News & Fun in Michigan
This tag hints at articles and stories about Michigan history and the Michigan Thumb region. Michigan was part of the Northwest territory, and starting in 1815, the fur trade and influx of settlers and land speculators began.
By the time Michigan became a state in 1838, much of the southern third was already cris-crossed with improved Indian trails and initial roads. In a few short years, the lumbering era would begin, followed by the agriculture growth resulting from the cleared land.
The Village at Grand Traverse Commons, once known as the Northern Michigan Asylum, is the perfect getaway after a long winter. One of the last “Kirkbride” buildings in the world.
Postcards are a window into the past. In the early 1900s, sending a postcard was like sharing a Facebook post. It seemed like everyone was doing it. We found some great examples of vintage postcards of Michigan small towns worth a quick peek.
The mural in Caro’s Post Office; Mail on the Farm was done in 1941 by Michigan artist David Fredenthal. Its one of five worked commissioned by the Department of the Treasury during the Great Depression.
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.
In Michigan’s Thumb, the situation could not be worse. The prevailing winds brought embers and dense smoke from the other Michigan fires burning in the west. Within hours over 2,000 lives were lost and millions of acres burned.
The Letters from Ora Labora 1862 – 1898. Offers a glimpse of the challenges of being a religious pioneer in Michigan’s Wilderness.
This is a collection of stories written through the years.
It’s becoming commonplace. I’m researching something and encountered an entirely new and interesting story I’ve never heard before. In this Caseville mystery, we have a story of a pair of hunters and trappers who stopped to stay near the mouth of …
Does Michigan have an underwater rock circle from over 10,000 years ago hidden in the Great Lakes?
Actually Michigan has several.
