Why Michigan Lost Out to the Super Collider / Atom Smasher: 1987-1993

In December 1987, eight states were chosen to be prospective places for the country’s new Super Collider – Atom Smasher, as it is also called.

One of those eight states was Michigan. And of all the cities and towns in Michigan, one village was named for the collider’s location: Stockbridge, in Ingham County.

Many places throughout the country were competing for the smasher, which would cost over 4.4 to 6 billion dollars. This would mean extra jobs and visits from worldwide scientists...all who would be descending on the sweet little hometown farmland of Stockbridge.

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So what is the purpose of a Super Collider? According to the New York Times, it would “give physicists insight into the origins of the universe.....atomic particles would be propelled over a track 53 miles in circumference that would cause them to collide at almost the speed of light.....(recreating) conditions believed found in the first second after the universe's creation in a theoretical explosion that scientists refer to as the Big Bang.” In a separate article, the Times stated “The facility is designed to accelerate atomic nuclei to high speeds, then shatter them to create rare isotopes not found on Earth.”

Not only would this have put Stockbridge on the scientific worldwide map, but it would have meant an economic boom for the entire state. It would have taken years to complete, wrapping up and ready to roll by the mid-1990s.

But it wasn’t as simple as just building it...there were a good many other factors that Michigan had to consider. For example:

1) Around ten miles of brand new roads would have to be excavated and paved
2) Over 2,800 acres of wetlands would be vastly affected or destroyed
3) Eighty water wells would be lost
4) Michigan’s endangered species, the ‘Indiana Bat’ would be threatened
5) Six extra power lines would be needed

But there was at least one positive aspect:
It would have created up to 9,665 jobs

So why didn’t Stockbridge get the gig?

First of all, it was an honor to even be considered over the hundreds of other U.S. competing locations. But Stockbridge and another six sites lost out to Waxahachie, Texas...and it may have been a good thing after all. Texas spent $400 million on the project, which totaled up to $2 billion total. In October 1993 when the House of Representatives turned down more funding and the Senate did not restore it, that was it. The final nail in the coffin was on October 30, 1993 when President Clinton signed a bill that officially canceled the whole project.

The residents of Stockbridge who did not want their ‘smalltown’ atmosphere interrupted by such a mammoth endeavor, breathed a sigh of relief.....and even happier when they discovered what could have happened if the town had been accepted.

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