Timeline Michigan
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The state of Michigan owes its name to an Indian word that means "great water." The word Michigan originates from the Algonquian Mishagamaw, meaning "great water" or "big lake."
(HN, 3/18/00)

570-230 Million Years Ago In northern Alberta is the Peace River Arch; the Transcontinental Arch extends from Minnesota to Arizona and in Montana is the Montana Dome. The Ozark Mountains lie on the site of a dome and from Nashville, Tennessee, north to Michigan lies the Cincinnati Arch. Between Peace River, north-west Canada, and Montana and occupying much of Saskatchewan is the Williston Basin. Michigan lies four-square upon the Michigan Basin, while much of Illinois and Indiana is underlain by the Illinois Basin. Most of these broad, gentle features developed during Paleozoic time and have been dormant ever since.
(DD-EVTT, p.172)
500 Million A 30-mile size crater, a mile underneath the bed of Lake Huron, just north of Port Huron, Michigan, marks the impact of a meteor. It was discovered in 1990 by scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada.
(LSA, Spring 1995, p.31)
440 Million A five-mile size crater in Michigan in Cass County by the village Calvin Center marks the impact of a meteor the size of a football field. It was discovered in 1987.
(LSA, Spring 1995, p.31)
c430 Million In late Silurian times there was a shallowing of the seas across North America and they may have withdrawn completely from several regions. To the north-west and in the east large expanses of the sea were cut off from the open water. Under the hot, arid climate these giant lagoon-like areas acted as great evaporating basins. In the Michigan basin and the New York area, for example, as much as 900 meters of salt was laid down.
(DD-EVTT, p.174)
9,000BC Fisher in the late 1980's, while he was excavating an 11,000-year-old mastodon found at the Heisler site in southern Michigan, found evidence of butchery and under water meat caching by Ice Age hunters in North America.
(LSA, Fall 1995, p.38)
1420-1500 The Paston Letters comprise 1,000 documents involving an English family over this period. The collection is held by the Univ. of Michigan and is being made electronically available under the Humanities Text Initiative (HTI) program that was begun in 1989.
(MT, 6/96, p.8,9)
1612 The French explorer Etienne Brule is believed to be the first European to see the Great Lakes. Brule, believed to have been born in 1592, journeyed to North America with Samuel de Champlain in 1608 and helped found Quebec. Brule explored Lake Huron in 1612 and is believed to have also explored Lakes Ontario, Erie and Superior after 1615. Brule is the first European to live among the Indians and was probably the first European to set foot in what is now Pennsylvania. Brule was eventually killed by the Hurons, for reasons never known, in 1632.
(HNQ, 6/29/98)
1615 Jul 28, French explorer Samuel de Champlain discovered Lake Huron on his seventh voyage to the New World.
(HN, 7/28/98)
1679 Louis Hennepin, a Catholic priest, sailed up the Detroit River aboard the Griffon, through Lake St. Clair, which he named, and into Lake Huron and beyond.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1679-1947 Some 8,500 vessels have been lost in Lake Michigan over this period.
(Hem., 7/96, p.25)
1701 Jul 24, Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac (d.1730), aged 43, established Fort Ponchartrain for France on the future site of the city of Detroit, Michigan, in an attempt to halt the advance of the English into the western Great Lakes region.
(HN, 7/24/98)(DFP, 7/24/01, p.2)
1701 Michipichy, a Huron chief, agreed to let Cadillac settle his people in Detroit following the construction of Fort Pontchartrain.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1760 Nov 29, Major Roger Rogers took possession of Detroit on behalf of Britain. French commandant Belotre surrendered Detroit.
(HN, 11/29/98)(MC, 11/29/01)
1763 May 7, Indian chief Pontiac began his attack on a British fort in present-day Detroit, Michigan. Ottawa Chief Pontiac led an uprising in the wild, distant lands that later became Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
(HN, 7/24/98)(HN, 5/7/99)
1783 Sep 3, Mackinac Island, Michigan, passed into US hands following the Paris Peace Treaty,
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.C5)
1797 Gabriel Richard came to Detroit.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1805 Jan 11, The Michigan Territory was created.
(AP, 1/11/98)
1805 A fire destroyed Detroit.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1809 Gabriel Richard brought in Detroit’s 1st printing press.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1812 Jul, General William Hull ordered the construction of a causeway at the western end of Lake Erie to enable the 4th Infantry to pass over the mudflats to reach Detroit.
(AM, 7/00, p.19)
1812 Aug 16, American General William Hull surrendered Detroit without resistance to a smaller British and Indian forces under General Isaac Brock.
(AP, 8/16/97)(HN, 8/16/98)
1812 Oct 9, American Lieutenant Jesse Duncan Elliot captured two British brigs, the Detroit and Caledonia on Lake Erie in the War of 1812. Elliot set the brig Detroit ablaze the next day in retaliation for the British capture seven weeks earlier of the city of Detroit.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1812 Mackinaw Island, Michigan, was recaptured by the British.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.C5)
1813 Jan 22, During the War of 1812, British forces under Henry Proctor along with Indian allies under Tecumseh defeated a U.S. contingent planning an attack on Fort Detroit.
(HN, 1/22/99)(AM, 7/00, p.19)
1813 Mar 21, James Jesse Strang, King of Mormons on Beaver Is, MI. (1850-56), was born.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1813 Oct 5, U.S. victory at the Battle of the Thames, in Ontario, broke Britain's Indian allies with the death of Shawnee Chief Tecumseh, and made the Detroit frontier safe.
(HN, 10/5/98)
1815 Mackinaw Island, Michigan, was permanently signed over to the US.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.C5)
1817 The Univ. of Michigan was founded by a Presbyterian minister, John Monteith, and a Catholic priest, Gabriel Richard and Judge Gus Woodward. The Univ. of Michigan was established by a Michigan Public Act under a Board of Regents.
(MT, 12/94, p.2-3) (LSA., Fall 1995, p.10)(MT, Fall ‘96, p.10)
1822 Jun 6, Alexis St. Martin, a fur trader at Fort Mackinac in the Michigan territory, was accidentally shot in the abdomen. William Beaumont, a US Army assistant surgeon, treated the wound and St. Martin survived. The stomach wound did not close and Beaumont undertook experiments in 1825 to study the digestive system.
(ON, 1/02, p.6)
1825 Aug 1, William Beaumont, a US Army assistant surgeon at Fort Mackinac in the Michigan territory, began experiments to study the digestive system of Alexis St. Martin, a fur trader who was accidentally shot in the abdomen in 1822.
(ON, 1/02, p.6)
1827 Aug, Judge John Sturgis & George Thurston came to St Joseph County in August of 1827. They cleared 10 acres & planted wheat, then returned to Monroe, MI until the Spring of 1828. When Judge Sturgis returned, he brought his family & built a log cabin in what is now known as Maplecrest. Sturgis Township was originally an area of about 3,000 acres. It was divided up into Fawn River and Sherman Townships. The Sturgis Township was part of Sherman until 1845.
http://www.pe.net/~rksnow/
1829 Jul 23, William Austin Burt of Mount Vernon, Mich., received a patent for his "typographer," a forerunner of the typewriter.
(AP, 7/23/99)
1830 Stephen Simmons was found guilty of murder and sentenced to be hanged. Thomas Knapp, Wayne County Sheriff, refused to carry out the sentence and a saloon keeper carried out the execution. This helped Michigan to abolish capital punishment, the 1st democratic government in history to do so.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1833 Dec, William Beaumont, a US Army assistant surgeon, published his new book: “Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion. It was based on the digestive system of Alexis St. Martin, a fur trader who was accidentally shot in the abdomen at Fort Mackinac in 1822.
