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.
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 …
Before freeways and food courts, Michigan’s highways were lined with quirky tourist towers. These towering attractions offered sky-high views, cold milk, and bragging rights. Let’s revisit the glory days of Michigan’s roadside observation towers.
A 1938 postcard freezes a familiar Hamtramck corner: the Polish Legion of American Veterans’ Post 1 hall, built in the 1920s and long used as a neighborhood gathering place.
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.
Boys crowd around a long worktable inside Camp Jeanette in Waterford, Michigan, a children’s camp tied to the Good Samaritans of Michigan. The message on the back reads like a straight-up fundraising pitch: the group said it was giving about 1,000 …
