Our Meridian

All of Michigan was initially surveyed from a point at the northern edge of Jackson County. The intersection of east-west baseline and north-south meridian is marked by two monuments in the Meridian-Baseline State Park.

A jog in the baseline causes this to be a double Initial Point, the only one in the country. The two points are on the same north/south meridian, but are 935 feet apart (in surveyor terms, 14.18 chains—one chain is 66 feet). This discrepancy is the result of an error detected after the surveys east of the meridian had been completed, between the years 1815 and 1824, but before the surveys west of the meridian were begun.