(ON, 1/02, p.6)
1836 A group of African Americans broke from Detroit’s First Baptist Church and formed the Second Baptist Church.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1837 Jan, 26, Michigan became the 26th state of the US.
(HFA, '96, p.22) (AP, 1/26/98)
1837 A Michigan Public Act declared that the Univ. of Michigan would "provide the inhabitants of the State with the means of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the various branches of literature, science, and the arts... (and) be open to all residents of this state." The Univ. of Michigan moved from Detroit to Ann Arbor.
(LSA., Fall 1995, p.11)(MT, Spg. ‘99, p.23)
1837-1952 Zina Pitcher, MD, served as one of the first regents of the Univ. of Mich. over this period. He was considered a founder of the U of M Medical School and was an elected mayor of Detroit. He also founded the Historical Society of Michigan.
(GEG, 6/97, p.5)
1843 The Univ. of Michigan enrolled its 1st international student. A Canadian joined the body of 43 students.
(LSA, Fall/03, p.38)
1845 George Pray was a member of the first Univ. of Michigan graduating class. His diary was recently acquired.
(MT, 3/96, p.14)
1846 May 4, Michigan ended its death penalty.
(MC, 5/4/02)
1847 Mar 1, Michigan became the 1st English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state).
(SC, 3/1/02)
1847 Nov 21, Steamer "Phoenix" was lost on Lake Michigan. 200 people were killed.
(MC, 11/21/01)
1849 James Strang settled with 250 followers on Big Beaver Island in northern Lake Michigan.
(Smith., Aug. 1995, p.86)
1850 The Univ. of Mich. Medical School opened.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.15)
1851-1852 Zachariah Chandler served as mayor of Detroit and later as US Senator.
(DFP, 7/24/01, p.5A)
1852 Feb 26, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was born.
(HNPD, 2/26/99)
1854 Feb 28, Some 50 slavery opponents met in Ripon, Wis., to call for creation of a new political group, which became the Republican Party. [see Mar 20, Jul 6]
(AP, 2/28/00)
1854 Mar 20, The Republican Party was founded when former members of the Whig political party met to establish a new political party that would oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. [see Feb 28, Jul 6]
(MC, 3/20/02)
1854 Jul 6, The Republican Party was officially organized in Jackson, Michigan. The Republican Party was formed in Ripon, Wisconsin, by a group of anti-slavery politicians at the Little White Schoolhouse. [see Feb 28, Mar 20]
(Hem., 7/96, p.28)(HN, 7/6/98)
1858 Sep, Alice Dewey was born in Michigan.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.15)
1859 Oct 20, John Dewey (d.1952), philosopher, educational theorist and writer (Learn by doing), was born in Michigan.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.15)(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A22)(MC, 10/20/01)
1860 Apr 7, Will Keith Kellogg, the brother of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1852-1943), was born. Will later founded the W.K. Kellogg company in Battle Creek, Mich., to market the cornflakes invented by his older brother. [see 1895]
(HN, 4/7/99)(http://www.ivu.org/history/adventists/kellogg.html)(WSJ, 9/29/00, p.W17)
1860 Sep 7, The Excursion steamer "Lady Elgin" sank and drowned 340 people in Lake Michigan.
(MC, 9/7/01)
1863 Jul 30, Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company and developer of the Model T, was born in Dearborn Township, Mich. He led American war production with the gigantic facility at Willow Run.
(AP, 7/30/98)(HN, 7/30/98)
1864 Feb 9, After a courtship that began at a party on Thanksgiving Day 1862, Brevet General George Armstrong Custer and Miss Elizabeth Bacon, both of Monroe, Michigan, married. Until Custer died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn a dozen years later, Libbie followed him to postings throughout the West whenever possible. Libbie never remarried, even though she outlived her husband by 50 years, preferring to keep his memory alive by lecturing and writing books about their life together on the Plains. Elizabeth Custer lived comfortably in New York City until her death on April 8, 1933, at the age of 91.
(HNPD, 2/9/99)
1865 Mar 20, Michigan authorized workers' cooperatives.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1866 James Vernor, a Detroit pharmacist, began marketing a new soft drink.
(SFEC, 2/21/99, Z1 p.8)
1867 Nov 26, A refrigerated railroad car was patented by JB Sutherland of Detroit. [see Jan 16, 1868]
(MC, 11/26/01)
1868 Jan 16, The refrigerated railroad car was patented by William Davis, a fish dealer in Detroit. [see Nov 26, 1867]
(MC, 1/16/02)
1869 The first Univ. of Mich. University Hospital opened in Ann Arbor. It was the only university owned teaching hospital in the US.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.15)
1871 Oct 8-14, In Peshtigo, Wisc., over 1,200 people were killed in the nation’s worst forest fire, which burned across six counties and into Michigan.
(WSJ, 9/13/01, p.B11)(MC, 10/8/01)
1871-1909 James Burill Angell served as the president of the Univ. of Mich.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.23)
1873 Leon Czolgosz (d.1901), anarchist and assassin of Pres. McKinley (1901), was born to Polish parents in Detroit.
(AH, 10/01, p.25)
1873 Bonds were issued for the Saginaw & Canada Railroad Co. The operation built 40 miles of track and went broke in 1876. The worthless bonds were later found and given to the Public Museum of Grand Rapids in 1992, where they were sold in the gift shop for $22.95. Scam artists acquired a large quantity in bulk and sold them as real bonds to investors for a total scam of some $12 million.
(WSJ, 2/25/99, p.A1,8)
1875 Mackinac Island, Michigan, became the 2nd US national park.
(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.C5)
1876 Sep 19, The 1st carpet sweeper was patented by Melville Bissell of Grand Rapids, Mich.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1876 Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was 24 years old when he became staff physician at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan--a position he held for 62 years. Dr. Kellogg, a respected abdominal surgeon, ran "the San" as a health institute where the wealthy could rejuvenate themselves with Kellogg's offbeat cures. Illness was caused, Kellogg believed, by poor eating habits that left poisons in the intestinal tract. Among Kellogg's solutions to the dietary dilemma were "fletcherizing," or chewing food hundreds of times before swallowing, and a vegetarian diet high in bran. It was the bowels, however, that received Kellogg's undivided attention. Patients at the San were subjected to regimens of "cleansing enemas" that cured "ulcers, diabetes, schizophrenia, acne...and premature old age."
(HNPD, 2/26/99)
1876 In Battle Creek Dr. John Harvey Kellogg became the director of the Western Health Reform Institute, part of the 7th Day Adventist Network.
(WSJ, 9/29/00, p.W17)
1881 Sep 5, A fire in the thumb of Michigan killed 169 people and burned a million acres.
(SFC, 10/30/03, p.A15)
1884 John Dewey came to teach at the U of M.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.19)
1885 The Detroit Institute of Arts opened.
(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A20)
1887 Mar 2, The American Trotting Association was organized in Detroit, Mi., on this day.
(HC, Internet, 2/3/98)
1887 The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island was built. Its front porch was 880 feet long.
(SFC, 3/7/98, p.E3)
1890 The Michigan Daily, a campus newspaper at U of M, began publishing.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.18)
1891 John Dewey published “Outlines of a Critical Theory of Ethics.”
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.19)
1891 Alice Dewey founded the Women’s League at the Univ. of Mich.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.18)
1891 John Dewey and Fred Scott founded “The Inlander” journal at the U of M to promote literature and the same year began to allow free discussion in one of his courses.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.17,19)
1891 The University Record was founded at U of M as a record of the educational and scientific work at the university.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.18)
1891-1932 In Grand Rapids The “Quaint Furniture” name was used by Albert and John George Stickley, who founded the Stickley Bros. Co. and produced furniture inspired by pieces made from their brother Gustav.
