It's difficult to think of Michigan's state capital as anything other than Lansing. But in the 1840s, as the tiny village was growing, the name of the capital city was very much up for debate.
Michigan borders some of the largest inland bodies of water and the Great Lakes are capable of producing storms that are the equivalent of tropical storms and hurricanes as was the case in September of 1996.
One of the most infamous great fires in American history is the conflagration that swept through Chicago for three days in October of 1871. But that year, many other great fires left destruction in other parts of the Midwest including Michigan.
If you went looking for Isle Phelipeaux in Lake Superior on a map today, you won't find it. However the phantom island was once thought to exist near Isle Royale.
Long before the current and very successful Pure Michigan tourism advertising campaign, Michigan touted its tourism opportunities with other campaigns you might remember.
It's a story you may have heard before, Union soldiers from Michigan secretly moved tons of Confederate gold north during the Civil War. The search for that mythical gold in West Michigan is the basis for a new History channel show, The Curse of Civil War Gold.