Michigan

Name: Canton Township
Brand: Gerald C. VanDusen
SKU: 9780738540986
Price: 18.74 USD
Availability: InStock

Things get made in Michigan. Consult a schematic of Detroit history to connect the Ford dynasty and the myriad auto companies that followed to the Willow Run assembly line churning out B-24 bombers during WWII. But this ingenuity also lives in the crispness of Vernor’s Ginger Ale and the handcrafted perfection of Pewabic Pottery. From the postwar idyll of Detroit’s Grand River and Greenfield neighborhood to the ghostly trickster at the capitol in Lansing, flip the switch on Michigan history with our Michigan history books. [View all Michigan books]

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Canton Township

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Gladwin County

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Grosse Pointe War Memorial

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Michigan Memorial Park

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Lucky to Live in Michigan

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The Wise Animal Handbook Michigan

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Rochester and Rochester Hills

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Grand Rapids in Stereographs

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Detroit's New Center

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The Works Progress Administration in Detroit

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Legendary Locals of Detroit

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Presque Isle County

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Detroit's Holy Family Church

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Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries

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Detroit's Holy Cross Cemetery

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Canton Township

9780738540986

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Canton Township: The Corn Capital of Michigan.

Canton Township, which took its name from the city in China to distinguish itself from other early American communities, has a rich agricultural heritage, evident from its nickname. The pioneers who traveled to Canton in the first half of the 19th century were a hearty breed of farmers and settlers who cleared land, built roads, and forged a life for their families in the wilderness of the Northwest Territories. No single town center emerged, but two villages--Sheldon Corners and Cherry Hill--sprang up to provide centers of community activity in their churches, post offices, and general stores. Eventually the appearance of the automobile and the expressway dramatically altered the landscape of Canton Township, leading to the commercial development and housing boom of today.

Gladwin County

9780738552477

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Gladwin County, named after a British commander of Fort Detroit, is situated in upper mid-Michigan. Settled at the beginnings of the Civil War, this area has been blessed with the ability to survive and thrive from its natural resources and the hardy pioneer and entrepreneurial spirit of its people. The white pine forests provided much of the wood for homes downstate, and the railroads brought in the people to fill lumber camps and towns with names like Cedar (now the city of Gladwin) or Grand Forks (now known as Beaverton) and long-lost crossroads such as Lyle, Hard Luck, and Podunk. As the lumbering era came to a close, the rails brought in farmers to replace the woodsmen. The horses came out of the woods to plow the fields. When the tractor replaced the horse, oil was discovered and a new boom began. But that soon went bust, and Gladwin once again reinvented itself by becoming the thermoforming capital of the world. The area is ripe with waterways, rivers, and lakes, both natural and man-made. Once clogged with logs and now bulging with watercraft, many of the lumber camps from a century ago today have become new recreational settlements.

Grosse Pointe War Memorial

9780738577463

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In many ways, the story of the 1910 mansion The Moorings tells the story of one segment of life in Grosse Pointe, Michigan. For more than two decades, the home represented life on the lake for a typical wealthy family. It was built by Russell A. Alger Jr., the lumber baron and industrialist who cofounded the Packard Motor Car Company and helped the Wright brothers finance their first company. What makes the story of the home complete is what happened when the family no longer lived there. After 12 years as a branch of the Detroit Institute of Arts, the home fulfilled its destiny as a memorial to veterans and a center for arts and education: the Grosse Pointe War Memorial. Today it is truly a hub of activity for Grosse Pointe and the surrounding communities. Guests can still enjoy the beautiful design of the home while attending a memorial service, lecture, stage production, luncheon, or summer concert outside on the lawn. The Grosse Pointe War Memorial today is a testament to the generosity of its original owners and their desire to share the beauty of their home with generations to come.

