Fun With Maps

Today I went to the Ypsilanti Automotive Heritage Museum in Depot Town (I will post more pictures later). They had an official Transportation Map from 1978 which had a little joke on it.

Here is the fictional town of Beatosu (Beat OSU), Ohio.

And here is the fictional town of Goblu (Go Blue), Ohio.

Both towns were put on by a Michigan Alumnus named Peter Fletcher who served as the Chairman of the Michigan State Highway commission. He got ribbed that the colors of the Mackinac Bridge were green and white (Michigan State colors) but those were mandated by the Federal Highway folks so he had no control over it. He did have control of this. So he had the towns put on the map.
When asked about it, he said the map accurately depicted the area within the Michigan borders and the area outside is not part of the mandate. In particular he said, "We have no legal liability for anything taking place in the intellectual swamp south of Monroe.".
Michigan alumni enjoyed the little joke, some other people complained about the waste of taxpayer money (at a cost of about $6.00). So the towns were removed and so was he. There are a few in existence and this is one of them.

This is part of the rest of the map. It was kind of nice to look it because I-69 was still temporary I-69 (they finished it in the early 80's). I-696 was still under construction (they finished it in the early 90's). US-27 is still US-27 and not US-127.