A 1967 map by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers depicting the Great Lakes region. Image courtesy the Archives of Michigan

By Emily Bingham | ebingham@mlive.com

Here's something to celebrate during the doldrums of mid-winter: It's Michigan's birthday! On January 26, 1837, this mitten-shaped swath of land and that beloved rugged piece of peninsula to the north jointly became the 26th state in the Union. This year, to celebrate, we thumbed through the digital archives of the Library of Congress and the Archives of Michigan to collect a handful of fascinating maps that illuminate various eras and aspects of our great state's history. Scroll down for a pictorial walk through Michigan's evolution as the Great Lakes State.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

Before there was the Google Maps app, there was this guy: the Tourist's Pocket Map of Michigan, which folded up neatly between embossed leather covers (see below). The map was created in 1834 as the result of the first state census that preceded statehood in 1837.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

Inside the covers of the 1834 Tourist's Pocket Map of Michigan.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

Prettier than an iPhone: the map's leather exterior included an embossed cover.

Don't Edit

Via Library of Congress

According to the Library of Congress, this 1897 map of Michigan's Lower Peninsula was one of eight large-scale maps of Midwestern states showing routes and post offices of the Railway Mail Service. The map was designed by Chicago railway mail clerk Frank H. Galbraith to help the railway mail service employees locate counties and post offices. Zoom in to see the quirky, cute little sketches included on the map, denoting landmarks or place names.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Via Library of Congress

French cartographer Guillaume de L'Isle created this map three hundred years ago, in 1718. While the map looks nothing like what we know the state to look like in 2018, the unmistakable mitten shape is still there.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of the Archives of Michigan

This striking map, from the 1930's, was part of a historical series that showed the cultural and geographical evolution of Michigan from territory to statehood and after. This map gives insight into the state's complicated years as a territory and shows how the region's Native Americans slowly lost the land.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

A sobering map from the height of the lumber boom in Michigan. The areas shaded brown denote the original pine forests of Michigan from the 1881 census, and the areas shaded green denote the standing timber left in 1895.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

The artful cover of the 1938 state highway map.

Don't Edit

Via Library of Congress

This 1886 map of Michigan's LP shows the routes of the Toledo, Ann Arbor, & North Michigan Railway, as well as connecting lines.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Via the Library of Congress

An 1848 map of Michigan showing the routes of not only railways, but steamboat lines.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

This pictorial map was created in 1954 to celebrate the century-long history of Oglebay, Norton & Co., a Great Lakes shipping company that was headquartered in Cleveland from 1854 until 2008. The company's most famous ship -- and most infamous shipwreck -- was the Edmund Fitzgerald.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

A hand-drawn map of the Upper Peninsula from around 1930 displays the location of camps for the Civilian Conservation Corps. In 1933 there were 41 of these camps around Michigan, housing almost 8,000 young men who'd been employed by the CCC to plant trees for reforestation, build roads, trails, bridges and firebreaks, and conduct groundwater surveys, among other tasks.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

This hand-stenciled linen map depicts the eastern half of the Upper Peninsula and the location of flowing artesian wells: wells where groundwater rises naturally to the surface without the need of a pump.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

This geological contour map of Michigan's Lower Peninsula is from 1931.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

This 1980 map from the state's health department shows where groundwater supplies throughout the state were protected or vulnerable to surface contamination.

Don't Edit

Courtesy Archives of Michigan

Another map of the Upper Peninsula, this time from 1957, showed construction progress at that time for major state highways across the region. Click here to see the map in closer detail.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

A curious map from the Michigan Department of Conservation (which would later become the Michigan DNR) showing known deer yards: locations where deer gather in the winter.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

This 1947 map denotes oil fields across Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

This pretty survey map from 1911 was colored by hand to show where the Upper Peninsula's river basis are.

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

A similar map shows the watersheds of the Lower Peninsula.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

Dating back to 1865, this survey map by state geologist Alexander Winchell (who also taught at the University of Michigan) colorfully displays geological information as well as the location of mining companies across the state.

Don't Edit

Courtesy Archives of Michigan

This fascinating 1951 map was produced by the Historical Society of Michigan; the illustrations and descriptions shed light on Michigan history ranging from towns named after Native American chiefs to shipping and mining eras to one particularly bittersweet observation: "Destruction of our forests/Lumber for the cities of our Nation."

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

This 1930 map by the Department of Conservation was a guide to state parks, state forests, state fish hatcheries, and state game refuges at the time. Notice that there were just 61 state parks back then (we now have more than 100).

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

A map of the state forests (shaded blue) and national forests (shaded red) in the Upper Peninsula as of 1918. (By comparison, today the two national forests in the U.P. -- the Hiawatha and the Ottawa National Forests -- comprise nearly 2 million acres.)

Don't Edit

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

From 1917, this no-frills map shows the ore ranges of the Upper Peninsula as well as shipping ports around the Great Lakes.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of the Archives of Michigan

Another colorful watershed map of the entire state, this time from 1930 and made by the Department of Agriculture.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of the Archives of Michigan

This cute illustrated map was made by the state's Department of Conservation in 1960 to show folks where state parks and rec areas were located across Michigan.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of the Archives of Michigan

Printed on the back of some business correspondence (which can be seen faintly on the other side of the map), this map showed the main lines of the Central Michigan Railroad roughly around the turn of the century. Note the straight shot across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee, via the Central Michigan Navigation Co. ferries.

Don't Edit

Courtesy the Archives of Michigan

Related stories

Best deal ever: 180 years ago, Michigan lost Toledo, got the U.P.

Jaw-dropping places that people can't believe are actually in Michigan

Vintage film shows the miracle of the Mackinac Bridge's construction

25 awe-inspiring photos of Michigan lighthouses in winter

9 reasons to be grateful for the U.P.

Don't Edit