What Happened To The Rapids And More Questions About Michigan Place Names

MICHIGAN, YOUR CHOICE OF PLACE NAMES INTRIGUES ME... 

Being one of those people who love words and their meanings, I’m often disappointed when I go to new places. Why? Because the name of the place may not really reflect what its words mean...at least my definition of those words anyway.  

For example, I once visited Toad Suck, Arkansas. Having just watched a documentary regarding the (ahem) possible psychedelic properties of the secretions of certain Amazonian amphibians, I thought, I’ll hang out...wait for toads...see what happens.

 Imagine my chagrin when I was informed that the “suck” in Toad Suck just refers to the narrowing of the channels on the Arkansas River. Those narrow channels then attract food for frogs, toads, and other small critters. Whether those critters had psychedelic secretions wasn’t really discussed, I must not have been hanging out in the right part of town for that.  

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Since Arkansas burned me, I decided I would ASK before I ASSUME anything about Michigan place names, because we all know what assuming means... 

QUESTION #1:  

Do the places with rapid in their name ACTUALLY have rapids close by?  

JR told me that Grand Rapids did have rapids, but now they don’t, but they are trying to put the rapids back? We’ll just leave Grand Rapids off the list for now, but these other places...are there, in fact, rapids? 

• Big 

• East Grand 

• Eaton 

• Elk 

• Long 

• Maple 

• River 

QUESTION 1A: If the above places DO have rapids, can you ride them? 

SEE ALSO: One of Michigan's Oldest Hotels: Cadillac House, Lexington: 1840

QUESTION #2: 

Are all the towns, townships, villages, cities with Big or Grand in their name truly Big and/or Grand? Because I hear that Big Rapids isn’t so big. 

QUESTION 3: 

What’s the difference between a town, township, and village? 

QUESTION #4: 

Does Kalamazoo have a zoo?  

FOLLOW-UP: 

If so, is it full of Kalamas? 

FOLLOW-UP TO THE FOLLOW-UP: 

If all this is true, what’s a Kalama? 

All joking aside, my questions are really just a search for knowledge. What is this “Water-Winter-Wonderland” state all about? Where did everything come from?  

Just by place names I can tell you have a rich Native American history—just like Oklahoma and Virginia. In fact, I feel quite at home surrounded by places like Saginaw and Muskegon. Those words remind me of my favorite places—Apache, Chickasha, and Anadarko in Oklahoma (Oklahoma itself also a Native American place name), or Chilhowie, Roanoke, and Powhatan in Virginia.  

MAKE YOU A DEAL--  

Teach me what you can about your vibrant history while I’m here, and I’ll try my best not to judge you over the Michigander pronunciation of Charlotte. 

LAST QUESTION: (promise!) 

What’s your favorite historical Michigan story? Let me know on the WITL app or email me at ivylee@witl.com.