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History & Culture, page 13
Michigan has stories you won't find anywhere else — shipwrecks that became songs, a sound that started in Detroit, a war fought over Toledo. Pull up a chair for the history and culture of the Great Lakes State.
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From the Refrigerator Capital to the birthplace of Meijer
Greenville's working history includes a century as the Refrigerator Capital of the World and the birthplace of Meijer.
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Hastings, the county seat
Hastings is Barry County's seat, with the Thornapple River, an old downtown, and the 1890s Barry County Courthouse.
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Hillsdale College
Hillsdale College is one of Michigan's oldest colleges, known for its early antislavery and coeducational charter and its modern independence from government funding.
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Historic Charlton Park
Historic Charlton Park is a Barry County park and museum with a re-created historic village on Thornapple Lake.
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Historic Marshall
Marshall's National Historic Landmark district, near-capital story, Honolulu House, and magic museum make it one of Michigan's great historic towns.
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Horse country and the hunt
Metamora's village and township are known for horse farms, the Metamora Hunt, and quiet rural estates.
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How Bad Axe got its name — and survived the fire
Bad Axe's name comes from a damaged axe found by road surveyors, and the town rebuilt after the devastating Great Thumb Fire of 1881.
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Lighthouse, shipwrecks, and the storm of 1913
Port Sanilac's lighthouse, harbor of refuge, shipwrecks, and historic museum tie the village to Lake Huron's maritime history.
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Michigan's oldest working courthouse
Lapeer's 1845-46 courthouse is the oldest courthouse still in use in Michigan.
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Michigan's only ancient rock carvings
The Sanilac Petroglyphs in Greenleaf Township are Michigan's only known prehistoric Native American rock carvings.
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Mint City, U.S.A.
St. Johns is known as Mint City, U.S.A., with Clinton County mint farms, muck soil, and the annual Mint Festival.
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Olivet College
Olivet grew up around a college founded by Oberlin missionaries with early commitments to coeducation and race inclusion.
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Once the biggest fishing port in the world
Bay Port's Saginaw Bay fishing boom made it a major freshwater fishing port, a history still marked by its fish company and festival.
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Potterville and the Gizzard Fest
Potterville is known for Gizzard Fest, a June small-town festival built around fried chicken gizzards and Joe's Gizzard City.
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Scotland, USA
Alma's Scottish identity runs through Alma College, its tartan, and the annual Highland Festival and Games.
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Sojourner Truth made Battle Creek her home
Sojourner Truth spent the last chapter of her life in Battle Creek, where a monument and Oak Hill Cemetery honor her legacy.
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Sugar on the bay
Sebewaing's sugar-beet factory and annual Michigan Sugar Festival keep the Saginaw Bay village tied to the Thumb's farm economy.
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The "Queen of the Rails"
Durand Union Station is a landmark railroad depot and the home of the Michigan Railroad History Museum.
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The Calhoun County Fair
Marshall hosts Michigan's oldest continuously running fair, with roots in 1839 and historic fairgrounds shaded by old oaks.
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The Capri Drive-In
The Capri Drive-In west of Coldwater is a Magocs-family theater, a National Register landmark, and a southern Michigan summer tradition.
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The Cheese Capital of Michigan
Pinconning's lumber-to-dairy story produced Pinconning cheese, Wilson's Cheese Shoppe, and the town's Cheese Capital identity.
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The county seat and its courthouse
Ithaca is Gratiot County's seat, anchored by its 1900 stone courthouse and historic downtown.
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The Danish Festival City
Greenville's Danish Festival celebrates the Danish immigrant heritage that has shaped the city since the 1850s.
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The Gilmore Car Museum
The Gilmore Car Museum at Hickory Corners is a 90-acre campus of historic cars, red barns, vintage buildings, and partner auto museums.
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The Ionia Free Fair: ten free days every July
Ionia is home to the Ionia Free Fair, a free-admission July tradition that fills the county fairgrounds for ten days.
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The Middle of the Mitten
St. Louis marks the geographic center of Michigan's Lower Peninsula and has a mineral-springs resort history.
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The real Polar Express lives here
Owosso's Pere Marquette 1225 steam locomotive inspired The Polar Express and still pulls excursion trains.
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The Republican Party was born here, "Under the Oaks"
Jackson's Under the Oaks site marks the 1854 anti-slavery convention where the Republican Party took shape.
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The Saginaw Chippewa Tribe, Soaring Eagle, and Ziibiwing
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe, Soaring Eagle, Ziibiwing, and the Tribe's living culture are central to Mount Pleasant.
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The Shepherd Maple Syrup Festival
Shepherd's volunteer-run Maple Syrup Festival is a long-running spring tradition built around pancakes, local syrup, and community giving.
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The swinging bridge and the sugar factory
Croswell is known for its swaying Black River footbridge and its Michigan Sugar Company beet-processing factory.
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The Thumb's eight-sided barn
Near Gagetown, the restored Thumb Octagon Barn preserves an eight-sided 1924 barn and a working farm museum.
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The Thumb's first town, now a resort village
Lexington is Sanilac County's oldest community and a historic Lake Huron resort village.
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The Tridge
Midland's three-legged Tridge crosses the Chippewa and Tittabawassee confluence and anchors downtown trails, parks, and markets.
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The world's largest Christmas store is in Frankenmuth
Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland grew from Wally Bronner's sign shop into Frankenmuth's year-round Christmas landmark.
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The Zilwaukee Bridge and the town with the odd name
Zilwaukee's high I-75 bridge solved a drawbridge bottleneck and became famous for a costly construction mishap.
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Vermontville and its maple syrup festival
Vermontville's New England roots and Michigan's original maple syrup festival make it one of Eaton County's signature small-town stories.
