Portal:Michigan


The Michigan Portal

The flag of Michigan
Location of Michigan within the United States

Michigan (/ˈmɪʃɪɡən/ MISH-ig-ən) is a peninsular state in the Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, Indiana and Illinois to the southwest, Ohio to the southeast, and the Canadian province of Ontario to the east, northeast and north. With a population of 10.14 million and an area of 96,716 sq mi (250,490 km2), Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by total area east of the Mississippi River. The state capital is Lansing, while its most populous city is Detroit. The Metro Detroit region in Southeast Michigan is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. Other important metropolitan areas include Grand Rapids, Flint, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, the Tri-Cities, and Muskegon.

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". While 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...)

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A three-story brick building with late Victorian-style architecture. A row of telephone poles are on the right and a historical marker is next to the front door.
Exterior of the Piquette Avenue Plant

The Ford Piquette Avenue Plant is a former car factory located within the Milwaukee Junction area of Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. Built in 1904, it was the second center of automobile production for the Ford Motor Company, after the Ford Mack Avenue Plant. At the Piquette Avenue Plant, the company created and first produced the Ford Model T, the car credited with initiating the mass use of automobiles in the United States. Prior to the Model T, several other car models were assembled at the factory. Early experiments using a moving assembly line to make cars were also conducted there. It was also the first factory where more than 100 cars were assembled in one day. While it was headquartered at the Piquette Avenue Plant, Ford Motor Company became the biggest U.S.-based automaker, and it would remain so until the mid-1920s. The factory was used by the company until 1910, when its car production activity was relocated to the new, larger Highland Park Ford Plant.

Studebaker bought the factory in 1911, using it to assemble cars until 1933. The building was sold in 1936, going through a series of owners for the rest of the 20th century before becoming a museum in 2001. The Piquette Avenue Plant is the oldest purpose-built automotive factory building open to the public. The museum, which was visited by over 31,000 people in 2018, has exhibits that primarily focus on the beginning of the United States automotive industry. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2002, became a Michigan State Historic Site in 2003, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. (Full article...)

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The Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Campus Martius
The Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Campus Martius
Credit: Mikerussell

Campus Martius Park is a re-established park in downtown Detroit, Michigan. After the fire of 1805, Campus Martius (from the Latin for Field of Mars, where Roman heroes walked) was the focal point of judge Augustus Woodward's plans to rebuild the city.

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Presque Isle County (/ˈprɛskl/ PRESK-eel) is a county in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. State of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,982. The county seat is Rogers City. The county was authorized by State legislation on April 1, 1840, but the county government was not established until 1871. The government was reorganized in 1875. The name is an anglicisation of the French word presqu'île or presque-isle, which means a specific kind of peninsula with a very narrow isthmus or connection to another landform, denominated a "presque-isle", i. e., literally "almost an island". A large part of Presque Isle Township consists of that peninsula, with Lake Huron on the east, Grand Lake on the west, and narrow strips of land connecting it to the mainland at the north and south ends. The community of Presque Isle is near the center of this peninsula. (Full article...)

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Thomas Wilcher (born 11 April 1964) is a college football administrator for Michigan State University and former high school athletic coach and teacher as well as a former National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I track and field and college football athlete for the University of Michigan. He was the NCAA Division I Men's Indoor Track and Field Championships national champion in the indoor 55 m hurdles and a three-time NCAA All-American in track and field (once indoor and twice outdoor). Wilcher was also a running back for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 19831986. In his redshirt senior year, he was a member of the Big Ten Conference football champion team as well as a 110 m hurdles Big Ten individual champion. Wilcher was a 9th round selection (226th overall) by the San Diego Chargers in the 1987 NFL draft.

In high school, Wilcher was a Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) record-setting hurdler and four-time All-American. As an athlete, he is a ten-time MHSAA track and field champion and a two-time Michigan High School Track and Cross Country Athlete of the Year award winner. He was also a Junior Olympics champion in the 110 m hurdles and an All-state and All-American tailback in football. He was also an All-City swimmer. (Full article...)

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