A Quick History of Michigan Trivia Quiz

Answer: Algonquian

The three Algonquian speaking nations of the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi, related tribes who referred to themselves as the "Three Fires", occupied most of the area that became Michigan when European explorers first arrived in the 17th Century.

Answer: French

Frenchman Etienne Brule is believed to have been the first European to visit the region now known as Michigan. Brule lived among the Huron nation in western Ontario from about 1610 until 1611, learning their language and customs. Because he made no notes of his expeditions, there is no definitive proof of exactly where he went in the region, but he did report to Samuel de Champlain that he had seen the Sault Ste. Marie area in a 1615 meeting.

Answer: Sault Ste. Marie

The city of Sault Ste. Marie, in what is now Michigan's Upper Peninsula, was founded in 1668 by French Jesuit missionaries and explorers Jacques Marquette and Claude Dablon. The site became a fur trading post in the 18th century.

Answer: St. Joseph

French explorer Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, founded Fort Miami on the St. Joseph river in the southwest part of Michigan in 1679. The fort was destroyed by the French in 1680, but was quickly rebuilt in 1681. A second fort was built on the site in 1700, and the British took possession in 1763 after the French and Indian War.

Answer: Detroit

Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founded the fort in 1701 to both strengthen French control of the Great Lakes region and to keep British traders and settlers out of the area. The fort was turned over to the British in 1763, and the Americans took possession in 1796.

Answer: Battle of the Raisin River

The Battles of the Raisin River, also known as the Battle of Frenchtown and the Raisin River Massacre, were fought in the Monroe, Michigan area between January 18-23, 1813. The American forces, consisting of around 1,000 men, mostly Kentucky militia, were defeated by a smaller British force that was supported by Native Americans.

Some 400 Americans were killed in the fighting, while a further 30-100 were killed by the Native Americans after they had surrendered.

Answer: 1837

The opening of the Erie Canal brought many new people to settle in Michigan, and statehood was granted on January 26, 1837, as the 26th state. The capital was Detroit until 1847, when it was moved to Lansing.

Answer: Lumber

While the mining of iron and copper were important industries in Michigan from the 1850s on, the main industry in the state was the lumber trade. By the 1880s, most of the old-growth forests had been cut down, and mining and manufacturing were becoming the main industries in the state.

Answer: Cast iron stove production

After the Civil War, the city of Detroit grew rapidly, and was a center of iron production. At least three major cast iron stove manufacturers were located in the city, making it the largest industry in the area. The cast iron stove industry remained prominent until overtaken by the auto industry in the early 1900s.

Answer: The Purple Gang

Backed by industrial tycoons such as Henry Ford, Michigan instituted a statewide prohibition on alcohol in 1917, though the law was struck down in 1919, a year before the national law went into effect. The mostly Jewish Purple Gang started out as extortionists and thieves in the 1910s, and graduated to bootlegging after Michigan's prohibition law went into effect.

The gang was known for extreme violence, and strong police pressure, coupled with the end of Prohibition, spelled the end of the gang by the early 1930s.

Answer: Ambassador Bridge

As an important transportation hub for rail traffic and an entry point for trade with Canada, Detroit needed a quicker way to move freight than ferry service. After several proposals failed, the Ambassador Bridge was built and opened in November, 1929. The bridge became the busiest border crossing in North America and carries 25% or more of U.S. trade with Canada.

Answer: Race riot

As Michigan factories turned to war production in the early 1940s, thousands of people, both African-Americans and Southern whites, migrated to the state to take jobs. Tensions were high between the races, and a full-scale riot broke out in Detroit on June 20, 1943. Thirty-four people were killed and almost 2,000 were arrested before U.S. Army troops arrived to restore order by June 22.

Answer: 5th

In the 1950 census, the population of Detroit was around 1.85 million people, behind only New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles. Much of this growth was due to migration from the Southern USA.

Answer: 6

Michigan ranks fourth in total numbers of boats registered in the United States, behind only Minnesota, Washington, and Florida. At the turn of the start of the 21st century, Michigan had approximately one million boats registered in a state with a population of just over ten million.

Answer: 4

The four Strategic Air Command bases in Michigan were K.I. Sawyer AFB in Gwinn, Kincheloe AFB in Kinross, Selfridge AFB in Mt. Clemens, and Wurtsmith AFB in Oscoda. Selfridge became an Air National Guard base in 1971, while the others were closed after the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.