Saginaw (Michigan)

Saginaw
	; Saginaw skyline
Location in Michigan
	Saginaw
	Saginaw
Basic data
Foundation :	1857
State :	United States
State :	Michigan
County :	Saginaw County
Coordinates :	43 ° 25 ′ N , 83 ° 57 ′ W Coordinates: 43 ° 25 ′ N , 83 ° 57 ′ W
Time zone :	Eastern ( UTC − 5 / −4 )
Inhabitants : ; - Metropolitan Area :	48,984 (as of 2016); 192,326 (as of 2016)
Population density :	1,042.2 inhabitants per km 2
Area :	47 km 2 (approx. 18 mi 2 )
Postal code :	48601
Area code :	+1 989
FIPS :	26-70520
GNIS ID :	1627020
Website :	www.saginaw-mi.com

Saginaw is a city and seat of the county seat of Saginaw County in the US state of Michigan . 48,984 inhabitants (as of 2016) live on a total area of 47.1 km² , which corresponds to a population density of 1,042 inhabitants / km².

history

The settlement was founded in 1817 by French-born settlers. At this time Ojibwe settled there , in front of them the Sauk , after whom the place may have been named. The US government built a fort on the west bank of the Saginaw River in 1822 . In 1857 the settlement was elevated to a town. East of the river, the settlement of East Saginaw developed and became a town in 1859. In 1889 both cities were united. By the 1870s, Saginaw, which lies at the mouth of a large river system, developed into a center for timber handling on ships and railways. At the beginning of the 20th century, an automotive supplier industry emerged with numerous plants, which were mainly operated by General Motors . After the Great Depression, a large number of people immigrated, especially African Americans. During the Second World War , Saginaw became a center of the arms and ammunition industry. The light M1 self-loading carabiner was produced here.

economy

While Saginaw was once a prosperous industrial city, the wood and car industries have been on the decline since the 1980s. The decline accelerated during the 2007–2012 crisis, which contributed to severe demographic losses and increased unemployment. Saginaw ranks 14th on the list of Crime Vulnerable Cities in the United States.

A photovoltaic industry has been established in recent years . Today, the city can once again be considered the seat of innovative companies. However, Georgia- based solar cell manufacturer Suniva , which operates a large plant in Saginaw, filed for bankruptcy in April 2017 .

education

Located in the city are Delta College (founded in 1961) with a technical profile and Saginaw Valley State University as institutions of higher education . The Saginaw Art Museum is one of the city's museums .

Trivia

Johnny Cash wrote a song called Saginaw, Michigan , apparently because it rhymes with fisherman .
Saginaw is mentioned by name in the song America by Simon & Garfunkel from 1968. Paul Simon is said to have written the song here in 1966.

Personalities

sons and daughters of the town

Paul Abler (1957–2017) jazz guitarist and film composer
Dwayne Adway (born 1969), actor
Robert Armstrong (1890–1973), actor in King Kong and the White Woman
Sophina Brown (born 1976), actress
Wilber M. Brucker (1894–1968), Republican governor of Michigan, later Secretary of the United States Army
Mortimer H. Chambers (* 1927), American ancient historian.
E. Irving Couse (1866–1936), visual artist and co-founder of the Taos artists' colony
Draymond Green (born 1990), basketball player
Robert G. Heft (1941–2009), designed the current American flag
Ed Heinemann (1908–1991), as an aircraft designer at Douglas Aircraft , designed more than 20 types of aircraft
Howard Mumford Jones (1892–1980), literary scholar, historian and writer
Florence Knoll (1917–2019), architect and designer
Nils Nilsson (1933–2019), computer scientist
Jason Richardson (born 1981), basketball player
Theodore Roethke (1908–1963), poet
Titanic Sinclair (* 1987), director, singer-songwriter and actor
Algee Smith (* 1994), actor and singer
Gerald Vincke (* 1964), Roman Catholic clergyman, Bishop of Salina
Serena Williams (born 1981), tennis player
Stevie Wonder (* 1950), pop and soul singer and composer