The first concrete road in the nation was laid on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, between Six and Seven Mile Roads, in 1909. The cost of this pioneering construction project? $13,537.

June is a popular month for weddings, and on June 15, 1968, one Michigan couple took advantage of both the time of year and our state's renowned water resources. Penny Amos and Robert Cooley, both members of a Detroit diving club, were married at the bottom of Higgins Lake in Michigan's first underwater wedding. (courtesy of Michillaneous)

Michigan's "bottle bill," enacted in 1976, was the first in the nation to provide for a 10-cent deposit for recyclable soft drink and alcoholic beverage containers. Michigan still has the highest container refund in the United States; the ten other states with bottle bills provide for deposits no greater than 5 cents per container.

Today Islam is one of the most rapidly growing religions in the United States. Michigan was home to the nation's first mosque, which was built in 1901 in Highland Park.

Office workers today wouldn't be where they are without the contribution of William Austin Burt, who in 1829 patented the first typewriter. Burt, who is better known for surveying Michigan's early townships and discovering iron ore in the Upper Peninsula, called his invention a "typographer."

Anna Bissell of Grand Rapids became the nation's first female corporate CEO in 1888, after the death of her husband, Melville. Anna had helped Melville market the carpet sweeper he invented and patented in 1876 to get rid of the packing-sawdust that stuck in the carpet of their crockery shop. The Bissell carpet sweeper was one of the nation's first such devices. (More information available at www.bissell.com)

Michigan's first automobile company got its start in 1897 in Lansing. Local investors partnered with Ransom E. Olds to create Olds Motor Vehicle Company.

The intersection of Woodward Avenue and Fort Street (or Woodward and Michigan Avenue; both sites are recorded) in Detroit was the site of the world's first four-way traffic stop, which was put there in 1920. The stoplight had twelve bulbs and was manually operated. A lieutenant at the Detroit Police Department invented the signal to reduce the need for officers directing traffic at the city's busy intersections.

The Michigan State Fair was established in 1849 in Detroit, when it was called the Fair Michigan State Agricultural Society. This was the nation's first successful state fair, and it has been held annually ever since.

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