Although I now travel and spend more time outside of my birth state than I do in it, Michigan still holds a place in my heart for its many unique qualities.
Michigan is the only state that consists of two peninsulas. The “mitten” is the lower peninsula and is where I grew up, in the “only Eaton Rapids on earth.” The mitten is surrounded by Lake Huron on the East, Lake Erie on the South, and Lake Michigan on the west. To access the upper peninsula (the U.P.) you need to cross the Straits of Mackinac, a 5-mile channel connecting Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The north shore of the U.P. is on Lake Superior.
If that isn’t enough, here are 35 more things that make Michigan a very special place.
Boat Night in Port Huron. Copyright 2015 Grace Grogan 
Photo by Grace Grogan, copyright 2015 
Paint Creek, Rochester Michigan. Photograph by Grace Grogan, copyright 2014 
Bond Falls. Photo by Grace Grogan 
Silver Lake Sand Dunes – Dune Jump. Photo by Grace Grogan 
Middle Island Lighthouse. Photo by Grace Grogan 
Port Huron to Mackinac Race. Copyright 2015 Grace Grogan 
St. Clair Board Walk. Photo by Grace Grogan. 
The Thomas Edison Depot Museum sits under the Blue Water Bridges on the Thomas Edison Parkway in Port Huron. Photo by Grace Grogan 
Pointe Benzie Light Station. Photo by Grace Grogan
- Detroit is the Car Capital of the World. Home to the “big three,” Ford Motor Company, General Motors Corporation, and Chrysler LLC, the state handles 24% of all automotive manufacturing in the U.S.
- Michigan is the largest manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries in North America. The American Battery Solutions Inc. manufacturing facility is located in Lake Orion and employs more than 100 workers. In support of this the Governor is working to develop the nation’s first wireless charging infrastructure on public roads.
- Alpena is the home of the world’s largest cement plant. Lafarge Alpena has been in existence since 1907 and employs more than 200 workers.
- St. Clair is the home of Diamond Salt Company, established in 1886 when a new process for making salt was patented. It is the world’s largest marketer of salt, supplying salts for culinary use, manufacturing, agriculture, grinder, pool use, water softening, and ice control.
- Southwestern Michigan is home to the largest Dutch settlement in the United States, with almost 300,000 residents of Dutch heritage. Dutch residents are most prominent in the five counties of Allegan, Kalamazoo, Kent, Muskegon, and Ottawa.
- Rogers City boasts the world’s largest limestone quarry. The site is 7,000 acres, of which 3,000 acres are actively mined. The quarry has an anticipated lifespan of an additional 100 years.
- Elsie is the home of the world’s largest registered Holstein dairy herd. Green Meadow Farms is a family operation established in 1922. With 80 employees, they raise all livestock and do all field and crop work on their 8,000 acres. The farm has a milking herd of about 3,900 registered Holsteins.
- Enjoy the longest freshwater boardwalk in the world in St. Clair. The boardwalk is along the St. Clair River, an international border with Canada. The St. Clair River is one of the busiest waterways in the world with more than 5,000 ships traveling the water every year. With more freighter traffic than the Suez Canal and Panama Canal combined, it’s an excellent spot for freighter watching.
- Colon is the magic capitol of the world and home to Abbott’s Magic Company, the world’s largest manufacturer of magic supplies. The city has more than 30 magicians laid to rest in its cemetery, more than any other cemetery in the world.
- Michigan Sugar Company is the largest sugar factory east of the Mississippi river, the largest sugar refinery in Michigan, and the fourth largest sugar refinery in the United States.
- Michigan ranks #1 in state boat registrations. St. Clair County ranks #1 in the U.S. for the number of boat registrations per capita.
- Port Huron is home to largest freshwater sailing event in the world. The annual Port Huron to Mackinac race began in 1919 and more than 200 boats enter the race each year.
- The state has about 54,800 farms covering 10 million acres and producing $6.5 billion in products yearly. Michigan is the largest producing region in the world for Montmorency tart cherries and Traverse City hosts the annual National Cherry Festival every July. The state is one of the top producers in the U.S. of grapes, apples, peaches, and blueberries.
- Livestock population is significant, with about one million cattle, 78,000 sheep, 3 million chickens, and one million hogs. Livestock products account for about 38% of all agricultural output.
