| State of Michigan | |||||||||||||
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| Official language(s) | None (English, de-facto) | ||||||||||||
| Demonym | Michigander Michiganian |
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| Capital | Lansing | ||||||||||||
| Largest city | Detroit | ||||||||||||
| Largest metro area | Metro Detroit | ||||||||||||
| Area | Ranked 11th in the US | ||||||||||||
| - Total | 97,990 sq mi (253,793 km2) |
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| - Width | 386[1] miles (621 km) | ||||||||||||
| - Length | 456[1] miles (734 km) | ||||||||||||
| - % water | 41.5 | ||||||||||||
| - Latitude | 41° 41' N to 48° 18' N | ||||||||||||
| - Longitude | 82° 7' W to 90° 25' W | ||||||||||||
| Population | Ranked 8th in the US | ||||||||||||
| - Total | 10,045,697 (2008 est.)[2] | ||||||||||||
| - Density | 179/sq mi (67.55/km2) Ranked 16th in the US |
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| - Median income | $44,627 (21st) | ||||||||||||
| Elevation | |||||||||||||
| - Highest point | Mount Arvon[3] 1,979 ft (603 m) |
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| - Mean | 902 ft (275 m) | ||||||||||||
| - Lowest point | Lake Erie[3] 571 ft (174 m) |
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| Admission to Union | January 26, 1837 (26th) | ||||||||||||
| Governor | Jennifer Granholm (D) | ||||||||||||
| Lieutenant Governor | John D. Cherry (D) | ||||||||||||
| U.S. Senators | Carl Levin (D) Debbie Stabenow (D) |
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| U.S. House delegation | 8 Democrats, 7 Republicans (list) | ||||||||||||
| Time zones | |||||||||||||
| - most of state | Eastern: UTC-5/-4 | ||||||||||||
| - 4 U.P. counties | Central: UTC-6/-5 | ||||||||||||
| Abbreviations | MI Mich. US-MI | ||||||||||||
| Website | http://www.michigan.gov | ||||||||||||
Michigan (
i /ˈmɪʃɪɡən/) is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. The name Michigan is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe word mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake".[1][4]
Michigan is the eighth most populous state in the United States. It has the longest freshwater shoreline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, plus Lake Saint Clair.[5] In 2005, Michigan ranked third among US states for the number of registered recreational boats, behind California and Florida.[6] Michigan has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds.[7] A person in the state is never more than six miles (10 km) from a natural water source or more than 87.2 miles (140.3 km) from a Great Lakes shoreline.[8] It is the largest state by total area east of the Mississippi River.
Michigan is the only state to consist entirely of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is often dubbed "the mitten" by residents, owing to its shape. When asked where in Michigan one comes from, a resident of the Lower Peninsula may often point to the corresponding part of his or her hand. The Upper Peninsula (often referred to as "The U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a five-mile (8 km)-wide channel that joins Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. The Upper Peninsula is economically important for tourism and natural resources.
Michigan has highly educated residents and ranks fourth in high-tech employment. However, due to industrial restructuring and loss of blue-collar jobs, Michigan also has the highest rate of unemployment in the U.S., with a rate of 14.6% in December 2009.
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Michigan was home to various Native American cultures for thousands of years before colonization by Europeans. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous and influential tribes were Algonquian peoples, specifically, the Ottawa, the Anishnabe (called Chippewa in French, after their language Ojibwe), and the Potawatomi. The Anishnabe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the most populous.
Although the Anishnabe were well-established in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula, they also inhabited northern Ontario, northern Wisconsin, southern Manitoba, and northern and north-central Minnesota. The Ottawa lived primarily south of the Straits of Mackinac in northern and western Michigan, while the Potawatomi were primarily in the southwest. The three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. Other First Nations people in Michigan, in the south and east, were the Mascouten, the Menominee, the Miami, and the Wyandot, who are better known by their French name, Huron.
French voyageurs, explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what later became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlé's expedition in 1622. The first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Father (Père, in French) Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a Catholic mission to minister to the Ottawa Indians, and to serve as a regional headquarters for further Catholic missionary activities in the upper Great Lakes area.[9] It was here that the first European building was erected in Michigan, within the US Midwest, and also within what is now the Canadian province of Ontario.
Soon afterward, in 1671 the outlying mission of Saint Ignace was founded approximately 50 miles south. Then in 1675 the mission of Marquette was also founded approximately 200 miles to the west of Sault Ste. Marie, on the south shore of Lake Superior. Together with Sault Ste. Marie, these three original Jesuit missions are the first three European-founded cities in Michigan. Due to the generally skilled, tolerant and helpful manner of these early Jesuit missionaries, the Indian populations in the area received these missions well, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities, despite the fact that the ratio of the European populations, vs: the native populations of these settlements was usually in favor of the native Indians from early on. "The Soo" (Sault Ste. Marie) has the distinction of being the oldest city in both Michigan and Ontario. It was split into two cities in 1818, a year after the U.S.-Canada boundary in the Great Lakes was finally established by the U.S.-U.K. Joint Border Commission following the War of 1812.
In 1679, Lord La Salle of France directed the construction of the Griffin, the first European sailing vessel built on the upper Great Lakes. That same year, La Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph.
In 1701 French explorer and army officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded Le Fort Ponchartrain du Détroit or "Fort Ponchartrain on-the-Strait" on the strait, known as the Detroit River, between lakes Saint Clair and Erie. Cadillac had convinced King Louis XIV's chief minister, Louis Phélypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, that a permanent community there would strengthen French control over the upper Great Lakes and repel British aspirations.
The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent[10][11] (about .85 acre, the equivalent of just under 200 feet (61 m) per side) and named it Fort Pontchartrain. Cadillac's wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post. The Église de Saint-Anne (Church of Saint Ann) was founded the same year. While the original building does not survive, the congregation of that name continues to be active today.
At the same time, the French strengthened Fort Michilimackinac at the Straits of Mackinac to better control their lucrative fur-trading empire. By the mid-eighteenth century, the French also occupied forts at present-day Niles and Sault Ste. Marie, though most of the rest of the region remained unsettled by Europeans.
From 1660 to the end of French rule, Michigan was part of the Royal Province of New France.[12] In 1759, following the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in the French and Indian War (1754–1763), Québec City fell to British forces. This marked Britain's victory in the Seven Years War. Under the 1763 Treaty of Paris, Michigan and the rest of New France east of the Mississippi River passed to Great Britain.[13]
During the American Revolutionary War, Detroit was an important British supply center. Most of the inhabitants were French-Canadians or Native Americans, many of whom had been allied with the French. Because of imprecise cartography and unclear language defining the boundaries in the 1763 Treaty of Paris, the British retained control of Detroit and Michigan after the American Revolution. When Quebec was split into Lower and Upper Canada in 1790, Michigan was part of Kent County, Upper Canada. It held its first democratic elections in August 1792 to send delegates to the new provincial parliament at Newark (now Niagara-on-the-Lake).[14]
Under terms negotiated in the 1794 Jay Treaty, Britain withdrew from Detroit and Michilimackinac in 1796. Questions remained over the boundary for many years, and the United States did not have uncontested control of the Upper Peninsula and Drummond Island until 1818 and 1847, respectively.
During the War of 1812, Michigan Territory (effectively consisting of Detroit and the surrounding area) was captured by the British and nominally returned to Upper Canada. United States forces pushed the British out in 1813 and moved into Canada.
The Treaty of Ghent implemented the policy of Status Quo Ante Bellum or "Just as Things Were Before the War." That meant Michigan would remain as part of the United States, and the agreement to establish a joint US-UK boundary commission also remained valid. Subsequent to the findings of that commission in 1817, control of the Upper Peninsula and of islands in the St. Clair River delta was transferred from Ontario to Michigan in 1818. Mackinac Island (to which the British had moved their Michilimackinac army base) was transferred to the U.S. in 1847.
The population grew slowly until the opening of the Erie Canal in New York State 1825. This brought a large influx of settlers from New York and New England to Ohio and Michigan because it made transportation by ships through the Great Lakes possible. Farm products, such as grain, and resource commodities, such as lumber and iron ore, could be shipped to the port of New York and elsewhere by Great Lakes and Erie Canal-Hudson River traffic. By the 1830s, Michigan had 80,000 residents, which were more than enough to allow it to qualify and apply for statehood. The connection between the Great Lakes states and New York increased the wealth of all.
In 1836 residents formed a state government, although Congressional recognition was delayed pending resolution of a boundary dispute with Ohio. Both states claimed a 468-square-mile (1,210 km2) strip of land that included the newly incorporated city of Toledo on Lake Erie and an area to the west then known as the "Great Black Swamp." The dispute came to be called the Toledo War. Michigan and Ohio militia maneuvered in the area but never exchanged fire. Congress awarded the "Toledo Strip" to Ohio. Michigan received the western part of the Upper Peninsula as a concession and formally entered the Union on January 26, 1837.
Thought at first to be nearly valueless, the Upper Peninsula was discovered to be a rich and important source of lumber, iron and copper. These became the state's most sought-after natural resources and generated early wealth. Geologist Douglass Houghton and land surveyor William Austin Burt were among the first to document many of these resources. Developers rushed to the state. Michigan led the nation in lumber production from 1850s to the 1880s. The lumber harvested in Michigan was shipped to the rapidly developing prairie states, Chicago, the eastern states, and all the way to Europe.
The first official meeting of the Republican Party took place July 6, 1854 in Jackson, Michigan, where the party adopted its platform. Michigan made a significant contribution to the Union in the American Civil War and sent more than forty regiments of volunteers to the Federal armies.
Communities and the state rapidly set up systems for public education, including founding the University of Michigan, for a classical academic education, and Ypsilanti Normal College (now Eastern Michigan University, for the training of teachers. Michigan State University in Lansing was founded as a land-grant college. In the early 1900s, Michigan was the first state to offer a four-year curriculum in a normal college.
Michigan's economy underwent a transformation at the turn of the 20th century. The birth of the automotive industry, with Henry Ford's first plant in Highland Park, marked the beginning of a new era in transportation. Like the steamship and railroad, it was a far-reaching development. More than the forms of public transportation, the automobile transformed private life. It became the major industry of Detroit and Michigan, and permanently altered the socio-economic life of the United States and much of the world.
With the growth of the auto industry, jobs were created in Detroit that attracted immigrants from eastern and southern Europe and migrants from across the country, including both whites and blacks from the rural South. By 1910 Detroit was the fourth largest city in the nation. Residential housing was in short supply, and it took years for the market to catch up with the population boom. By the 1930s, so many immigrants had arrived that more than 30 languages were spoken in the public schools, and ethnic communities celebrated in annual heritage festivals.
Blacks moved to Detroit as one of the destinations in the Great Migration from the South, as they could find better work there. Over the years they contributed greatly to its diverse urban culture. African Americans from Detroit created national popular music trends, such as the influential Motown Sound of the 1960s led by a variety of individual singers and groups.
Grand Rapids, the second-largest city in Michigan, is also a center of automotive manufacturing. Since 1838, the city had also been noted for its thriving furniture industry. Started because of ready sources of lumber, the furniture industry declined in the late 20th century through competition with other regional firms and overseas industry.
Michigan held its first United States presidential primary election in 1910. With its rapid growth in industry, it was an important center of union industry-wide organizing, such as the rise of the United Auto Workers.
In 1920 WWJ in Detroit became the first radio station in the United States to regularly broadcast commercial programs. Throughout that decade, some of the country's largest and most ornate skyscrapers were built in the city. Particularly noteworthy are the Fisher Building, Cadillac Place, and the Guardian Building, each of which is a National Historic Landmarks (NHL).
Detroit boomed through the 1950s, at one point doubling its population in a decade. After World War II, housing development spread outside cities to answer pent-up demand. Newly built highways allowed commuters to navigate the region more easily. In Detroit as elsewhere, those who could afford to, began to move to newer housing in the suburbs.
