- Midland
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/mid"leuhnd/, n.1. a city in W Texas. 70,525.2. a city in central Michigan. 37,250.3. a town in S Ontario, in S Canada, on Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. 12,132.
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city, seat (1850) of Midland county, east-central Michigan, U.S. It lies along the Tittabawassee River, just west of Bay City and University Center. It originated in the 1830s as a lumbering settlement and was named for the county, which is approximately in the middle of the state's Lower Peninsula. Brine deposits formed the basis of the city's chemical industry, which was the world's largest producer of bromine by 1888. In 1890 industrialist Herbert H. Dow (Dow, Herbert H.) formed a company in Midland based on an improved method for bromine extraction he had developed, and the city expanded with the company's growth. Dow Chemical Company (and later, Dow Corning) formed the basis of the city's economy, producing a wide range of industrial, agricultural, and consumer chemicals and petrochemicals. The city is also noted for its imaginative architecture, including many public and private buildings designed by Alden B. Dow, Herbert's son and a student of Frank Lloyd Wright (Wright, Frank Lloyd). Dow's home and studio is one of the city's attractions, as are the Midland Center for the Arts, the Chippewa Nature Center, and the Dow Gardens. The city hosts an annual (September) hot-air balloon festival. Inc. village, 1869; city, 1887. Pop. (2000) 41,685; (2005 est.) 41,760.town, Simcoe county, south-central Ontario, Canada. It is located on Midland Bay, an arm of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron. It was surveyed in 1872 and became a village in 1878 and a town in 1887. Midland has large harbour installations and grain elevators and is a customs port and a steamship terminal for the Georgian Bay resorts.On the Wye River about 3 miles (5 km) east of Midland is the reconstructed Fort-Sainte-Marie, which from 1639 to 1649 was the Jesuit mission headquarters for the Huron region. It was one of the first European settlements in inland Canada and had Ontario's first hospital, school, and farm. Nearby are Little Lake Park, with a replica of a Huron Indian village and a museum, and the Wye Marsh Wildlife Centre. Pop. (2006) 16,300.city, seat (1885) of Midland county, western Texas, U.S. It lies on the southern edge of the High Plains, just northeast of Odessa. Midland was founded in 1884 as a depot on the Texas and Pacific Railway and named for its position midway between El Paso and Fort Worth (300 miles [480 km] east).Midland is the hub of a 12-county ranching region noted for Hereford cattle. It is also the financial and trade centre for the vast Permian Basin, which contains large quantities of oil, natural gas, anhydrite, salt, and potassium. Oil was discovered in the basin in 1923, and three years later the oil industry began moving into Midland. With tens of thousands of producing wells in the basin and hundreds of oil-company offices in the city, it became one of the country's most important oil centres. Oil distribution, petrochemical industries, and livestock dominate the city's economy. Midland's Permian Basin Petroleum Museum traces the history and development of the basin, which was once an ancient sea. The American Airpower Heritage Museum (originally called the Confederate Air Force Museum) houses some 140 World War II-era aircraft, many of which are operational. Midland (community) College was founded in 1969. Midland is the birthplace of U.S. first lady Laura Bush (Bush, Laura Welch). Inc. 1906. Pop. (1990 est.) city, 89,443; Odessa-Midland MSA, 225,545; (2000) city, 94,996; Odessa-Midland MSA, 237,112.* * *
Universalium. 2010.