- Sault Ste. Marie was founded in 1668 by Father Jacques Marquette, and it remains the third oldest remaining settlement in the United States
- In 1817 the University of Michigan was the first university established in any of the states. It was originally named Catholepistemiad and was located in Detroit. The name was changed in 1821 and the university moved to Ann Arbor in 1841.
- 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 established under the Morrill Act of 1862. It was the first institution of higher learning in the nation to teach scientific agriculture.
- The Mackinac Bridge is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. It spans 5 miles over the Straits of Mackinac and took 3 years to complete. It was opened to traffic in 1957
- Kellogg Company made Battle Creek the Cereal Capital of the World. The Kellogg brothers discovery of producing flaked cereal was an accident that sparked the beginning of the dry cereal industry.
- Vernors ginger ale was created in Detroit and is the first soda pop made in the United States. It was an accident. In 1862 pharmacist, James Vernor, was trying to create a new beverage. He was called away to serve in the civil war, leaving his “experiment” behind. When he returned four years later the drink in the oak case had developed a delicious ginger flavor and Vernors was born.
- The Detroit Zoo opened in 1928 and was the first zoo in America to feature cageless, open exhibits allowing animals to roam free. In 1968 the zoo’s Penguinarium was the world’s first zoo building designed exclusively for penguins. In 2001 it opened Wild Adventure Ride, the nation’s first zoo simulator, and the Arctic Ring of Life, the largest polar bear habitat in North America.
- Michigan is 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 still underway. It has been operating 140 years.
- The state boasts 3,224 miles of freshwater shoreline, the longest in the world. It also has the longest shoreline of the 48 continuous states. There are an additional 11,037 inland lakes and 36,000 miles of streams.
- The state has 124 lighthouses and navigational lights. The oldest is the Ft. Gratiot Lighthouse, constructed in 1829.
- It is the first state to provide in the constitution for the establishment of public libraries in each township and city, set forth in Article XI, Section 14 of the Michigan Constitution of 1908. It was also the first state to guarantee every child the right to a tax-paid high school education.
- Isle Royal National Park shelters one of the largest moose herds in the U.S. The park is 206.73 square miles and is the 4th largest lake island in the world. As of 2019 the island was home to 14 wolves and 2,060 moose. The moose herd was 2,400 at its highest point in 1995.
- Upper Michigan Copper Country is the largest commercial deposit of native copper in the world. By the 1860s the upper peninsula was supplying 90% of America’s copper.
- Michigan fared worse than the rest of the country during the depression between 1930 and 1933. The state’s unemployment rate was 34%, while it was only 26% in the rest of the country. This is because out of work automotive workers were starving to death by the early 1930s.
- Michigan has the first auto-traffic tunnel built between two nations, the mile-long Detroit Windsor tunnel under the Detroit River was completed in 1930. This was the third underwater auto tunnel built in the United States.
- The world’s first submarine railway tunnel opened between Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario in 1891. It is both the first submarine tunnel and the first international tunnel.
- In 1879 Detroit telephone customers were first in nation to be assigned phone numbers to facilitate handling calls.
- In 1929 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, II Gavallo, the largest equestrian bronze sculpture in the Western Hemisphere.
- Michigan is the great lakes state because its shores touch four of the five great lakes. We get our name from the Ojibwa (Chippewa) Indian word meaning “large lake”
- Detroit is the birthplace of Motown Records. Motown artists include Tina Turner, Otis Redding, Diana Ross, Four Tops, The Supremes, Al Green, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Ray Charles, Curtis Mayfield, Lionel Richie, Bill Withers, The Commodores, Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, The Jackson 5, The Drifters, Smokey Robinson, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Fats Domino, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye, and more.
The state has even more interesting facts setting it apart from the rest of the country and world, but I had to stop somewhere. I hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse of my home state.
Share where you are from and what makes your home state unique.
I had the pleasure of attending my 40th High School Class Reunion in Eaton Rapids, Michigan this weekend. The coordinators did a fabulous job of pulling the weekend together with a variety of activities to keep people on the move. This was especially nice for those of us traveling in from out of town, especially those traveling from out-of-state.
Time passes so quickly. How is it we have already been out of school forty years? Many thanks to classmates Julie and Jane Brenke, and their sister Jill, for organizing the reunion as well as several others who stepped in and assisted them.
--- LIFE IS A MELTING POT --- Grace Grogan...Writer, Photographer 