Day 5 - Midland, Michigan

Googlemaps: Midland, Michigan Memorial

Like Midland, Texas, the city of Midland, Michigan is located in the middle.  Midland, Texas is halfway between Fort Worth and El Paso.  Midland, Michigan is in the middle of the mitt of Michigan.

While Midland, Texas is known for oil wells as far as the eye can see in the Permian Basin, Midland, Michigan has had an equally industrious past.  In August of 1890, Herbert Dow arrived in Midland, Michigan and purchased an abandoned brine well.  He invented a process using electrolysis to convert the brine to produced a chemical called Ferric (Iron) Bromide.  That was the beginning of what would become the giant Dow Chemical Company which is headquartered there today.  This is an interesting video on Herber H. Dow.