Michigan Trivia & Tidbits - Page 5

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

Adolph "Ad" Wolgast, a scrappy 5-foot-4-inch boxer nicknamed the "Michigan Wildcat," held the world lightweight boxing title from 1910 to 1912. He was born in 1888 in Cadillac (pop. 10,000).

first appeared: 7/2/2006

Sanctuary and Safe Haven for Animals, or SASHA Farm, in Manchester (pop. 4,102) is among the largest farm-animal sanctuaries in the Midwest, offering shelter to more than 200 animals that have been neglected or discarded.

first appeared: 6/25/2006

In the 1980s, teen brothers Brig and Jon Sorber of Lansing ran a moving business with an old pickup truck. When they went to college, their mother, Mary Ellen Sheets, continued the business and franchised Two Men and a Truck, now with operations in 27 states.

first appeared: 6/4/2006

A 50-foot-tall fiberglass statue of Chief Hiawatha towers in Ironwood (pop. 6,293) near the former Norrie Mine. The 16,000-pound statue of the legendary American Indian chief has attracted sightseers since the iron mine closed in the 1960s.

first appeared: 5/21/2006

After seeing a boy eat a pathetic homemade biscuit, Mabel White Holmes introduced the nation's homemakers to Jiffy, the first prepared baking mix, in 1930. The Holmes family still owns Chelsea (pop. 4,398) Milling Co. and markets Jiffy mixes.

first appeared: 5/14/2006

Poet Robert Frost completed his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, New Hampshire, while a writer-in-residence at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor from 1921 to 1925. Welcoming his arrival, a local drugstore named a chocolate-covered ice cream treat "Frost Bite."

first appeared: 4/23/2006

Fanciful legends surround the Paulding Light, a mysterious "ghost light" that can be seen most evenings rising from a forest near Watersmeet (pop. 1,472) and hovering for several minutes. Swamp gas is one possible explanation.

first appeared: 4/9/2006

With a slope descending 641 feet, Porcupine Mountains Ski Area at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park in Ontonagon (pop. 2,954) has the highest vertical ski drop in the state.

first appeared: 3/26/2006

In 1917, Kenneth Sawyer, a Marquette County highway engineer, painted a stripe down the middle of a dangerous stretch of road to help drivers stay in their own lanes. Other states soon adopted the center line safety measure.

first appeared: 3/12/2006

Since the early 1900s, Stormy Kromer caps, made in Ironwood (pop. 6,293), have kept ears and noggins toasty. Ida Kromer created the wool cap with tie-down earflaps for her husband, "Stormy," who worked on the railroad.

first appeared: 2/26/2006

In 1955, Vernin Veldheer planted Veldheer Tulip Gardens in Holland (pop. 35,048) with 100 red tulips and 300 white tulips. Today, the family-owned farm’s floral finery includes 5 million tulips and thousands of daffodils, hyacinths and daylilies.

first appeared: 2/12/2006

If it blinks or beeps at the drop of a coin, it probably can be found at Marvin’s Marvelous Mechanical Museum in Farmington Hills. Antique arcade games, kiddie rides, neon advertising and a fan collection keep the museum whirring.

first appeared: 1/29/2006

A 38-acre mushroom, discovered in 1988 in Crystal Falls (pop. 1,791), inspired the town’s annual Humongous Fungus Festival, during which a 10-square-foot mushroom pizza is served to attendees. The honored fungus lives mostly underground.

first appeared: 1/15/2006

MISS MICHIGAN 2006—Octavia Reese studied Spanish, Japanese, French and ancient Greek. She owes her love of languages to her Creole grandmother, who spoke to her in French at age 3. The Detroit native also is a badminton enthusiast.

first appeared: 1/8/2006

The nation’s first museum devoted to Arab Americans opened last May in Dearborn. The $15.3 million Arab American National Museum showcases famous Americans, including actor Danny Thomas, journalist Helen Thomas and astronaut Christa McAuliffe, of Arab ancestry.

first appeared: 1/1/2006

The state’s largest planetarium, the Robert T. Longway Planetarium in Flint, opened in 1958. A Digistar 2 projector in the 60-foot domed theater is the real "star," creating the three-dimensional images of star fields and molecules.

first appeared: 12/4/2005

Since its founding in 1875 as a Methodist camp, Bay View on Lake Michigan’s Little Traverse Bay has been a summer haven for Chautauqua-type educational meetings and music festivals. The historic resort area near Petoskey (pop. 6,080) is famous for its Victorian-era architecture.

first appeared: 11/20/2005

The last Oldsmobile rolled off the assembly line in April 2004 in Lansing. The Alero model was signed under the hood by plant employees and displayed at the nearby R.E. Olds Transportation Museum, which is named for Ransom Eli Olds, founder of Olds Motor Vehicle Co. in 1897.

first appeared: 11/6/2005

Football and Thanksgiving teamed up in 1934 when Detroit Lions owner George Richards proposed the holiday game to attract more fans. It worked, and the Lions have played every Thanksgiving Day since, except during World War II.

first appeared: 10/23/2005

The 48-foot-wide, one-third-mile-long Clam Lake Canal in Cadillac (pop. 10,000), connecting Lake Cadillac to Lake Mitchell, freezes each winter, then thaws when the two lakes freeze. One theory is that when the lakes freeze, warmer water gets pushed into the canal.

first appeared: 10/9/2005

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