An (almost) Complete History of Michigan–Ok, Mostly the Upper Peninsula
Today is Michigan’s 186th birthday! To celebrate we’re giving a bit of history lesson. We hope you’ll learn as much we did putting this together.
We’ve compiled highlights from every year since Michigan’s admittance into statehood in 1837. But as we know, this just a small piece of Michigan’s rich history. Please share your additions in the comments below.
Things to do in Michigan today…
- Eat a pasty, or a coney dog
- Visit Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, or Lake Erie
- Visit Presque Isle, or Belle Isle
- Drive across the International Bridge, or the Ambassador Bridge, or the Mackinac Bridge, or the Portage Lift Bridge
- Cheer for the Huskies, or the Wolverines, or the Wildcats, or the Spartans
- Watch Escanaba In Da Moonlight, or 8 Mile.
Stay awesome, keep exploring, and do all the fun things in Michigan.
Shop U.P. Supply Co. Upper Peninsula Silhouette Tee • Midnight Blue
Shop U.P. Supply Co. J.J.'s Wildlife Puzzle Kit
An almost complete Upper Peninsula timeline
| 1836 | The Toledo War ends on December 14 at the Frostbite Convention in Ann Arbor |
| 1837 | On January 26 Michigan admitted as 26th U.S. state |
| 1838 | The Patriot War saw Irish nationalists invade Canada from southeast Michigan |
| 1839 | Thomas R. Tanner makes this map of Michigan |
| 1840 | Michigan State geologist Douglass Houghton (later to become the Mayor of Detroit) reports finding copper deposits on the Keweenaw Peninsula |
| 1841 | The University of Michigan moves from Detroit to Ann Arbor |
| 1842 | Treaty of La Pointe is the last Native American land cession in Michigan |
| 1843 | Delta County is set and organized |
| 1843 | Marquette County is set and organized |
| 1844 | William Austin Burt, the chief Michigan surveyor, discovers iron ore near present-day Teal Lake |
| 1844 | Fort Wilkins is built |
| 1845 | Frankenmuth is settled, meaning “courage of the Franconians” |
| 1846 | The Quincy Mine, or “Old Reliable”, begins copper mining operation |
| 1846 | Houghton County is set and organized |
| 1847 | Michigan is 1st state to abolish capital punishment |
| 1847 | A law was passed by the State Legislature to re-locate the state capital from Detroit to a site “in the township of Lansing, in the county of Ingham.” |
| 1848 | Ontonagon County is set and organized |
| 1848 | The Jackson Iron Company begins operation |
| 1849 | Whitefish Point Light is built |
| 1850 | The Adventure Mining Company in Greeland and operates until 1862 |
| 1851 | To Lake Superior is published by Samuel G. Goodrich |
| 1852 | The Grand Traverse Light is lit |
| 1853 | The Marquette Harbor Light is lit |
| 1854 | The Republican Party is founded in Jackson, MI. |
| 1855 | The first iteration of the U.S. Soo Locks is completed |
| 1855 | Michigan State University founded as Agricultural College of the State of Michigan |
| 1856 | The Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic Railway operates out of Marquette |
| 1857 | Alice B. Cowles House is completed at Michigan State University |
| 1858 | Negaunee receives its first post office |
| 1859 | University of Michigan Law School is established |
| 1860 | The Upper Peninsula supplies 90% of America’s copper |
| 1861 | Keweenaw County is set and organized |
| 1862 | 1,209 soldiers from the Upper Peninsula fight in the Civil War |
| 1863 | Menominee County is set and organized |
| 1864 | The Michigan Car Company was organized in 1864 by John S. Newberry |
| 1865 | 90,000 men, nearly a quarter of the state’s male population fights in the Civil War |
| 1866 | The first soda pop in the U.S. is available in Detroit, discovered by pharmacist James Vernor |
| 1866 | Calumet Township is organized |
| 1867 | Michigan Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument is built in Detroit |
| 1868 | The Grand Island East Channel Light is lit |
| 1868 | Bishop Baraga dies in Marquette |
| 1868 | The Cliffs Shaft Mine opens in Ishpeming |
| 1869 | Phi Delta Phi founded at University of Michigan as the oldest professional fraternity in continuous existence |
| 1870 | Michigan State University Spartan Marching Band established |
| 1871 | Great Michigan Fire occurs, burning 2.5 million acres of land |
| 1872 | Arvon Township is established |
| 1873 | Michigan Railroad Commission is established |
| 1874 | Au Sable Light is lit |
| 1874 | The world’s only floating post office begins operation as J.W. Westcott company delivering mail to Great Lakes vessels. |
| 1875 | Baraga County is set and organized |
| 1875 | Mackinac Island became the second National Park in the United States after Yellowstone National Park in the Rocky Mountains, and was decommissioned in 1895 by Governor John T. Rich |
| 1876 | Schoolcraft County is set and organized |
| 1877 | Bay Furnace campgrounds in Christmas are destroyed by fire |
| 1878 | Hermansville is established |
| 1879 | State Capitol dedicated in Lansing at a cost of $1,510,130 |
| 1880 | Crystal Falls is established |
| 1881 | The Thumb Fire or Great Forest Fire of 1881 burns over one million acres and kills 282 people |
| 1882 | Newberry is founded |
| 1883 | The Stannard Rock Light is constructed in Lake Superior |
| 1884 | Bessemer was founded, named in honor of Henry Bessemer, a British metallurgist |
| 1885 | Michigan Tech University is founded as Michigan Mining School |
| 1885 | Iron County is set and organized |
| 1885 | Alger Counter is set and organized |
| 1886 | Garden is incorporated as a village |
| 1887 | Gogebic County is set and founded |
| 1887 | Luce County is set and organized |
| 1888 | Michigan Wolverines football team finishes 2-1 without a coach |
| 1889 | The Iron River Meteorite is discovered by six-year-old Peter Peterson |
| 1889 | Hamilton Carhartt founded a U.S.-based clothing company, Carhartt, Inc. in Detroit |
| 1890 | Michigan Wolverines football team finishes 4-1 without a coach |
| 1891 | Dickinson County is set and organized |
| 1891 | The Chapin Mine Steam Pump Engine is built, the world’s largest |
| 1892 | Edison Sault Electric Company founded in Sault Ste. Marie, providing power to the Eastern Upper Peninsula |
| 1893 | Lake Superior and Ishpeming Railroad opens in Marquette |
| 1894 | The Redridge Steel Dam is built |
| 1895 | George Gipp is born in Laurium |
| 1896 | Finlandia University is founded as Suomi College by J. K. Nikander |
| 1897 | Ransom E. Olds founds Oldsmobile |
| 1898 | Arcadian mine opens east of Hancock |
| 1899 | Northern Michigan University is founded as Northern State Normal School |
| 1900 | Clarence John “Taffy” Abel is born in Sault Ste. Marie |
| 1901 | The Tigers play their first game as a major league team at home against the Milwaukee Brewers |
| 1902 | First professional ice hockey team is formed in the Copper Country |
| 1903 | John D. Voelker is born in Ishpeming |
| 1903 | Stormy Kromer is founded after George asks his wife Ida to make a hat that would stay firmly on his head |
| 1904 | The Crisp Point Light is lit |
| 1905 | The National Ski Association is formed in Ishpeming and becomes the birthplace of skiing in America |
| 1906 | Will Keith Kellogg founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company |
| 1906 | Michigan’s first concrete pavement installed in Calumet |
| 1907 | Faygo is founded in Detroit, MI |
| 1908 | The world’s largest cement plant begin production in Alpena, MI |
| 1909 | Henry Ford’s first Ford Model T automobile leaves the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan |
| 1910 | Houghton County’s population nears 90,000 people |
| 1911 | President William Taft becomes first incumbent to visit the Upper Peninsula |
| 1911 | First documented use of a painted center line was in 1911 along Trenton’s River Road in Wayne County |
| 1911 | Chase Osborn becomes the only Michigan Governor from the Upper Peninsula, he lived in Sault Ste. Marie |
| 1912 | Eagle Harbor Coast Guard Station Boathouse begins service |
| 1913 | Henry Ford installs the first assembly line for mass production of the automobile |
| 1913 | The Calumet Colosseum is built |
| 1913 | The Italian Hall Disaster occurs in Calumet |
| 1913 | The Michigan State Trunkline Highway System is formed |
| 1913 | Great Lakes Storm, killing 250 people and destroying 19 ships |
| 1914 | Dollar Bay High School opens |
| 1915 | The Holy Family Orphanage in Marquette opens |
| 1916 | The Michigan Open plays it’s first annual golf tournament |
| 1917 | Gus Keros opens American Coney Island in Detroit |
| 1918 | Village of Caspian incoporated, in 2010 their population was 906 people |
| 1919 | Michigan State park system is created |
| 1920 | WWJ airs its first radio broadcast |
| 1921 | Michigan Department of Agriculture is created |
| 1922 | Charlie Robertson throws perfect games against the Detroit Tigers |
| 1923 | The 26,000 square foot lodge, Granot Loma, is completed for $5 million, equivalent of $70 million today |
| 1925 | Suicide Hill Ski Jump opens in Negaunee |
| 1925 | National Cherry Festival begins in Traverse City |
| 1926 | Harry Houdini’s last performance, which was at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan |
| 1926 | The Pickle Barrel House is built |
| 1926 | 51 people are killed in the Barnes-Hecker mining disaster in Ishpeming, the deadliest in Michigan history |
| 1926 | The Detroit Red Wings play their first game as the Detroit Cougars |
| 1927 | Bath School disaster kills 45 people |
| 1928 | Trenary Bakery opens, the home of Trenary Toast |
| 1928 | The Ironwood Theatre opens downtown |
| 1929 | The Michigan State Police established the first state police radio system in the world. |
| 1930 | The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is completed and is the first international underground vehicle tunnel. |
| 1931 | The Keweenaw receives only 81 inches of snow this winter, the lowest on record for the area |
| 1931 | Hiawatha National Forest is established |
| 1932 | Gogebic College was founded as Ironwood Junior College |
| 1932 | Weldon Howard “Weldy” Olson is born in Marquette |
| 1933 | Michigan became the first state to ratify the 21st amendment, which repealed the prohibition of alcohol |
| 1934 | The first Abbotts Magic Get Together was attended by 80 magicians in Colon, MI “The Magic Capital of the World” |
| 1934 | The Portsmouth Spartans are purchased for $7,952.08, relocated, and named the Detroit Lions |
| 1935 | The Seney National Wildlife Refuge is established |
| 1936 | Escanaba endures the all-time hottest temperatures in the Upper Peninsula of 104 degrees |
| 1936 | Henry Ford builds sawmill in Alberta |
| 1937 | The Battle of the Overpass and Flint sit-down strike take place, clashing with automakers |
| 1938 | A factory is built in Christmas to make gifts for sale at Christmas time |
| 1939 | The first air-conditioned car is manufactured by the Packard Motor Car Company in Detroit |
| 1940 | Isle Royale National Park was established |
| 1941 | The Detroit Pistons are founded as the Fort Wayne Zollner Pistons |
| 1942 | The first B-24 bomber rolls off the assembly line at the Willow Run Bomber Plant near Ypsilanti |
| 1943 | Detroit race riot of 1943 |
| 1943 | Kincheloe Air Force Base opens |
| 1944 | Diana Ross is born in Detroit, MI |
| 1945 | Porcupine Mountains State Park is established |
| 1946 | Lake Superior State University is founded as Sault Ste. Marie Residence Center of the Michigan College of Mining & Technology |
| 1947 | Largest recorded earthquake in Michigan with a magnitude of 4.6 |
| 1948 | Bill Knapp’s opens in Battle Creek |
| 1949 | Selfridge AFB radar station begins operations in Detroit |
| 1950 | Dick Pole is born in Trout Creek |
| 1950 | Stevie Wonder is born in Saginaw, MI |
| 1951 | Major League Baseball All-Star Game held at Briggs Stadium (Tigers Stadium) |
| 1951 | Calumet and Sault Sainte Marie Air Force Station open for operations |
| 1952 | Michigan State Spartans football team wins national championship |
| 1953 | PGA Championship played at Birmingham Country Club |
| 1954 | The Detroit Red Wings beat the Marquette Prison Pirates 18-0, in an outdoor exhibitation game at the Marquette Branch Prison |
| 1955 | Steve Mariucci is born in Iron Mountain |
| 1955 | Tom Izzo born is born in Iron Mountain |
| 1956 | WLUC-TV goes on the air as WDMJ-TV |
| 1957 | The Mackinac Bridge opens |
| 1958 | Madonna is born in Bay City |
| 1958 | Anatomy of a Murder (book) is published by Robert Traver (John D. Voelker) |
| 1959 | The Portage Lake Lift Bridge opens between Houghton and Hancock |
| 1959 | Official opening of K. I. Sawyer Air Force Base |
| 1959 | Anatomy of a Murder (film) is released |
| 1960 | Barry Gordy Jr. incorporated his Motown Record Company and creates the birhtplace of the Motown sound |
| 1961 | Area code 906 is created as a split from 616 |
| 1962 | The International Bridge opens, connecting Sault Ste. Marie to Sault Ste. Marie, Canada |
| 1962 | Michigan Tech wins its first hockey National Championship under coach John MacInnes |
| 1963 | Malcom X makes his “Message to the Grass Roots” speech |
| 1964 | The Michigan Five Fluke Freshmen elected, all subsequently defeated two years later |
| 1965 | Michigan Department of Natural Resources was created |
| 1966 | Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore is established |
| 1967 | One of the largest riots in American history breaks out in Detroit amid racial tensions. |
| 1968 | The Tower of History is built in Sault Ste. Marie by the Catholic Church as the Shrine of the Missionaries |
| 1969 | The first I-500 Snowmobile Race takes place in Sault Ste. Marie |
| 1970 | Harbor Tower is built in Escanaba, and remains the largest buliding in the Upper Peninsula |
