7 Things That Wouldn’t Exist Without Michiganders

Besides the automobile industry, there are many other inventions that were created in Michigan that are critical for how we live today.

Here are only seven of the inventions made by Michiganders!

1. Computer Games

This one has a special place in my heart. As a gamer, this was super exciting to learn. Sid Meier, or the "Father Of Computer Gaming", moved to Michigan from Canada when he was a child. Later, he would earn a computer science degree from the University of Michigan. Meier was the one to come up with ideas that would lead to modern-day computer games.

2. The Five-Day Work Week

This one may be a technicality. In 1908, the first five-day work week in the United States was started by a New England cotton mill. This assured that the Jewish workers would not have to work on the Sabbath. However, in 1926, Henry Ford announced his eight-hour, five-day work week and began closing his factories all Saturdays and Sundays.

3. Four-Way Traffic Lights

Many believe that William Potts, a Detroit police officer, was the first to add a yellow light to a traffic light. The first modern traffic light was at the corner of Michigan Avenue and Woodward Avenue.

4.  Techno

Many people say that techno music was started in Michigan. In the '80s, three friends from Belleville, Michigan began to fuse together their influences of electronic artists like Kraftwerk and funk bands like Prince. That mixture of sounds led to what we know today as techno.

5. Radio News

The first radio news program was broadcasted on August 31, 1920, from a Detroit station, 8MK. 8MK was later renamed WWJ.

6. Baby Food

Daniel Frank Gerber, Jr. ran his father's business, Fremont Canning Company, and introduced Gerber's Baby Food in 1928. Fremont Canning Company was located in Fremont, Michigan.

7. Snowboarding

A Muskegon-based engineer named Sherman "Snurfer" Poppen created the snowboard on Christmas day in 1965. He put together two of his daughter's skis. As the sport gained popularity later, the term was changed to "snowboard" and Poppen was inducted into the U.S. Ski-Snowboard Hall of Fame in 2019.