Michigan Memorial Park

9780738551593

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In 1926, a former two-time University of Michigan All-American football hero decided that a pastoral area of Huron Township could be transformed into a cemetery. Two years later, Michigan Memorial Park opened its gates to begin serving the needs of this growing community tucked away in a corner of the township located southwest of Detroit. Bordering on the peaceful Huron River, this former home to the Wyandott tribe and later French settlers has become a sprawling 300-acre parcel of land still surrounded by woods and farmland. It is Michigan's largest nondenominational cemetery whose ownership has remained in the same family for four generations. Thousands of trees, a plethora of sculptures and fountains, and swan-filled ponds adorn the gardenlike grounds adding to the tranquility experienced by all those who visit. Michigan Memorial Park has remained one of the pillars of the community, not only providing a resting place for many thousands who have passed away but also giving back to the community through its involvement in civic activities.

Rochester and Rochester Hills

9780738583488

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Rochester and Rochester Hills grew in a territory of three rivers, abundantly fertile pastures, and rolling oak forests on land once considered uninhabitable. Though only 30 miles from Detroit, official government reports of swampy and barren land deterred settlers. In 1817, the Graham family disregarded these reports, instead following the advice of Native Americans to reach a territory governed by a triumvirate of creeks, which were forceful enough to power several mills yet gentle enough to support thriving farms. Only 20 years later, every plot in Rochester had been sold. Later the village was made a stop on the network of Michigan railroads, cementing its fate as a vigorous and popular community. With a past boasting such illustrious citizens as auto baron John Dodge and internationally prominent obstetrician Dr. Bertha Van Hoosen, with corporations like Parke-Davis and philanthropic organizations such as Leader Dogs for the Blind, Rochester remains a source of innovative leadership as well as a model for successful suburbia.

Grand Rapids in Stereographs

9780738551227

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Beginning around 1865, as the fledgling art and science of photography began to appear in cities and towns across the United States, a small group of photographers, using new methods and equipment developed a few years before in Europe, began producing and offering for sale stereographic views of the people, places, and events that made up daily life in the then nearly 40-year-old city of Grand Rapids. These photographic views were unlike others
that had preceded them and when viewed using a special device, they presented a detailed, three-dimensional portrait of the young city. Once introduced, stereographic views of the city, alongside those of more distant lands, became wildly popular and soon graced the homes of many in this city and elsewhere. The stereographic cards themselves today offer a rare and detailed glimpse of
the city, its residents, and some of the special and unusual events that occurred nearly 150 years ago.

Detroit's New Center

9780738532714

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The northern anchor of Detroit's greater downtown, New Center is a diverse and vibrant neighborhood that offers shopping, entertainment, and dining among landmark architecture, historic districts, and contemporary homes and businesses.

Shortly after General Motors built their headquarters three miles north of downtown, the Fisher Brothers conceived the idea of a ""new center"" and proceeded to construct the landmark Fisher and New Center Buildings. From this initial activity in the 1920s sprung a new commercial district, a new neighborhood, and a New Center for the City of Detroit. Detroit's New Center takes readers on a journey from New Center's origins as a planned business district to its current life as a thriving area where Detroiters live, work, and play.

The Works Progress Administration in Detroit

9780738551814

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In the midst of the Depression, a government agency was created that changed the lives of thousands of Americans. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) was more than a program that put the unemployed to work, it was a revolutionary concept that sought to improve the lives of Americans through the physical improvement of their surroundings and the physical and intellectual improvement of themselves. For the people of Detroit, the WPA built schools and libraries, provided clothing and shelter, and enriched their lives through literacy, health, and educational programs. It brought art, theater, and music to the masses through groundbreaking cultural programs and created the infrastructure necessary to allow Detroit to blossom into the "Arsenal of Democracy" and one of America's greatest cities.