(SFC, 1/14/98, Z1 p.2)
1892 May 19, Charles Brady King of Detroit invented the pneumatic hammer. [see Jan 30, 1894]
(DTnet, 5/19/97)
1893 Feb 26, 2 Clydesdale horses set a record by pulling 48 tons on a sledge in Michigan.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1894 Jan 30, Pneumatic hammer was patented by Charles King of Detroit. [see May 19, 1892]
(MC, 1/30/02)
c1894 Philosopher John Dewey transferred from the Univ. of Mich. to the Univ. of Chicago.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.19)
1895 May 13, The cornerstone laying ceremony for Central High School was held.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.8)
1895 Dr. John Harvey Kellogg's search for the perfect food led to the development of breakfast food flakes made of wheat called Granose. Will Keith Kellogg, John's brother, improved on the Granose idea and founded the W.K. Kellogg Company in 1906.
(HNPD, 2/26/99)(SFEC, 8/15/99, p.A4)
1896 Mar 6, Charles B. King rode his "Horseless Carriage," the 1st auto in Detroit.
(MC, 3/6/02)
1896 Jun 4, Henry Ford made a successful pre-dawn test run of his horseless carriage, called a quadricycle, through the streets of Detroit. The Quadracycle consisted of a simple motor mounted on a buggy frame. Before Ford began to produce the automobiles that made him famous, he had been an unimpressive student from a Michigan farming family. But he began to demonstrate skill and interest in mechanical work, and left farming and business school behind to work with machines. He learned about steam engines at his job with Westinghouse, and later worked as an engineer for Edison Electric Illuminating Company. As Ford Motors developed, he hoped to emulate Edison.
(AP, 6/4/97)(HNQ, 6/4/98)
1896 Old Main began as the home of Detroit Central High School.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1897 In Grand Rapids the male only Diamond Hall club was formed for Polish immigrants. In 2004 the club voted to allow women full membership.
(USAT, 5/18/04, p.17A)
1897 Michigan passed a law prohibiting the use of obscenities in front of women and children. The law was challenged in 1999 after a canoeist, Timothy J. Boomer, hit a rock on the Rifle River and was cited for swearing in 1998. A state appeals court struck down the law in 2002
(SFC, 6/3/99, p.A8)(SFC, 4/2/02, p.A3)
1897 Ransom E. Olds started the Olds Motor Vehicle Co. In 2004 the last Oldsmobile Alero rolled of a GM assembly line in Lansing, Mich.
(SFC, 4/28/04, p.C1)
1898 May 6, Daniel Gerber, baby food pioneer, was born in Freemont, Mich.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1899 Sebastian Spering Kresge founded a store that developed into the Kmart Corp. The 1st Detroit store sold merchandise for either 5 or 10 cents.
(Ind, 2/2/02, 5A)
1900 Feb 2, Six cities, Boston, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore, Chicago and St. Louis agreed to form baseball's American League.
(HN, 2/2/99)
1900 Jan 29, The American League, consisting of eight baseball teams, was organized in Philadelphia with teams from Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Minneapolis.
(SFC, 7/7/96, Z1 p.5)(AP, 1/29/98)
1901 Apr 25, In last of 9th, Detroit Tigers, trailing by 13-4, score 10 runs to win one of the greatest comebacks in baseball (1st game in Detroit).
(SS, 4/25/02)
1902 Jan 1, In Pasadena the 1st Rose Bowl football game was held and the Univ. of Michigan beat Stanford 49 to 0. The next Rose Bowl game was held 11 years later.
(SFC, 9/25/99, p.A20)
1902 Feb 4, Charles Lindbergh, first man to fly solo across the Atlantic, was born in Detroit.
(HN, 2/4/99)(MC, 2/4/02)
1902 Mar 24, Thomas E. Dewey, a governor of New York (1943-1955) and two-time Republican presidential nominee, was born in Owosso, Mich.
(HN, 3/24/01)(AP, 3/24/02)
1903 Mar 23, The ritual hair-cutting by sophomores against freshmen got out of control at the Univ. of Mich. and President Angel put a stop to it.
(MT, Spg. ‘97, p.17)
1903 Jul 23, The Ford Motor Company sold its first automobile, the Model A.
(HN, 7/23/98)
1903 In Detroit the Gem Theater was constructed. In 1997 the 2,750 ton building was moved 5 blocks through downtown to make room for a new ballpark. It set a new record as the heaviest building moved.
(SFC,10/23/97, p.A17)
1903 David Mackenzie resigned as superintendent of Muskegon schools.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1904 David Mackenzie began as principal of the Detroit Central High School.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1906 Feb 19, W.K. Kellogg & Ch Bolin started the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co. Kellogg spent 2/3 of the company budget to advertise Corn Flakes.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.E4)(MC, 2/19/02)
1906 An oil portrait of Pres. James Burill Angell by William Meritt Chase, commissioned by the Student Union for $4000, was presented to the Univ. of Mich.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.23)
1907 Jul 8, George W. Romney, later governor of Michigan, was born. He later was a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination until he admitted that he had been "brainwashed" by the military on the Vietnam War.
(HN, 7/8/98)
1908 Mar 20, Frank Stanton, broadcasting executive (CBS), was born in Muskegon, Mich.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1908 May 25, Theodore Roethke (d.1963), poet, was born in Saginaw.
(MT, Summer 01, p.3)
1908 Aug 12, Henry Ford's first Model T rolled off the assembly line.
(HN, 8/12/98)
1908 Oct 1, The Ford Model T, the first car for millions of Americans, hit the market. Each car cost $825. Over 15 million Model Ts were eventually sold, all of them black. The Model T automobile cost $850 when it was first introduced to the public. Ford lowered the price of automobiles—previously regarded as a toy of the rich—by maintaining control of raw materials and using new mass production techniques. The price of this two-seater, affectionately known as the “tin Lizzy,” fluctuated over the years, dipping below $300 in 1924. Electric lights and an optional electric starter were among the few improvements over the years. The model was discontinued in 1927 after more 15,000,000 had been produced.
(CFA, ‘96, p.56)(AP, 10/1/97)(HN, 10/1/98)(HNQ, 7/11/00)
1908 Old Main was expanded with a back wing for gymnasiums, laboratories and shops.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1909 Jul 8, The 1st official evening baseball game was played in Grand Rapids. Mich. Grand Rapids defeated Zanesville 11 to 10.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A20)
1909 The Pittsburgh Pirates, led by pitcher Honus Wagner, defeated the Detroit Tigers 4-3 in the World Series. This marked the last world series appearance by Ty Cobb.
(SFC, 10/2/99, p.A20)
1909 William L. Clements joined the Univ. of Mich. Board of Regents.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.8)
1911 Feb 23, G. Mennen ("Soapy") Williams, (Gov-D-Mich., 1949-60), was born in Detroit.
(MC, 2/23/02)
1911 Charles Kettering created the first successful electric self-starter for Cadillac. It was introduced in the 1912 model.
(F, 10/7/96, p.67)
1911 Michigan drew the first white center line on a roadway.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.B1)
1911 General Motors Truck Co. was formed.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1911 Chevrolet was established.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)
1912 Jul 4, Detroit Tiger George Mullen no-hits St Louis Browns, 7-0.
(Maggio, 98)
1912 Tiger Stadium opened as Navin Field at Michigan and Trumbull. The stadium closed down in 1999.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.T4)(WSJ, 9/30/99, p.A24)
1912 The U of M established a separate graduate school that in 1935 was named for Horace H. Rackham for a financial contribution.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.19)
1913 Fall, Henry Ford (1863-1947) introduced the moving assembly line at his Highland Park, Mich., plant.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(F, 10/7/96, p.67)
1913 Oct 7, In attempting to find ways to lower the cost of the automobile and make it more affordable to ordinary Americans, Henry Ford took note of the work of efficiency experts like Frederick Taylor, the "father of scientific management."
