News & 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.
Historically, Saginaw Bay supported Lake Huron’s largest commercial walleye fishery and was second in the Great Lakes to only Lake Erie.
The earliest commercial fisheries dated to the 1830s, and walleye were specifically noted in catch records as early as 1858.
As a result of the corrosive nature of the Flint River water and mismanagement by all of the appointed emergency managers, the Flint city government and by Michigan’s Department of Environmental Quality an unknown number of children in Flint, Michigan (estimates are in the 1000’s), were exposed to dangerous amounts of lead in their drinking water over a period of 18 months.
We take a postcard street view of Bad Axe from the early 1900s and compare it to today.
Its an interesting peek on how much changes over 100 years. But some elements remain.
A colorful postcard view of Port Austin Michigan in 1951
1908 was a year of growth and expansion of Bay City Michigan. The lumber boom had ended and the city was growing into an industrial powerhouse.
This another series of converging Native American trails in Michigan that roughly ran parallel to the famous Saginaw trail. An 1825 map of Michigan clearly details this minor trail. Starting near Detroit west of Fort Shelby and the Côté des Pays, ( County Side) road. The trail stops at stop at Kechewondaugoning and Shigemasking
Bishop Frederic Baraga was the first bishop of Marquette. For 37 years he was a missionary priest among the Indians and settlers in the Upper Great Lakes.
His presence shaped the region and he is revered for his defending Native American lands during treaty land acquisition by the U.S. Government in the 1800s.
Shocking firsthand accounts of the Great Michigan Fire of 1881 from residents of Minden and Ubly. They were first published by the Minden Post soon after the fire and reprinted by many newspapers nationally. These accounts have never been published online before. Courtesy of the Minden City Herald
