It is the most populous city along Lake Michigan's eastern shore. At the census , the city's population was 38, Muskegon is the center of the Muskegon metropolitan statistical area , which is coextensive with Muskegon County and had a population of , as of the census.
The name "Muskegon" is derived from the Ottawa mashkiigong , meaning "marshy river or swamp". The "Masquigon" River Muskegon River was identified on French maps dating from the late 17th century, suggesting French explorers had reached Michigan's western coast by that time.
Father Jacques Marquette traveled northward through the area on his fateful trip to St. Ignace in , and a party of French soldiers under La Salle's lieutenant, Henry de Tonty , passed through the area in The county's earliest known Euro-American resident was Edward Fitzgerald, a fur trader and trapper who came to the Muskegon area in and who died there, reportedly being buried in the vicinity of White Lake.
Euro-American settlement of Muskegon began in earnest in , which coincided with the beginning of the exploitation of the area's extensive timber resources.
The explosion of the lumber industry in inaugurated what some regard as the most romantic era in the history of the region.