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Walker Tavern and the old road to Chicago
Walker Tavern preserves the old Chicago Road stagecoach era and the later US-12 roadside-attraction story in Cambridge Township.
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Where five rivers are born
Hillsdale County sits on a high ridge where five major river systems begin and drain toward Lake Michigan and Lake Erie.
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Where the world bought its grindstones
Grindstone City's sandstone quarries once shipped huge sharpening stones around the world, leaving a historic district east of Port Austin.
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Yankee Springs and Gun Lake
Yankee Springs Recreation Area and Gun Lake make northwest Barry County one of southern Michigan's strongest outdoors corners.
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Apple country: Sparta and the Fruit Ridge
The Fruit Ridge around Sparta is one of Michigan's strongest apple-growing regions, shaped by soil, elevation, and Lake Michigan.
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ArtPrize: when downtown Grand Rapids becomes one giant art show
ArtPrize turns downtown Grand Rapids into a free, city-sized art show each fall.
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Beer City USA: how Grand Rapids became a craft-beer capital
Grand Rapids earned the Beer City USA nickname through a national fan vote and a fast-growing craft-brewery scene.
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Before the suburbs: when Reeds Lake was the place to be
Before East Grand Rapids became a quiet suburb, Reeds Lake was home to Ramona Park, the region's biggest amusement spot.
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Benton Harbor and the House of David
Benton Harbor's House of David colony became famous for bearded baseball, Eden Springs Park, and its miniature railway.
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Benton Harbor is Whirlpool's hometown
Whirlpool began in the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph area and still anchors the local economy from its Benton Harbor-area headquarters.
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Cass County and the Underground Railroad
Cass County was a major Underground Railroad haven, with Quaker and free Black communities centered around Calvin, Penn, Porter, Vandalia, and Cassopolis.
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Cedar Springs: the 'Red Flannel Town'
Cedar Springs became the Red Flannel Town after a 1930s newspaper exchange turned long underwear into a civic identity.
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Chelsea's Purple Rose Theatre, founded by Jeff Daniels
Jeff Daniels founded Chelsea's Purple Rose Theatre Company to develop new American plays and Midwestern voices.
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Colon: the Magic Capital of the World
Colon is known as the Magic Capital of the World, with Abbott Magic, the annual Magic Get-Together, and Lakeside Cemetery's magician graves.
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Coopersville: a farm town, a tourist train, and the home of "Runaway"
Coopersville keeps its farm-country character while celebrating hometown singer Del Shannon, a tourist railway, and local museums.
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Dowagiac and the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi
Dowagiac is the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi's home base and the namesake city for Four Winds Dowagiac.
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Dowagiac: fishing lures, stoves, and a first in 1854
Dowagiac is known for Heddon fishing lures, Round Oak stoves, and receiving the first orphan train in 1854.
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Flint built the car — and helped build the American labor movement
Flint is the birthplace of General Motors and the city where the 1936-37 Sit-Down Strike helped transform American labor.
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Four Winds Casino and the Pokagon Band
Four Winds New Buffalo is a major resort owned and operated by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians.
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Four Winds Casino in Hartford
Four Winds Hartford is a Pokagon Band casino and entertainment venue just off I-94 in the Hartford area.
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Fowlerville: one of Michigan's oldest fairs, and a Hall of Fame Tiger
Fowlerville is known for the long-running Fowlerville Family Fair and hometown Hall of Fame Tiger Charlie Gehringer.
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From "Lumber Queen of the World" to a waterfront full of history
Muskegon's lumber-era wealth and working harbor live on through historic mansions and World War II museum ships.
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George Custer's hometown — and the ongoing debate over his statue
Monroe has long claimed George Custer, but the downtown Custer statue remains part of an unresolved local debate.
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Grand Haven: the original "Coast Guard City," with a musical fountain to match
Grand Haven was the first Coast Guard City, and its summer traditions include the Coast Guard Festival, Musical Fountain, pier, and beach.
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Grand Rapids: the original Furniture City
Grand Rapids was once the center of the American furniture industry, then reinvented itself around office furniture.
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How a train rescue in Mount Clemens launched Thomas Edison
A teenage Thomas Edison learned telegraphy after rescuing a child at the Mount Clemens train depot.
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How Grand Rapids became the first city to fluoridate its water
Grand Rapids was the first U.S. city to add fluoride to its drinking water, a public-health experiment that began in 1945.
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Howell: home of the Melon Festival and a sky full of hot-air balloons
Howell's signature annual events are the Howell Melon Festival and the Michigan Challenge Balloonfest.
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Hudsonville: "Michigan's Salad Bowl"
Hudsonville's Salad Bowl nickname comes from Dutch settlers draining muck fields into productive vegetable farmland.
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Jiffy: the little blue box made only in Chelsea
Every box of Jiffy mix comes from Chelsea, where the Holmes family has run Chelsea Milling Company for generations.
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Lansing, birthplace of Oldsmobile and REO
Ransom E. Olds made Lansing an auto town, from Oldsmobile and REO to today's R.E. Olds Transportation Museum.
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Meijer: the Grand Rapids store that invented one-stop shopping
Meijer's 1962 Thrifty Acres store in Grand Rapids helped invent one-stop shopping, and the company is still headquartered in Walker.
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Michigan's oldest Amish community
The Centreville and Nottawa area is home to Michigan's oldest and largest Amish settlement, with buggies, farms, shops, and roadside stands.
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Michigan's only president is buried in downtown Grand Rapids
Gerald R. Ford, the only U.S. president from Michigan, is buried with Betty Ford at his presidential museum in downtown Grand Rapids.
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Monroe and the River Raisin: "Remember the Raisin"
Monroe is home to River Raisin National Battlefield Park, the only national battlefield park marking a War of 1812 battle.
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