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Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,424,518 times
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THIS IS MICHIGAN...
Detroit is known as the car capital of the world.
Alpena is the home of the world's largest cement plant.
Rogers City boasts the world's largest limestone quarry.
Elsie is the home of the world's largest registered Holstein dairy herd.
Michigan is first in the United States production of peat and
magnesium compounds and second in gypsum and iron ore.
Colon is home to the world's largest manufacture of magic supplies.
The state Capitol with its majestic dome was built in Lansing in l879.
Although Michigan is often called the ( Wolverine State )
There are no longer any wolverines in Michigan.
(However, one was spotted in 2007, so there are some.)
Michigan ranks first in state boat registrations.
The Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit manufactured the first
Air-conditioned car in 1939.
The oldest county (based on date of incorporation) is Wayne in 1815.
Sault Ste. Marie was founded by Father Jacques Marquette in 1668. It is the
third oldest remaining settlement in the United States .
In 1817 the University of Michigan was the first university
Established by any of the states. It was founded by priests.
Originally named
Cathelepistemian and located in Detroit, the name was changed in 1821.
The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1841.
The city of Novi was named from its designation as
Stagecoach Stop #6 or No.VI.
Michigan State University has the largest single campus student body of any
Michigan university. It is the largest institution of higher learning in the
state and one of the largest universities in the country. Michigan State
University was founded in 1855 as the nation's first land-grant university
and served as the prototype for 69 land-grant institutions later established
under the Morrill
Act of 1862. It was the first institution of higher learning in the nation
to teach scientific agriculture.
The largest village in Michigan is Caro.
Michigan's state stone, The Petoskey is the official state stone.
It is found along the shores of Lake Michigan .
The Mackinac Bridge is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world.
Connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan. It spans 5 miles
Over the Straits of Mackinac, which is where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron
meet.
The Mighty Mac took 3 years to complete and was opened to traffic in 1957.
Gerald R. Ford grew up in Grand Rapids and became the 38th president of the
United States . He attended the University of Michigan where he was a football
star. He served on a World War II aircraft carrier and afterward represented
Michigan in Congress for 24 years.
He was also an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in Boy Scouts.
The Kellogg Company has made Battle Creek the Cereal Capital of the World.
The Kellogg brothers accidentally discovered the process for producing
flaked
Cereal products and sparked the beginning of the dry cereal industry.
The painted turtle is Michigan's state reptile.
The western shore of Michigan has many sand dunes.
The Sleeping Bear Dunes rise 460 feet above Lake Michigan
Living among the dunes is the dwarf lake iris the official state
wildflower.
Vernor's ginger ale was created in Detroit and became the first soda pop
made in the United States In 1862, pharmacist James Vernor was trying to create
a new beverage when he was called away to serve our country in theCivil War.
When he returned, 4 years later,
the drink he had stored in an oak case had acquired a delicious gingery
flavor.
The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in America to feature cageless,
open-exhibits that
allowed the animals more freedom to roam.
Michigan is the only place in the world with a floating post office.
The J. W. Westcott II is the only boat in the world that delivers mail to
ships while
They are still underway. They have been operating for 125 years.
Indian River is the home of the largest crucifix in the world. It is called
the Cross in the Woods.
Michigan has the longest freshwater shoreline in the world.
Michigan has more shoreline than any other state except Alaska .
The Ambassador Bridge was named by Joseph Bower, the person credited with
making the bridge a reality, who thought the name ( Detroit-Windsor
International Bridge ) as too long and lacked emotional appeal. Bower wanted to
symbolize the visible expression of friendship of two
peoples with like ideas and ideals.
Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of
streams.
Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights. Seul Choix Point
Lighthouse in Gulliver has been guiding ships since 1895.
The working light also functions as a museum, which houses
Early 1900's furnishings and maritime artifacts.
Forty of the state's 83 counties adjoin at least one of the Great Lakes
.
Michigan is the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes
Standing anywhere in the state a person is within 85 miles of one of the
Great Lakes
Michigan includes 56,954 square miles of land area; 1,194 square miles of
inland waters; and 38,575 square miles of Great Lakes water area.
Sault Ste. Marie was established in 1668 making it the oldest town between
the
Alleghenies and the Rockies
Michigan was the first state to provide in its Constitution for the
establishment of public libraries.
Michigan was the first state to guarantee every child the right to
tax-paid high school education.
Four flags have flown over Michigan - French, English, Spanish and United
States .
Isle Royal Park shelters one of the largest moose herds remaining in the
United States .
Some of the longest bulk freight carriers in the world operate on the Great
Lakes . Ore carriers 1,000 feet long sail Michigan's inland seas.
The Upper Michigan Copper Country is the largest commercial
deposit of native copper in the world.
The 19 chandeliers in the Capitol in Lansing are one of a kind and designed
especially for the building by Tiffany's of New York . Weighing between
800-900 pounds apiece they are composed of copper,
iron and pewter.
The first auto traffic tunnel built between two nations was the mile-long
Detroit-Windsor
tunnel under the Detroit River .
The world's first international submarine railway tunnel was opened
between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia , Ontario, Canada in 1891.
The nation's first regularly scheduled air passage service began
operation between Grand Rapids and Detroit in 1926.
In 1879 Detroit telephone customers were first in the nation to be assigned
phone numbers
to facilitate handling calls.
In 1929, the Michigan State Police established the first state police radio
system in the world.
