Michigan Trivia # 1

Did you know ...

• That the world’s first stop sign was a hand-held sign used by a traffic policeman in Detroit?

• That over 100 railroad freight cars a day were manufactured in Detroit in the 1890s?

• That Detroit became the leading producer of stoves in the 1890s, not only in Michigan, but in the world?

• That the first operating railroad in Michigan was a horse-drawn train running between Adrian and Toledo in 1836? By 1850, railroad companies had completed the rail link from Detroit to Chicago.

• That the first United States Land Office in Michigan was located in Detroit in 1818? Persons wanting to buy surveyed land could only purchase it through a land office.

• That the Ambassador Bridge, linking Canada and Michigan, was completed in 1929 at a cost of more than $16 million? It was the first bridge to connect two countries. In 1930, the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel was completed at a cost of $22 million.

• That Michigan was the first state to develop roadside parks with picnic tables?

• That the telephone was first introduced in Michigan in 1877 on an experimental basis, just one year after it was displayed at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia?