In 1846, the town was named "Manistee"; it was made part of Ottawa County, whose county offices were 100 miles away at Grand Haven. After a series of new counties were organized, by 1855 Manistee was part of a large Manistee county that also included modern-day Manistee, Wexford, and Missaukee counties. Thomas Jefferson Ramsdell, Manistee's first lawyer, moved there in 1860 and remained there until his death. Ramsdell owned the first hardware store in the city, and was responsible for the construction of a bridge across the Manistee River.