Michigan is the leading auto-producing state in the U.S., although some of the industry has shifted to less-expensive labor in the Southern United States and overseas.[15] With more than ten million residents, Michigan remains a large and influential state, ranking eighth in population among the fifty states.
The Metro Detroit area in the southeast corner of the state is the largest metropolitan area in Michigan (roughly 50% of the population resides there) and one of the ten largest metropolitan areas in the country. The Grand Rapids/Holland/Muskegon metropolitan area on the west side of the state is the fastest-growing metro area in the state, with over 1.3 million residents as of 2006.
Metro Detroit's population is growing. Detroit's population is stablizing with a strong redevelopment in the city's central district with a significant rise in population in its outskirts are contributing to some population inflow. A period of economic transition, especially in manufacturing, has caused economic difficulties in the region since the recession of 2001.
Michigan is governed as a republic, with three branches of government: the executive branch consisting of the Governor of Michigan and the other independently elected constitutional officers; the legislative branch consisting of the House of Representatives and Senate; and the judicial branch consisting of the one court of justice. The state also allows direct participation of the electorate by initiative, referendum, recall, and ratification. Lansing is the state capital and is home to all three branches of state government.
The Governor of Michigan and the other state constitutional officers serve four-year terms and may be re-elected only once. The current Governor is Jennifer Granholm. Michigan has two official Governor's Residences; one is in Lansing, and the other is at Mackinac Island.
The Michigan Legislature consists of a 38-member Senate and 110-member House of Representatives. Senators serve four-year terms and Representatives two. The Michigan State Capitol was dedicated in 1879 and has hosted the state's executive and legislative branches ever since.
The Michigan Court System consists of two courts with primary jurisdiction (the Circuit Courts and the District Courts), one intermediate level appellate court (the Michigan Court of Appeals), and the Michigan Supreme Court. There are several administrative courts and specialized courts. The Michigan Constitution provides for voter initiative and referendum (Article II, § 9,[16] defined as "the power to propose laws and to enact and reject laws, called the initiative, and the power to approve or reject laws enacted by the legislature, called the referendum. The power of initiative extends only to laws which the legislature may enact under this constitution").
In 1846 Michigan was the first state in the Union, as well as the first English-speaking government in the world,[17][18] to abolish the death penalty. Historian David Chardavoyne has suggested that the movement to abolish capital punishment in Michigan grew as a result of enmity toward the state's neighbor, Canada. Under British rule, it made public executions a regular practice.
| Year | Republicans | Democrats |
|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 40.89% 2,048,639 | 57.33% 2,872,579 |
| 2004 | 47.81% 2,313,746 | 51.23% 2,479,183 |
| 2000 | 46.14% 1,953,139 | 51.28% 2,170,418 |
| 1996 | 38.48% 1,481,212 | 51.69% 1,989,653 |
| 1992 | 36.38% 1,554,940 | 43.77% 1,871,182 |
| 1988 | 53.57% 1,965,486 | 45.67% 1,675,783 |
| 1984 | 59.23% 2,251,571 | 40.24% 1,529,638 |
| 1980 | 48.99% 1,915,225 | 42.50% 1,661,532 |
| 1976 | 51.83% 1,893,742 | 46.44% 1,696,714 |
| 1972 | 56.20% 1,961,721 | 41.81% 1,459,435 |
| 1968 | 41.46% 1,370,665 | 48.18% 1,593,082 |
| 1964 | 33.10% 1,060,152 | 66.70% 2,136,615 |
| 1960 | 48.84% 1,620,428 | 50.85% 1,687,269 |
Voters in the state elect candidates from both major parties. Economic issues are important in Michigan elections. The three-term Republican Governor John Engler (1991–2003) preceded the current Democratic Governor Jennifer Granholm. The state has re-elected its current Republican Attorney General Mike Cox since 2003. Michigan supported the election of Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.
However, the state has supported Democrats in the last five presidential election cycles. In 2008, Barack Obama carried the state over John McCain, winning Michigan's seventeen electoral votes with 57% of the vote. Democrats have won each of the last three, nine of the last ten, and fifteen of the last eighteen U.S. Senate elections in Michigan with confidence on national economic issues posing a challenge. Republican strength is greatest in the western, northern, and rural parts of the state, especially in the Grand Rapids area. Republicans also do well in suburban Detroit, which tends to be an important factor in deciding statewide elections. Democrats are strongest in the east, especially in the cities of Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, and Saginaw.
Historically, the first formal meeting of the Republican Party took place in Jackson, Michigan on July 6, 1854[20] and the party thereafter dominated Michigan until the Great Depression. In the 1912 election, Michigan was one of the six states to support progressive Republican and third-party candidate Theodore Roosevelt for President after he lost the Republican nomination to William Howard Taft.
Michigan remained fairly reliably Republican at the presidential level for much of the twentieth century. It was part of Greater New England, the northern tier of states settled chiefly by migrants from New England who carried their culture with them. The state was one of only a handful to back Wendell Willkie over Franklin Roosevelt in 1940, and supported Thomas E. Dewey in his losing bid against Harry Truman in 1948. Michigan went to the Democrats in presidential elections during the 1960s, and voted for Republican Richard Nixon in 1972.
Michigan was the home of Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States. He was born in Nebraska and moved as an infant to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and grew up there.[21][22] The Gerald R. Ford Museum is located in Grand Rapids.
State government is decentralized among three tiers — statewide, county and township. Counties are administrative divisions of the state, and townships are administrative divisions of a county. Both of them exercise state government authority, localized to meet the particular needs of their jurisdictions, as provided by state law. There are 83 counties in Michigan.
Cities, state universities, and villages are vested with home rule powers of varying degrees. Home rule cities can generally do anything that is not prohibited by law. The fifteen state universities have broad power and can do anything within the parameters of their status as educational institutions that is not prohibited by the state constitution. Villages, by contrast, have limited home rule and are not completely autonomous from the county and township in which they are located.
There are two types of township in Michigan: general law township and charter. Charter township status was created by the Legislature in 1947 and grants additional powers and stream-lined administration in order to provide greater protection against annexation by a city. As of April 2001, there were 127 charter townships in Michigan. In general, charter townships have many of the same powers as a city but without the same level of obligations. For example, a charter township can have its own fire department, water and sewer department, police department, and so on—just like a city—but it is not required to have those things, whereas cities must provide those services. Charter townships can opt to use county-wide services instead, such as deputies from the county sheriff's office instead of a home-based force of ordinance officers.
Michigan consists of two peninsulas that lie between 82°30' to about 90°30' west longitude, and are separated by the Straits of Mackinac. The 45th parallel north runs through the state—marked by highway signs and the Polar-Equator Trail[23]—along a line including Mission Point Light near Traverse City, the towns of Gaylord and Alpena and Menominee in the Upper Peninsula. With the exception of two small areas that are drained by the Mississippi River by way of the Wisconsin River in the Upper Peninsula and by way of the Kankakee-Illinois River in the Lower Peninsula, Michigan is drained by the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence watershed and is the only state with the majority of its land thus drained.
The Great Lakes that border Michigan from east to west are Lake Erie, Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. It has more lighthouses than any other state. The state is bounded on the south by the states of Ohio and Indiana, sharing land and water boundaries with both. Michigan's western boundaries are almost entirely water boundaries, from south to north, with Illinois and Wisconsin in Lake Michigan; then a land boundary with Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula, that is principally demarcated by the Menominee and Montreal Rivers; then water boundaries again, in Lake Superior, with Wisconsin and Minnesota to the west, capped around by the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east.
The heavily forested Upper Peninsula is relatively mountainous in the west. The Porcupine Mountains, which are part of one of the oldest mountain chains in the world,[24] rise to an altitude of almost 2,000 feet (610 m) above sea level and form the watershed between the streams flowing into Lake Superior and Lake Michigan. The surface on either side of this range is rugged. The state's highest point, in the Huron Mountains northwest of Marquette, is Mount Arvon at 1,979 feet (603 m). The peninsula is as large as Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island combined but has fewer than 330,000 inhabitants. They are sometimes called "Yoopers" (from "U.P.'ers"), and their speech (the "Yooper dialect") has been heavily influenced by the numerous Scandinavian and Canadian immigrants who settled the area during the lumbering and mining boom of the late nineteenth century.
The Lower Peninsula, shaped like a mitten, is 277 miles (446 km) long from north to south and 195 miles (314 km) from east to west and occupies nearly two-thirds of the state's land area. The surface of the peninsula is generally level, broken by conical hills and glacial moraines usually not more than a few hundred feet tall. It is divided by a low water divide running north and south. The larger portion of the state is on the west of this and gradually slopes toward Lake Michigan. The highest point in the Lower Peninsula is either Briar Hill at 1,705 feet (520 m), or one of several points nearby in the vicinity of Cadillac. The lowest point is the surface of Lake Erie at 571 feet (174 m).
The geographic orientation of Michigan's peninsulas makes for a long distance between the ends of the state. Ironwood, in the far western Upper Peninsula, lies 630 highway miles (1,015 km) from Lambertville in the Lower Peninsula's southeastern corner. The geographic isolation of the Upper Peninsula from Michigan's political and population centers makes the U.P. culturally and economically distinct. Occasionally U.P. residents have called for secession from Michigan and establishment as a new state to be called "Superior."
A feature of Michigan that gives it the distinct shape of a mitten is the Thumb. This peninsula projects out into Lake Huron and the Saginaw Bay. The geography of the Thumb is mainly flat with a few rolling hills. Other peninsulas of Michigan include the Keweenaw Peninsula, making up the Copper Country region of the state. The Leelanau Peninsula lies in the Northern Lower Michigan region. See Also Michigan Regions
Numerous lakes and marshes mark both peninsulas, and the coast is much indented. Keweenaw Bay, Whitefish Bay, and the Big and Little Bays De Noc are the principal indentations on the Upper Peninsula. The Grand and Little Traverse, Thunder, and Saginaw bays indent the Lower Peninsula. Michigan has the ninth longest shoreline of any state—3,224 miles (5,189 km)[5]. An additional 1,056 miles (1,699 km) can be added if islands are included[citation needed].
The state has numerous large islands, the principal ones being the North Manitou and South Manitou, Beaver, and Fox groups in Lake Michigan; Isle Royale and Grande Isle in Lake Superior; Marquette, Bois Blanc, and Mackinac islands in Lake Huron; and Neebish, Sugar, and Drummond islands in St. Mary's River. Michigan has about 150 lighthouses, the most of any U.S. state. The first lighthouses in Michigan were built between 1818 and 1822. They were built to project light at night and to serve as a landmark during the day to safely guide the passenger ships and freighters traveling the Great Lakes. See Lighthouses in the United States.
The state's rivers are generally small, short and shallow, and few are navigable. The principal ones include the Detroit River, St. Marys River, and St. Clair River which connect the Great Lakes; the Au Sable, Cheboygan, and Saginaw, which flow into Lake Huron; the Ontonagon, and Tahquamenon, which flow into Lake Superior; and the St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, Grand, Muskegon, Manistee, and Escanaba, which flow into Lake Michigan. The state has 11,037 inland lakes and 38,575 square miles (99,910 km2) of Great Lakes waters and rivers in addition to 1,305 square miles (3,380 km2) of inland water. No point in Michigan is more than six miles (10 km) from an inland lake or more than 85 miles (137 km) from one of the Great Lakes.[25]
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Minnesota | Ontario | Ontario | |
| Wisconsin |  |
Ontario | ||
 Michigan  |
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| Illinois & Indiana | Indiana & Ohio | Ohio |
The state is home to one national park: Isle Royale National Park, located in Lake Superior, about 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Thunder Bay, Ontario. Other national protected areas in the state include: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, Huron National Forest, Manistee National Forest, Hiawatha National Forest, Ottawa National Forest and Father Marquette National Memorial. The largest section of the North Country National Scenic Trail also passes through Michigan.
