The Nifty Fifty: Michigan

Michigan is a state in the midwestern region of the United States with the abbreviation of MI. Michigan became the 26th state on January 26, 1837, making the state 187 years old, as of January, 2024. The state of Michigan derives its name from Lake Michigan, whose name came from the Algonquin word Mishigamaw, meaning big lake or great water. It is also sometimes said that the name came from the words Michi, meaning great, and Gama, meaning water.

Michigan is the 11th largest state and the 10th most populous; Michigan’s capital is Lansing and its demonym is Michiganian. Michigan is bordered by the states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois (over water), Wisconsin, Minnesota (over water), and the Canadian province of Ontario; Michigan is also bordered by most of the Great Lakes: Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan, and Lake Superior.

The motto of the state of Michigan is Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice, which is Latin for If You Seek A Pleasant Peninsula, Look Around.

The traditional nickname of Michigan is the Wolverine State, but more recently, Michigan is often called the Great Lakes State, which is obviously due to the fact that Michigan is surrounded by many Great Lakes.

More than half of Michigan’s landscape is covered in forests; the Upper Peninsula is mostly forested with low hills, and the Lower Peninsula is quite flat with some hills in the north and agriculture in the south. The state of Michigan also has some sand dunes.

Michigan is known for cereal production, for possessing more lighthouses than any other state, and for producing more asparagus, cucumbers, squash, and tart cherries than any other state; Michigan is also known for having the Mackinac Bridge and the international underground tunnel known as the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. The Land of Michigan also contains materials such as clay, sand, gravel, gypsum, potash, and iron ore, but it also contains precious metals and stones including gold, silver, copper, and diamonds.

Ralph Royce was born in Marquette, Michigan, on June 28, 1890. Royce graduated from West Point Academy in 1914; he later learned to fly in the years 1915 and 1916, which was a mere 12 years after the Wright brothers’ first successful flight. Royce served with the 1st Aero Squadron in the Pancho Villa Expedition, which was apparently the first US military air operation; Royce later led the squadron on the Western Front during World War I, serving in the battle of Saint-Mihiel and the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Royce was promoted to Brigadier General shortly before the United States entered World War II, and he was finally promoted to Major General about a year later. During World War II, Royce served in the Philippines Campaign, the Kokoda Track Campaign, the Mediterranean and Middle East Theater, and even in France and Germany. During his military service, Royce received awards including the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the French Croix de Guerre, and the Serbian and Yugoslavian Order of the White Eagle. Sadly, Royce succumbed to leukemia in 1965, at the age of 75.

In December of 1965, Sherman Poppen came up with a new sport at his home in Muskegon that he apparently called snurfing, which was the combination of the words snow and surfing. Poppen coupled two skis together, forming a makeshift board, which he then used to slide down snowy hills. This sport would eventually become known as snowboarding. Poppen sold his patent to the Brunswick Corporation, which sold over a million snowboards.

In mid August of 1812, the siege of Detroit occurred. During the siege, British Major General Isaac Brock intimidated and deceived US Brigadier General William Hull into surrendering Detroit to the British. The British occupation of Detroit halted American governing of the entire Michigan Territory. General Hull was sentenced to death for his actions during the Siege of Detroit, but due to Hull’s honorable service during the American Revolution, President Madison commuted Hull’s sentence to dismissal from the Army. Detroit was finally recaptured from the British in September of 1813, after the American victory during the Battle of Lake Erie, which isolated British troops in Detroit, forcing them to retreat. Then Major General and future president William Henry Harrison pursued the retreating British and defeated them at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada, which is now part of Ontario, Canada.

An interesting fact about Michigan is that the state has the only non military floating post office in not only the United States, but also the world. This floating post office is a fully functional post office which has been delivering mail to ships at sea for more than 140 years. Interestingly, since this is a complete post office, it has its own zip code: 48222. This zip code is located mostly in Wayne County, Michigan, in the city of Detroit, but it occupies no land.

A strange fact about Michigan is that, because the state is the only US state to be separated into two peninsulas, the state uniquely has some unofficial nicknames for residents of either peninsula. Likely the most common of the names for residents of the Upper Peninsula is Yooper, which is based on the pronunciation of the individual letters of the abbreviation for the Upper Peninsula: UP (yoo + p + -er). Apparently, some Yoopers have called residents of the Lower Peninsula trolls, because they all live below the [Mackinac] bridge, however, they can also be called Lopers, which is based on the name Lower Peninsula (lo[wer] + p[eninsula] + -er); Loper is also obviously the opposite of Yooper.

What fact about Michigan most interests you?