Ernest F. Pletschke is the name of the surveyor who platted Houghton, Michigan in 1854, prior to its incorporation as a village in 1861. In Houghton's first days it was said that "only thieves, crooks, murderers and Indians" lived there. Pletschke died in October 1861 at Louisville, Kentucky as a result of a relapse of typhoid fever, which he had contracted at some earlier, unspecified time. He was survived by a widow and a daughter. His funeral was held in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel at Lawrence University.