Michigan Trivia & Tidbits - Page 10

Looking for Michigan trivia? Try our list Michigan little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

Father of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association, James Heckman of Hillsdale (pop. 8,232) formed the athletic conference in 1888.

first appeared: 9/28/2003

Gov. Jennifer Granholm, former attorney general, became the state’s first female governor when sworn in last January.

first appeared: 9/21/2003

Harry Hoenselaar opened his first Honey Baked Ham Co. store in 1957 in Detroit and invented a machine that slices the ham in a single continuous spiral.

first appeared: 9/14/2003

Born in 1914 in Grand Rapids, Marion Ladewig, one of history’s top female bowlers, was named Bowler of the Year nine times by the Bowling Writers Association of America.

first appeared: 9/7/2003

Brian Krause of Dimondale (pop. 1,342) spit a cherry pit 61 feet and 9 inches to clinch the 2002 International Cherry Pit Spitting Championship in Eau Claire (pop. 656).

first appeared: 8/31/2003

A scrap of what’s believed to be the state’s first flag, presented in 1837 to the Detroit Brady Guard, was discovered among memorabilia of the late Lawton Hemans of Mason (pop. 6,714), a former state legislator. The white silk remnant, found with 1911 flag photos, was displayed last May at the Michigan Historical Museum in Lansing.

first appeared: 8/24/2003

The lowest temperature ever recorded in Michigan was 51 degrees below zero on Feb. 9, 1934, in Vanderbilt (pop. 587).

first appeared: 8/17/2003

In 1888, Clarence Hamilton, inventor and co-founder of Plymouth (pop. 9,022) Iron Windmill Co., introduced a metal air gun. Lewis Cass Hough, company president, tried it and exclaimed, “Boy, that’s a daisy,” which led to the founding of Daisy Manufacturing Co.

first appeared: 8/10/2003

The 1860 Honolulu House is a Marshall (pop. 7,459) showplace, built by Abner Pratt, former U.S. Consul to Hawaii. The Italianate-style home features tropical murals.

first appeared: 8/3/2003

Established in 1927, the peony garden at Nichols Arboretum at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor dazzles with historic peonies, some introduced as early as 1807.

first appeared: 7/27/2003

The Rev. George Bennard wrote the popular hymn, The Old Rugged Cross, and first sang it in 1913 at the Pokagon (pop. 2,199) Methodist Episcopal Church.

first appeared: 7/20/2003

Since 1925, the VFW National Home for Children in Eaton Rapids (pop. 5,330) has housed children and grandchildren of deceased or disabled VFW and Ladies Auxiliary members.

first appeared: 7/13/2003

Since the early 1900s, Yale (pop. 2,063) has been home to bologna makers. Two tons of bologna were consumed at the 2002 Bologna Festival.

first appeared: 7/6/2003

Alabaster (pop. 503) is named for a variety of gypsum discovered here in 1837. The mineral is used for making wallboard.

first appeared: 6/29/2003

After rusting in an Alabama field for 30 years, the bus where African-American Rosa Parks made civil-rights history is permanently parked at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Parks’ refusal to give up her seat to a white man led to the 1956 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation is unconstitutional.

first appeared: 6/22/2003

A woman’s home is her castle in Charlevoix (pop. 2,994) where Linda Mueller bought Castle Farms in 2001 and is restoring the 1918 French Renaissance chateau for a community-events center. Albert Loeb, president of Sears, Roebuck and Co., built the castle.

first appeared: 6/15/2003

More than 1 million boats are registered in the state, the nation’s leader.

first appeared: 6/8/2003

Melvin Bissell invented the carpet sweeper in 1876 to clean carpets in his Grand Rapids crockery shop.

first appeared: 6/1/2003

The state has about 500 commercial maple syrup producers and 2,000 hobbyists or home-use producers.

first appeared: 5/25/2003

With 59,000 acres of virgin timber, wild rivers, and scenic waterfalls, Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park near Ontonagon (pop. 2,954) is among the Midwest’s largest wilderness areas.

first appeared: 5/18/2003

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