With 78 state parks, 19 state recreation areas, and 6 state forests, Michigan has the largest state park and state forest system of any state. These parks and forests include Holland State Park, Mackinac Island State Park, Au Sable State Forest, and Mackinaw State Forest.
Michigan has a humid continental climate, although there are two distinct regions. The southern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula (south of Saginaw Bay and from the Grand Rapids area southward) have a warmer climate (Koppen climate classification Dfa) with hot summers and cold winters. The northern part of Lower Peninsula and the entire Upper Peninsula has a more severe climate (Koppen Dfb), with warm, but shorter summers and longer, cold to very cold winters. Some parts of the state average high temperatures below freezing from December through February, and into early March in the far northern parts. During the winter through the middle of February the state is frequently subjected to heavy lake-effect snow. The state averages from 30–40 inches (76–100 cm) of precipitation annually.
The entire state averages 30 days of thunderstorm activity per year. These can be severe, especially in the southern part of the state. The state averages 17 tornadoes per year, which are more common in the extreme southern portion of the state. Portions of the southern border have been nearly as vulnerable historically as parts of Tornado Alley. Farther north, in the Upper Peninsula, tornadoes are rare.[26]
| Monthly Normal High and Low Temperatures For Various Michigan Cities in °F(°C) | ||||||||||||
| City | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Detroit | 31/18
(-1/-8) |
34/20
(1/-7) |
45/28
(7/-2) |
58/38
(14/3) |
70/49
(21/9) |
79/59
(26/15) |
83/64
(28/18) |
81/62
(27/17) |
74/54
(23/12) |
61/42
(16/6) |
48/34
(9/1) |
36/23
(2/-5) |
| Flint | 29/13
(-2/-11) |
32/15
(0/-9) |
43/24
(6/-4) |
56/35
(13/2) |
69/45
(21/7) |
78/55
(26/13) |
82/59
(28/15) |
80/57
(27/14) |
72/49
(22/9) |
60/39
(16/4) |
46/30
(8/-1) |
34/19
(1/-7) |
| Grand Rapids | 29/16
(-2/-9) |
33/17
(1/-8) |
43/26
(6/-3) |
57/36
(14/2) |
70/47
(21/8) |
78/56
(26/13) |
82/60
(28/16) |
80/59
(27/15) |
72/51
(22/11) |
60/40
(11/4) |
46/31
(8/-1) |
34/21
(1/-6) |
| Lansing | 29/14
(-2/-10) |
33/15
(1/-9) |
44/24
(7/-4) |
57/34
(14/1) |
69/45
(21/7) |
78/54
(26/12) |
82/58
(28/14) |
80/57
(27/14) |
72/49
(22/9) |
60/39
(16/4) |
46/30
(8/-1) |
34/20
(1/-7) |
| Marquette | 20/3
(-7/-16) |
24/5
(-4/-15) |
33/14
(1/-10) |
46/27
(8/-3) |
62/39
(17/4) |
70/48
(21/9) |
75/54
(24/12) |
73/52
(23/11) |
63/44
(17/7) |
51/34
(11/1) |
35/22
(2/-6) |
24/10
(-4/-12) |
| Muskegon | 30/17
(-1/-8) |
32/18
(0/-8) |
42/25
(6/-4) |
55/35
(13/2) |
67/45
(19/7) |
76/54
(24/12) |
80/60
(27/16) |
78/59
(26/15) |
70/51
(21/11) |
59/41
(15/5) |
46/32
(8/0) |
35/23
(2/-5) |
| Sault Ste Marie | 22/5
(-6/-15) |
24/7
(-4/-14) |
34/16
(1/-9) |
48/29
(9/-2) |
63/39
(17/4) |
71/46
(22/7) |
76/52
(24/11) |
74/52
(23/11) |
65/45
(18/7) |
53/36
(12/2) |
39/26
(12/-3) |
27/13
(-3/-11) |
| [4] | ||||||||||||
The geological formation of the state is greatly varied. Primary boulders are found over the entire surface of the Upper Peninsula (being principally of primitive origin), while Secondary deposits cover the entire Lower Peninsula. The Upper Peninsula exhibits Lower Silurian sandstones, limestones, copper and iron bearing rocks, corresponding to the Huronian system of Canada. The central portion of the Lower Peninsula contains coal measures and rocks of the Permo-Carboniferous period. Devonian and sub-Carboniferous deposits are scattered over the entire state.
| Historical populations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Census | Pop. | %± | |
| 1800 | 3,757 |
|
|
| 1810 | 4,762 | 26.8% | |
| 1820 | 7,452 | 56.5% | |
| 1830 | 28,004 | 275.8% | |
| 1840 | 212,267 | 658.0% | |
| 1850 | 397,654 | 87.3% | |
| 1860 | 749,113 | 88.4% | |
| 1870 | 1,184,059 | 58.1% | |
| 1880 | 1,636,937 | 38.2% | |
| 1890 | 2,093,890 | 27.9% | |
| 1900 | 2,420,982 | 15.6% | |
| 1910 | 2,810,173 | 16.1% | |
| 1920 | 3,668,412 | 30.5% | |
| 1930 | 4,842,325 | 32.0% | |
| 1940 | 5,256,106 | 8.5% | |
| 1950 | 6,371,766 | 21.2% | |
| 1960 | 7,823,194 | 22.8% | |
| 1970 | 8,875,083 | 13.4% | |
| 1980 | 9,262,078 | 4.4% | |
| 1990 | 9,295,297 | 0.4% | |
| 2000 | 9,938,444 | 6.9% | |
| Est. 2008 | 10,045,697 | [2] | 1.1% |
As of the July 1, 2008 population estimate, Michigan has an estimated population of 10,003,422, an increase of 64,930, or 0.7%, since the year 2000. As of 2000, the state had the 8th largest population in the Union.
The center of population of Michigan is located in Shiawassee County, in the southeastern corner of the civil township of Bennington, which is located directly north of the village of Morrice.[27]
As of 2005-2007 three-year estimate, the state had a foreign-born population of 610,173, or 6% of the total population. In recent years, the foreign-born population in the state has grown. Michigan has the largest Dutch-American, Finnish-American and Macedonian-American populations in the United States. As of 2008 the population of Caucasians made up 79.6% of the population, Black or African American at 14.2%, Hispanic or Latino at 4.1%, American Native at 0.6%, Asian at 2.4%, Hawaiian or other is less than 0.1%.[2]
The five largest reported ancestries in Michigan are: German (20.4%), African American (14.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (9.9%), and Polish (8.6%).
Michigan has a large white population (79.6%). Americans of European descent including German, Irish, French, and British ancestry live throughout most of Michigan and Metro Detroit. People of Nordic (especially Finnish) and Cornish ancestry have a notable presence in the Upper Peninsula. Western Michigan is known for the Dutch heritage of many residents (the highest concentration of any state), especially in metropolitan Grand Rapids. Metro Detroit also has residents of Polish and Irish descent.
Dearborn has become the center of a large Arab-American community, now mostly Lebanese, who immigrated for jobs in the auto industry in the 1920s.[28] About 300,000 people trace their roots to the Middle East.[29] African-Americans, who came to Detroit and other northern cities in the Great Migration of the early 20th century, form a majority of the population of the city of Detroit and of other industrial cities, including Flint and Benton Harbor.
An individual from Michigan is called a "Michigander" or "Michiganian".[30] Also at times, but rarely, a "Michiganite".[31] Residents of the Upper Peninsula are sometimes referred to as "Yoopers" (a phonetic pronunciation of "U.P.ers"), and Upper Peninsula residents sometimes refer to those from the lower as "trolls" (they live below the bridge).[32]
| Demographics of Michigan (csv) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| By race | White | Black | AIAN* | Asian | NHPI* |
| 2000 (total population) | 83.05% | 14.92% | 1.26% | 2.10% | 0.08% |
| 2000 (Hispanic only) | 2.98% | 0.22% | 0.11% | 0.03% | 0.01% |
| 2005 (total population) | 82.65% | 15.05% | 1.21% | 2.57% | 0.08% |
| 2005 (Hispanic only) | 3.51% | 0.23% | 0.11% | 0.05% | 0.02% |
| Growth 2000–05 (total population) | 1.35% | 2.77% | -2.51% | 24.24% | 12.50% |
| Growth 2000–05 (non-Hispanic only) | 0.66% | 2.67% | -2.71% | 24.04% | 10.70% |
| Growth 2000–05 (Hispanic only) | 19.89% | 9.70% | -0.48% | 36.87% | 20.51% |
| * AIAN is American Indian or Alaskan Native; NHPI is Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | |||||
The Roman Catholic Church was the only organized religion in Michigan until the 19th century, reflecting the territory's French colonial roots. Detroit's St. Anne's parish, established in 1701, is the second-oldest Catholic parish in the country.[33] French-Canadian Catholics were reduced to a small minority by the influx of Protestants from the United States in the early 19th century. By the mid-19th century, there was a wave of immigration of Catholics from Ireland and, later, from eastern and southern Europe.
Change was rapid in the 19th century. The Lutheran Church was introduced by German and Scandinavian immigrants; Lutheranism is second largest religious denomination in the state. The first Jewish synagogue in the state was Temple Beth El, founded by twelve German Jewish families in Detroit in 1850.[34] Islam was introduced by immigrants from the Near East during the 20th century.[35]
The largest denomination by number of adherents, according to a survey in the year 2000, was the Roman Catholic Church with 2,019,926 parishioners. The largest Protestant denominations were the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod with 244,231 adherents; followed by the United Methodist Church with 222,269; and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America with 160,836 adherents. In the same survey, Jewish adherents in the state of Michigan were estimated at 110,000, and Muslims at 80,515.[36]
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated Michigan's 2004 gross state product at $372 billion.[37] Per capita personal income in 2003 was $31,178 and ranked twentieth in the nation. In May 2009, Michigan's unemployment rate rose to 14.1%,[38] the highest in the nation during the recession.
| Top Fortune Companies in Michigan for 2009 (ranked by revenues) with State and U.S. rankings. |
|||||
| State | Corporation | US | |||
| 1 | General Motors | 3 | |||
| 2 | Ford | 7 | |||
| 3 | DOW | 40 | |||
| 4 | Delphi | 83 | |||
| 5 | Whirlpool | 127 | |||
| 6 | Lear | 130 | |||
| 7 | Pulte Homes | 170 | |||
| 8 | TRW Automotive | 185 | |||
| 9 | Masco | 190 | |||
| 10 | Penske Automotive | 205 | |||
| 11 | Visteon | 219 | |||
| 12 | Kellogg | 232 | |||
| 13 | Arvin Meritor | 253 | |||
| 14 | DTE Energy | 279 | |||
| 15 | CMS Energy | 341 | |||
| 16 | Federal-Mogul | 361 | |||
| 17 | Autoliv | 376 | |||
| 18 | Kelly Services | 408 | |||
| 19 | Stryker | 422 | |||
| 20 | Auto-Owners | 444 | |||
| 21 | BorgWarner | 481 | |||
| 22 | Borders Group | 516 | |||
| 23 | American Axle | 618 | |||
| 24 | Tower Automotive | 668 | |||
| 25 | Steelcase | 670 | |||
| 26 | Universal Forest | 705 | |||
| 27 | Hayes-Lemmerz | 793 | |||
| 28 | Dura Automotive | 806 | |||
| 29 | Cooper Standard | 814 | |||
| 30 | Affinia Group | 816 | |||
| 31 | Spartan Stores | 846 | |||
| 32 | La-Z-Boy | 880 | |||
| 33 | Tecumseh | 920 | |||
| 34 | Herman Miller | 940 | |||
| See also: List of Michigan companies Source: Fortune [39] |
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Some of the major industries/products/services include automobiles, cereal products, pizza, information technology, aerospace, military equipment, copper, iron, and furniture. Michigan is the third leading grower of Christmas trees with 60,520 acres (245 km2) of land dedicated to Christmas tree farming.[40][41] The beverage Vernors was invented in Michigan in 1866, sharing the title of oldest soft drink with Hires Root Beer. Faygo was founded in Detroit on November 4, 1907. Two of the top four pizza chains were founded in Michigan and are headquartered there: Domino's Pizza by Tom Monaghan and Little Caesars Pizza by Mike Ilitch.
