New Buffalo Welcome Center

The nation’s first highway Travel Information Center opened on May 4, 1935, on US 12 at New Buffalo, not far from here. Other states followed Michigan’s lead, and by 1985 there were 251 travel information centers across the nation. The New Buffalo center was built by the Michigan State Highway Department, now the Michigan Department of Transportation, to welcome motorists entering the state via US 12. It was relocated at this site, with its more modern building, on April 6, 1972, after the I 94 Freeway was completed. Michigan’s state wide travel information program, which began in 1935, includes staffed welcome centers and interpretive, promotional and informational displays at rest areas and roadside parks across the state.