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.
It seems we have rediscovered what electric service can do. Many of our Great-Great Grandparents envisioned and used an advanced transportation system using electric trains. These small city-to-city or city-to-beach routes will mirror the services that autonomous vehicles are anticipated to do.
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
After the lumber industry collapsed in Michigan during the 1880s. The town of Port Crescent was abandoned and most buildings moved. Sand operations started for glass making.
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
In the late 1840s, Michigan experienced a craze of building plank roads. Over 200 companies built over 5000 miles of plank roads.
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
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.
Continue reading
It’s becoming commonplace. I’m researching something and encountered an entirely new and interesting story I’ve never heard before. In this
Continue reading
