Columbus Day Was Like Any Other Day at Michigan Bank

Centuries after a skirmish over a strip of land known as the “Toledo strip,” the heated rivalry between Michigan and Ohio shows no signs of abating.

The latest signal of bad blood came Monday on Columbus Day, when a Michigan bank refused to recognize the legal holiday because – wait for it – “Columbus is in Ohio,” according to former University of Michigan athletic director Bill Martin, one of the founding partners of the Bank of Ann Arbor, the Detroit Free Press reports.

“We will not be closed for Columbus Day because Columbus is in Ohio,” the bank said in a Tweet that FOX Sports said “won social media.”

Today, the rivalry from the almost bloodless war over a strip of land that provides shipping access to the Mississippi River is manifested mainly on the gridiron. Michigan got a 9,000-square-mile chunk of the Upper Peninsula as a consolation prize, but ultimately came out the winner because the most valuable timber, iron, and copper country in America were discovered there.

By the way, the Wolverines travel to Ohio stadium for this year’s matchup with the Ohio State Buckeyes on Nov. 29.

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons