Great Lakes Shipbuilding in Caseville
In the late 1800’s Caseville Michigan was a booming town. This included large ship building.
Category: History
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.
4 Hair Raising Tales of Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes
Tales of four ghost ships of the Great Lakes. The 1800s was an era of ships plying the waters over 2000 miles of waterways. Some never made it to port but sailors claim to see these ships still plying waters.
Huron County Township Names – 28 Amazing Little Stories
Found this little poem in the book Huron County Illustrated History. I thought it was a bit interesting to know how the origin of the place names for Huron County township names.
Also, did you know the name “Huron” was a Chippawa word? It’s pronounced “u-ron” meaning curved coast.
Henry Schoolcraft Travels to Charity Island 1820
Henry Schoolcraft was asked to join an expedition organized by Governor Cass of Michigan in 1819. Its purpose was to locate the source of the Mississippi River’ and explore the Great Lakes region. As an expert mineralogist, he was tasked with describing Michigan’s significant topographical features, natural history, and mineral wealth. The expedition took approximately 40 men in five long voyageur canoes commonly used in the fur trade on the Great Lakes. At 35 feet long and 6 feet wide, the canoe had an amazing capacity of four tons. They started the journey on May 24, 1820.
General George Meade – Wilderness Surveyor to Gettysburg Hero
In the mid 1800’s much of Michigan was wilderness. In 1857, Captain George Meade took over the Lakes Survey mission of the Great Lakes.
The Horrid History of 3 Indian Boarding Schools in Michigan
Michigan’s Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial Boarding School indoctrinated 300 children each year and ran until 1934. There were also schools in Baraga and Harbor Springs.
For decades, the US took thousands of Native American children and enrolled them in off-reservation boarding schools. In fact, this was government policy to assimilate an entire people by forcibly removing children from their families and indoctrinating them into the Anglo language, religion, and way of life.
Michigan Indian Villages and Sites in Huron County
Huron County Michigan had an active and vibrant Indian culture with villages along the shore and workshops and gardens in the interior.
Michigan M-25 is States First Scenic Highway in 1940
An M-25 Road Trip is taken around Michigan’s Thumb months prior to World War II. The tourism industry is still recovering from the Great Depression and paving M25 was just completed making it Michigan’s 1st Scenic Highway.
This folksy article was from the Huron Times in 1940.