
- Michigan was at one time part of Upper Canada, until 1796 when the Treaty of Paris was signed and the US flag was raised in Detroit.
- The ongoing battle between Ohio and Michigan for the so-called "Toledo Strip" did not end with Michigan's admission as a state in 1837. In fact, as recently as 1966, the possibility of getting the land back was still under discussion!
- Michigan was a very strong anti-slavery state, with many stations of the Underground Railroad. Slave owners who entered the state in search of their runaway property could expect to be set upon and run out of town.
- Michigan is the only state ever to have a king: James Jesse Strang was the self-proclaimed king of a Mormon settlement on the Beaver Islands until he was killed in 1856.
- The Republican Party began in Jackson, Michigan, with a meeting of 1500 men - in an oak grove, because there was no building large enough to accommodate them all.
- In 1860, 25% of the population of Michigan had been born in New York.
- Over half of the men of military age in Michigan fought in the Civil War.