Western Michigan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Western Michigan, also known as West Michigan, is a region of the U.S. State of Michigan. Its largest city is Grand Rapids which is the second largest city in the state. Other West Michigan cities include Battle Creek, Grand Haven, Holland, Hudsonville, Kalamazoo and Muskegon, Spring Lake. The twin cities of Benton Harbor and St. Joseph are sometimes classified as West Michigan, and sometimes categorized in a separate region with South Bend, Indiana called Michiana. Similarly, Big Rapids and Ludington are also sometimes categorized as being in Northern Michigan.
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[edit] Business
Prominent West Michigan corporations include:
- Amway/Alticor/Quixtar, an Ada, Michigan multi-level marketing company.
- Gerber Products Company, a Fremont baby food manufacturer
- Gordon Food Service, a Wyoming food supplier
- Spartan Stores, a Cutlerville grocery chain
- Borroughs, a Kalamazoo office equipment manufacturer.
- Steelcase, a Grand Rapids office equipment manufacturer.
- Herman Miller, a Zeeland office equipment manufacturer.
- Haworth, a Holland office equipment manufacturer.
- Howard Miller a Zeeland manufacturer of longcase clocks
- Kelloggs, a Battle Creek breakfast cereal producer.
- Meijer, a Walker hypermarket chain.
- Stryker, a Kalamazoo surgical equipment manufacturer.
- Gentex, a Zeeland auto-dimming automobile mirror manufacturer.
- Perrigo, a Allegan pharmaceutical company
- Wolverine Worldwide/Hush Puppies, a Rockford shoe maker
- Bissell, a Walker vacuum cleaner maker
- Foremost Insurance, a specialty insurance company
[edit] Transportation
Major roads include:
- Interstate 96, running from Muskegon to Detroit
- Interstate 196, splitting from Interstate 96 in Grand Rapids and going west-southwest and merging with U.S. Highway 31 near Holland before intersecting Interstate 94 near Benton Harbor.
- Interstate 94, running from Billings, Montana to Port Huron, Michigan,
- U.S. Highway 31, running from Mackinaw City, Michigan to Mobile, Alabama
- U.S. Highway 131, running from north of Middlebury, Indiana to Petoskey, Michigan
- Grand River Avenue, running from Grand Rapids to Detroit
- The S-Curve, a famously crooked stretch of U.S. 131 in downtown Grand Rapids
- M-6, also known as the South Beltline, bypassing Grand Rapids connecting to Interstate 96 east of town and Interstate 196 west of town.
[edit] Famous Present/Former Residents
- Abolitionist Sojourner Truth
- Former President of the United States Gerald R. Ford
- Stock car driver Johnny Benson
- Red Hot Chili Peppers vocalist Anthony Kiedis
- Tool and A Perfect Circle vocalist Maynard James Keenan
- X-Files actress Gillian Anderson
- Kellogg Company founder W.K. Kellogg
- Static-X lead singer/guitarist Wayne Static
- New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter
- Actor Tim Allen
- Project runway finalist Danial Vosovic
- Verve Pipe frontman Brian Vander Ark