Michigan has experienced economic difficulties brought on by volatile stock market disruptions following the September 11, 2001 attacks. This caused a pension and benefit fund crisis for many American companies, including General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Since the early 2000s recession and the September 11, 2001 attacks, GM, Ford, and Chrysler have struggled to overcome the benefit funds crisis which followed an ensuing volatile stock market which had caused a severe underfunding condition in the respective U.S. pension and benefit funds (OPEB). Although manufacturing in the state grew 6.6% from 2001 to 2006,[15] the high speculative price of oil became a factor for the U.S. auto industry during the economic crisis of 2008 impacting industry revenues.
During this economic crisis, President George W. Bush extended loans from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) funds in order to help the GM and Chrysler bridge the recession.[42] In January 2009, President Barack Obama formed an automotive task force in order to help the industry recover and achieve renewed prosperity for the region. With retiree health care costs a significant issue,[43][44] General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler reached agreements with the United Auto Workers Union to transfer the liabilities for their respective health care and benefit funds to a 501(c)(9) Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association (VEBA). In spite of these efforts, the severity of the recession required Detroit's automakers to take additional steps to restructure, including idling many plants. With the U.S. Treasury extending the necessary debtor in possession financing, Chrysler and GM filled separate 'pre-packaged' Chapter 11 restructurings in May and June 2009 respectively.[45]
Michigan ranks fourth nationally in high tech employment with 568,000 high tech workers, which includes 70,000 in the automotive industry.[46] Michigan typically ranks third or fourth in overall Research & development (R&D) expenditures in the United States.[47][48] Its research and development, which includes automotive, comprises a higher percentage of the state's overall gross domestic product than for any other U.S. state.[49] The state is an important source of engineering job opportunities. The domestic auto industry accounts directly and indirectly for one of every ten jobs in the U.S.[50]
Michigan ranked second nationally in new corporate facilities and expansions in 2004. From 1997 to 2004, Michigan was listed as the only state to top the 10,000 mark for the number of major new developments;[15][51] however, the effects of the late 2000s recession have slowed the state's economy. In 2008, Michigan ranked third in a survey among the states for luring new business which measured capital investment and new job creation per one million population.[52] In August 2009, Michigan and Detroit's auto industry received $1.36 B in grants from the U.S. Department of Energy for the manufacture of electric vehicle technologies which is expected to generate 6,800 immediate jobs and employ 40,000 in the state by 2020.[53]
As leading research institutions, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University,and Wayne State University are important partners in the state's economy and the state's University Research Corridor.[54] Michigan's public university's attract more than $1.5 B in research and development grants each year.[55] The National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory is located at Michigan State University. Michigan's workforce is well-educated and highly skilled, making it attractive to companies. It has the third highest number of engineering graduates nationally.[56]
Detroit Metropolitan Airport is one of the nation's most recently expanded and modernized airports with six major runways, and large aircraft maintenance facilities capable of servicing and repairing a Boeing 747. Michigan's schools and colleges rank among the nation's best. The state has maintained its early commitment to public education. The state's infrastructure gives it a competitive edge; Michigan has 38 deep water ports.[57] In 2007, Bank of America announced that it would commit $25 billion to community development in Michigan following its acquisition of LaSalle Bank in Troy.[58]
Michigan's personal income tax is set to a flat rate of 4.35%. Some cities impose additional income taxes. Michigan's state sales tax is six percent. Property taxes are assessed on the local level, but every property owner's local assessment contributes six mills (six dollars per thousand dollars of property value) to the statutory State Education Tax. In 2007, Michigan repealed its Single Business Tax (SBT) and replaced it with a Michigan Business Tax (MBT) in order to stimulate job growth by reducing taxes for seventy percent of the businesses in the state.[59] According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, recent growth in Michigan is 0.1%.[60]
A wide variety of commodity crops, fruits, and vegetables are grown in Michigan, making it second only to California among U.S. states in the diversity of its agriculture.[61] Michigan is a leading grower of fruit, including blueberries, cherries, apples, grapes, and peaches.[62][63] These fruits are mainly grown in West Michigan. Michigan produces wines, beers and a multitude of processed food products. Kellogg's cereal is based out of Battle Creek, Michigan and processes many locally grown foods. Thornapple Valley, Ballpark Franks, Koegel's, and Hebrew National sausage companies are all based in Michigan.
Michigan is home to very fertile land in the Flint/Tri-Cities and "Thumb" areas. Products grown there are corn, sugar beets, navy beans, and soy beans. Sugar beet harvesting usually begins the first of October. It takes the sugar factories about five months to process the 3.7 million tons of sugarbeets into 970 million pounds of pure, white sugar.[64] Michigan's largest sugar refiner, Michigan Sugar Company[65] is the largest east of the Mississippi River and the fourth largest in the nation. Michigan Sugar brand names are Pioneer Sugar and the newly incorporated Big Chief Sugar. Potatoes are grown in Northern Michigan, and corn is dominant in Central Michigan. Michigan State University is dedicated to the study of agriculture.
Michigan has a thriving tourist industry. Visitors spend $17.5 billion per year in the state, supporting 193,000 tourism jobs.[66] Michigan's tourism website ranks among the busiest in the nation.[67] Destinations draw vacationers, hunters, and nature enthusiasts from across the United States and Canada. Michigan is fifty percent forest land, much of it quite remote. The forests, lakes and thousands of miles of beaches are top attractions. Event tourism draws large numbers to occasions like the Tulip Time Festival and the National Cherry Festival.
In 2006, the Michigan State Board of Education mandated that all public schools in the state hold their first day of school after the Labor Day holiday, in accordance with the new Post Labor Day School law. A survey found that 70% of all tourism business comes directly from Michigan residents, and the Michigan Hotel, Motel, & Resort Association claimed that the shorter summer in between school years cut into the annual tourism season in the state.[68]
Tourism in metropolitan Detroit draws visitors to leading attractions, particularly The Henry Ford, the Detroit Institute of Arts, and the Detroit Zoo, and to sports in Detroit. Other museums include the Detroit Historical Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, museums in the Cranbrook Educational Community, and the Arab American National Museum. The metro area offers four major casinos, MGM Grand Detroit, Greektown, Motor City, and Caesars Windsor in Windsor, Ontario, Canada; moreover, Detroit is the largest American city and metropolitan region to offer casino resorts.[69]
Hunting and fishing are significant industries in the state. Charter boats are based in many Great Lakes cities to fish for salmon, trout, walleye and perch. Michigan ranks first in the nation in licensed hunters (over one million) who contribute $2 billion annually to its economy. Over three-quarters of a million hunters participate in white-tailed deer season alone. Many school districts in rural areas of Michigan cancel school on the opening day of firearm deer season, because of attendance concerns.
Michigan's Department of Natural Resources manages the largest dedicated state forest system in the nation. The forest products industry and recreational users contribute $12 billion and 200,000 associated jobs annually to the state's economy. Public hiking and hunting access has also been secured in extensive commercial forests. The state has highest number of golf courses and registered snowmobiles in the nation.[70]
The state has numerous historical markers, which can themselves become the center of a tour.[71] The Great Lakes Circle Tour is a designated scenic road system connecting all of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.[72]
With its position in relation to the Great Lakes and the countless ships that have foundered over the many years in which they have been used as a transport route for people and bulk cargo, Michigan is a world-class scuba diving destination. The Michigan Underwater Preserves are 11 underwater areas where wrecks are protected for the benefit of sport divers.
Michigan has nine international crossings with Ontario, Canada:
Michigan is served by four Class I railroads: the Canadian National Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, CSX Transportation, and the Norfolk Southern Railway. These are augmented by several dozen short line railroads. The vast majority of rail service in Michigan is devoted to freight, with Amtrak and various scenic railroads the exceptions.[74]
Amtrak passenger rail services the state, connecting many southern and western Michigan cities to Chicago, Illinois. There are plans for commuter rail for Detroit and its suburbs (see SEMCOG Commuter Rail).[75][76][77]
Interstate 75 is the main thoroughfare between Detroit, Flint, and Saginaw extending north to Sault Sainte Marie and providing access to Sault Sainte Marie, Ontario. The expressway crosses the Mackinac Bridge between the Lower and Upper Peninsulas. Branching highways include I-275 and I-375 in Detroit; I-475 in Flint; and I-675 in Saginaw.
Interstate 69 enters the state near the Michigan-Ohio-Indiana border, and it extends to Port Huron and provides access to the Blue Water Bridge crossing into Sarnia, Ontario.
Interstate 94 enters the western end of the state at the Indiana border, and it travels east to Detroit and then northeast to Port Huron and ties in with I-69. I-194 branches off from this freeway in Battle Creek. I-94 is the main artery between Chicago, Illinois and Detroit.
Interstate 96 runs east-west between Detroit and Muskegon. I-496 loops through Lansing. I-196 branches off from this freeway at Grand Rapids and connects to I-94 near Benton Harbor. I-696 branches off from this freeway at Novi and connects to I-94 near St Clair Shores.
U.S. Route 2 enters Michigan at the city of Ironwood and runs east to the town of Crystal Falls, where it turns south and briefly re-enters Wisconsin northwest of Florence. It re-enters Michigan north of Iron Mountain and continues through the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to the cities of Escanaba, Manistique, and St. Ignace. Along the way, it cuts through the Ottawa and Hiawatha National Forests and follows the northern shore of Lake Michigan. Its eastern terminus lies at exit 344 of I-75, just north of the Mackinac Bridge. This is generally regarded as the main route through the Upper Peninsula, although some prefer to travel on M-28 as it tends to save time (U.S. 2 hugs the Lake Michigan shoreline for much of its length.)
Major bridges include the Ambassador Bridge, Blue Water Bridge, Mackinac Bridge, and International Bridge. Michigan also has the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel crossing into Canada.
The Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport is by far Michigan's busiest airport, followed by the Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids.
The largest municipalities in Michigan are (according to 2007 census estimates):
| Rank | City | Population | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Detroit | 916,952 |
|
| 2 | Grand Rapids | 193,627 | |
| 3 | Warren | 134,223 | |
| 4 | Sterling Heights | 127,349 | |
| 5 | Ann Arbor | 115,092 | |
| 6 | Lansing | 114,947 | |
| 7 | Flint | 114,662 | |
| 8 | Clinton Township | 96,253 | |
| 9 | Livonia | 93,931 | |
| 10 | Dearborn | 89,252 |
Other important cities include:
Half of the wealthiest communities in the state are located in Oakland County, just north of Detroit. Another wealthy community is located just east of the city, in Grosse Pointe. Only three of these cities are located outside of Metro Detroit. The city of Detroit itself, with a per capita income of $14,717, ranks 517th on the list of Michigan locations by per capita income. Benton Harbor is the poorest city in Michigan, with a per capita income of $8,965, while Barton Hills is the richest with a per capita income of $110,683.
Michigan's major-league sports teams include: Detroit Tigers baseball team, Detroit Lions football team, Detroit Red Wings ice hockey team, Detroit Pistons men's basketball team, and Grand Rapids Rampage Arena Football League team.
The Pistons played at Detroit's Cobo Arena until 1978 and at the Pontiac Silverdome until 1988 when they moved into the Palace of Auburn Hills. The Detroit Lions played at Tiger Stadium in Detroit until 1974, then moved to the Pontiac Silverdome where they played for 27 years between 1975-2002 before moving to Ford Field in 2002.The Detroit Tigers Played at Tiger Stadium (Detroit) (formerly known as Navin Field and Briggs Stadium) It hosted the Detroit Tigers Major League Baseball team from 1912 to 1999,In 2000 they moved to Comerica Park. The Red Wings played at Olympia Stadium before moving to Joe Louis Arena in 1979. The Rampage play at the Van Andel Arena in the heart of downtown Grand Rapids' entertainment district.
