News History & Fun in Michigan
Site announcements of changes that affect the Thumbwind website are highlighted.
News and events of Michigan’s Upper Thumb that are worth knowing in the region.
Here are some of the top stories.
Belding, Michigan, became one of West Michigan’s most unusual factory towns, built on silk mills, company boarding houses, rail traffic, iceboxes and a busy Main Street.
Rives Junction helped define Michigan’s land system in 1815, then became a busy rail crossing that never grew. This story explains why a place so important stayed small.
The history of Durand Michigan is the story of the railroad. Unlike many Michigan towns that grew around lumber, mining, or farming, Durand grew because a rail line crossed at a specific point on the map. That crossing turned farmland into …
There was a time when thousands of people came to Lake Orion every summer, not by car, but by boat. They came for a place called Park Island. Today, many people who live in or visit Lake Orion have never heard …
The town continues its ice storm recovery efforts through beautification projects, including replanting efforts to replace destroyed vegetation. Per best practices, the town has been searching for native, fast-growing species. Enter Toxicodendron radicans, commonly known as Eastern Poison Ivy and identified …
Port Austin‘s animal control department has announced a new program to reduce litter on public beaches and parks. Dozens of raccoons have been captured, trained, and given yellow vests to do what they do best: pick up trash. The raccoons will …
Huron County Nature Center summer intern applications are open for a paid seasonal job near Port Austin, offering hands-on public-facing work for students. A small but appealing summer job opening in Michigan’s Thumb may draw outsized interest from college students and …
Michigan’s history is often told through well-known events—Detroit’s auto industry, the Mackinac Bridge, or lumber booms. But across the state, smaller and often forgotten stories still sit in plain sight. While many people think of its big factories and industrial growth, …
