Kind of place
Michigan's college towns
Michigan packed a lot of higher education into ordinary-sized towns, and each one wears its school differently. Some are the school — the calendar, the traffic, the whole personality. Some barely mention it until game day. If you're heading to campus (or dropping someone off), start with the town.
The places
Ann Arbor
The University of Michigan — and football Saturdays that pull more than 100,000 fans into Michigan Stadium, a crowd bigger than most Michigan cities.
Open the place page →East Lansing
Michigan State on the banks of the Red Cedar: Big Ten energy with a land-grant, farm-school soul.
Open the place page →Kalamazoo
Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo College, and the Kalamazoo Promise — a scholarship that covers up to full tuition for longtime KPS students.
Open the place page →Mount Pleasant
Central Michigan University, in the middle of the mitten.
Open the place page →Ypsilanti
Eastern Michigan, Depot Town, and a creative streak all its own — ten minutes from Ann Arbor.
Open the place page →Marquette
Northern Michigan University, with Lake Superior at the end of the street.
Open the place page →Houghton
Michigan Tech, two hundred inches of snow, and a campus with its own ski hill.
Open the place page →Allendale
Grand Valley State, halfway between Grand Rapids and the lakeshore.
Open the place page →Big Rapids
Ferris State University on the Muskegon River, with the White Pine Trail running through town.
Open the place page →Sault Ste. Marie
Lake Superior State, the Soo Locks, and the annual List of Banished Words.
Open the place page →Detroit
Wayne State in Midtown — a campus woven into the museums, hospitals, and streets of the city itself.
Open the place page →Rochester Hills
Oakland University and Meadow Brook Hall, on the historic Wilson estate that gave the campus its start.
Open the place page →Also in this collection
Notes from this corner
The small stories and useful rules tied to this part of the state.
The half-mile-long building with a petting farm: Domino's Farms
Ann Arbor Township is home to Domino's Farms — a half-mile-long Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired 'groundscraper' with a working petting farm out front.
Read the note →Scotland, USA
Alma's Scottish identity runs through Alma College, its tartan, and the annual Highland Festival and Games.
Read the note →Five Million Tulips Bloom in One Michigan Town Every May
Holland, Michigan throws the longest-running tulip festival in the U.S. — five million-plus tulips every May, a tradition begun in 1929.
Read the note →Is It "Pop" or "Soda"? (And What's a "Party Store"?)
In Michigan it's 'pop,' never 'soda' — and a 'party store' sells beer and chips, not balloons. A quick guide to two words that out-of-towners always get wrong.
Read the note →Is It "Michigander" or "Michiganian"?
Michigander or Michiganian? Both are valid — the state never picked an official term — though 'Michigander' (once an insult from Abraham Lincoln) is what most people actually say.
Read the note →Biking and hiking in Michigan: the (refreshingly short) rulebook
Everything the law actually requires on Michigan's trails and roads — no helmet law, the 3-foot passing rule, the e-bike class table, and the etiquette that keeps trails working.
Read the note →The student's porch kit
Where to next
See the other corners at Explore Michigan, search every town in the place directory, or start with why Michigan is worth the paperwork.
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