Beet Sugar

Beet Sugar is a Michigan historical marker in Portsmouth Charter Township, Bay County, dedicated 1957.

Bay County · dedicated 1957 · River Road (M-13), Portsmouth Charter Township

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One of the first attempts in America to produce beet sugar was made in Michigan at White Pigeon late in the 1830s. The venture did not succeed though future governor John Barry went to Europe seeking to learn its production methods. In 1888 Dr. Robert C. Kedzie of Michigan Agricultural College began encouraging farmers in the state to grow sugar beets. At Bay City in 1898 the state's first successful factory opened. Thereafter the Saginaw Valley became the sugar bowl of Michigan.

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Michigan History Center
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Beet Sugar

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