Michigan Trivia & Tidbits - Page 14

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

Indian River (pop. 2,008) claims to have the world’s largest crucifix. Measuring 55 feet tall and 23 feet wide, the wooden cross bears a seven-ton bronze sculpture of Jesus Christ.

first appeared: 3/17/2002

The National Automotive Center in Warren is developing a bulletproof concept vehicle for the U.S. Army. Called the SmarTruck, the modified Ford F-350 has a mobile video system, four-wheel steering, percussion grenades, and night vision equipment.

first appeared: 3/10/2002

Opened in 1929, Hanson Hills Winter Sports Park near Grayling (pop. 1,952) is home to Michigan’s first downhill ski area.

first appeared: 3/3/2002

The late Heinz C. Prechter of Grosse Ile (pop. 10,894) popularized the automobile sunroof when he began installing them in a shop he opened in 1964 in California.

first appeared: 2/24/2002

The state record Atlantic salmon, caught in Lake Michigan in 1981 by Elaine Bender, weighed 32 pounds and was 41 inches long.

first appeared: 2/17/2002

The original Lapeer County Courthouse in Lapeer (pop. 9,072) was built in 1845-46 by Alvin N. Hart, one of the town’s first settlers, and sold to the county in 1853.

first appeared: 2/10/2002

In the early 1900s, W.K. Kellogg and C.W. Post, by inventing and selling cold breakfast cereals, turned Battle Creek into the Cereal Bowl of the World.

first appeared: 2/3/2002

Scores of ships wrecked off the shores of what is now Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in 1870 near Munising (pop. 2,539).

first appeared: 1/27/2002

A bridge across the Straits of Mackinac, between the state’s upper and lower peninsulas, was first proposed in 1884 but wasn’t completed until 1957.

first appeared: 1/20/2002

In 1998, The Legend of the Sleeping Bear, which tells the American Indian tale of a mother bear and her two clubs fleeing a Wisconsin forest fire by attempting to swim across Lake Michigan, was named the state’s official children’s book.

first appeared: 1/13/2002

Started by Michael Bowerman in 1813, Willow Orchards near Romeo (pop. 3,721) is Macomb County’s oldest family-owned farm and the third oldest in the state.

first appeared: 1/6/2002

Built in 1867, Whites Bridge near Lowell (pop. 4,013) is among the last covered bridges in Michigan. The 116-foot-long bridge cost $1,700 to build and still has its original wooden pegs and hand-cut square nails.

first appeared: 12/30/2001

Across Lower Michigan, U.S. Highway 12 follows the route of the Great Sauk, an early trail that led from the Detroit River to lower Lake Michigan and beyond to the Mississippi River.

first appeared: 12/23/2001

The most severe earthquake ever recorded in Michigan occurred near Athens (pop. 1,111) at 2:46 a.m. Aug. 10, 1947, and measured 4.6 on the Richter scale.

first appeared: 12/16/2001

The Fort St. Joseph Museum in Niles (pop.12,204) has 12 drawings by famed Sioux Indian chief Sitting Bull, the largest collection of his drawings outside of the Smithsonian.

first appeared: 12/9/2001

More than 89 inches of snow fell in Marquette (pop. 19,661) in December 2000, making it the town’s snowiest month on record.

first appeared: 12/2/2001

Born in Cadillac (pop. 10,000) in 1894, Oscar Peterson created up to 15,000 fish decoys—historically used to lure fish—from wood and metal in his lifetime. A 9-inch decoy he made in 1930 sold at auction for $18,700 in 1991.

first appeared: 11/25/2001

For 35 years beginning in 1851, a mill built by Perry Hannah and Albert Lay in Traverse City (pop. 14,532) processed more than 400 million board feet of lumber, mostly pine. The peak of the lumber industry occurred in 1893.

first appeared: 11/18/2001

First settled in 1833, Novi (pop. 47,386) earned its name from being stop No. VI on the stagecoach line.

first appeared: 11/11/2001

The painted turtle was adopted as the state reptile in 1996 due to the persistence of John Marazita and his fifth-grade classmates at Brandywine Elementary in Niles (pop. 12,204).

first appeared: 11/4/2001

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