News History & Fun in Michigan
We examine stories and events that shaped the history of the Upper Thumb and Michigan. While we focus on the Thumb region, other Great Lakes historical events are covered. Major events include the lumbering era and the 1871 and 1881 great fires. We cover major pioneers and personalities that shaped the region. To hear many of our best stories, visit and subscribe to our Podcast, “The End of the Road in Michigan.”
Our best Michigan history posts are found below.
Two Michigan Central freight trains met head-on at Denmark Junction in 1916, shattering a quiet night north of Vassar. Vintage photos and reports capture the moment when steel, steam, and fate collided on rural rails.
Horse-drawn wagons loaded with sugar beets roll through Sebewaing in this vintage scene titled “Hauling Sugar Beets, Sebewaing Michigan.” Long before semis and beet pilers, harvest time in Michigan’s Thumb meant teams of horses, wooden wagons, and a steady line to …
Downtown Detroit, circa 1949. The Barlum Hotel looms over Cadillac Square as buses circle the park and workers head toward the courthouse blocks. The bold wall sign faces Barlum Tower—now Cadillac Tower—built in 1927 during the city’s vertical building boom. This view likely sits a block east of Woodward Avenue, long considered Detroit’s spine. The scene is brisk, noisy, and confident, an everyday moment before the hotel’s later conversion to Cadillac Square Apartments.
Jess and Nell, a team of draft horses, stand hitched to a low winter sled in Sebewaing — dated 1910 on this photo. A bundled-up driver sits behind them, ready to haul goods across a snow-covered street before trucks and plows …
Romeo’s Main Street, likely early 1900s. Two horse-drawn vehicles pause as flags wave. A sign on the coach at right claims it was the first carriage built in Macomb County, circa 1844. The claim is proud, if approximate. Romeo, about 30 miles north of Detroit, later became known for the Michigan Peach Festival, launched in 1931.
A vintage view of People’s Ice Co. on Huntoon Lake shows how big the “ice business” once got in Waterford — harvesting and storing winter ice to keep Michigan cool long before refrigerators took over.
President William Howard Taft’s 1911 stop in Battle Creek drew a massive crowd — and this postcard captured the flags, bunting and excitement on the platform.
The American Fur Company headquarters on Mackinac Island once controlled trade across the Great Lakes. Built in the early 1800s, it shaped Michigan’s economy, society, and role in early American capitalism.
