Brief Look At Historic Michigan State

The French were exploring a great river called 'Mississippi' by the local Indian tribes and in 1679 they built a Fort which was built in present day St. Joseph in Michigan and was the first non-Indian community to settle in the Lower Peninsula. The French settled there permanently and started trading until 1753 when British Forces defeated them in a bloody war, the French and Indian war (1754 to 1763).

The British forces continued later fighting the local Indians instead for many years to gain extra territory and forced them further West. Later the British taxed the American Colonists to pay for the English Military expenses which caused a lot of disillusion amongst them. A revolution was waiting to happen and it happened in 1776 and the British still were not willing to leave and were also trying to retain Canada, but were uprooted by the revolutionaries and every thing changed in 1796 when the British Flag was finally lowered and the American Flag was raised.

Michigan earned its statehood in 1837 when President Andrew Jackson signed the bill making Michigan the twenty sixth state of US. By June 1855 ships were used in trading here and many harbors were built. Copper mining started here in early 1840 and also Michigan alone could produce more iron ore then any other state by the end of the 19th century.

By 1877 logs could be moved in the River Muskegon and a production boom occurred which further increased by 1900 with coming up of many railroads, and Michigan thus retained its number one position in lumber production. In 1900 first auto-mobile company was started by The Old Motors Association and it kept increasing its production with every passing year. With Ford & General Motors joining them by 1914 75% of the total US cars were manufactured in Michigan.

During the World War II in 1944, the federal govt. asked General Motors to make planes for the Air-Force and very soon it was the World's largest plane assembly location. Finally on 1 November 1957 a bridge between the two peninsulas of Michigan was opened making it the longest hanging bridge (3800 ft) in the world at that time.

In 1987 Michigan celebrated its anniversary of statehood and in Lansing the official Michigan Statehood Stamp was issued. In spite of some economic setbacks in 1970 and 1980 Michigan is still 12th in population of the total states of US. The first National Shoreline is at Rock National Lakeshore which was authorized in 1966 and visitors can explore the vast 73000 acres park.