Located in the Midwest of the United States, Michigan is the
eighth most populous state in the country with a total
population of ten million residents and growing. Surrounded by
four out of five great lakes, it has the longest freshwater
shoreline in the world. With a staggering total of 12,000 inland
lakes, Michigan is the only state to consist entirely of two
peninsulas. The two peninsulas are separated by the Straits of
Mackinac, a five-mile-wide canal that joins Lake Huron to Lake
Michigan. At the turn of the 20th century the birth of the
automotive industry sent Michigan’s economy through a massive
change. Henry Ford marked the beginning of a new era in
transportation when he opened the first plant in Highland Park.
Similar to the steamship and railroad, it was an important
development. Transforming citizens’ lives, the automobile
industry became the center of economic growth for Detroit and
Michigan. Not just having an affect on Michigan, it altered the
socio-economic status of the United States and th