Part 1: Fun facts about Michigan

The Indians of Michigan by FotoGuy 49057 via CC 2.0

Michigan is a unique state with two roughly equal peninsulas, separated by water, joined by a bridge, plus these other one-of-a-kind attributes:

• One can stand at any point in our state and be within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes because our state is touched by four of the Great Lakes, more than any state: Erie, Huron, Michigan, and Superior.
• Novi, Michigan got its name by being Stagecoach Stop #6, or in the roman numeral usage of the time, No. VI.
• Huron County’s Caro is the largest village in the state.
• We have a state reptile and it’s the painted turtle.
• Our 116 lighthouses are the most of any state.
• We have the longest freshwater shoreline.

Historically:

• Sault Ste. Marie, founded in 1668 by Father Jacques Marquette is the 3rd oldest still-inhabited European settlement in the country.
• The flags of 4 nations have been flown over Michigan: France, England, Spain and the United States.

For you animal lovers:

• Isle Royal Park shelters one of the largest remaining herds of moose anywhere in the world.
• While, sadly, there are no wolverines left in the state, the last known was found in Huron County in 2004, the first wolverine seen since the 1800’s. Upon its death, it was stuffed and is on display.
• The village of Elsie, naturally, contains one of the planet’s largest herds of registered Holstein cattle.

Michigan firsts:

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  The state became the first English-speaking government in the world to abolish the death penalty, way back in 1846.

• Detroit became the first city with phone numbers (instead of using the callers’ names) in 1879.
• The first concrete-paved road was in Detroit in 1908.
• The Michigan State Police were the very first law enforcement agency to use a comprehensive radio system, back in 1929.
• The Packard Motor Car Company built the world’s first air-conditioned car in Detroit in 1939.