Portal:Michigan

The Michigan Portal

Michigan (/ˈmɪʃɪɡən/ ^ⓘ MISH-ig-ən) is a peninsular state in the Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, Indiana and Illinois to the southwest, Ohio to the southeast, and the Canadian province of Ontario to the east, northeast and north. With a population of 10.14 million and an area of 96,716 sq mi (250,490 km²), Michigan is the tenth-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by total area east of the Mississippi River. The state capital is Lansing, while its most populous city is Detroit. The Metro Detroit region in Southeast Michigan is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. Other important metropolitan areas include Grand Rapids, Flint, Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, the Tri-Cities, and Muskegon.

Michigan consists of two peninsulas: the heavily forested Upper Peninsula (commonly called "the U.P."), which juts eastward from northern Wisconsin, and the more populated Lower Peninsula, stretching north from Ohio and Indiana. The peninsulas are separated by the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron, and are linked by the 5-mile-long Mackinac Bridge along Interstate 75. Bordering four of the five Great Lakes and Lake St. Clair, Michigan has the longest freshwater coastline of any U.S. political subdivision, measuring 3,288 miles. The state ranks second behind Alaska in water coverage by square miles and first in percentage, with approximately 42%, and it also contains 64,980 inland lakes and ponds.

The Great Lakes region has largely been inhabited for thousands of years by Indigenous peoples such as the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot. Some people contend that the region's name is derived from the Ojibwe word ᒥᓯᑲᒥ (mishigami), meaning "large water" or "large lake". While others say that it comes from the Mishiiken Tribe of Mackinac Island, also called Michinemackinawgo by Ottawa historian Andrew Blackbird, whose surrounding lands were referred to as Mishiiken-imakinakom, later shortened to Michilimackinac.

In the 17th century, French explorers claimed the area for New France. French settlers and Métis established forts and settlements. After France's defeat in the French and Indian War in 1762, the area came under British control and later the U.S. following the Treaty of Paris (1783), though control remained disputed with Indigenous tribes until treaties between 1795 and 1842. The area was part of the larger Northwest Territory; the Michigan Territory was organized in 1805. (Full article...)

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The White Stripes performing at the Wireless Festival in 2007. From left to right: Jack White and Meg White.

The White Stripes were an American rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of the 2000s indie and garage rock revivals.

Beginning in the late 1990s, the White Stripes sought success within the Detroit music scene, releasing six singles and two albums. They first found commercial success with their acclaimed third album, White Blood Cells (2001), which propelled the band to the forefront of the garage rock movement. Their fourth album, Elephant (2003), drew further success, winning the band their first Grammy Awards. It produced the single "Seven Nation Army", which became a sports anthem and the band's signature song. They experimented extensively on their fifth album, Get Behind Me Satan (2005). They returned to their blues roots with their sixth and final album, Icky Thump (2007), which was praised like the band's earlier albums. By the end of the 2000s, the White Stripes accumulated three entries on the US Billboard Hot 100, eleven entries on the US Alternative Airplay chart, and thirteen entries on the UK singles chart. After a lengthy hiatus from performing and recording, the band dissolved in 2011. (Full article...)

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Crisler Arena, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, is the home arena for the University of Michigan men's and women's basketball teams. Constructed in 1967, the arena seats 13,751 spectators.

Did you know -

... that L. Whitney Watkins was given the Bull Moose Party's nomination in a 1912 election despite his own opposition?
... that the city council of Hamtramck, led by Mayor Amer Ghalib, banned the pride flag from publicly owned flagpoles?
... that although nine alibi witnesses placed Temujin Kensu more than 400 miles from a shooting in Port Huron, Michigan, in November 1986, he was convicted of murder and has been in prison ever since?
... that rapper Gmac Cash attempted to gift a pair of Cartier glasses to Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan?
... that the August 2014 United States floods set rainfall records across cities in several states, including Michigan, Maine, and New York?
... that Felix Frankfurter coined the phrase "burn the house to roast the pig" when writing about literary censorship in Butler v. Michigan?

