Bay City.
1 City (2020 pop. 32,661), seat of Bay co., S Mich., a port of
entry on the Saginaw River at its mouth on Saginaw Bay (an inlet of Lake
Huron); inc. 1859 with the consolidation of several settlements along the
river. Its harbor handles Great Lakes and ocean shipping. Bay City is the
industrial, marketing, and transportation center of a rich farm area that
yields sugar beets, potatoes, and dairy products. Shipbuilding is also
important. The city grew as a large lumbering center, but when the forests
were depleted (after 1890), it turned to diversified manufacturing. Saginaw
Valley State Univ. is in nearby University Center. A state park and two
state forests are in the area. 2 City (2020 pop. 18,061), seat
of Matagorda co., S Tex., near the Colorado River and the Gulf of Mexico;
inc. 1894. It is a shipping and industrial center for a region that produces
oil, gas, salt, beef cattle, rice, cotton, and grains. Plastics and
chemicals are produced. The county museum is there, and Matagorda Bay and
several Gulf beaches are nearby.
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