Ten-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams was born in Saginaw. Professional hockey got its start in Houghton, when the Portage Lakers were formed.
Other notable sports teams include:
|
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| Preceded by Arkansas |
List of U.S. states by date of statehood Admitted on January 26, 1837 (26th) |
Succeeded by Florida |
Coordinates: 44°20′N 85°35′W / 44.34°N 85.58°W
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MICHIGAN, a north central state of the United States, situated between latitudes 41° 44' and 47° 30' N.' and longitudes 82° 25' and 90 0 31' W., and consisting of two peninsulas - the upper or northern and the lower or southern - separated by a strait. The upper or northern peninsula is bounded N. by Lake Superior; E. by lakes Superior, George, Huron, and Michigan, and by St Mary's River, which separates it from the Province of Ontario, Canada; S. by lakes Huron and Michigan and the Straits of Mackinac, which separate it from the lower peninsula; and S. and W. by Wisconsin, and the Menominee, Montreal and Brule Rivers, which separate it in part from Wisconsin. The lower or southern peninsula is bounded N. by lakes Michigan and Huron and the Straits of Mackinac, E. by lakes Huron, St Clair and Erie, and the St Clair and Detroit Rivers, which separate it from Ontario; S. by Ohio and Indiana, and W. by Lake Michigan. In size Michigan ranks eighteenth among the states of the Union, its total area being 57,9 80 sq. m., of which Soo sq. m. are water surface?
Physical Features. - Physiographically the history of the state is similar to that of Minnesota. The northern part is rugged mountainous "old land," not completely worn down by erosion; and the southern part is a portion of the old coastal plain, whose layers contain salt, gypsum and some inferior coal. Lake Huron on the east and Lake Michigan on the west of the lower peninsula are each 5811 ft. above sea-level, and Lake Superior on the north of the upper peninsula is 602 ft. above sea-level. For the most part the surface of the state is gently undulating and at a slight elevation above the lakes, but low marsh lands are common to many sections; the north part of the lower peninsula is occupied by a plateau of considerable dimensions, and the north-west part of the upper peninsula is rugged with hills and mountains. Crossing the lower peninsula from Saginaw Bay west by south through the valleys of the Saginaw, Maple and Grand rivers, is a depression - the former channel of an old glacial river - in which elevations for a considerable area are less than loo ft. above the lakes. To the south-east of this depression a water-parting with summits varying from about 400 to 600 ft. above the lakes extendsfrom a point between Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron south by west to the south border of the state and beyond. The east slope descends quite rapidly to a low flat belt from 5 to 40 m. wide along the east border of the state south from Lake Huron. From Lake Huron to the south-east shore of Saginaw Bay a wide sandy beach is followed northward by precipitous shores abounding in rocks and bluffs. West of the divide and south of the depression, south-west Michigan is occupied by the valleys of the St Joseph, Kalamazoo and Grand rivers, by the gently rolling uplands that form the parting divides between them, and by sand dunes, which here and there rise to a height of from loo to zoo ft. or more along the shore of Lake Michigan, and are formed on this side (but not on the Wisconsin side) of the lake by the prevailing west winds. The north and north-west portions of the lower peninsula - including the counties of Roscommon and Missaukee, parts of Wexford and Ogemaw, and those to the north and northwest of these - are occupied by a rolling plateau which attains an elevation at its highest point, north of its centre, of upwards of 1100 ft. above Lake Michigan; to the south of this plateau the land slopes gently down to the depression and to the low shores of Lake Michigan and Saginaw Bay. The surface of the upper 1 This is the northernmost point of the mainland; the most northerly of the islands north-east of Isle Royal and belonging to Michigan is more than 40' further north.
z In addition, within the boundaries of Michigan, are approximately 16,653 sq. m. of Lake Superior, 12,992 sq. m. of Lake Michigan, 9925 sq. m. of Lake Huron and 460 sq. m. of lakes St Clair and Erie.
peninsula is more irregular than that of the lower peninsula. A portion extending through the middle from east to west and south, from west of the centre to Green Bay, is either flat and even swampy or only gently undulating. Eastward from Green Bay are two ranges of hills: the one lining the south shore and ranging from ioo to 300 ft. in height, the other close to or touching the north shore and reaching in places an elevation of 600 ft. above Lake Superior. The famous Pictured Rocks in Alger county on the lake shore, east of Munising, form the west portion of this north range; they are of sandstone formation, extend for several miles along the coast, rise almost perpendicularly from the water's edge, and display an interesting diversity of shapes as well as a great variety of tints and hues, especially of gray, blue, green and yellow. The most rugged portion of the state is farther west. South and south-east of Keweenaw Bay, in the Marquette iron district, is an irregular area of mountains, hills, swamps and lakes, some of the mountain peaks of the Huron Mountains (in Marquette county) rising to an elevation of 1400 ft. or more above the lake. These and a peak in the Porcupine Mountains (2023 ft. above the sea) in the north-west part of Ontonagon county are the highest in the state. To the south of this is the Menominee iron district, marked somewhat regularly by east and west ridges. Extending in a general north-east and south-west direction through Keweenaw peninsula to the Wisconsin border and beyond is the middle of three approximately parallel ranges, separated from each other by flat lands, with here and there an isolated peak (in the Porcupine Mountains) having an elevation of from 900 to 1400 ft. above the lake. The north portion of these ranges, together with Isle Royale some distance farther north, which is itself traversed by several less elevated parallel ridges, contains the Michigan copperbearing rocks; while to the south, along the Wisconsin border, is another iron district, the Gogebic. The rivers of the entire state consist of numerous small streams of clear water. In the interior of the upper peninsula, along the east border of the lower peninsula south from Lake Huron, and in Saginaw valley, they are rather sluggish; but many of the larger streams of the lower peninsula have sufficient fall to furnish a large amount of water-power, while the small streams that flow into Lake Superior from the central portion of the upper peninsula as well as some of the larger ones farther west, have several falls and rapids; in places also they are lined with steep, high banks. Most of the larger rivers of the state - the Muskegon, Grand, St Joseph, Manistee and Kalamazoo - are in the west portion of the lower peninsula. Several thousand lakes of clear water, formed by glacial action, dot the surface of the state, and many of them are lined with picturesque woodland shores. Islands in lakes Superior, Michigan and Huron are scarcely less numerous.
Fauna and Flora. - Michigan, especially the north portion, still abounds in game. The mammals include black bear, deer, lynx, porcupine, fox, squirrels, hares, rabbits, musk rats, minks, weasels, skunks and woodchucks. Among the game birds are quails ("Bob White"), "partridges" (ruffed grouse), ducks, geese, woodcocks, snipes and plovers. Of song birds the favourites are the robin, thrushes, bobolink, oriole, chickadee, meadow-lark, cat-bird, bluebird, wrens and warblers. Among fishes, white fish, lake trout, perch, herring, sun-fish, bass, sturgeon, pickerel, suckers, German carp and fresh-water drum abound in the lakes. The speckled trout thrives in many of the streams.
Before it was settled by the whites the area now included in Michigan was a forest, except in the south-west, where there were a few small prairies, possibly cleared by the Indians. The remainder of the south part of this area for about 60 m. along the southern boundary was a part of the great hardwood forest of the Ohio Basin with woods varying with soil and drainage: on the drier gravel lands were oak forests consisting of red, black and white oak, hickory, ash, cherry, basswood and walnut; in depressions there were maple, elm, ash, beech, sycamore, poplar and willow; and in the sontheast there were a few chestnuts and tulip trees. North of this southern hardwood forest there were pine forests on the sandier land, mixed hardwoods and conifers on the loam and clay, and tamaracks and cedar in the swamps. The sandy lands were in part burnt over by Indians, and there was a growth of scrub oak, aspens and huckleberry bushes. The tamarack and cedar swamps now have a growth, especially on their edges, of spruce, balsam, white pine, soft maple, ash and aspens. In 1909 about 25% of the area was "cut over" or "burned over" lands, mostly the old pine woods, the region of the old hardwood forest was almost entirely farmland, and about 40% of the state was still in woods. Red oak, birch, elm, ash, white cedar, hemlock, basswood, spruce, poplar, balsam, fir and several other kinds of trees are found in many sections; but a large portion of the merchantable timber, especially in the lower peninsula, has been cut.' Among forest shrubs are the willow, hazel, alder, shrub maple, birch, hawthorn, dogwood, elderberry, viburnum and snowberry. Yews are common in the north, and dwarf juniper in the south. In 1900 the woodland area, including stump lands, was estimated at 38,000 sq. m., or nearly two-thirds of the entire state. Huckleberry, blackberry and raspberry bushes are common in the north sections. Smilax, clematis, honeysuckle and woodbine are the commoner forest vines.
' Under the revised constitution of 1908 the legislature is authorized to provide for the reforestation of state lands.
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The soil of south-west and south-east Michigan is for the most part a dark clay loam or muck; in the north central part of the lower peninsula it is a light sandy loam, along the Huron shore it is heavy with blue clay, in the mining districts of the north-west the rocks are usually either barren or very thinly covered; and elsewhere in the state the soil is generally rich in a variety of mineral elements, and varies chiefly in the proportions of vegetable loam, sand or gravel, and clay.
Although the temperature of the entire lower peninsula is considerably influenced by the lakes, yet, the prevailing winds being westerly, it is in the west portion of that peninsula that the moderation is greatest, both the summer and winter isotherms being there deflected more than half the length of the peninsula. On the other hand, the prevailing winds of the upper peninsula being northwesterly, the lakes have little effect on the temperature there; and so, while in the south-west the extremes are not great, in the rest of the state they have ranged within two years from 104° F. at points in the south-east to 49° F. in the north-west. Throughout the state July is invariably the warmest month, February the coldest, the mean annual temperature is about, 45° F. The mean annual precipitation is not far from 31 in., a little more than one-half of which falls during the five growing months from May to October; the rain is evenly distributed over all parts of the state, but the snow is exceptionally heavy along the north shore of the upper peninsula.
Of the total land surface of the state in 1900 48 08% (in 1904, 47' I %) was included in farms and 67.2% (in 1904, 66.9%) of the farm land was improved; the total number of farms was 203,261 (in 1904, 189,167), of which 143,688 contained less than 100 acres, 54,556 others contained less than 260 acres, and 136 contained 1000 acres or more, the average size being 86' 4 acres (in 1904, 91 5 acres). Of the total number of farms 168,814 were operated by the owners (in 1904, 161,037 by owners and 914 by managers), 22,482 (in 1904, 19,525) by share tenants, 973 1 (in 1904, 7685) by cash tenants; and 312,462 of the inhabitants of the state, or 34 5% of all who were engaged in gainful occupations, were farmers. Of the total acreage in 1900 of all crops 58' 3% was in cereals and 28'8% in hay and forage; of the acreage of cereals 40' 8% was in wheat, 31 8% in Indian corn, 21 6% in oats and 3.7% in rye. In 1907 the buckwheat crop was 852,000 bushels; rye, 545 2, 000 bushels; the hay crop, 3,246,000 tons; oats, 30,534,000 bushels; barley, 1,496,000 bushels; wheat 12,731,000 bushels; and Indian corn 57,190,000 bushels. Of livestock, sheep are the most numerous (2,130,000 in 1907), and Michigan's wool clip in 1907 was 14,080,500 lb. The number of neat cattle in 1907 was 1,852,000 (849,000 dairy cows). The number of hogs was 1,388,000; and of horses 704,000.
Michigan produces the bulk of the peppermint crop of the United States, and it is in the front rank as a fruit-producing state. Barley and buckwheat are grown chiefly in the east part of the lower peninsula south of Saginaw Bay. Potatoes are grown in considerable quantities in the north-west part of the lower peninsula in the vicinity of Grand Traverse Bay as well as throughout the southern portion of the state; the largest crops of beans are grown in the south central part of the lower peninsula, and of peas in the counties bordering on Lake Huron. Kalamazoo, Jackson, Washtenaw, Lenawee, Ingham, Bay and Muskegon are the leading celery-producing counties; the peppermint district is in the south-west corner of the state; and market gardening is an important industry both in the south-west and in the south-east counties. All the principal fruits are grown in largest quantities in what is commonly known as the fruit belt in the south-west, particularly in Berrien, the corner county.
The fresh-water fish caught in the Great Lakes by residents in Michigan exceed in value those caught by residents of other states, and in 1907 the catch was valued at $1,806,767. Nearly one-half both in quantity and value are taken from Lake Michigan, and, although as many as twenty kinds are caught in considerable quantities, more than 90% of the value of the catch consists of trout, herring, white fish and perch. Both the state government and the national government have established hatcheries within the state, and state laws protect the industry by regulating the size of mesh in the nets used, prescribing the size of fish that may be taken and kept, establishing close seasons for several kinds of fish, and by other limitations.
Of the mineral products (for which the state is noted) iron is the most valuable. This mineral was discovered in the Marquette district along the shore of Lake Superior early in the 18th century, but active operations for mining it did not begin until 1845; in 1877 mining of the same mineral began farther south in the Menominee district, and seven years later farther west along the Wisconsin border in Gogebic county. The annual product steadily increased from 3000 long tons in 1854 to 11,830,342 in 1907; from 1890 to 1901 Michigan ranked first in the union as an ironproducing state, but after 1901 its product was exceeded by that of Minnesota. Up to 1909 it was estimated that 380,417,085 tons of ore were shipped from the Lake Superior region. Next in value among the mineral products is copper; there are about twenty copper mines in Keweenaw peninsula and its vicinity. The Calumet and Hecla mine, in the central part of that peninsula, is probably the most profitable copper mine in the world; up to 1909 it had paid about $107,850,000 in dividends. Copper mining in the state began about the same time as iron mining, and the quantity mined increased from 12 long tons in 1845 to 102,543 in 1906 (in 1907, 97,175 long tons). From 1847 to 1887 the product of Michigan exceeded that of any other state; from 1847 to 1883 its copper product was more than one-half that of all the states, but after 1887 (except in 1891) more of that mineral was mined in Montana than in Michigan, and in 1906 and in 1907 the yield in both Arizona and Montana was greater than in Michigan. Fields of bituminous coal extend over an area of over 10,000 sq. m. in the central portion of the lower peninsula; but its quality is inferior. The mining of coal began in Jackson county in 1835 and there was a slow increase in the output until 1882 (135,339 short tons); then there was a tendency to decrease until 1897, from which time the product increased from 223,592 short tons to 2,035,858 short tons in 1907. The principal mines are in Saginaw, Bay, Eaton, Jackson, Huron and Shiawassee counties. Salt wells are numerous in the middle and south-east sections of the lower peninsula; the first successful one was drilled in Saginaw county in 1859 and 1860. For a number of years prior to 1893 Michigan was the leading salt-producing state, and, though her output was subsequently (except in 1901) exceeded by that of New York, it continued to increase up to 1905, when it was 9,492,173 barrels; in 1907, the product was 10,786,630 barrels. Gypsum is obtained from deposits along the banks of the Grand river in Kent county and in the vicinity of Alabaster along the shore of Lake Huron in Iosco county. Operations on the deposit near Grand Rapids were begun in 1841, and although that near Alabaster was opened in 1862, it was not until 1902 that it became of much importance; in that year the output of the state was 208,563 short tons; in 1907 317,261 short tons were mined. Marl is found in the south part of the state; limestone most largely in the north part of the lower peninsula, and the east part of the upper peninsula; and the production of Portland cement increased rapidly from 77,000 barrels in 1898 to 3,572,668 in 1907. Besides limestones and dolomites, the only building stone of much commercial importance is the Potsdam sandstone, extensive beds of which lie in the north part of the upper peninsula. Grindstones are produced in considerable quantity in Huron county. A small quantity of petroleum is obtained from thirteen wells in St Clair county in the east part of the lower peninsula; and the mineral waters at Mount Clemens, Benton Harbor and Alma are of considerable commercial value for medicinal purposes.
In 1900 the value of the manufactured products of Michigan amounted to $356,944,082, which was an increase of 28.4% over that of 1890, and by 1904 there was a further increase of 20.19%. 1 During the same period, however, the value of the products of the lumber and timber industry, which in 1870, 1880 and 1890 was greater than that of any other state, and in 1900 was still more than twice as great as that of the products of any other manufacturing industry in the state and was exceeded only by that of the product of Wisconsin, decreased from $83,121,969 in 1890 to $53,9 1 5, 6 47 (35.1%) in 1900, and to $40,569,335 in 1904, this decrease being due to the fact that the large quantities of raw material (both hard wood and pine) formerly found in the forests of Michigan had become so far exhausted that much of it had to be brought in from other states and from Canada. The value of the products of the furniture factories and of the planing mills, nevertheless, has steadily increased; that of the furniture factories (of which Grand Rapids is the leading centre not only in Michigan but in the United States) rising from $10,767,038 in 1890 to $14,614,506 in 1900 and $18,421,735 in 1904, and that of the planing mills from $10,007,603 in 1890 to $12,469,532 in 1900 and $14,375,467 in 1904. The total value of the lumber and timber products, the furniture products, and the planing-mill products amounted in 1900 to $80,999,685; the value of those manufactures based upon minerals mined or quarried amounted in the same year to $83,730,930.
Another important class of manufactures is that based on agriculture: the value of flour and grist mill products amounted to $ 21, 6 43,547 in 1900, and $26,512,027 in 1904; that of food preparations, for which Battle Creek is noted, to $1,891,516 in 1900 and $ 6 ,753, 6 99 in 1904; that of agricultural implements to $6,339,508 in 1900 and $8,719,719 in 1904; and of malt liquors to $5,296,825 in 1900 and $6,999,251 in 1904.
Among other manufactures in which the state ranks high and in which there was a large increase in value during the same period 1 The 1904 census, taken by the Federal Bureau of the Census in co-operation with the secretary of state of Michigan, covered the year ending on the 30th of June 1904, and is thus not strictly comparable with the "1905" census of manufactures for other states, which were for the year ending on the 31st of December 1904. But like the special census of manufactures in other states, it is confined to establishments under the factory system, and hence its figures are considerably less than they would have been had it been taken on the same basis as that of the 1900 census, which included hand trades and other custom work; for example, on the basis of the 1904 census the value of the manufactured products in 1900 was only $319,691,856, and as that of 1904 was $429,120,060, the real increase was 34.2% instead of 20.19%. In the above text from this point the statistics given for 1900 are for factory products only.
are: leather, carriages and waggons, chemicals, paper and wood pulp and beet sugar. In 1904 Michigan manufactured automobiles valued at $6,876,708.
The ten leading manufacturing centres are, in the order of the value of their products in 1904 Detroit, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Battle Creek, Saginaw, Jackson, Lansing, Muskegon, Bay City and Port Huron, all in the south half of the lower peninsula.
The building of railways in Michigan began in 1830, but little progress had been made in 1837 when the state began the construction of three railways and two canals across the south half of the lower peninsula. The Michigan Central was completed from Detroit to Ypsilanti in January 1838, a portion of the Michigan Southern was in operation in November 1840, and considerable work was done on the proposed Michigan Northern and the two canals. By 1846, however, the state had proved itself incompetent to carry on the work and sold its interests to private companies. In 1850 there were 342 m. completed, and from then until 1880 the mileage increased to 3938; but the great period of railway building in Michigan was in the decade from 1880 to 1890, when the mileage was increased to 7108.48. By the close of 1908 it had further increased to 8629.35. The principal lines are the Michigan Central, the Pere Marquette, the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, the Grand Rapids & Indiana, the Ann Arbor, the Grand Trunk, the Chicago & North-Western, the Duluth South Shore & Atlantic, the Minneapolis, St Paul & Sault Ste. Marie, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul. A board of railway commissioners, which in 1907 succeeded a commissioner (whose office was created in 1873) hears complaints, has power to issue various orders and permits of minor importance to railway companies, and reports annually to the governor. 2 The legislature is empowered to appoint a commission to fix transportation rates for railways and express companies. Besides railway communication Michigan has a coast line of about 1600 m., along which vessels of 2000 tons can sail and find several good harbours, the water communication having been extended and improved by several canals, among which are the Sault Ste. Marie, which passes the rapids of St Mary's River; the St Clair Flats, at the north end of Lake St Clair, by which a deeper channel is made through shallow water; and the Portage Lake, in the copper district, which connects that lake with Lake Superior. The state undertook to construct that at Sault Ste. Marie in 1837 but little had been accomplished in 1852 when the national government granted 750,000 acres of land to the state in aid of the enterprise, and three years after that the canal was completed. Since its completion, the national government has enlarged its locks so as to make it navigable for vessels drawing 21 ft. of water. The national government constructed the canal at the St Clair Flats in 1871 and contributed land for aid in the construction of that connecting lakes Portage and Superior, which was completed in 1873 and passed under national control in 1891.
The population of Michigan in 1880 was 1,636,937; in 1890 it was 2,093,889, an increase of 27.9% within the decade; in 1900 it was 2,420,982, a further increase of 15.6% and in 1910, according to the preliminary returns of the U.S. census, it was 2,810,173. Of the total population in 1900, 2,398, 563 or 99.07% were whites, 15,861 were negroes, 6 354 were Indians, 240 were Chinese, and 9 were Japanese. 1,879,329 or 77.6% were native born and 541,653 were foreignborn, 184,398 of the foreign-born being natives of Canada (151,915 English; 32,483 French), 125,074 of Germany, 43,839 of England, and 30,406 of Holland. In 1906 982,479 communicants of different denominations were reported: of these 492,135 were Roman Catholics, 128,675 Methodists, 105,803 Lutherans, 50,136 Baptists, 37,900 Presbyterians, 28,345 members of Reformed bodies, and 26,349 members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1900 39.3% of the total population lived in places having at least 2500 inhabitants.
The constitution under which Michigan is now governed was first adopted in 1850, when it was felt that the powers which the first one, that of 1835, conferred upon the executive and the legislature were too unrestricted. In 1908 it was revised, and many changes were made.
The constitution admits of amendment by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members of each house of the legislature, followed at the next succeeding spring or autumn election by an affirmative vote of a majority of the electors voting upon the question; or an amendment may be proposed by an initiative petition signed by more than 20% of the total number of electors who voted for secretary of state at the preceding election, and such an amendment (unless disapproved by a majority vote in a joint meeting of the two houses of the legislature) is submitted to popular 2 In 1909 telegraph and telephone companies were put under the supervision of the same board.
vote at the next election and comes into effect only if it receives a favourable majority of the popular vote. Amendments suggested by the legislature have been frequently adopted, and one, adopted in 1862, provided that the question of a general revision of the constitution shall be submitted to a popular vote once every sixteen years and at such other times as may be provided by law. When this question was so submitted for the first time, in 1866, the vote was to revise; but the revision prepared by a convention called for the purpose was rejected at the polls The revision by the Constitutional Convention of1907-1908was adopted by popular vote in 1908.
In its present form the constitution confers suffrage upon every male citizen of the United States who is twenty-one years of age or over and has resided in the state six months and in his township or ward twenty days immediately preceding an election; and any woman may vote in an election involving the direct expenditure of public money or the issue of bonds if she have the qualifications of male electors and if she have property assessed for taxes in any part of the district or territory affected by the election in question. At the head of the executive department is the governor, who is elected for two years, and who at the time of his election must be at least thirty years of age and must have been for five years a citizen of the United States, and for the two years immediately preceding a resident of the state. A lieutenant-governor, for whom the same qualifications are prescribed, is elected at the same time for the same term. Under the first constitution the secretary of state, treasurer, auditor-general, attorney-general, commissioner of the land office, superintendent of public instruction and the judges were all appointed by the governor, but under the present one they are elected and only minor officers are appointed. In 1893 the legislature created a board of four members to be appointed by the governor, one of whom must be a physician, another an attorney, and made it its duty to investigate the case of every convict for whom a petition for pardon is received and then report and recommend to the governor what it deem expedient. The governor's salary is fixed by the revised constitution of 1908 at $5000 a year. The lieutenant-governor succeeds the governor in case of vacancy, and next in order of succession comes the secretary of state.
The legislature, consisting of a Senate of 32 members, and a House of Representatives of ioo members (according to the constitution not less than 64 and not more than ioo), meets biennially, in odd-numbered years, at Lansing. Both senators and representatives are elected for a term of two years by single districts, except that a township or city which is entitled by its population to more than one representative elects its representatives on a general ticket. Beginning in 1913 and at each subsequent tenth year, the legislature, under the revised constitution of 1908, rearranges the senatorial districts and reapportions the representatives among the counties and districts, using as a basis the returns of the next preceding decennial census; the taking of a state census between the decennial periods is discontinued.
No bill can pass either house except by an affirmative vote of a majority of the members elected to that house, and on its third reading the ayes and noes must be taken and recorded; for appropriation bills a two-thirds majority of all members elected to each house is required. All legislation must be by bill, legislation by joint and concurrent resolutions thus being prevented. No bill may be passed at a regular session until it has been printed and in possession of each house for five days; no bill may be passed at a special session on any subject not expressly stated in the governor's proclamation or submitted by special message. The governor has ten days (Sundays not being counted) in which to exercise his veto power (which may be applied to any item or items of any bill making appropriations of money and embracing distinct items), and an affirmative vote in each house of two-thirds of the members elected is required to pass a bill over his veto. Under the revised constitution of 1908 any bill passed by the legislature and approved by the governor, except appropriation bills, may be referred by the legislature to the qualified electors; and no bill so referred shall become law unless approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon; no local or special act, passed by the legislature, takes effect until it is approved by a majority vote of the electors in the affected district.
The administration of justice is entrusted to a supreme court, a continually increasing number of circuit courts (thirty-eight in 1909), one probate court in each county, and not exceeding four justices of the peace in each township. The supreme court is composed of one chief justice and seven associate justices, all elected for a term of ten years, not more than two retiring every two years; it holds four sessions annually, exercises a general control over the inferior courts, may issue, hear and determine any of the more important writs, and has appellate jurisdiction only in all other important cases. There is only one circuit court judge for a circuit, unless the legislature provides for the election of more; the term of office is six years. Circuit court judges have original jurisdiction in most matters civil and criminal, hear appeals from the lower courts, and must hold at least four sessions annually in each county of the circuit. Each county elects a judge of probate for a term of four years; he has original concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit court in matters of probate, and has original jurisdiction in all cases of juvenile delinquents and dependents. The legislature may provide for the election of more than one judge of probate in a county with more than ioo,000 inhabitants. Justices of the peace are elected by the townships for a term of four years - there are not more than four in each township; in civil matters they have exclusive jurisdiction of cases in which the demand does not exceed $loo and concurrent jurisdiction with the circuit courts in contract cases in which the demand does not exceed $300.
For purposes of local government the state is divided into eighty-three counties, each of which is in turn divided regularly by N. and S. and E. and W. lines into several townships. In the more sparsely inhabited counties of the upper peninsula and in the N.E. section of the lower peninsula the townships are much larger than in other parts of the state. The officers of the township are a supervisor, clerk, treasurer, highwaycommissioner, one overseer of highways for each highway district, a justice of the peace, and not more than four constables, all of whom are elected at the annual township meeting in April. The supervisor, two of the justices of the peace and the clerk constitute the township board, whose duty it is to settle claims against the township, audit accounts, and publish annually an itemized statement of receipts and disbursements. The supervisor is also the township assessor, and the several township supervisors constitute the county board of supervisors who equalize property valuations as between townships, authorize townships to borrow money with which to build or repair bridges, are entrusted with the care and management of the property and business of the county, and may borrow or raise by tax what is necessary to meet the more common expenses of the county. Other county officers are a treasurer, clerk, sheriff, register of deeds, attorney, surveyor and two coroners, each elected for a term of two years, a school commissioner elected for a term of four years, and one or more notaries public appointed by the governor.
Under the revised constitution of 1908 the former classification of cities into four classes and the practice of granting special charters were abolished, and the legislature is required to provide by general laws for the incorporation of cities and villages; "such general laws shall limit their rate of taxation for municipal purposes and restrict their powers of borrowing money and contracting debts." Cities and villages are permitted - upon authorization by the affirmative vote of three-fifths of the electors voting on the question - to own and operate, even outside their corporate limits, public utilities for supplying water, light, heat, power and transportation, and may sell and deliver, outside their corporate limits, water, heat, power and light to an amount not more than one-fourth that furnished by them in each case within their corporate limits; but no city or village of less than 25,000 inhabitants may own or operate' transportation facilities. Under the revision of 1908 corporate franchises cannot be granted for a longer term than thirty years.
A wife in Michigan has the same right to her property acquired either before or after marriage as she would have if single, except that she cannot under ordinary circumstances give, grant or sell it to another without her husband's consent. Grounds for a divorce are adultery, physical incapacity at the time of marriage, sentence to imprisonment for three years or more, desertion for two years, habitual drunkenness, extreme cruelty, or, in case of the wife, refusal of the husband to provide for her maintenance when sufficiently able to do so; but in case the parties were married outside of Michigan the party seeking the divorce must reside within the state at least one year before petitioning for the same. An insolvent debtor's homestead - consisting of not more than 40 acres of land with a house thereon, or a house and lot in a city or village not exceeding $1500 in value, together with not less than $500 of his personal property - is exempt from execution. For several years previous to 1876 a clause of the constitution prohibited the sale of intoxicating liquors within the state. Since then the whole liquor business has been subjected to a heavy tax, and since 1887 the prohibition of it has been left to the option of each of the several counties. A state court of mediation and arbitration, consisting of three members appointed by the governor with the consent of the senate, was created in 1889 to inquire into the cause of grievances threatening or resulting in any strike or lock-out and to endeavour to effect a settlement.
The state supports the Michigan Asylum for the Insane (opened 1859), at Kalamazoo; the Eastern Michigan Asylum for the Insane (opened 1878), at Pontiac; the Northern Michigan Asylum for the Insane (opened 1885), at Traverse City; the Michigan Asylum for the Dangerous and Criminal Insane (established 1885), at Ionia; the Upper Peninsula Hospital for the Insane, at Newberry; a Psychopathic Hospital (established 1907), at Ann Arbor; a State Sanatorium (established 1905), at Howell; the Michigan State Prison (established 1839), at Jackson; the Michigan Reformatory (established 1887), at Ionia; the State House of Correction and Branch Prison (established 1885), at Marquette; the Industrial School for Boys, at Lansing; the Industrial Home for Girls (established 1879), near Adrian; the State Public School (opened 1874), at Coldwater, a temporary home for dependent children until homes in families can be found for them; the School for the Deaf (established 1854), at Flint; the School for the Blind, at Lansing; an Employment Institution for the Blind (established 1903), at Saginaw; the Home for the Feeble Minded and Epileptic (established 1893), at Lapeer; and the Michigan Soldiers' Home (established 1885), at Grand Rapids. Each of these institutions is under the control of a board of three or more members appointed by the governor with the approval of the Senate, and at the head of the department is the State Board of Corrections and Charities, consisting of the governor and four other members appointed by him, with the approval of the Senate, for a term of eight years, one retiring every two years. This board is required to visit each of the institutions at least once a year to ascertain its condition and needs, and all proposed appropriations for their support, plans of buildings, proposed systems of sewerage, ventilation and heating must be submitted to it.
Michigan was a pioneer state in creating the American educational system; she began the organization of it at the time of her admission into the Union in 1837, and has since been noted for the high standard of her schools. Each township operating under the District Act has two school inspectors - one being elected at each town meeting for a term of two years - who with the township clerk constitute the township board of school inspectors, and to this board is given authority to divide the township into school districts and to exercise a general supervision over the several schools within their jurisdiction; a township may be organized as a single district, called a "township unit district." The qualified electors of each district having an ungraded school elect a moderator, a director and a treasurer - one at each annual school meeting - for a term of three years, who constitute the district school board, and this board is entrusted with ample power for directing the affairs of the school. In a district having more than loo children of school age a graded school under the control of five trustees is formed whenever two-thirds of the electors vote for it at a town meeting, and the trustees of a graded school may establish a high school whenever a majority of the electors authorize them to do so. A high school may also be established in any township in which there is no incorporated village or city if when the question is submitted to the electors of that township a majority of the votes cast are in the affirmative. Each county has a county school commissioner, elected for a term of four years, who exercises a general supervision over the schools within his jurisdiction, and a board of examiners, consisting of three members (including the commissioner) and appointed by the several boards of county supervisors, from whom teachers receive certificates. Finally, at the head of all the public elementary and secondary schools of the state is the state superintendent of public instruction, elected for a term of two years; he is ex officio a member and secretary of the state board of education, and a member, with the right to speak but not to vote, of all other boards having control of public instruction in any state institution. In every district having as many as Soo children between the ages of five and twenty the state requires that the school be taught not less than nine months a year; and a compulsory education law requires the attendance of all children between the ages of eight and fifteen for four months each year, in cities all between the same ages for the full school year, and between the ages of seven and sixteen if found frequenting public places without lawful occupation.
The higher state institutions of learning consist of a university, to which graduates of high schools on an accredited list are admitted without examination, four normal schools, an agricultural college, and a school of mines. The university (at Ann Arbor) was established in 1837, and is under the control of a board of regents elected by the people for a term of eight years, two every two years; the president of the institution and the superintendent of public instruction are members of the board but without the right to vote. The state normal schools are: the Michigan State Normal College at Ypsilanti (organized in 1849); the Central Michigan Normal School at Mount Pleasant (established in 1895); the Northern State Normal School at Marquette (established in 1899); and the Western State Normal School at Kalamazoo (established in 1904). All of them are under the state board of education, which consists of the state superintendent of public instruction and three other members elected, one every two years, for a term of six years. The agricultural college, at East Lansing, 3 m. east of Lansing, is the oldest in the United States; it was provided for by the state constitution of 1850, organized in 18J5 and opened in 1857, and is under the control of the state board of agriculture, consisting of the president of the college and six other members elected by popular vote for a term of six years, two every two years. The college of mines, at Houghton, was established in 1885 and is under the control of a board of six members appointed by the governor with the approval of the Senate, two every two years. In 1908 it had 35 instructors, 253 students, and a library of 22,000 volumes. Other important institutions of learning within the state but not maintained by it are: Albion College (Methodist Episcopal; opened in 1843), at Albion; Hillsdale College (Free Baptist, 1855), at Hillsdale; Kalamazoo College (Baptist, 1855), at Kalamazoo; Adrian College (controlled by the Methodist Protestant Church since 1867), at Adrian; Olivet College (Congregational, 1859), at Olivet; Hope College (Reformed, 1866), at Holland; Detroit College (Roman Catholic, 1877), at Detroit; Alma College (Presbyterian; incorporated 1886), at Alma; and some professional schools at Detroit (q.v.).