Legendary Locals of Detroit

9781467100427

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Detroit sports a very uneven background. The city dates from 1701, when Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac planted the flag of New France, some 75 years before America became a nation. Almost two-thirds of Detroit's history was spent as little more than a frontier military outpost--home to French farmers and fur traders who shared the quarters with the soldiers. But as the 20th century arrived, the impact of the automobile roused the city from its slumber. Within a century's time, the industry set in motion by Henry Ford produced a skyrocketing population, a diverse mosaic of ethnic groups, and levels of culture and affluence rivaled by few other places. The literature of Joyce Carol Oates, the architecture of Albert Kahn, and the music fostered by Berry Gordy enriched life and created the "Paris of the Midwest." But growing pains were inevitable: growing racial instability culminated in the insurrection of 1967, inflicting deep wounds yet creating new opportunities for harmony and justice that were capitalized on by Rev. William Cunningham. Today, efforts continue to remove the tarnish from this corner of the "Rust Belt."

Presque Isle County

9780738599779

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Norman Rockwell would have found no shortage of subjects for his paintings in any of the small communities in Presque Isle County. It is an idyllic region in Michigan's northeastern Lower Peninsula with more than 50 miles of Lake Huron shoreline, dozens of inland lakes and streams, and sprawling forests of pines and hardwoods. It was probably those attributes that attracted Native Americans to the region about 8,000 years ago. Shortly after the Civil War, the Indians were joined by throngs of European immigrants who found jobs in lumber camps and sawmills or homesteaded farms. The region's lumber boom was followed by a limestone boom in the early 20th century, and it created hundreds of jobs in the quarries and on ships that carried the stone to markets around the Great Lakes. The boom years are just a memory now, but the natural attributes of the county attract tourists and modern settlers seeking a more serene experience than can be found in the tourist meccas on Michigan's west coast.

Detroit's Holy Family Church

9780738552170

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The traditions of the Sicilians and Italians have been present in Detroit and Holy Family Church since the early 1900s. The church being the very root of their soul, they have maintained their ancestors' culture and the rituals they brought with them over 100 years ago. Some of these customs date back hundreds of years in their homelands of Cinisi, Terrasini, Trapani, and many other cities. Bonnie Leone was born, raised, and still resides in Detroit. Originally appointed by Gov. John Engler to the position of Wayne County jury commissioner, Leone is a member of several genealogical societies, tracing some of her ancestors as far back as the 1500s. Her strong sense of history, art, and tradition brought her to this church, so that she may help to preserve and protect the traditions of the last 100 years of the Sicilians in Detroit.

Metro Detroit's High School Football Rivalries

9780738561684

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High school football has been an institution in metro Detroit since the day the assembly line changed America. From the game's inception at the prep level in the early 1900s to the annual Thanksgiving Day games that would make or break a school's season, prep football has been a rite of passage for players, parents, coaches, and fans alike in Detroit since after World War II. Detroit's high schools were massed and assembled from the immigrant pockets that carved out city and suburban landscapes. The one constant in all these cultural melting pots was high school football. For parents and neighbors of the marching bands, cheerleaders, and players, football season in the golden age of high school sports was an all-community event. Towns shuttered and time stopped for nine Fridays in the fall.

Detroit's Holy Cross Cemetery

9780738577036

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In the early hours before dawn on October 6, 1907, a raging fire illuminated the sky as the historic chapel that stood on the cemetery grounds for over half a century reduced to a pile of cinders and ash. Lit by sparks from a nearby barn ablaze from an act of arson, the fire destroyed priceless paintings, relics, statues, and artifacts that held sacrament to the area's earliest settlers. So ended the era of the cemetery's obscure past and launched a new era for the little mission?turned?graveyard nestled southwest of Detroit. Detroit's Holy Cross Cemetery is a collage of persons whose immigrant dreams landed them in an area budding with industry. The cemetery's evolution reflects the waves of immigration, from the early French to the Irish, Germans, Hungarians, Poles, and Hispanics. From its 1838 2-acre roots to its current 65-acre span, Holy Cross Cemetery filled the need for a Catholic cemetery on Detroit's west side.