Facts About Michigan

• State bird, robin.
• State flower, apple blossom.
• Nickname, Wolverine State.
• Motto, Si Quaeris Peninsulam Amoenam Circumspice [If You Seek a Pleasant Peninsula, Look about You].
• First permanent settlement: Sault Ste. Marie, 1668.
• Highest elevation, Mt. Curwood, 1,980 ft (604 m); lowest elevation, Lake Erie, 572 ft (174 m).
• Population (2000) 9,938,444, a 6.9% increase over 1990 population (9,295,297). Rank by population: 8th.
• The name Michigan comes from the Algonquian Indian language, translated as "the great lake."
• Michigan was admitted to the union as the 26th state on January 26, 1837.
• Michigan covers 58,216 square miles. Rank by area: 23rd.
• Largest cities: Detroit, Grand Rapids, Warren, Flint and Lansing.
• Michigan is divided into an Upper and Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, which connects Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.
• Michigan is nestled in the largest continuos body of fresh water in the world. An astounding 38,575 square miles of Great Lakes water!!!
• Michigan boasts 3,200 miles of shoreline on four of the five Great Lakes. The shoreline of Michigan exceeds any other state and is more than the Nations entire Atlantic seaboard.
• Famous people you ask? Michigan has proudly been the birthplace and home of many famous folks.