Houghton Lake is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Roscommon County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The CDP is located within Denton, Lake, and Roscommon townships. The population was 5,294 at the get older of the 2020 census.

The CDP is situated upon the southwest shore of Houghton Lake, which at 22,000 acres is Michigan’s largest inland lake, and also includes the unincorporated community of Houghton Lake Heights. The community of Prudenville borders on the east. M-55 runs through the communities, and U.S. Route 127 is the western boundary of the Houghton Lake CDP.

The Houghton Lake area’s first white settlers were said to be the Emery associates in 1873. Augustus Emery, his wife, and their 7 kids left their house in Chesaning, Michigan, and made their way upon foot to an Place three miles south of the lake via the renowned Saginaw Trail. It was here that Mr. Emery and his three sons, Augustus, Jr., 21, William, 19, and Harvey, 17, would build the family house on 160 acres of homesteaded property.

Lumbering had a rarefied impact upon the early encroachment of Houghton Lake. In the mid-1800s, lumber camps in the Place were abundant, and roads, towns, and railways were received to Keep the lumber trade. Logs were floated from Houghton Lake beside the Muskegon River to sawmills and shipping services in Muskegon. It has been estimated that in 1860 alone, mills on the Muskegon River produced 75,000,000 board-feet of lumber.