Michigan's 'Potato Patch Pingree' on Travel Channel

This potato-shaped flask — made for Michigan Gov. Hazen S. Pingree, nicknamed “Potato Patch Pingree” — is part of the Michigan Historical Museum’s collections. The museum and Pingree will be featured in a Nov. 27 segment on the Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum.”

• Get Patch’s daily newsletter and real-time news alerts.

This potato-shaped flask — made for Michigan Gov. Hazen S. Pingree, nicknamed “Potato Patch Pingree” — is part of the Michigan Historical Museum’s collections. The museum and Pingree will be featured in a Nov. 27 segment on the Travel Channel’s “Mysteries at the Museum.”

A program airing on The Travel Channel at 9 p.m. Friday takes viewers inside the Michigan Historical Museum and back to the late 1800s in Michigan, when Detroit Mayor Hazen S. Pingree — later the state’s governor — hatched the “Potato Patch Plan” that allowed the city’s poor residents to grow crops on vacant land.

The mayor, who served from 1889-1897, became known as “Potato Patch Pingree,” a nickname that stuck with him. While campaigning for one of his many re-election campaigns, Pingree had the potato flask made as a play on his nickname, and it is prominent in the collection at the Michigan Historical Museum,

The Potato Patch Plan was a forerunner to the Works Progress Administration and the Civilian Conservation Corps formed three decades later during the Great Depression.

Pingree served as Michigan’s governor from 1897-1901.

The Michigan Historical Center is part of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Its museum and archival programs help people discover, enjoy and find inspiration in their heritage.

It includes the Michigan Historical Museum, 10 regional museums, Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary and Underwater Preserve, and the Archives of Michigan. Learn more at www.michigan.gov/mhc.