| 1970 | Copper Peak is built in near Ironwood and remains the only ski flying hill in the Western Hempisphere |
| 1971 | The lower harbor ore dock in Marquette ceases operations |
| 1971 | WMQT goes on the air |
| 1972 | Eminem is born in Detroit as Marshall Mathers III |
| 1973 | Ohio State vs. Michigan football game becomes one of the most controversial games in history, finishing with a 10-10 tie |
| 1974 | Gerald R. Ford of Grand Rapids becomes the only U.S. President from Michigan and the 38th President of the United States |
| 1975 | SS Edmund Fitzgerald sinks in Lake Superior outside of Whitefish Point |
| 1976 | Bill Rabe creates the Banished Words List at Lake Superior State University |
| 1977 | The Renaissance Center is dedicated in Detroit |
| 1978 | Jet’s Pizza is established in Sterling Heights |
| 1979 | The inagural Hiawatha Music Festival hosted in Champion |
| 1979 | The Keweenaw receives 355 inches of snow, the most in Michigan history |
| 1980 | Somewhere in Time is filmed on Mackinac Island |
| 1981 | MV Paul R. Tregurtha becomes the longest ship on the Great Lakes |
| 1981 | Serena Williams is born in Saginaw, MI |
| 1982 | Mount Arvon is determined to be one foot taller than Mount Curwood, as Michigan’s highest peak |
| 1983 | Bell’s Brewery was founded in Kalamazoo |
| 1984 | Whitehall Metal Studios, Inc. builds and donates the world’s largest weathervane to the community of Montague, MI |
| 1985 | Michigan Department of Natural Resources captures and tranports wild moose from Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada to Marquette County |
| 1986 | Michigan International Speedway hosts the NASCAR Spark Plug 400 |
| 1987 | Culture Shock is released by Da Yoopers, including the hits “Second Week of Deer Camp” and “Rusty Chevrolet” |
| 1988 | Lake Superior State University wins their first hockey National Championship under coach Frank Anzalone |
| 1988 | Karl Bohank begins his career as a TV6 meteorologist |
| 1989 | Detroit Pistons win NBA Championship |
| 1990 | The first UP 200 sled dog race occurs takes places in Marquette |
| 1991 | The Superior Dome (or Yooper Dome), opens as the “world’s largest wooden dome” |
| 1991 | Northern Michigan University wins hockey National Champsion under coach Rick Comley |
| 1992 | Keweenaw National Historical Park is established in Calumet |
| 1993 | Baraga Correctional Facility opens |
| 1993 | First annual Trenary Outhouse Race |
| 1994 | Detroit Vipers inaugural hockey season |
| 1995 | The Detroit newspaper strike begins and lasts for two years |
| 1996 | Suzanne Kindler writes “Up North” poem |
| 1996 | “HOCKEYTOWN” displays at Joe Louis Area for the first time, they’d go on to win the Stanley Cup with the Russian Five |
| 1997 | Oswald’s Bear Ranch opens in Newberry |
| 1997 | World’s largest piece of float copper discovered in Hancock |
| 1998 | Noquemanon Ski Marathon is founded |
| 1999 | Barry Sanders retires |
| 2000 | Comerica Park opens |
| 2001 | Stormy Kromer is purchased by Jacqurt Fabrics and moves to Ironwood |
| 2001 | Escanaba in Da Moonlight debuts |
| 2002 | Marmot Day in celebration of all marmots celebrated in Owosso |
| 2003 | Jennifer Granholm is sworn in as Michigan’s first female Governor |
| 2003 | The word “Yooper” makes its first appearance on Jeopardy |
| 2004 | President George W. Bush becomes first incumbent to visit the Upper Peninsula since William Taft in 1911 |
| 2005 | Crystal Hayes of Rock becomes first Miss Michigan winner from the Upper Peninsula |
| 2006 | Half of Miners Castle falls into Lake Superior |
| 2007 | Sleeper Lakes Fire burns nearly 20,000 acers north of Newberry |
| 2008 | Marquette High School plays in the second longest record game in high school history, an 8 OT game against Orchard Lake |
| 2008 | U.P. Supply Co. is founded in Baraga and Marquette by Bugsy Sailor (oh c’mon, we to put one in here) |
| 2009 | Bill No. 4995 approved by Michigan House, requiring the Upper Peninsula to be on all official state documents |
| 2010 | Rabbit Island is purchased and made into an artist residency |
| 2011 | Plaidurday is founded in Lansing |
| 2011 | President Obama visits Marquette, the third incumbent to visit the Upper Peninsula |
| 2012 | Detroit tigers win the American League Championship Series |
| 2013 | Jim Harrison pens Upper Peninsula piece for the New York Times |
| 2014 | ‘Yooper’ added to Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary |
| 2015 | Lake Superior reaches 96% ice cover |
| 2019 | The Upper Peninsula gets its own Mountain Dew label |
| 2021 | … let’s make history |
