50 State Quarters Program
The Great Lakes State Quarter 
First Quarter of 2004 Honors Michigan

 The first State Quarter of 2004 - and the 26th quarter in the 50 State Quarters Program - honors the "Great Lakes State" of Michigan. The coin was officially released into circulation on January 26,  the  167th anniversary of Michigan entering the Union.

 The coin's design features the state's distinctive  outline (the lower peninsula is often called "the mitten"), the five Great Lakes (Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Erie, and Superior), the phrase Great Lakes State (the state's nickname), and 1837, the year Michigan became a state.

 "The Great Lakes are an unmistakable part of who we are in Michigan," said the state's governor  Jennifer M. Granholm. 

 Granholm noted that one member of the quarter commission, astronaut Jerry Linenger, summed it up well when he said, "From space, there is no other region on the globe so recognizable. Michigan is one of the defining features on the planet." 

 "Everyone who sees our new Michigan quarter for the first time will get a fresh glimpse of our prized peninsulas and abundance of natural water," the governor said.

 Michigan is the only state divided into two major peninsulas. It has more miles of freshwater shoreline than any other state in the nation. The state's name derives from the Indian phrase michi gami meaning "the great water."

 Michigan's geography and history are entwined with that of the Great Lakes, five of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. Together they form the largest body of fresh water in the world. Michigan borders four of these Lakes (all but Ontario), more than any other state.

 Quarters honoring Florida, Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin will also be issued this year.