The State of Michigan turns 174 next Wednesday, and the Michigan Historical Museum plans to celebrate the anniversary on Saturday with events at the Michigan Library and Historical Center in Lansing.
Historic artifacts are expected to be on display, including President Andrew Jackson's letter notifying Michigan of its statehood. Several activities are also planned, says Michigan Historical Center Director Sandra Clark.
"We will have demonstrators of everything from spices to how they did surveying when they were dividing up the land at the time. And at 1 o'clock, we have a very special speaker there: Don Faber, who has done a lot of work on Stevens T. Mason, our first governor, and the Toledo War, that was the kind of seminal event of our becoming a state."
Clark says progress toward statehood slowed when Michigan claimed a strip of land including Toledo, which was already part of the State of Ohio.
"So the Toledo War is not a war in which people die, although there are skirmishes to try to claim that little strip of land that includes Toledo. But it is a lot of negotiation and debate, and it doesn't get resolved until early 1837."
That conflict ended when Michigan gave up its claim to Toledo, and instead claimed the western portion of the Upper Peninsula.
Clark says the celebration highlights Michigan's unique character.
"And that's a desire to shape our own future. We could have sat back in the 1830's and waited until the federal government was ready to say, 'Yes you've got enough people; yes, you're ready to become a state.' We didn't do that. We said, 'This is something that is good for our economy, and it's good for our citizens.' So we went after it."
Michigan became a state on January 26, 1837.
You can find more information about the Statehood Day celebration here.
Historic artifacts are expected to be on display, including President Andrew Jackson's letter notifying Michigan of its statehood. Several activities are also planned, says Michigan Historical Center Director Sandra Clark.
"We will have demonstrators of everything from spices to how they did surveying when they were dividing up the land at the time. And at 1 o'clock, we have a very special speaker there: Don Faber, who has done a lot of work on Stevens T. Mason, our first governor, and the Toledo War, that was the kind of seminal event of our becoming a state."
Clark says progress toward statehood slowed when Michigan claimed a strip of land including Toledo, which was already part of the State of Ohio.
"So the Toledo War is not a war in which people die, although there are skirmishes to try to claim that little strip of land that includes Toledo. But it is a lot of negotiation and debate, and it doesn't get resolved until early 1837."
That conflict ended when Michigan gave up its claim to Toledo, and instead claimed the western portion of the Upper Peninsula.
Clark says the celebration highlights Michigan's unique character.
"And that's a desire to shape our own future. We could have sat back in the 1830's and waited until the federal government was ready to say, 'Yes you've got enough people; yes, you're ready to become a state.' We didn't do that. We said, 'This is something that is good for our economy, and it's good for our citizens.' So we went after it."
Michigan became a state on January 26, 1837.
You can find more information about the Statehood Day celebration here.