(HN, 10/7/98)
1913 Dec, In Calumet, Mich., at a Christmas Party for families of copper miners, somebody yelled fire and caused a panic that led to the death of 72 people, mostly children.
(SFEC, 4/13/97, Z1 p.4)
1913 David Mackenzie organized the first public junior-college curriculum in Michigan at the urging of the Detroit College of Medicine.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1914 Jan 5, Henry Ford astounded the world as he announced that he would pay a minimum wage of $5 a day and share with employees $10 million in last year’s profits. The wage increase counter-balanced the increased demand on the workers from the new assembly line production methods.
(HFA, ‘96, p.22)(HN, 1/5/99)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R28)
1914 Jan 14, Ford Motor Company greatly improved its assembly-line operation by employing a chain to pull each chassis along.
(AP, 1/14/01)
1915 Jan 21, The first Kiwanis Club was founded, in Detroit.
(AP, 1/21/98)
1915 Jan 23, Potter Stewart, 94th Supreme Court justice (1958-81), was born in Mich.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1915 Apr 10, Harry Morgan, actor (December Bride, M*A*S*H, Dragnet), was born in Detroit, Mich.
(MC, 4/10/02)
1915 Jul 24, Excursion ship Eastland capsized in Lake Michigan and 852 die.
(MC, 7/24/02)
1915 August Freuhauf, a Detroit blacksmith, invented the semi-trailer.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, Z1 p.7)
1916 Oct 24, Henry Ford awarded equal pay to women. Industrialist Henry Ford helped lead American war production with the gigantic facility at Willow Run.
(HN, 10/24/98)
1917 Jun 4, Charles Collingwood, news commentator (CBS, Chronicles), was born in Mich.
(MC, 6/4/02)
1917 Fall, The Central High junior-college program was expanded and became the Detroit Junior College (DJC). It opened with 300 students.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1918 May 24, Coleman A. Young, civil rights leader (Mayor-D-Detroit), was born.
(MC, 5/24/02)
1919 Orchestra Hall opened in downtown Detroit. The Detroit Symphony left in 1939 for the Ford Auditorium, but returned in 1989.
(SFC, 10/9/03, p.F2)
1919 At DJC a night school program was begun.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1919 Henry Ford sued the Chicago Tribune for libel after the newspaper called him an "ignorant" anarchist. Ford won the suit and was awarded 6 cents. He soon began amassing material of historical value.
(WSJ, 11/21/03, p.A7)
1919-1922 James Couzens served as the mayor of Detroit.
(WSJ, 1/21/00, p.W10)
1920 Aug 20, Pioneering American radio station 8MK in Detroit (later WWJ) began daily broadcasting.
(AP, 8/20/97)
1920 Michigan set up the first four-way traffic signal.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A16)
1920 David Mackenzie, dean of Detroit Junior College, was elected the first president of the American Association of Junior Colleges.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1921 Feb 26, Betty Hutton, actress (Greatest Show on Earth), was born in Battle Creek, MI.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1921 Wyandotte Toys of Wyandotte, Mich., was founded and initially concentrated on toy pistols.
(SFC, 2/15/03, p.E7)
1922 Jan 30, Dick Martin, actor, comedian (Laugh-In), was born in Detroit, Mich.
(MC, 1/30/02)
1922 Mar 3, WWJ-AM in Detroit, MI, began radio transmissions.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1922-1936 James Couzens served as a US Senator from Michigan.
(WSJ, 1/21/00, p.W10)
1923 Feb 9, Norman E. Shumway, pioneer cardiac transplant surgeon, was born in Mich.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1923 The Clements Library opened in Ann Arbor. Its first director was Randolph G. Adams. The library was designed by Albert Kahn and was paid for by William L. Clements to house his extensive book collection. The Univ. of Mich. agreed to pay for its maintenance, staff salaries and fund acquisitions. It acquired about this time the collection of Henry Vignaud, US Consul in Paris, who had amassed a 50,000 piece collection of historic explorations and discoveries.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.8)
1923 The Detroit Junior College was renamed the College of the City of Detroit (CCD).
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1925 Ossian Sweet, a black doctor who had moved into a white neighborhood of Detroit, was indicted on murder charges after defending his property and life against a mob attack. In 2004 Phyllis Vine authored "One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of the American Dream."
(SSFC, 4/18/04, p.M4)
1925 Clarence Cook arrived from Maine to become president of the Univ. of Michigan (10,000 students).
(MT, Summer 01, p.4)
1926 Jan, Central High School was moved from Old Main. College High School continued at Old Main.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1926 Apr 5, Roger Corman, producer, director (Little Shop of Horrors), was born in Detroit.
(MC, 4/5/02)
1926 Sep 25, Henry Ford announced 8 hour, 5 day work week.
(MC, 9/25/01)
1926 Oct 31, Magician Harry Houdini died in Detroit of gangrene and peritonitis resulting from a ruptured appendix.
(AP, 10/31/97)
1926 Betty Hutton, film actress, was born in Battle Creek.
(SFEC, 8/6/00, DB p.59)
1926 David Mackenzie, dean of DJC, died.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1927 May 26, Ford Motor Company manufactured its 15 millionth Model T automobile.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1927 Aug 17, Robert Moore, actor (Marshall-Diana), was born in Detroit, Mich.
(SC, 8/17/02)
1927 Dec 2, Ford Motor Co. unveiled its "Model A" automobile, the successor to its "Model T." The Ford Rouge plant employed 70,000 men. A vehicle was assembled in 3 1/2 days and the price for a Model T dropped to $290 per vehicle, down 65% from its original price. The Model A was introduced with a revolutionary teaser campaign and the 1st one sold for $385. Production for the Model T was shut down for almost 6 months to retool for the Model A and compete with GM.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(AP, 12/2/97)(WSJ, 11/5/99, p.A1)(MC, 12/2/01)
1927 James Couzens had an English-manor-style house, designed by Albert Kahn, built in Bloomfield Hills. Most of the Couzens fortune came from investing in the Ford Motor Co.
(WSJ, 1/21/00, p.W10)
1928 Mar 31, Gordie Howe, NHL right wing (Detroit Redwings), was born in Floral, Sask., Canada.
(MC, 3/31/02)
1928 Jun, College High School at Old Main was closed.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.7)
1929 Oct 15, Arthur Efimchick (d.2004) was born in Dearborn, Mich. He later became the host of the TV game show "Concentration" (1958-1973), NBC's longest running game show.
(SFC, 4/1/04, p.B7)
1929 The Univ. of Mich. men’s baseball team under Fielding H. Yost (1871-1946) won 11 of 13 games on its first tour of Japan and brought back a Japanese suit of armor as an award from Meiji Univ.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.24)
1929 The Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village opened in Dearborn.
(WSJ, 8/7/03, p.D10)
1930 Nov 22, Elijah Muhammad formed the Nation of Islam in Detroit.
(MC, 11/22/01)
1930 The Detroit Teachers College moved into the already overcrowded Old Main.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.8)
1931 Jul 6, Della Reese, singer, actress (Della Reese Show, Royal Family), was born in Detroit.
(MC, 7/6/02)
1931 The DeTour Reef Light, a 74-foot art-deco lighthouse, was built.
(SFEC, 8/28/98, p.T5)
1931 In Detroit, Mich., Wallace D. Fard started a movement that later became the Nation of Islam. He was succeeded by Elijah Muhammad, who stressed the evil of white people and the need for black self-sufficiency.
