Michigan consists of two peninsulas: the heavily forested Upper Peninsula (commonly called "the U.P."), which juts eastward from northern Wisconsin, and the more populated Lower Peninsula, stretching north from Ohio and Indiana. The peninsulas are separated by the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and are linked by the 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge along Interstate 75. Bordering four of the five Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair, Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any U.S. political subdivision, measuring 3,288 miles. The state ranks second behind Alaska in water coverage by square miles and first in percentage, with approximately 42%, and it also contains 64,980 inland lakes and ponds.
The Great Lakes region has largely been inhabited for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples such as the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot.
Some people contend that the region's name is derived from the Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ (mishigami), meaning "large water" or "large lake". Others say that it comes from the Mishiiken Tribe of Mackinac Island, also called Michinemackinawgo by Ottawa historian Andrew Blackbird, whose surrounding lands were referred to as Mishiiken-imakinakom, later shortened to Michilimackinac.
In the 17th century, French explorers claimed the area for New France. French settlers and Métis established forts and settlements.
After France's defeat in the French and Indian War in 1762, the area came under British control and later the U.S. following the Treaty of Paris (1783), though control remained disputed with Indigenous tribes until treaties between 1795 and 1842. The area was part of the larger Northwest Territory; the Michigan Territory was organized in 1805. (Full article...)
After the death of her father in 1861, she moved with her step-mother to Massachusetts. She was educated in the Normal School of that state and taught school in Massachusetts. Soon after the first meeting of the DAR, she became a member of the District of Columbia Society. The first president-general, Caroline Harrison, offered her the state regency of Ohio. She declined, but accepted the regent's commission for the Western Reserve Chapter, which she organized, the first in Ohio. In 1895, she was unanimously elected regent of the state. On retiring from the state regency, she was elected vice president-general from Ohio, and at the expiration of that term, the state bestowed upon her the life title "honorary state regent." From the time she joined the order until her death, 20 years later, she never relaxed her interest or activities in the work of the DAR in Ohio and the U.S. During the last 12 years of her life, she was editor of the American Monthly magazine, the official organ of the national society. Even earlier, she was a generous contributor to the newspapers on subjects which interested her. She was elected to membership in the Cleveland Woman's Press Club, twice serving as its president. She was its delegate to the conventions of the International League of Press Clubs held at Saint Paul, Minnesota and San Francisco, California. Avery was a close friend of Lydia Maria Child and attracted the notice of Wendell Phillips. (Full article...)
Wellington R. Burt (August 26, 1831 – March 2, 1919) was an American lumber baron from Saginaw, Michigan. At the time of his death, his wealth was estimated to be between $40 and $90 million (equivalent to between $743 million and $1.67 billion in 2025). For a time in the early 1900s, Burt ranked as one of the eight wealthiest men in the United States. He was best known for his lumber mills and timber holdings, but was also involved in iron mining, railroads, salt mines, and finances. Burt was a politician, holding the offices of Mayor of East Saginaw (1867–68) and member of the Michigan Senate (1893–94). In his final years, he lived alone in a mansion with his servants. Estranged from friends and family and nicknamed "The Lone Pine of Michigan", he officially died of "senility" at age 87.
Burt had an unusual will, "as bizarre but as finely-wrought as any in U.S. court annals". It contained a "spite clause" conceived by Burt to avenge a family feud. It specified to wait 21 years after his children and grandchildren were dead before the bulk of the fortune could go to any descendants, in effect alienating his children and grandchildren from the estate, beyond some small annuities. The conditions of the will were met in 2010 after the 1989 death of his last grandchild. In May 2011, twelve of Burt's descendants finally received the estate, worth about $100 million. (Full article...)
Image 2Treaty of Paris, by Benjamin West (1783), an unfinished painting of the American diplomatic negotiators of the Treaty of Paris which brought official conclusion to the Revolutionary War and gave possession of Michigan and other territory to the new United States (from Michigan)
Image 3The Detroit–Windsor area is North America's largest cross-border conurbation, with a combined population of approximately six million people (from Michigan)
Image 4Michigan as part of the Province of Quebec 1774–1776 (from History of Michigan)
Image 14The Detroit-Windsor border crossing is the busiest international border crossing in North America by trade volume, with approximately one-third of all Canada–U.S. trade passing through this link. Pictured in the background is the under-construction Gordie Howe International Bridge, which will complement the existing Ambassador Bridge, shown in the foreground. (from Michigan)
Image 17Detroit in the mid-twentieth century. At the time, the city was the fourth-largest U.S. metropolis by population, and held about one-third of the state's population. (from Michigan)
Image 27Union members occupying a General Motors body factory during the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1937 which spurred the organization of militant CIO unions in auto industry (from History of Michigan)
Image 40Map of the original 13 colonies and their territories. Note that Michigan was the object of multiple claims. (from History of Michigan)
Image 41A map of Michigan by Henry Schenck Tanner, published in 1842, showing such county names as "Negwegon County," "Okkuddo County," and "Unwattin County," prior to an 1843 legislative action renaming sixteen counties in northern Michigan (from History of Michigan)
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The Flag of Michigan
The Seal of Michigan
State Quarter – Released in 2004
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