DeTour Township was organized in 1850 under the name of Warner Township, after its first supervisor. It later became known as DeTour, the French word for “the turn” to denote the turn all water traffic took as it passed the southeasterly tip of the Upper Peninsula’s mainland. DeTour was home to lumber mills in the late 1800s and early 1900s. In March of 1899, Township officials successfully petitioned the County Board of Supervisors to establish DeTour Village and shortly after the Township changed its name to follow suit.