Michigan Trivia & Tidbits
Looking for Michigan trivia? Try our list Michigan little know facts, tidbits and trivia.
—Kirk Jones, 40, of Canton, is believed to be the first person to have plunged over Niagara Falls without any safety devices and survived. The daredevil, wearing only the clothes on his back, went headfirst over Horseshoe Falls, a plunge of about 175 feet on the Canadian side, in 2003.
first appeared: 5/4/2008
—Along with making lightweight metal snowshoes, Iverson Snowshoe Co. in Shingleton makes traditional snowshoes from ash wood that is steamed, bent around a form and dried in a kiln.
first appeared: 3/9/2008
—Residents of Hell have fun with their town name, which according to lore was named in 1841 by settler George Reeves. When asked for a town name, he said, “You can name it Hell if you want to.” The post office’s cancellation stamp is popular at tax time when people mail their returns from Hell.
first appeared: 2/24/2008
—The best-selling memoir of all time, Tuesdays with Morrie, was written by Mitch Albom, sports columnist for the Detroit Free Press, about visits with his dying college professor, Morrie Schwartz. About 14 million copies of the 1997 memoir are in print.
first appeared: 2/10/2008
—Each spring, more than 6,000 butterflies flutter inside the Lena Meijer Conservatory at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids. The exhibit, “Foremost’s Butterflies are Blooming,” is the nation’s largest temporary butterfly exhibit.
first appeared: 1/27/2008
—The model for the smiling chef on the Cream of Wheat box is believed to be Frank L. White, who died in 1938 in Leslie (pop. 2,044). A granite gravestone with an etching of the cereal box was placed on his grave last June. White was photographed for the cereal box about 1900 while working at a Chicago restaurant.
first appeared: 1/13/2008
—In 1922, Len Halladay of Mayfield (pop. 1,271) invented the popular Adams fly and named it after his friend, Judge Charlie Adams. Adams was having a frustrating fishing day and asked Halladay to tie a fly to imitate the insect the trout were favoring.
first appeared: 12/30/2007
—Legs Inn restaurant in Cross Village (pop. 294), built in the 1920s by Polish immigrant Stanley Smolak, is so named because the roof is edged with a row of upended stove legs. Woodcarvings and driftwood sculptures abound inside the landmark restaurant.
first appeared: 12/2/2007
—John and Phyllis Kilcherman grow 240 varieties of heirloom apples at Christmas Cove Farm in Northport (pop. 648). Winter Banana, Ozark Gold and Spitzenburg are among the tasty old varieties.
first appeared: 11/18/2007
—Transglobal Design and Manufacturing in Livonia refurbished eight 1930s yellow touring buses that once again are rolling in Yellowstone Park. The restored buses, once the popular way to see the park, were welcomed back in the spring.
first appeared: 11/4/2007
—Larry Page co-founded the Internet search engine Google with partner Sergey Brin in 1998. Page was born in 1973 in Lansing, the son of a professor of computer engineering. “Google” is derived from the term “googol,” the number 1 followed by 100 zeros.
first appeared: 10/21/2007
—Organized in 1839, the Detroit Boat Club is the oldest continuous rowing and boating club in the United States. The club was formed just two years after Michigan became a state.
first appeared: 10/7/2007
—A marker at Port Sanilac (pop. 658) memorializes the Great Storm of 1913 on the Great Lakes, which left a grim toll: 235 seamen drowned, 10 ships sunk and more than 20 ships run aground.
first appeared: 9/30/2007
—Billed as the world’s largest one-day celebration of car culture, the Woodward Dream Cruise each August features more than 40,000 muscle cars, street rods, and custom, collector and special-interest vehicles that travel a 16-mile stretch of Woodward Avenue, America’s famous 1950s cruising road, through nine Detroit suburbs.
first appeared: 9/9/2007
—The Saugatuck (pop. 1,065) Ferry is one of the oldest hand-cranked ferries in the nation and the last of its kind on the Great Lakes. An operator hand-cranks the ferry along a chain that stretches across the Kalamazoo River.
first appeared: 8/26/2007
—In 1940, the first organization for women who enjoy motorcycling, the Motor Maids, was founded, and Dot Robinson of Detroit was elected president. Today, the club has chapters nationwide.
first appeared: 8/19/2007
—Planted in 1888, the W.J. Beal Plantation in Grayling (pop. 1,952) is among the oldest documented tree plantations in North America. The plantation is named for the Michigan Agricultural College professor who planted more than 40 tree and shrub species to determine how they grew on dry, sandy soil.
first appeared: 8/12/2007
—Architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s first major commission in the state was the Prairie-style Meyer May home in Grand Rapids, built from 1908 to 1909. Restored in 1987, the home is open for tours.
first appeared: 7/15/2007
—Cherry bread, cherry ice cream, cherry wine and cherry chili are among the goodies available at Cherry Republic in Glen Arbor (pop. 788). The business is one of the world’s largest exclusive retailers of cherry products.
first appeared: 7/1/2007
—Whimsical “fairy doors” have been added to the fronts of several businesses in Ann Arbor. Illustrator Jonathan Wright built the first 6-inch-tall door and the idea spread like magic. Children have left pennies, candy, wee hats and other goodies for imaginary fairies that might stop by.
first appeared: 6/17/2007
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