Interesting Michigan facts - Final Installment

The Ambassador Bridge was named by Joseph Bower, the person credited with making the bridge a reality, who thought the name (Detroit-Windsor International Bridge) as too long and lacked emotional appeal. Bower wanted to symbolize the visible expression of

friendship of two peoples with like ideas and ideals.

Michigan has more than 11,000 inland lakes and more than 36,000 miles of streams.

Michigan has 116 lighthouses and navigational lights. Seul Choix Point Lighthouse in

Gulliver has been guiding ships since 1895. The working light also functions as a museum, which houses early 1900's furnishings and maritime artifacts.

Forty of the state's 83 counties adjoin at least one of the Great Lakes .

Michigan is the only state that touches four of the five Great Lakes .

Standing anywhere in the state a person is within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes .

Michigan includes 56,954 square miles of land area; 1,194 square miles of Inland waters; and 38,575 square miles of Great Lakes water area.

Sault Ste. Marie was established in 1668 making it the oldest town between the

Alleghenies and the Rockies.

Michigan was the first state to provide in its Constitution for the establishment of public libraries.

Michigan was the first state to guarantee every child the right to

Tax-paid high school education.

Four flags have flown over Michigan -- French, English, Spanish and United States .

Isle Royal Park shelters one of the largest moose herds

remaining in the United States.

Some of the longest bulk freight carriers in the world operate on the

Great Lakes. Ore carriers 1,000 feet long sail Michigan 's inland seas.

The Upper Michigan Copper Country is the largest commercial deposit of native copper in the world.

The 19 chandeliers in the Capitol in Lansing are one of a kind and designed especially for the building by Tiffany's of New York. Weighing between 800-900 pounds apiece they are composed of copper, iron and pewter.

The first auto traffic tunnel built between two nations was the mile-long Detroit-Windsor tunnel under the Detroit River .

The world's first international submarine railway tunnel was opened between Port Huron, Michigan, and Sarnia, Ontario, Canada in 1891.

The nation's first regularly scheduled air passage service began operation between Grand Rapids and Detroit in 1926.

In 1879 Detroit telephone customers were first in the nation to be assigned phone numbers to facilitate handling calls.

In 1929, the Michigan State Police established the first state police radio system in the world.

Grand Rapids, more specifically Frederick Meijer Garden, is home to the 24-foot

Leonardo Da Vinci horse, called Il Gavallo. It is the largest equestrian

bronze sculpture in the Western Hemisphere.

The State Motto (written in Latin) translates to:

"If you seek a pleasant peninsula, Look about you.."

Was that interesting or what? With all the negativity due to poor economics and housing market these days Let us all try to remember and say something positive about our beautiful and interesting Michigan ! We will strive to thrive once again! It would also be a good thing to keep our Michigan in our prayers and thoughts too.

Thank you and may God Bless our Michigan and her people!