(WSJ, 10/24/03, p.A8)
1932 Mar 7, Riots at Ford factory in Dearborn, Michigan, killed 4.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1932 Mar 21, Joseph Silverstein, violinist (Denver Symphony Orch), was born in Detroit, Mich.
(MC, 3/21/02)
1932-1947 Hank Greenberg (d.1986) was a baseball star with the Detroit Tigers during this time. In 1999 the documentary film “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg” was made by Aviva Kempner.
(SFEC, 7/11/99, DB p.43)
1933 Jan 30, The first episode of the “Lone Ranger” radio program was broadcast on station WXYZ in Detroit. The show was created by George Washington Trendle and Fran Striker. The show ran for 21 years on ABC radio.
(AP, 1/30/98)(SFC, 12/29/99, p.A11)(MC, 1/30/02)
1933 Aug 8, The Colleges of the City of Detroit reorganized as a University.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.8)
1933 Aug 25, Tom Skerritt, actor (Ryan's Four, Alien, Big Bad Mama, Pickett Fences), was born in Detroit, Mich.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1933 The U of M Gothic Law Quadrangle was completed. A 150-page book by Kathryn Horste was published on the quadrangle in 1997 by the U of M Press.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.9)
1933 The U of M won the national football championship.
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.C18)
1934 Jan 3, The Colleges of the City of Detroit was renamed to Wayne University after Gen’l. Anthony Wayne, Revolutionary War hero. The obsolete tower clock was replaced by an electrically driven clock.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.8)
1934 Jun 30, Harry Blackstone (d.5/14/1997), magician, was born in Three Rivers, Mich.
(SFC, 5/15/97, p.A26)
1934 The U of M had one of its worst seasons with a record of 1-7. MVP of the year was future president Gerald Ford. Pres. Johnson later said that Ford played too many games without his helmet.
(SFEC, 6/13/99, p.C18)
1934 William L. Clements, industrialist, U of M regent and benefactor, died.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.9)
1935 Feb 16, Salvatore Bono (d.1998), vocalist (Sonny & Cher), (Rep-R-Ca, 1995-98), was born in Detroit.
(SFC, 1/6/98, p.A11)(MC, 2/16/02)
1935 May 13, David T. Wilkinson (d.2002), physicist, was born in Hillsdale, Mich. He became the driving force behind the 1989 Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite. It provided evidence for the “Big Bang” that spawned the universe 10-20 billion years ago.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, p.A14)(SFC, 9/16/02, p.A20)
1935 May 25, Jesse Owens set six world records in less than an hour in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
(HN, 5/25/99)
1936 Jan 15, The non-profit Ford Foundation incorporated.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1936 Feb 11, Burt Reynolds, actor (Evening Shade, Strip Tease, Cannonball Run), was born in Michigan.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1936 Dec 30, The United Auto Workers union staged its first sit-down strike, at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich. Walter and Victor Reuther and other union activists withstood violent confrontations with the police to force GM to recognize and negotiate with the trade union.
(AP, 12/30/97)(SFEC, 6/21/98, p.A11)
1937 Feb 11, In Flint, Mich., a sit-down strike against General Motors ended after 44 days, with the company agreeing to recognize the United Automobile Workers Union. The UAW was victorious in a strike against GM. GM recognized the union and agreed to a contract.
(WSJ, 6/19/96, Adv. Supl)(AP, 2/11/97)(MC, 2/11/02)
1937 Jun 5, Henry Ford initiated a 32 hour work week.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1937 The Central High School sign at Old Main was replaced and a Warren Ave. wing was added to Old Main.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.9)
1939 Apr 7, Francis Ford Coppola, director (Godfather, Apocalypse Now), was born in Detroit.
(MC, 4/7/02)
1939 Sep 1, Lily Tomlin, comedienne, actress (9 to 5, Laugh-in, All of Me), was born in Detroit.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1939 Fall, The Univ. of Michigan played the Univ. of Chicago at Stagg Field in Chicago and won by a score of 85-0. Football under UC Pres. Robert Hutchins (29) was very much discouraged. The day after the game Hutchins banned football and turned the stadium over to scientists and the first atomic pile was later created there.
(LSA, Spg/97, p.25)
1939 Walter O. Stanton (d.2001 at 86) graduated from Wayne State Univ.’s School of Electrical Engineering. As a student he set up one of the 1st student radio stations in the country. In the late 1940s he developed the slide-in stylus for phonographs.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.A17)
1941 The first urban freeway was constructed in Michigan.
(WSJ, 5/8/97, p.A16)
1942 Feb 28, There was a race riot at the Sojourner Truth Homes in Detroit.
(MC, 2/28/02)
1942 Student expansion forced Wayne Univ. to buy more land north of the building. 17 acres with 41 chief buildings were purchased one block at a time (from 1942-1945) for $961,357.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.9)
1943 May 26, Edsel Ford, president (49) of the Ford Motor Company, died.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1943 Jun 20, Race-related rioting erupted in Detroit; federal troops were sent in two days later to quell the violence that resulted in 34 deaths and 600 wounded.
(AP, 6/20/97)(SSFC, 12/17/00, Par p.5)
1943 Jun 21, Federal troops put down a race riot in Detroit that left 30 dead. [see Jun 20]
(MC, 6/21/02)
1943 Jun 22, Federal troops put down race-related rioting in Detroit that claimed more than 30 lives. [see Jun 20]
(AP, 6/22/03)
1943 Preston T. Tucker (1903-1956) of Ypsilanti, Michigan, developed an innovative new passenger car for postwar America. The Tucker, of which only 51 were built, boasted disc brakes, pop-out windshields, padded dashboards and front-passenger crash compartments. It pioneered several automotive features that would later become standard. Tuckers were capable of a top speed of 122 mph and originally cost about $2,450. The last Tucker was manufactured in 1948, shortly before Preston Tucker faced charges of fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Tucker successfully fought off the SEC charges and was at work on an automobile to be built in Brazil, the Carioca, when he died in 1956.
(HNPD, 10/3/98)
1944 Mar 26, Diana Ross [Earle], (Supremes, Lady Sings the Blues, Mahogany), was born Detroit, MI.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1945 May 6, Bob Seger, folk singer (Silver Bullet Band-Shake Down), was born in Dearborn, Mich.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1945 May, The Wayne Victory, a merchant marine ship, was commissioned with the Detroit Wayne Univ. name.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.10)
1946 May 11, Robert Jarvik, physician: inventor of the Jarvik artificial heart, was born in Michigan.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1946 Jun 28, Gilda Radner (d.1989), actress (Emmy Award-winning comedienne, actress: Saturday Night Live [1977-78]; Haunted Honeymoon [w/husband Gene Wilder]), was born in Detroit, Mich. "I wanted a perfect ending. ... Now I’ve learned, the hard way, that some poems don’t rhyme, and some stories don’t have a clear beginning, middle and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what’s going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity."
(AP, 5/20/98)(MC, 6/28/02)
1946 The new U of M Survey Research Center, later the Institute for Social Research (ISR), began with a monthly survey of consumer attitudes about the economy.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1947 Apr 7, Auto pioneer Henry Ford died in Dearborn, Mich., at age 83. Henry Ford died at the age of 84. Most of his personal estate, valued at $205 million, was left to the Ford Foundation. In 2001 Neil Baldwin authored "Henry Ford and the Jews - The Mass Production of Hate." In 2003 Douglas Brinkley authored "Wheels for the World - Henry Ford, His Company, and a Century of Progress."
(AP, 4/7/97)(HN, 2/20/98)(SFC, 6/13/03, p.B4)
1947 Ed Lowe, a sand hauler in Cassopolis, Mich., recommended some baked clay for a customer's cats instead of sand. Lowe's father manufactured the clay absorbents for factory oil messes. The customer's cats took a liking to it and Mr. Lowe put it on the market as Kitty Litter and became very rich.
(SFC, 12/29/99, Z1 p. 1)(WSJ, 2/23/00, p.A1)
1948 Apr 14, Walter P. Reuther, Pres (United Auto Workers), was shot at his home. [see Apr 20]
(MC, 4/14/02)
1948 Apr 20, United Auto Workers president Walter P. Reuther was shot and wounded at his home in Detroit. [see Apr 14]
(AP, 4/20/98)
1948 Sep 14, Gerald Ford upset Rep. Bartel J. Jonkman in the Michigan 5th District Rep. primary.
(MC, 9/14/01)
1948 CORE was founded in Detroit.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.15)
1948 Michigan passed a law that prohibited women from serving alcoholic drinks in bars. In was overturned by a 1971 Supreme Court decision on an Idaho case that showed discrimination against one gender.
(SFC, 10/12/02, p.A21)
1948 The U of M Survey Research Center, later the Institute for Social Research (ISR), began its National Election Studies, a biennial survey and analysis of voter behavior.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1950 Feb 18, John Hughes, director (Breakfast Club, 16 Candles, Weird Science), was born in Lansing, Mich.
(http://movies.yahoo.com)
1950 May 13, Steveland Morris Hardaway (AKA Stevie Wonder) was born prematurely, on this day in Saginaw, Mi. Too much oxygen in the incubator caused the baby to become permanently blind. At the age of ten, Little Stevie Wonder, as he was called by Berry Gordy at Motown, was discovered singing and playing the harmonica. He had many hits during his teens including "Fingertips" and as an adult he has earned an Oscar and at least sixteen Grammy Awards. He has stood up for civil rights, campaigns against cancer, AIDS, drunk driving and the plight of Ethiopians.
(MC, 5/13/02)
c1950 Guitarist Kenny Burrell (19) led a band at the Detroit Klein’s Showbar with Yusef Lateef and Tommy Flanagan.
(WSUAN, V.52, p.8)
1950 Eero Saarinen designed the General Motors Technical Center in Warren.
(WSJ, 4/13/01, p.W17)
1950 The Council of Deans renamed the former high school building to “Old Main.”
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.10)
1950s Lawrence Payton (d.1997 at 59) began singing with a group called the Four Aims (Payton, Levi Stubbs, Abdul “Duke” Fakir, and Renaldo “Obie” Benson). They sang backup for Billy Eckstine and signed with Motown Records, run by Berry Gordy, in 1963. Their songs included: “Baby I Need Your Loving,” “Reach Out,” and I Can’t Help Myself.” In 2002 Geral Posner authored “Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power.”
(SFC, 6/21/97, p.A18)(SSFC, 1/12/03, p.M1)
c1951 Kenny Burrell (20) played with the Dizzy Gillespie band that included John Coltrane and Milt Jackson for a month. He turned down an offer to tour with the band and instead enrolled into Wayne State Univ. where he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree in 1955.
(WSUAN, V.52, p.8)
1951-1967 Harlan H. Hatcher served as the 8th president of the Univ. of Mich. Under his tenure enrollment grew from 17,000 to 37,000 students. He had previously served as the vice-president of Ohio State Univ.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.6)
1952 Apr 12, A telephone strike was settled in Michigan but continued in Northern California for a 5th day.
(SFC, 4/12/02, p.G6)
1953 Jun 30, The first Corvette rolled off the Chevrolet assembly line in Flint, MI. The brainchild of designer Harvey J. Earl sold for $3,250. GM made 300 Corvettes in 1953 and moved production to St. Louis for 1954.
(MC, 6/30/02)(WSJ, 7/12/02, p.W12)
1953 Jun, A killer tornado hit Flint, Mich.
(SSFC, 5/11/03, Par p.A11)
1953 Dec 6, Thomas Hulce, actor (Amadeus, Equus, Echo Park), was born Plymouth, Mi.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1953 Albert Cleage (1911-2000) formed the Central United Church of Christ, which he turned into the Shrine of the Black Madonna in the 1960s. Bishop Cleage changed his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman in the 1970s and helped elect Mayor Coleman in 1973 through his Black Slate Inc. political organization.
(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A19)
1954 Feb 26, Michigan Representative Ruth Thompson (R) introduced legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock and roll records.
(SC, 2/26/02)
1954 Mar 22, The 1st shopping mall opened in Southfield, Mich.
(MC, 3/22/02)
1954 Charles Diggs (d.1998 at 75) was elected to the House of Representatives from the 13th district (around Detroit) and stayed in congress for 25 years. In 1978 he was convicted of 29 counts of operating a payroll kickback scheme and was censured by the House. He was the first chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and served from 1969-1971 and 1973-1978.
(SFC, 8/27/98, p.C4)
1954 James Joseph Minder (24) and an accomplice robbed a branch of Manufacturers National Bank of $53,000. Minder later became known as the "Shotgun Bandit." Both were arrested after buying a new Lincoln with the stolen money. In 2004 Minder became chairman of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp. until news of his past became public.
(WSJ, 3/8/04, p.A1)
1955 The Red Wings won the hockey Stanley Cup.
(WSJ, 6/12/97, p.A16)
1956 Wayne Univ. became a full-fledged state university (WSU).
(WSUAN, V.52, p.6)
1957 Sep 4, Ford Motor Co. introduced the 1958 Edsel. It was designed by Roy Brown and sold only 173,000 units through 1960.
(SFEC, 8/31/97, p.D12)(AP, 9/4/97)
1957 Jul 12, Charleszetta Waddles (d.2001 at 88)) founded the Mother Waddles Perpetual Mission in Detroit.
(SFC, 7/13/01, p.D5)
1957 Nov 1, World longest suspension bridge opened in Mackinac Straits, Mich.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1959 Mar 16, Michael J. Bloomfield, Major USAF, astronaut (STS 86), was born in Flint, Mich.
(MC, 3/16/02)
1959 Apr 25, St. Lawrence Seaway linking Atlantic, Great Lakes opened to shipping.
(AP, 4/25/97)(HN, 4/25/98)
1959 Motown Records was launched when Gwendolyn Gordy Fuqua (d.1999 at 71) and her sister Anna talked the Gordy family into loaning Berry Gordon $800 to make a master recording of singer Marv Johnson.
(SFC, 11/13/99, p.A22)
1960 Oct 14, The idea of a Peace Corps was first suggested by Democratic presidential candidate John F. Kennedy to an audience of students at the University of Michigan.
(AP, 10/14/97)
1960 The Old Main of Wayne State Univ. was reverted to classroom use after $389,000 in renovations.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.8)
1960 Thomas S. Monaghan and his brother bought a storefront pizza shop called Dominick’s in Ann Arbor. The name was later changed to Domino’s and grew to become a billion dollar operation.
(WSJ, 6/21/00, p.A8)
1961 Jan 15, The Supremes signed with Motown Records.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1961 Jun 11, Norm Cash became the 1st Detroit Tiger to hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium.
(SC, 6/11/02)
1961 Jul 17, Ty Cobb (74), baseball great (Detroit Tigers), died of cancer.
(MC, 7/17/02)
1962 Jan 30, Two members of the "Flying Wallendas" high-wire act were killed when their seven-person pyramid collapsed during a performance in Detroit.
(AP, 1/30/98)
1962 William Matney Jr. (d.2001 at 76) became the 1st black reporter and writer for the Detroit News. In 1963 he was recruited by NBC News as their 1st black correspondent.
