Zilwaukee, Michigan

Zilwaukee is one of the more audaciously named towns in America, and, according to local legend, the name was entirely on purpose. When brothers Daniel and Solomon Johnson arrived in the Saginaw Valley around eighteen fifty and built a lumber mill, they needed workers. The booming German immigrant community in New York was their target, and Milwaukee was the city those immigrants dreamed of reaching.

So, the legend goes, the Johnsons named their mill town Zilwaukee, close enough to fool a recent arrival skimming a handbill. German workers signed contracts expecting Wisconsin and woke up in Michigan. The scheme apparently worked well enough to populate the town. Today Zilwaukee sits on Interstate Seventy-Five just north of Saginaw, perhaps best known for its distinctive bridge, but its naming legend remains one of the most entertaining tales in Great Lakes history.