Ten on Tuesday: The Community Edition

Our topic for this week is 10 Interesting Things About Your Community. Carole left it up to us to determine what community is so I am going to talk about the great state of Michigan.

1) We are home to 2 major Big 10 universities - the University of Michigan and my alma mater Michigan State University.

2) We are the only place where Canada is south of America - Windsor, Ontario is south of Detroit.

3) We are ranked 1st in the number of boat registrations in the US.

4) Sault Ste. Marie was founded by Father Jacques Marquette in 1668. It is the third oldest remaining settlement in the United States. 

5) Michigan State University was founded in 1855 as the nation's first land-grant university and served as the prototype for 69 land-grant institutions later established under the Morrill Act of 1862. It was the first institution of higher learning in the nation to teach scientific agriculture. 

6) The Mackinac Bridge is one of the longest suspension bridges in the world. Connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan, it spans 5 miles over the Straits of Mackinac, which is where Lake Michigan and Lake Huron meet. The Mighty Mac took 3 years to complete and was opened to traffic in 1957.

7) The Detroit Zoo was the first zoo in America to feature cageless, open-exhibits that allowed the animals more freedom to roam. 

8) Michigan has more shoreline than any other state except Alaska. 

9) Standing anywhere in the state a person is within 85 miles of one of the Great Lakes. 

10) Michigan was the first state to guarantee every child the right to tax-paid high school education.