The revenue of the state is derived almost wholly from taxes, about 87% from a direct or general property tax and the rest from various specific or indirect taxes, such as the liquor tax and the inheritance tax. The direct tax, other than that on the property of corporations, is assessed by the township supervisors, or, in cities and incorporated villages by the officer named in the charter for that service, on what is supposed to be the full cash value of the property. The assessment roll thus prepared is reviewed by a local board of review; an equalization between the assessing districts in a county is made annually by the county board of supervisors, and between the counties in the state every five years (and at such other times as the legislature may direct) by the state board of equalization, which is composed of the lieutenant-governor, auditor-general, secretary of state, treasurer, and commissioner of the land office. But at the head of the whole taxing system is the board of state tax commissioners and ex officio state board of assessors, consisting of three members appointed by the governor with the approval of the senate for a term of six years. It exercises a general supervision over all other taxing officers and is itself the assessor of the property of railroads, express companies and certain car companies. Mainly through the efficiency of this board the assessed value of the taxable property of the state was increased from $968,189,087 in 1899 to $1,418,251,858 in 1902, or 46.4%, and the taxes levied on railways, which had hitherto been assessed on their gross earnings, were increased from $1,483,907 in 1901 to $3,288,162 in 1902, or 121 6%. In entering upon the work of public improvements in 1837 the state borrowed $5,200,000, and the greater portion of the bonds were sold to the Morris Canal and Banking Company and to the Pennsylvania United States Bank, both of which failed when they had only in part paid for the bonds. About this time it was seen that the cost of the improvements undertaken would be much greater than the original estimate and that several of them were impracticable. The difficulty of meeting the interest as it became due soon threatened to be insurmountable, but the state finally sold the improvements made and came out of the experience with good credit although with a large debt - about two and a half millions of dollars. This was further increased during the Civil War, but after the close of that war it was rapidly diminished and finally was extinguished in the last decade of the century. The present constitution (as revised in 1908) forbids the contraction of a state debt exceeding $250,000 except for repelling an invasion or suppressing an insurrection, and the borrowing power of the minor civil divisions is restricted by a general law.
The early experience of the state with banks was scarcely less serious than that with public improvements. Although there were already fifteen banks in the state in 1837 yet the cry against monopoly was loud, and so in that year a general banking law was passed whereby any ten or more freeholders might establish a bank with a capital of not less than fifty thousand nor more than three hundred thousand dollars and begin business as soon as 30% of the capital was paid in in specie. Only a few provisions were made, and those ineffectual, for the protection of the public: later in the same year the legislature passed an act for the suspension of specie payments until the 6th of May 1838, and the consequence was that the state was flooded with irredeemable paper currency. But most of the "wild cat" banks had passed out of existence by 1839, and in 1844 the bank act of 1837 was declared unconstitutional. Profiting by this experience, the framers of the constitution of 1850 inserted a provision in that document whereby no general banking law can have effect until it has been submitted to the people and has been approved by a majority of the votes cast on the question. This provision is included in the revised constitution adopted in 1908, with an additional provision that no amendment shall be made to any banking law unless it shall receive an affirmative two-thirds vote of both branches of the legislature. The present banking law provides that the capital stock of a state bank shall be not less than $20,000 in a city of not more than 1500 inhabitants, not less than $25,000 in a city of not more than 5000, not less than $50,000 in a city of between 5000 and 20,000, not less than $100,000 in a city of between 20,000 and 110,000, and not less than $250,000 in all larger cities. Commercial banks and savings banks are required to keep on hand at least 15% of their total deposits. Every stockholder in a bank is made individually liable to the amount of his stock at its par value in addition to the said stock. And all banks are subject to the inspection and supervision of the commissioner of the state banking department, who is appointed by the governor with the approval of the Senate for a term of four years.
From 1613 until 1760 the territory now within the borders of Michigan formed a part of New France, and the first Europeans to found missions and settlements within those borders were Frenchmen. Two Jesuits, Raymbault and Jogues, visited the site of Sault Sainte Marie as early as 1641 for the conversion of the Chippewas; in 1668 Marquette founded there the first permanent settlement within the state; three years later he had founded a mission among the Hurons at Michilimackinac; La Salle built a fort at the mouth of the Saint Joseph in 1679; and in 1701 Cadillac founded Detroit as an important point for the French control of the fur trade. But the missionaries were not interested in the settlement of the country by Europeans, the fur traders were generally opposed to it, there was bitter strife between the missionaries and Cadillac, and the French system of absolutism in government and monopoly in trade were further obstacles to progress. Even Detroit was so expensive to the government of the mother country that there was occasional talk of abandoning it; and so during the last fifty-nine years that Michigan was a part of new France there were no new settlements, and little if any growth in those already established. During the last war between the English and the French in America the Michigan settlements passed into the possession of the English, Detroit in 1760 and the others in 1761, but the time had not yet come for much improvement. The white inhabitants, still mostly French, were subjected to an English rule that until the Quebec Act of 1774 was chiefly military, and as a consequence many of the more thrifty sought homes elsewhere, and the Indians, most of whom had been allies of the French, were so ill-treated, both by the officers and traders, that under Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, a simultaneous attack on the English posts was planned. Detroit was besieged for five months and both Michilimackinac and Saint Joseph were taken. Moreover, the English policy, which first of all was concerned with the profits of trade and manufacture, gave little more encouragement to the settlement of this section of the country than did the French. By the Treaty of Paris, in 1783, which concluded the American War of Independence, the title to what is now Michigan passed to the United States, and in 1787 this region became a part of the North-West Territory; but it was not until 1796 that Detroit and Mackinac (Michilimackinac), in accordance with Jay's Treaty of 1794, were surrendered by Great Britain. In 1800, on the division of the North-West Territory, the west portion of Michigan became a part of the newly-established Indiana Territory, into which the entire area of the present state was embodied in 1802, when Ohio was admitted to the Union; and finally, in 1805, Michigan Territory was organized, its south boundary being then described as a line drawn east from the south extremity of Lake Michigan until it intersected Lake Erie, and its west boundary a line drawn from the same starting point through the middle of Lake Michigan to its north extremity and then due north to the north boundary of the United States. In 1812, during the second war between Great Britain and the United States, General William Hull, first governor of the Territory, although not greatly outnumbered, surrendered Detroit to the British without a struggle; in the same year also Mackinac was taken and Michigan again passed under British rule. This rule was of short duration, however, for soon after Commodore Oliver H. Perry's victory on Lake Erie, in September of the next year, Detroit and the rest of Michigan except Mackinac, which was not recaptured until July 1815, were again taken into the possession of the United States. Up to this time the Territory had still remained for the most part a wilderness in which the fur trade reaped the largest profits, its few small settlements being confined to the borders; and the inaccurate reports of the surveyors sent out by the national government described the interior as a vast swamp with only here and there a little land fit for cultivation. The large number of hostile Indians was also a factor in making the Territory unattractive. But during the efficient administration of Lewis Cass, governor of the Territory from 1813 to 1831, the interference of the British was checked and many of the Indians were removed to the west of the Mississippi; printing presses, established during the same period at Detroit, Ann Arbor, Monroe and Pontiac, became largely instrumental in making the country better known; the first steamboat, the "Walk-in-the-Water," appeared at Detroit in 1818; the Erie canal was opened in 1825; by 1830 a daily boat line was running between Detroit and Buffalo, and the population of Michigan, which was only 4762 in 1810 and 8896 in 1820, increased to 31,639 in 1830 and 212,267 in 1840. In 1819 the Territory had been empowered to send a delegate to Congress. By 1832 the question of admission into the Union had arisen, and in 1835 a convention was called in Detroit, a constitution was framed in May, that constitution was adopted by popular vote in October, state officers were elected, and application for admission was made; but a dispute with Ohio over the boundary between the two caused a delay in the admission by Congress until early in the year 1837. Although the ordinance creating the North-West Territory fixed the boundary line as claimed by Michigan, yet that line was found to be farther south than was at the time expected and when the constitution of Ohio was adopted it was accompanied with a proviso designed to secure to that state a north boundary that was north of the mouth of the Maumee River. The territory between the two proposed lines was unquestionably of greater economic importance to Ohio than to Michigan, and, besides, at this particular time there were forcible political reasons for not offending the older state. The consequence was that after the bloodless "war" between the two states for the possession of Toledo, Congress settled the dispute in Ohio's favour and gave to Michigan the territory since known as the upper peninsula. The boundaries as fixed by Congress were rejected by a convention which met on the 4th of September at Ann Arbor, but they were accepted by the convention of the Jackson party, which met, also at Ann Arbor, on the 6th of December; the action of this latter convention was considered authoritative by Congress, which admitted Michigan into the Union as a state on the 26th of January 1837. Since admission into the Union the more interesting experiences of the state have been with internal improvements and with banking, which together resulted in serious financial distress; in the utilization of its natural resources, which have been a vast source of wealth; and in the development of its educational system, in which the state has exerted a large influence throughout the Union. From the beginning of its government under its first state constitution in 1835 until 1855 Michigan had a Democratic administration with the exception of the years 1840-1842, when opposition to the financial measures of the Democrats placed the Whigs in power. But it was in Michigan that the Republican party received its first official recognition, at a state convention held at Jackson on the 6th of July 1857, and from the beginning of the following year the administration has been Republican with the exception of two terms from 1883 to 1885, and from 1891 to 1893, when it was again Democratic.
Governors Of Michigan William Hull Territorial.1805-1813Lewis Cass.1813-1831Stevens Thompson Mason (acting) 1831 George Bryan Porter1831-1834Stevens Thompson Mason (acting)1834-1835John Scott Horner (acting). 1835 State.
Stevens Thompson Mason. Democrat1835-1840William Woodbridge Whig1840-1841James Wright Gordon (acting)„1841-1842John Steward Barry.. Democrat1842-1846Alpheus Felch. .. „1846-1847William L. Greenly (acting) „1847-1848Epaphroditus Ransom. „1848-1850John Steward Barry.. ,,1850-1851Robert McClelland.. „1851-1853Andrew Parsons (acting) .„1853-1855Kinsley S. Bingham Republican1855-1859Moses Wisner.. „1859-1861Austin Blair.1861-1865Henry Howland Crapo1865-1869Henry Porter Baldwin1869-1873John Judson Bagley1873-1877Charles Miller Croswell1877-1881David Howell Jerome„1881-1883Josiah W. Begole.. Democrat and Greenback1883-1885Russell Alexander Alger Republican1885-1887Cyrus Gray Luce1887-1891Edwin Baruch Winans Democrat1891-1893John T. Rich.. Republican1893-1897Hazen Smith Pingree. „1897-1901Aaron Thomas Bliss.1901-1905Fred M. Warner. „1905-1911Chase S. Osborn .. 1911/n==Authorities== - The ? Publications of the Michigan Geological Survey (Detroit, Lansing and New York, 1838 seq.) deal largely with the mining districts of the upper peninsula. Alexander Winchell, Michigan: Being Condensed Popular Sketches of the Topography, Climate and Geology of the State (1873), is in large measure restricted to the south half of the state. W. J. Beal and C. F. Wheeler, Michigan Flora (Lansing, 1892), contains the results of an extensive study of the subject. See also the Twelfth Census of the United States (Washington, 1901-1902); Silas Farmer, Michigan Book: a State Cyclopaedia with Sectional County Maps (Detroit, 1901); Bela Hubbard, Memorials of a Half-Century (New York, 1887), a well written account of observations, chiefly upon scenery, fauna, flora and climate; Webster Cook, Michigan: its History and Government (New York, 1905), written primarily for use in schools and containing a reference bibliography; A. C. McLaughlin, History of Higher Education in Michigan, in Circulars of Information of the United States Bureau of Education (Washington, 1891), being an account of the origin of the public school system and an individual account of each higher institution of learning; T. M. Cooley, Michigan: a History of Government (Boston, 1885), a critical but popular narrative by an eminent jurist; J. V. Campbell, Outlines of the Political History of Michigan (Detroit, 1876), also by a jurist of the state; Henry M. Utley and Byron M. Cutcheon, Michigan as a Province, Territory and State (4 vols., New York, 1906); Michigan Pioneer and Historical Society, Historical Collections: Collections and Researches (Lansing, 1877 seq.); and Publications of the Michigan Political Science Association (Ann Arbor, 1893).
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