Bad Axe serves as the county seat and is the largest community in Huron County, as well as a commercial center for the upper Thumb area.

Before Civil War times, the first widely used trail through the thumb area wilderness was being surveyed. Workers made camp and found a 'badly damaged axe'. Noted on the minutes of their survey and on a sign placed along the trail, Bad Axe was on the map and is used to this day.