History in Michigan

Discover 16 places to experience unusual history in Michigan.

Traverse City, Michigan

Bassett Island

This tiny island bears the name of Civil War veteran, fisherman, and local celebrity Richard Bassett.

Dearborn, Michigan

Owl Night Lunch Wagon

Little did a museum know, they possessed the last-known lunch wagon in existence.

The roundhouse at Greenfield Village.

Dearborn, Michigan

The Roundhouse at Greenfield Village

One of the few working locomotive roundhouses in the United States.

Museum building and tool shop.

Grayling, Michigan

Hartwick Pines Logging Museum

This museum in the woods evokes the work and lives of Michigan's 19-century lumberjacks.

Old Benzie County Courthouse.

Beulah, Michigan

Old Benzie County Courthouse

This former county courthouse was originally an opulent hotel and entertainment venue.

General view of the cemetery.

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Mission Creek Cemetery

The final resting place of a prominent Chippewa chief and several Native American children.

Cedar Lake's two-story outhouse.

Cedar Lake, Michigan

Two-Story Outhouse

There are two legends behind the origin of this unusually tall sanitary structure.

Fishtown.

Leland, Michigan

Leland's Historic Fishtown

A charming remnant of 19th-century fishing towns sits on Michigan’s Leelanau Peninsula.

No. 2 Plank Road Tollgate House.

Okemos, Michigan

No. 2 Plank Road Tollgate House

The last remaining tollhouse in Michigan built during the 19th-century plank road craze.

School building at the Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial School.

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Mount Pleasant Indian Industrial School

This solemn facility remembers the cruel effort to compel Native American children to relinquish their culture.

Trail marker #33 at West End Beach in Traverse City.

Cadillac, Michigan

Old Indian Trail

A series of 33 stone markers maps an ancient 55-mile transportation route.

The primary tunnel.

Traverse City, Michigan

Tunnels of Traverse City State Hospital

A subterranean world of tunnels links several buildings of this rare 19th-century asylum.

The air terminal building.

Northport, Michigan

Woolsey Memorial Airport

A lonely stone-sided terminal stands next to a grass airstrip on Michigan's Leelanau Peninsula.

Grayscale of temple exterior.

Detroit, Michigan

Detroit Masonic Temple

The world’s largest Masonic temple was saved by the White Stripes.

Nixon's tape recorder

Grand Rapids, Michigan

White House Taping System

The origin of the Nixon tapes is rooted in technological incompetence as much as secrecy.

Entrance to the Dee

Houghton, Michigan

Dee Stadium

The birthplace of professional hockey on the shores of Portage Lake.