.

The villages of L'Anse and Baraga, as well as the unincorporated communities of Pequaming and Keweenaw Bay, are within ten miles of Zeba. The only other incorporated villages or cities within fifty miles are Houghton, South Range, Hancock, Lake Linden, Laurium, and Calumet.

Zeba was named for a small stream that flows southeast of the village, as Zeba, in the Ojibwa language, roughly translates to "little river."

Fur traders and missionaries played a significant role in the founding of Zeba. Among the first European-Americans to come to the area were Peter Marksman, Sr., Peter Hall, William Bass, and Benjamin George, who came in the mid-1800s.

Another early European was the Reverend Frederic Baraga, a Catholic missionary who came in 1831 to found a mission to the Native Americans. After Rev. Baraga moved on, a Methodist missionary, Daniel Meeker Chandler, came in 1834. Another prominent Methodist preacher was Shaw-wun-dais, an Ojibwa man who was also known by an English name, John Sunday. He came in 1832, and John Clark came in 1834 to build a Methodist mission and school. A little more than a decade later, the mission had a membership of sixty-two, all but four of whom were Native Americans.

While the majority of communities in the northwestern Upper Peninsula of Michigan were either copper mining towns, lumber towns, or both. As Zeba arose as a mission and was not a major producer of goods or a shipping hub, it went largely unnoticed and doesn't even appear on some early maps.

The railroad came through the area in 1874, but it was little used. Zeba's economy was based mostly on subsistence farming, hunting, or trapping.

Around 1880, Native American camp meetings were held in Zeba, bringing people from a wide area to the community. A new Methodist church was built in 1888, and the structure still exists as the Zeba Indian United Methodist Church, the successor to the original Methodist mission at Kewawenon.

On September 3, 1910, a post office was established, with Mary E. Spruce as postmaster. The office was closed on June 30, 1912, but restored from April 16, 1913, with William Tellefson as postmaster, to November 30, 1933.

A prominent Zeba resident was Cora Reynolds Anderson, who attended school and taught at the Zeba Mission in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In 1924, only four years after women were given the right to vote in the United States, she was elected to the State Legislature. She was the first woman and the first American Indian to have a seat on the Michigan House of Representatives, and the second woman to hold public office in Michigan.

Today, Zeba is part of the L'Anse Indian Reservation, the oldest and largest reservation in Michigan. The community has a predominantly Native American population, although other races are represented, including a more than forty percent white population. The small community is home to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Childcare Center, the Zeba Indian United Methodist Church, and L'Anse Township Park.

Topics related to the governmental services, businesses, industries, schools, places of worship, organizations, attractions, events, or recreational opportunities in Zeba, Michigan are appropriate for this portion of our guide.

 

 

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