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Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum complex

The Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum is located at the Whitefish Point Light Station 11 miles (18 km) north of Paradise in Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The light station property was transferred to the Great Lakes Shipwreck Historical Society (GLSHS), the Michigan Audubon Society (MAS), and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in 1996. The three entities share governance of the site. The museum is operated by the GLSHS. The museum exhibits artifacts from shipwrecks from the Whitefish Point Underwater Preserve and the bell from the wreck of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald. Admission to the museum includes a tour of historic buildings with displays that interpret the Great Lakes maritime, United States Coast Guard, and US Life-Saving Service history. (Full article...)

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Irving Pond portrait published in Architectural Record, 1912

Irving Kane Pond (May 1, 1857 – September 29, 1939) was an American architect, college athlete, and author. Born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, Pond attended the University of Michigan and received a degree in civil engineering in 1879. He was a member of the first University of Michigan football team and scored the first touchdown in the school's history in May 1879.

After graduating from Michigan, Pond moved to Chicago where he worked as an architect from 1879 to 1939. He began his architectural career as a draftsman in the offices of William LeBaron Jenney and worked as the head draftsman in the office of Solon Spencer Beman during the construction of the planned Pullman community. In 1886, Pond formed the Chicago architectural firm Pond and Pond in partnership with his brother Allen Bartlitt Pond. The Pond brothers worked together for more than 40 years, and their buildings are considered to be among the best examples of Arts and Crafts architecture in Chicago. The Ponds gained acclaim as the architects of Jane Addams' Hull House, and three of their buildings have been declared National Historic Landmarks—the Hull House dining hall, the Lorado Taft Midway Studios, and the Frank R. Lillie House. Pond became a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects in 1900 and served as president of the American Institute of Architects from 1910 to 1911. (Full article...)

