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.
Algonac grew where the St. Clair River divides into delta channels. Between 1890 and 1940, steamers, trolleys, racers and Chris-Craft transformed the town. Its story also includes resort hotels, fishing, motor tourism, close ties with nearby Bkejwanong Territory and the national rise of recreational boating.
Quincy Mine Michigan earned the nickname Old Reliable through decades of copper production and steady dividends. Its story also includes immigrant labor, record-setting depth, the 1913 strike, the massive Nordberg steam hoist and the economic pressures that halted major underground mining in 1931.
Yale, Michigan, is famous for bologna, but its working history began decades earlier. Lumber, railroads, wool production, grain milling and food processing built the town. Later, a Main Street meat shop created the food tradition that would become Yale’s best-known calling card.
Centuries before refrigeration, Indigenous communities in Michigan buried food underground. Archaeology in the Saginaw Valley is showing how the system worked and who managed it.
Before M-25 connected Caseville and Port Austin, federal surveyors crossed a shoreline of sand ridges, rivers, wetlands and heavy forest. Original maps, vegetation records and pioneer accounts show how dramatically northern Huron County changed before logging, farming and roads reshaped Michigan’s Thumb.
Vintage photos of Beal City show dirt streets, St. Philomena Church, a horse-drawn bakery wagon and the Big 4 Farm. Together they show how a tiny Isabella County community built institutions far larger than its population suggested.
Plainwell became Michigan’s Island City through a hand-dug mill race, two railroads, a paper mill and one unusual land deal that moved a flour mill and helped create Hicks Park.
A rare 1902 Great Lakes navigation guide is now online through the Beaver Island Archive, revealing the lighthouse signals, compass courses and hazard warnings once used by Great Lakes captains.
St. Clair Flats turned a Great Lakes delta into Detroit’s island playground. Steamers carried families to Tashmoo Park, waterfront hotels and private clubs. Behind the summer fun stood a rare lease system that let residents own cottages while Michigan retained the lake bottom below.
The newly updated Michigan history research guide points historians to old Michigan newspapers, photographs, maps, courthouse records, and other primary sources available online. WASHINGTON — Finding an old Michigan photograph, newspaper article, or courthouse record online often isn’t difficult. Knowing where …
