 The organization today remains the largest collective voice for municipalities in the State of Michigan, and represents the mutual interests of villages and cities of all sizes in its advocacy activities at the state and federal level.In August 1898, the city of Saginaw sent its mayor, William B. Baum, Sr., to a meeting in Detroit of the National Municipal League, which had been formed in 1894 in Philadelphia as a citizens’ group aimed at finding ways to achieve good city government.The National Municipal League was later renamed the National Civic League and is today known as the National League of Cities, the oldest and largest organization in the United States focused on advocating for municipalities.