About Midland

History of the Community

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Midland, Michigan is located mid-section of the Michigan mitt, near the crook of the thumb. 

Together, Saginaw, Midland and Bay City make up the area commonly referred to as the "Great Lakes Bay Region".  As far as population numbers, Midland is the second largest of the three cities. Saginaw is the largest; Bay City, the smallest. 

Midland has evolved from an Indian village to the "City of Science and Culture." If you visited Midland in the 1850s, you would have discovered that the riverbanks were lined with many Chippewa Indian Wikkiups, round huts made of bent saplings covered with skins and bark. Perhaps you would have come across an Indian man hunting or fishing while others worked crops of corn, squash, gourds, and pumpkins.  The thousand acres now known as the Chippewa Nature Center originally were within the 6,000 acres retained by the Chippewa Tribe under the Treaty of Saginaw in the year 1819.

Following the era of Indian hunters, fishermen, and white fur-traders were farmers and loggers.  The second largest sawmill in the Saginaw Valley was located in Midland.  What is now Main Street began as a series of businesses along a dirt road constructed of timber cut from surrounding forests. 

Midland County was organized in 1850.  By 1874, the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad extended through the heart of Midland to Averill, three miles to the west.  The City of Midland was incorporated in 1887. 

In 1890, a young man by the name of Herbert Henry Dow arrived in Midland and subsequently founded The Dow Chemical Company.  His success enabled Midland to survive the end of the logging era and to grow to its present size.  Now the heart of Michigan’s technology basin, Midland is the global headquarters of two Fortune 500 companies, Dow Chemical and Dow Corning Corporation, and home to the Midland Cogeneration Venture, the largest gas-fueled, steam recovery cogeneration facility in North America.  Midland has become a center for industrial innovation, and is quickly becoming a hub for the solar energy industry. 

In addition to the strong economic base, Midland is also proud of its quality education programs. For several years, the Midland Public Schools has been rated as one of the top 44 school districts in the country by Expansion Management magazine. Offering many opportunities for higher education, Midland is the home of Northwood University and is located within 20 minutes of Davenport University, Saginaw Valley State University, Central Michigan University, and Delta College. 

Residents and tourists alike enjoy Midland’s abundance of cultural and recreational facilities. The Midland Center for the Arts, Herbert H. Dow Historical Museum, Dow Gardens, the Herbert D. Doan Midland County History Center, plus the unique, Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired architecture of Alden B. Dow are several attractions that reflect Midland's culture and heritage 

The Great Lakes Loons baseball team, a brand-new 107,000-square-foot Civic Arena with three skating rinks, Currie Municipal Golf Course, Midland’s 30-mile-long, paved Pere Marquette Rail-Trail, the Midland Community Tennis Center, a volunteer-run soccer complex, a Community Center, 72 different parks, and the Emerson Park and Redcoat softball complexes provide residents with many recreational opportunities. (For more on Midland's recreational offerings, click on the Sports Enthusiasts link at left.)

Photo Gallery

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