Dodransbicentennial

Today the incredibly awesome, fantastically beautiful, impressively varied, ever resilient, historically rich, and utterly unsurpassed state of Michigan turns 175. Michigan entered the Union and became America's High Five on January 26, 1837. I talk about my state a lot. If you want to see photos of some beautiful and interesting places in Michigan, click here. Or here. Or here.

Fun facts to impress your friends:

Michigan boasts the longest freshwater coastline of any state or country in the world (3,288 miles) and among the fifty states, if you include saltwater shores, only Alaska has more shoreline than Michigan.

Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "big water."

Michigan used to be under a tropical sea and thus the state stone (the Petoskey Stone) is actually fossilized coral. It also used to be under glaciers.

The only state in the Union with a more diverse agricultural base is California.

Parts of Michigan have been under the control of four different countries: France, England, Spain, and America.

Michigan has about 150 lighthouses, more than any other state.

Besides the Great Lakes, Michigan also has more than 11,000 inland lakes.

No point in Michigan is more than 6 miles from an inland lake or more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes

Michigan has the largest state park and state forest system of any state.

Dearborn, Michigan is home to the largest Arab population outside of the Middle East.

The predominant religion in Michigan is Christianity, with Catholics represented most, followed by Lutherans.

10 million acres of Michigan is farmland.

19.3 million acres of Michigan is covered by forests (53% of the land area).


I'm sure, if you don't live in Michigan, that your state is very nice. But it's not Michigan. Bummer. So sorry about that!