Best Web Design in Portsmouth, MI (2026)

Web Design for Portsmouth, Michigan

Portsmouth is really two places sharing one name in Bay County: the original riverfront Village of Portsmouth, platted in 1836 on the Saginaw River and swallowed whole by Bay City in 1873, and rural Portsmouth Charter Township, a farm-country community of about 3,200 that still exists south of the city. Its story is bound to the Saginaw Valley lumber-and-salt boom that once made greater Bay City the self-proclaimed lumber capital of the world.

AppWT serves Portsmouth and the surrounding Michigan area from Livonia, Michigan.

About Portsmouth

Also known as. Bay City's South End (historic Village of Portsmouth site).

History. The Village of Portsmouth was platted in 1836 along the Saginaw River; in 1855 William Daglish acquired much of the plat and had it re-surveyed by A. Alberts, with later additions from Medor Trombley and A.H. Ingraham. In 1873 a state act consolidated (annexed) the Village of Portsmouth into Bay City and simultaneously created Portsmouth Township from the surrounding land; the first township board included supervisor Benjamin Partridge and Henry Hess. Before Euro-American settlement, a tree in the area was said to mark the grave of Ke-wah-ke-won, a leader of the Ojibwe. General Benjamin Partridge, a Civil War veteran who fought at Gettysburg, served as first township supervisor for over a decade, surveyed the Tuscola Plank Road, and helped organize Bay County's first fair; he died in 1892 from complications after a barn fire. The Flint and Pere Marquette Railway, completed in 1867, was one of the area's first railroads and connected Bay City to East Saginaw through the Portsmouth area.

Local economy. The 19th-century economy ran on sawmills, salt blocks, and lumber shipping along the Saginaw River during Michigan's lumber boom of the 1850s to 1890s. Portsmouth Charter Township is today largely agricultural, described in township records as containing some of the richest farms in the county, with denser residential development in the northwest portion nearest Bay City. The township is part of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, with ZIP codes serving Bay City (48708) and Munger (48747).

Culture and community. Community identity is rooted in Saginaw Valley agriculture and the lumber-and-salt heritage of neighboring Bay City. The historic Portsmouth Township Hall long served as the venue for community gatherings, weddings, and organizational meetings. Residents have rail-trail access along the M-15 corridor.

What makes Portsmouth distinct. There are effectively two Portsmouths: the riverfront village was absorbed by Bay City in 1873, while rural Portsmouth Charter Township survives as a separate government to this day. Local lore holds that a single tree once marked the grave of Ojibwe leader Ke-wah-ke-won before settlers arrived. The township's first supervisor, Gen. Benjamin Partridge, survived Gettysburg only to die decades later from injuries tied to a barn fire.

Portsmouth Landmarks and Local Life

• Tuscola Plank Road - now M-15, was Bay County's first improved road, built in 1859 for about $40,000 in community funds and originally featuring a toll gate at Cass Road
• Portsmouth Township Hall - first documented on an 1886 map, burned in the mid-1970s and was rebuilt in 1975
• The site of the original Village of Portsmouth is now Bay City's South End neighborhood along the Saginaw River.

What AppWT Web & AI Solutions Builds for Portsmouth Businesses

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