Thursday, July 5, 2012

Michigan - #26, January 26, 1837


Welcome to the Great State of Michigan.  Michigan is bordered by four of the five Great Lakes, only Lake Ontario does not border the Great Lakes State.  It is the only state to border more than two of the Great Lakes.  As a result, Michigan also has more lighthouses than any other state and the longest freshwater coastline in the world.  Michiganders are never more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes.  Michigan is the third leading grower of Christmas trees with 60,520 acres of land dedicated to Christmas tree farming. 

Michigan tends to produce a good number of US professional hockey players and this may be partly due to the city of Houghton.  Professional hockey started in the United States in Houghton, when the Portage Lakers were formed.

Michigan is the American leader in producing automobiles.  Native son Henry Ford along with automotive pioneers, including Ransom E. Olds, the Dodge Brothers, John and Horace, Henry Leland, David Buick, Henry Joy, and Charles King all contributed to the birth of the auto industry in Detroit and its environs.  In Battle Creek, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg inventor of the corn flake, promoted healthy living at his sanitarium there.  In the city of Manistee may be found the largest salt plant in North America, owned by the Morton Salt company.  The state also has two of the top four pizza chains that were founded in Michigan - Domino's and Little Caesars.

Though not the state he was born, Michigan is the home (and final resting place) of the 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford.  The "accidental president," Ford served from the resignation of Richard Nixon in 1974 to his loss to Jimmy Carter in 1976, becoming the only President to never have been elected.  The Gerald R. Ford Museum is located in Grand Rapids and the Ford Presidential Library is in Ann Arbor.

The current Governor of Michigan is Rick Snyder, a Republican. The Senators for Michigan are both Democrats, Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow. Michigan's Congressional delegation has 15 members, with Republicans holding an edge over Democrats, 9-6.
Facts
  • State Capital - Lansing
  • Largest city - Detroit
  • Date of Admission - January 26, 1837
  • Area - 96,716 sq mi (11th) (the largest state in area east of the Mississippi River)
  • Population (2011 est.) - 9,876,187 (8th) 
  • State Motto - "Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice" "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you."
  • State Nickname - The Wolverine State / The Great Lakes State
  • State animal - white-tailed deer
  • State bird - robin
  • State flower - apple blossom
  • State tree - Eastern white pine
  • State University - The University of Michigan (although Michigan State University has one of the largest enrollments of any U.S. school. Along with MSU and UMich, Wayne State University comprise the three major research institutions in the state.)
  • State Archives - The Archives of Michigan
  • The State Historical Society of Michigan
Links
Prominent Michiganders - (here's a few lists to peruse, one and two - it would appear that Michigan offered as much to the field of aviation as it did to the automotive industry)
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Films_set_in_Michigan

Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 12:41:00 PM EDT
Brave Astronaut said...

C - that opens up a whole new idea of what to do with this series.

Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at 11:54:00 PM EDT

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