Michigan
Michigan entered the Union on January 26, 1837, becoming the nation’s twenty-sixth state. Known as the Great Lakes State and the Wolverine State, it has Lansing as its capital and Detroit as its largest city. Michigan consists of two peninsulas and borders four of the five Great Lakes, giving it the longest freshwater coastline of any state. Its landscape includes forests, inland lakes, farmland, sand dunes, and rocky northern shores.
Waterways and natural resources shaped Michigan’s early growth through fur trading, shipping, logging, and mining. During the twentieth century, Detroit became the center of the American automobile industry, where assembly-line production transformed manufacturing and made automobiles available to millions of people. The industry drew workers from across the country and around the world, profoundly influencing Michigan’s cities, economy, and culture.
Recent Articles
Lincoln’s Chair — Preserving a Moment in American History
Standing beside this chair at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation, it is difficult to comprehend that Abraham Lincoln actually sat here on the night of April 14, 1865. He was watching Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre in Washington when John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box and shot him. Lincoln was carried […]
Henry Ford at the Museum He Created
Standing outside the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn is this larger-than-life statue of Henry Ford, the man whose vision created the remarkable collection housed inside. Born on a farm near Dearborn in 1863, Ford became one of the most influential industrialists of the twentieth century. He did not invent the automobile, but […]
The Guardian Building
While exploring downtown Detroit, we walked into what had once been one of the city’s great banking buildings. From the outside, the Guardian Building is an impressive Art Deco skyscraper, but it was the interior that stopped us. Brilliantly colored tile covers the vaulted ceilings, geometric patterns seem to fill every surface, and even the […]
Greektown
While visiting Detroit, we spent some time exploring Greektown, one of the city’s best-known historic neighborhoods. It was an easy place to enjoy with colorful signs, restaurants lining the streets, plenty of activity and, of course, the opportunity to try some wonderful Greek food. But like so many neighborhoods built around food and culture, there […]
The Gateway to Freedom Memorial
Standing along the Detroit River, I found myself looking across a stretch of water that seemed almost insignificant. It is difficult to imagine that this narrow river once represented the dividing line between slavery and freedom. This is the Gateway to Freedom International Memorial, dedicated to the thousands of enslaved African Americans who risked everything […]
