Michigan Facts and Trivia

Michigan State Symbols Trivia

  • Detroit is known as the car capital of the world.
  • Alpena is the home of the world’s largest cement plant.
  • Michigan map outline
  • Rogers City boasts the world’s largest limestone quarry.
  • Elsie is the home of the world’s largest registered Holstein dairy herd.
  • Eastern White Pine is the official state tree of Michigan.
  • The official state flower of Michigan is Apple Blossom
  • Michigan State Bird is called the Robin-Turdus migratorius
  • 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.
  • The official state motto of Michigan is ‘Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice’ which translates to ‘If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you’
  • Michigan ranks first in state boat registrations.
  • The state seal of Michigan was adopted in 1835 while the Public Act 19 of 1963 standardized its present-day design.
  • The official song of the state of Michigan is called ‘Michigan, My Michigan’
  • Michigan state flag was officially adopted on June 26, 1911
  • The Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit manufactured the first air-conditioned car in 1939.
  • On Jan. 26, 1837 Michigan was the 26th state to enter the union.
  • 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. Originally named Cathelepistemian and located in Detroit the name was changed in 1821. The university moved to Ann Arbor in 1841.
  • The painted turtle is Michigan’s state reptile.
  • The nickname for Michigan is the “Great Lakes State.

Fun Facts about Michigan State’s Geography

  • City Guide: Visit Michigan City Guide for a look at geography, local history, architecture, and culture.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of streams.
  • Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Historical Facts about the State of Michigan

  • The city of Novi was named from its designation as Stagecoach Stop # 6 or No.VI.
  • MI is the Two-letter or Postal Abbreviation and Mich. is the Traditional or Standard Abbreviation for the State of Michigan.
  • 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.
  • Find out the interesting facts about the famous people born in Michigan
  • 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 was 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.
  • Michigan quarter was issued on January 26, 2004.
  • Vernors 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 the Civil 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.
  • 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.”
  • Seul Choix Point Lighthouse in Gulliver has been guiding ships since 1895. The working light also functions as a museum, which houses early 1900s 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.
  • 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.

Thanks to: Ruby Simmons, Eric Merriam, James Toscas, Jan Lee Asmann, Janet Kijek, James H. Jackson, Katrina & Bryan Tollenaar