(SSFC, 6/17/01, p.A27)
1964 Feb 6, The WSJ reported in error that a group at Wayne State Univ. had begun a movement to "stamp out the Beatles." The group was actually from the Univ. of Detroit.
(WSJ, 2/5/99, p.B1)
1965 Mar 24, Viola Liuzzo, a white civil rights worker from Detroit, was shot and killed on a road near Selma, Ala.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1966 Apr, The Regents of the Univ. of Mich. approved the creation of the Residential College. A special campus was envisioned but it opened in the East Quadrangle and stayed there.
(LSA, Spg/97, p.11)
1966 Aug 7, There was a race riot in Lansing, Michigan.
(MC, 8/7/02)
1966 Oct 5, A sodium cooling system malfunction caused a partial core meltdown at the Enrico Fermi demonstration breeder reactor near Detroit, Mich. Radiation was contained.
(HN, 10/5/98)
1966 Oct, The song “96 Tears” by the Mysterians Chicano band of Michigan hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts.
(SFEC, 1/25/98, DB p.36)
1966 Harry V. Mohney began his adult entertainment business with a single theater in Battle Creek, Mich. He built an empire on “peeps,” 90 seconds of video-taped sex acts for a quarter.
(SFC, 8/13/97, p.A10)
1967 Feb 21, Ford recalled 217,000 cars to check brakes and steering.
(HN, 2/21/98)
1967 Mar 24, U of Mich. held the 1st "Teach-in" after bombing of North Vietnam.
(MC, 3/24/02)
1967 Jul 23-30, Racial riots in the city of Detroit left 40 dead, 2,000 injured and 5,000 homeless in the worst riot of the summer. The rioting, looting and burning was quelled with the arrival of 4,700 paratroops dispatched by President Lyndon Johnson. Nearly all of America's large cities were wracked by racial violence during the 1965-'68 period. The event inspired Rev. William Cunningham (d.1997 at 67) to found Focus: Hope, a volunteer project that grew to become one of the largest programs in the country dedicated to feeding and teaching job skills to the urban poor.
(SFC, 5/29/97, p.C4)(HNQ, 7/11/98)
1967 Jul 24, Race riots in Detroit forced the postponement of a Tigers-Orioles baseball game. [see Jul 23-30]
(MC, 7/24/02)
1967 Sep 4, Michigan Gov. George Romney told a TV interview he'd undergone a "brainwashing" by U.S. officials during a 1965 visit to Vietnam, a comment that apparently damaged Romney's bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
(AP, 9/4/97)
1968 A Detroit newspaper strike shut down both daily papers for 267 days.
(SFC, 9/18/97, p.C2)
1968 The U of M Institute for Social Research (ISR) began its Panel Study of Income Dynamics, an annual study of the wealth, health and behavior of American families.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1969 Jun 22, Aretha Franklin was arrested in Detroit for creating a disturbance.
(YarraNet, 6/22/00)
1970 Jul, The U of M Board of Regents approved the organization of the Center for Afro-American and African Studies (CAAS). Prof. Harold Cruse was the 1st director.
(LSA, fall/98, p.19,22)
1970s Janet Good led a drive make sexual harassment illegal in Michigan. For this triumph she later won election into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame.
(SFC, 8/26/97, p.E4)
1970-1994 Richard H. Austin (d.2001 at 87) served as the Sec. of State. He created the nations 1st “motor voter” law (1975) that allowed voters to register to vote in the same place that they register to drive.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.A17)
1971 Sep 9, Hockey legend Gordie Howe of the Detroit Red Wings retired from the National Hockey League (NHL) on this day.
(MC, 9/9/01)
1972 Nov 10, Hijackers diverted a jet to Detroit, demanding $10 million and ten parachutes.
(HN, 11/10/98)
1972 The first volume of Michigan Flora by Dr. Edward Voss of the Univ. of Mich. was published.
(GEG, 6/97, p.5)
1973 Oct 12, President Nixon nominated House minority leader Gerald R. Ford of Michigan to succeed Spiro T. Agnew as vice president.
(AP, 10/12/97)
1973 Nov 6, Coleman Young became the first African American mayor of Detroit, Mich. He served 5 consecutive terms and chose not to seek re-election in 1993. During WW II he served with the Tuskegee Airmen and after the war founded the National Negro Labor Council. One of his major accomplishments was the integration of the Detroit police force.
(SFEC,11/30/97, p.C10)(HN, 11/6/98)
1973 Old Main’s powerhouse, obsolete since the 1930s, was demolished.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.8)
1974 Knight Newspapers Inc. (Miami Herald) merged with Ridder Publications (Detroit Free Press).
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A19)
1974-1993 Coleman Young served as mayor of Detroit.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A20)
1975 Jul 30, Former Teamsters union president Jimmy Hoffa disappeared from the parking lot of the Machus Red fox Restaurant in suburban Detroit. Although presumed dead, his remains have never been found. He was scheduled to meet with Mafia captain Tony Jack Giacalone (d.2001 at 82) and New Jersey Teamster boss Anthony Provenzano. In 2004 Charles Brandt authored “I Heard You Paint Houses,” in which he says Teamster official Frank Sheeran (d.2003) claimed to have shot Hoffa. Hoffa was declared legally dead in 1982.
(HFA, '96, p.34)(AP, 7/30/97)(SFC, 2/26/01, p.A24)(SFC, 5/29/04, p.A2)
1975 Nov 10, The ore-hauling ship "Edmund Fitzgerald" and its crew of 29 vanished during a storm in Lake Superior.
(AP, 11/10/97)
1975 Nov 7, Hudson, Mich., High School under coach Tom Saylor set a record for consecutive wins by a high school football team at 72. In 1997 the Concord, Ca., De La Salle High School football team under coach Bob Ladoucer won their 73rd straight game and broke the 1975 record.
(SFC,11/8/97, p.A1)
1975 The U of M Institute for Social Research (ISR) began a “Monitoring the Future” program. It was an annual survey of lifestyles, attitudes and substance abuse among teens and young adults.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1978 Thomas Bonner became president of Wayne State Univ.
(WSUAN, V.52, p.6)
1979 Mar 26, In the 41st NCAA Men's Basketball Championship: Michigan State Spartans beat Indiana State Sycamores, 75-64 as Magic Johnson outscored Larry Bird, 24-19; this snapped Indiana State's 33-game win streak.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1979 The 1980 film "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour was filmed at the Grand Hotel on Mackinaw Island, Mich.
(SFEC, 11/22/98, Par p.24)(SSFC, 7/27/03, p.C1)
1979 The U of M Institute for Social Research (ISR) began its National Survey of Black Americans
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1979-1980 A recession hit the state.
(WSUAN, V.52, p.6)
1980 Jul 16, Ronald Reagan won the Republican presidential nomination at the party's convention in Detroit.
(AP, 7/16/97)
1980 Rev. Jacob Yasso of Detroit’s Sacred Heart Church on Seven Mile Rd. met with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Hussein soon sent $1.5 million to help cover debts, and to build a social hall and day-care center.
(WSJ, 3/26/03, p.A1)
1981 Sep 18, The $11 million Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum was dedicated in Grand Rapids, Mich.
(SFEC, 5/11/97, p.T8)(AP, 9/18/01)
1982 Jun 19, In a case that galvanized Asian-Americans, Vincent Chin (27), a Chinese-American engineering student, was beaten to death outside a nightclub in Highland Park, Mich., by autoworker Ronald Ebens. Two unemployed auto workers mistook Chin for being Japanese. Each one was sentenced to 3 years probation.