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General images

The following are images from various Michigan-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1Gerald Ford, a politician from Grand Rapids who was elected to the House of Representatives thirteen times and also served as House Minority Leader and then Vice President, became the 38th President of the United States after the resignation of Richard Nixon. (from History of Michigan)
Image 2The Mackinac Bridge, a suspension bridge spanning the Straits of Mackinac to connect the Upper and Lower peninsulas of Michigan (from Michigan)
Image 3Holland, Michigan, is the home of the Tulip Time Festival, the largest tulip festival in the U.S. (from Michigan)
Image 4Mackinac Island is well known for cultural events and a wide variety of architectural styles, including the Victorian Grand Hotel. (from Michigan)
Image 5Union members occupying a General Motors body factory during the Flint Sit-Down Strike of 1937 which spurred the organization of militant CIO unions in auto industry (from History of Michigan)
Image 6U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) runs along Lake Michigan from Naubinway to its eastern terminus at St. Ignace. (from Michigan)
Image 7The Blue Water Bridge, a twin-span bridge across the St. Clair River that links Port Huron and Sarnia, Ontario (from Michigan)
Image 8Map of British America showing the original boundaries of the Province of Quebec and its Quebec Act of 1774 post-annexation boundaries (from Michigan)
Image 92024 U.S. presidential election results by county in Michigan
Democratic
Republican
(from Michigan)
Image 10Map of the original 13 colonies and their territories. Note that Michigan was the object of multiple claims. (from History of Michigan)
Image 11The 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Michigan (from Michigan)
Image 12Chateau Chantal, a winery and designated American Viticultural Area, is located on the Old Mission Peninsula (from Michigan)
Image 13Map of the Saint Lawrence River/Great Lakes Watershed in North America. Its drainage area includes the Great Lakes, the world's largest system of freshwater lakes. The basin covers nearly all of Michigan. (from Michigan)
Image 14Père Marquette and the Indians (1869), by Wilhelm Lamprecht (from Michigan)
Image 15Sleeping Bear Dunes, along the northwest coast of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan (from Michigan)
Image 16Sailors of the Michigan Naval Militia standing at attention during a parade in the 1920s, following World War I (from Michigan)
Image 17Detroit in the mid-twentieth century. At the time, the city was the fourth-largest U.S. metropolis by population, and held about one-third of the state's population. (from Michigan)
Image 18Michigan in 1718, Guillaume de L'Isle map, approximate state area highlighted (from History of Michigan)
Image 19Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station on the shore of Lake Erie, near Monroe (from Michigan)
Image 20Treaty of Paris, by Benjamin West (1783), an unfinished painting of the American diplomatic negotiators of the Treaty of Paris which brought official conclusion to the Revolutionary War and gave possession of Michigan and other territory to the new United States (from History of Michigan)
Image 21Cora Reynolds Anderson became the first woman elected to the House of Representatives in Michigan in 1925. (from History of Michigan)
Image 22Michigan as part of the Province of Quebec 1774–1776 (from History of Michigan)
Image 23The Pointe Mouillee State Game Area, one of the 221 state game and wildlife areas in Michigan. It encompasses 7,483 acres of hunting, recreational, and protected wildlife and wetland areas at the mouth of the Huron River at Lake Erie, as well as smaller outlying areas within the Detroit River. (from Michigan)
Image 24Michigan Supreme Court at the Hall of Justice (from Michigan)
Image 25The floor of the Michigan House of Representatives (from Michigan)
Image 26Detroit, c. 1837, after a sketch by Frederick Grain (from History of Michigan)
Image 27The Tahquamenon Falls in the Upper Peninsula (from Michigan)
Image 28A map of Michigan by Henry Schenck Tanner, published in 1842, showing such county names as "Negwegon County," "Okkuddo County," and "Unwattin County," prior to an 1843 legislative action renaming sixteen counties in northern Michigan (from History of Michigan)
Image 29The Michigan State Capitol in Lansing houses the legislative branch of the government of the US state of Michigan. (from Michigan)
Image 30Map of the British and French settlements in North America in 1750, before the French and Indian War (1754 to 1763) (from History of Michigan)
Image 31The Huron National Wildlife Refuge, one of the fifteen federal wildernesses in Michigan (from Michigan)
Image 32Mackinac Island Marina after the 2006 Port Huron to Mackinac Boat Race (from Michigan)
Image 33Michigan Municipalities (from Michigan)
Image 34Marquette, Michigan, is home to a vast snowmobile trail system. (from Michigan)
Image 35The Great Seal of the State of Michigan (from History of Michigan)
Image 36Dwarf lake iris (from Michigan)
Image 37Michigan is the leading U.S. producer of tart cherries, blueberries, pickled cucumbers, navy beans, and petunias (from Michigan)
Image 38Mackinac Island, an island and resort area at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac. More than 80% of the island is preserved as Mackinac Island State Park. (from Michigan)
Image 39Governor Gretchen Whitmer speaking at a National Guard ceremony in 2019 (from Michigan)
Image 40Fort Michilimackinac at the Straits of Mackinac (from Michigan)
Image 41Treaty of Paris, by Benjamin West (1783), an unfinished painting of the American diplomatic negotiators of the Treaty of Paris which brought official conclusion to the Revolutionary War and gave possession of Michigan and other territory to the new United States (from Michigan)
Image 42The Detroit–Windsor area is North America's largest cross-border conurbation, with a combined population of approximately six million people (from Michigan)
Image 43Köppen climate types of Michigan, using 1991–2020 climate normals (from Michigan)
Image 44Aerial view of Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) (from Michigan)
Image 45Ethnic origins in Michigan in 2021. (from Michigan)

Topics

Symbols

Animate insignia
Bird	American Robin (Turdus migratorius)
Fish	Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis)
Flower	Apple blossom (Malus domestica)
Game animal	White-tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus)
Mammal	Wolverine (Gulo gulo luscus) (unofficial)
Reptile	Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta)
Tree	Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus)
Wildflower	Dwarf Lake Iris (Iris lacustris)

Inanimate insignia
Fossil	Mastodon (Mammut americanum)
Gemstone	Isle Royale greenstone or Chlorastrolite
Motto	"Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice" Latin for "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you"
Nicknames	Wolverine State Great Lakes State Mitten State Winter Water Wonderland
Soil	Kalkaska Sand
Songs	My Michigan
Stone	Petoskey stone

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WikiProject Michigan
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