Grand Rapids is home to the 24-foot Leonardo da Vinci horse, called Il
Gavallo. It is the largest equestrian bronze sculpture in the Western
Hemisphere.
Michigan is the leading producer of dogsleds in the entire world.
It is my understanding that there never were any wolverines in Michigan. The one that was once spotted is believed to be either a misidentification or possibly an escaped pet or zoo animal (A wolverine for a pet??).
Michigan had the first paved higway (or something like that)
In 2008 there were approximately 650 moose on Isle Royale. They don't live in herd though... they are dinural for the most part. I'm not sure claiming Isle Royale boasts one of the largest herds is valid claim to fame. 650 moose does not make Isle Royale all that unique... other facts (the solitude, seclusion, wolf-moose balance, etc) do... but not the head-count of the moose.
Here are a few you can take to the bank though:
* Michigan is home to more public golf courses than any other state.
* Michigan ranks 1st in the nation in the number of registered snowmobiles.[60]
* Michigan ranks 3rd in the nation in licensed hunters at over 750,000
* Oldest institution of higher learning: Kalamazoo College (founded 1815, 2 years prior to UofM)
I don't have exact specifics but I was astounded by what an agricultural powerhouse Michigan is. Being a gardener and sort of a unknowledgeable agriculture "fan" when I moved to Nebraska I was pretty excited. But it was really....boring for lack of a better word. No farm stands, no individuals with stands at the ends of their driveways, no orchards....I was soooo disappointed. Its a tougher climate there for gardening for sure. The eastern half is corn and soybeans, the western half includes cattle with some hogs thrown in here and there. There are a very few apple orchards. I.e. pretty much zippo for agricultural diversity.
So one day I got online and I compared Nebraska and Michigan -
Michigan is like in the top 5 or 10 in the country for everything!. Sure corn and soybeans but also milk, potatoes, apples, cherries, blueberries, cucumbers, hay, straw, asparagus the list goes on - Michigan's variety is enormous! Growing up in Michigan you don't realize how good you've got it in the summer with all those orchards, berry farms, farm stands. I found an asparagus farm in Tecumseh where you can buy right off the farm.
Michigan is like in the top 5 or 10 in the country for everything!. Sure corn and soybeans but also milk, potatoes, apples, cherries, blueberries, cucumbers, hay, straw, asparagus the list goes on - Michigan's variety is enormous! Growing up in Michigan you don't realize how good you've got it in the summer with all those orchards, berry farms, farm stands. I found an asparagus farm in Tecumseh where you can buy right off the farm.
Very true. I agree. People who visit West Michigan from other parts of the country are always amazed at the fruit we have here.
Another thing I'm always amazed by is the wine culture here. Sure, it's still growing, but it's so different than most other states. In most of my travels, I encounter "Wineries." If you ask, the grapes are almost always flown fresh from California. In West Michigan (from Tabor Hill north to Gils Pier) the grapes are almost always grown locally and turned into wine within a few miles of where they were harvested. It makes our wine culture much more about the agriculture and growing process than just the production of the wine. I've had a really great time touring some of our wine giants (St. Julian, Tabor Hill and Chateau Grand Traverse) as well as some of the smaller ones too (Bowers Harbor and L.Mawby being two of my other favorites). It's something you take for granted if you live here, but it really is unique to a few regions of the country.
Location: Oklahoma(formerly SoCalif) Originally Mich,
13,387 posts, read 19,424,518 times
Reputation: 4611
Quote:
Originally Posted by Giesela
I don't have exact specifics but I was astounded by what an agricultural powerhouse Michigan is. Being a gardener and sort of a unknowledgeable agriculture "fan" when I moved to Nebraska I was pretty excited. But it was really....boring for lack of a better word. No farm stands, no individuals with stands at the ends of their driveways, no orchards....I was soooo disappointed. Its a tougher climate there for gardening for sure. The eastern half is corn and soybeans, the western half includes cattle with some hogs thrown in here and there. There are a very few apple orchards. I.e. pretty much zippo for agricultural diversity.
So one day I got online and I compared Nebraska and Michigan -
Michigan is like in the top 5 or 10 in the country for everything!. Sure corn and soybeans but also milk, potatoes, apples, cherries, blueberries, cucumbers, hay, straw, asparagus the list goes on - Michigan's variety is enormous! Growing up in Michigan you don't realize how good you've got it in the summer with all those orchards, berry farms, farm stands. I found an asparagus farm in Tecumseh where you can buy right off the farm.
The grapes probably came from Temecula, California. They have an annual National Wine festival down there.
I remember as a kid, people from out of state, local and other parts of Mi.(including us) went to Traverse City to pick their own cherries.
Did you mention that Michigan is the cherry captial, producing more cherries than any other location- this may be in jepoardy, due to global warming. Something about the way the frosts hit that area allows the tree to set fruit; if the temperature rises too much, this may no longer happen.
Also, that figure of 116 lighthouses tops the number in any other state.
Eastern Michigan University, originally known as Michigan State Normal, was the first institute built west of the Alleghanies to train teachers.
First rural concrete paved mile
First border to border interstate (94) Detroit to New Buffalo
First State Fair
First 4-way traffic signal
First carpet sweeper Melvin Bissel in Grand Rapids
First air conditioned department store
First phone #'s assigned to customers in Detroit to handle calls
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650 moose does not make Isle Royale all that unique... other facts (the solitude, seclusion, wolf-moose balance, etc) do... but not the head-count of the moose.
