Who Knew? The End of the Earth in Michigan
So what is this?
Does the earth come to an end in the Keweenaw Peninsula?
Is it the actual name of a community?
Or is it a gag?
It was a gag.....and it's no longer standing.
Michigan Technological University students Tim Cocciolone and John Marchesi created this sign back in 1984. According to an Mlive article, the two boys “created a fake highway sign that embodied the wild, remote spirit of their school’s location in Houghton, in the U.P.’s Keweenaw Peninsula.”
The sign sat alongside US-41 between Houghton and Chassell but it didn't last very long...only a few hours...but long enough so they could snap this great photo. It was a perfect, foggy U.P. morning that made it look like you were actually traveling into nowhere...or about to fall off the end of the earth.
The sign was up for only a few hours before the Houghton County Sheriff's office removed it. The sign is now located in the Theta Kappa Psi fraternity house – kind of a “point of pride” (said the article) where it has been for the last few decades.
Marchesi went further and had postcards made up of the original photo, which you can still find for sale in MTU's Campus Bookstore.
The gallery below has a scant few images, including a current photo of where the sign once was.
END OF THE EARTH, MICHIGAN
MORE MICHIGANIA: