Some of our favorite made-in-Michigan products

By Michael Jackman

Jul 29, 2018

Audio By Carbonatix

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Some of our favorite made-in-Michigan products

Courtesy photo

Schooley's Original Spring Bobber Pole
Schooley's, Greenville; schooleyicetackle.com
According to family legend, one Michigan product started out as a childhood dream. Marvin Schooley had a dream that would seem to be very normal for a Michigan boy: He was ice fishing, but with a special pole he had never seen. The very next day, Marvin put together a model of the fishing pole in his dream, the first prototype of his "Original Spring Bobber Pole." The design got popular, and a number of Marvin's friends asked him to make them some. In the 1960s, Marvin improved the pole and developed even more fishing tackle, the products that now form the basic wares at Schooley's Ice Tackle, owned by Marvin's grandson, in Greenville, about 10 miles northeast of Grand Rapids. But Schooley's isn't the only manufacturing game in Greenville, which has hosted such companies as Ranney Refrigerator, Gibson Guitars, White Consolidated, and Frigidaire.

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About The Author

Michael Jackman

Born in 1969 at Mount Carmel hospital in Detroit, Jackman grew up just 100 yards from the Detroit city line in east Dearborn. Jackman has attended New York University, the School of Visual Arts, Northwestern University and Wayne State University, though he never got a degree. He has worked as a bar back, busboy,...