(AP, 6/19/97)(SFEC, 2/6/00, Rp.10)
1982 David Adamany was selected as the new president of Wayne State Univ.
(WSUAN, V.52, p.5)
1984 Jan 24, Michelle Jackson (16) was raped and murdered. Eddie Joe Lloyd, a mental patient, confessed and was sent to prison. Lloyd (54) was released after 17 years when DNA evidence proved his confession to be false.
(SFC, 8/27/02, p.A4)
1984 Jul 21, In Jackson, Michigan, a male die-cast operator (34) was pinned by a hydraulic Unimate robot. He died after 5 days. This was the 1st documented case of a robot killing a human in US.
www.cdc.gov/niosh/face/In-house/full8420.html
(HFA, '96, p.34)(MC, 7/21/02)
1985 The second volume of “Michigan Flora” by Dr. Edward Voss of the Univ. of Mich. was published.
(GEG, 6/97, p.5)
1985 Dr. Michael Aldrich (d.2000 at 51) established a Sleep Disorders Laboratory at the Univ. of Michigan.
(SFC, 7/24/00, p.A21)
1985 At WSU the College of Labor, Urban and Metropolitan Affairs was established. The College of Fine and Performing Arts was separated from the Liberal Arts and later joined by the dept. of communication.
(WSUAN, V.52, p.6)
1986 Dec 17, A federal jury in Detroit cleared automaker John DeLorean of all 15 charges in his fraud and racketeering trial.
(MC, 12/17/01)
1986 A monument to boxer Joe Lewis, "The Fist," was installed in downtown Detroit. It consisted of an 8,000-pound, 24-foot-long disembodied black forearm and clenched hand.
(WSJ, 3/4/04, p.A1)
1986 David Barrett, East Lansing musician, wrote the words and music to the song “One Shining Moment.” It premiered in the 1987 NCAA basketball finals.
(WSJ, 4/4/03, p.B1)
1986 In Battle Creek public tours were ended at the Kellogg Cereal plant due to safety concerns. A new public museum was opened in 1998.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.T7)
1986 In Detroit the Olympia Ice stadium was razed.
(WSJ, 6/12/97, p.A16)
1986 The zebra mussel was introduced to the Great lakes by Russian freighters in 1986. [see 1988]
(WSJ, 9/27/00, p.A1)
1987 Aug 16, 156 people were killed when Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashed while trying to take off from a Detroit airport; the sole survivor was 4-year-old Cecelia Cichan. The plane hit a freeway overpass following takeoff.
(AP, 8/16/97)(SFC, 11/13/01, p.A12)
1987 Sep 29, Henry Ford II, longtime chairman of Ford Motor Company, died in Detroit at age 70.
(AP, 9/29/97)
1988 Mar 26, Jesse Jackson stunned fellow Democrats by soundly defeating Michael S. Dukakis in Michigan's Democratic presidential caucuses.
(AP, 3/25/98)
1988 Jun 21, The Los Angeles Lakers repeated as NBA champions as they beat the Detroit Pistons, 108-105.
(AP, 6/21/98)
1988 Jul 29, In Lansing Mich., the last US Playboy Club closed.
(MC, 7/29/02)
1988 The Detroit Pistons basketball team opened their new Palace of Auburn Hills with 180 luxury suites.
(WSJ, 10/10/97, p.B1)
1988 The zebra mussel first appeared in the US. It is capable of laying up to 5 million eggs per year. The European freshwater mussel was introduced into the Great Lakes. It proceeded to spread to 18 states and 3 Canadian provinces clogging water intake pipes at power plants and water facilities. [see 1986]
(SFEC, 8/3/97, p.A3)(SFC,12/11/97, p.A24)
1989 Apr 3, The University of Michigan Wolverines won the NCAA championship by defeating Seton Hall in overtime, 80-79.
(AP, 4/3/99)
1989 Jun 13, The Detroit Pistons won their first National Basketball Association title, sweeping the Los Angeles Lakers in four games.
(AP, 6/13/99)
1989 The U of M Institute for Social Research (ISR), began its World Values Survey to be conducted every 5 years.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1990 Mar 3, Carole Gist (20) of Michigan was 1st black crowned 39th Miss USA.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1990 Jun 4, Janet Adkins (54) of Portland, Ore., became the first person to use a suicide machine developed by Dr. Kevorkian.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1990 Jun 5, Authorities in Oakland County, Michigan, moved to prevent Dr. Jack Kevorkian from continuing to make available a suicide device that Janet Adkins, an Oregon woman diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, had used a day earlier to take her own life.
(AP, 6/5/00)
1990 Jun, In Michigan Dr. Jack Kevorkian asked Janet Good (d.1997 at 73) if he could use her house for his first assisted suicide. She initially said ok but after conferring with her husband, a retired police officer, declined the request on the grounds that it might be illegal.
(SFC, 8/27/97, p.A9)
1990 Dec 3, A Northwest Airlines DC-9 collided on the ground with a Northwest Boeing 727 at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, resulting in a fire that claimed eight lives.
(AP, 12/3/00)
1991 Feb 5, A Michigan court barred Dr. Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1991 Jun 28, In Detroit, a white woman was attacked by a group of black women at a downtown fireworks display in an incident captured on amateur video. Five women later pleaded no contest to charges stemming from the assault.
(AP, 6/28/01)
1991 Nov, Michigan suspended the medical license of Dr. Kevorkian.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1992 Nov 5, Malice Green (35), a black motorist, died when he was beaten by Detroit police officers outside a suspected crack house. Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn were convicted of second-degree murder, but the Michigan Supreme Court ordered a new trial for Budzyn, saying jurors were improperly influenced. Their convictions were overturned. Budzyn was retried and convicted in 1998 and then sentenced to time served. Nevers was retried in 2000 and convicted of involuntary manslaughter. Nevers was sentenced to 15 years in prison.
(AP, 11/5/97)(SFC, 3/28/00, p.A5)(SFC, 4/19/00, p.A8)(SFC, 5/17/00, p.A8)
1992 Michigan voters passed a term limits law that restricted state representatives to 6 years and state senators to 8 years in office.
(WSJ, 6/30/99, p.A1)
1992 Michigan State began its Michigan Political Leadership Program.
(WSJ, 6/30/99, p.A1)
1992 The U of M Institute for Social Research (ISR) began its Health and Retirement study and the study of Assets and Health Dynamics, biannual surveys that tracked the health, wealth, work and family relationships of Americans over 50.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.4)
1993 Aug 2, In a dramatic scene shown on national television, Jessica, a 2 1/2-year-old girl at the center of a custody battle, was removed from the Michigan home of Jan and Roberta DeBoer and turned over to her biological parents, Dan and Cara Schmidt of Iowa.
(AP, 8/2/98)
1993 Aug 17, A prosecutor in Wayne County, Mich., charged Dr. Jack Kevorkian under Michigan's ban on assisted suicide for aiding in the death of Thomas Hyde, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease. A jury later acquitted Kevorkian.
(AP, 8/17/98)
1993 Aug 23, Former Detroit police officers Larry Nevers and Walter Budzyn were convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal beating of black motorist Malice Green. (Both convictions were later overturned. On retrial, Budzyn was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to time served; Nevers was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in April 2000, but had that conviction reversed by an appeals court in March 2003.
(AP, 8/23/03)
1993 Dennis Archer succeeded Coleman Young as mayor of Detroit.
(WSJ, 5/28/98, p.A20)
1994 Jan 6, Figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Cobo Arena in Detroit. (Four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigan's rival, Tonya Harding, were later sentenced to prison.) Heavy snow fell on the city.
(AP, 1/6/98)(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A5)
1994 Jan 8, Tonya Harding won the ladies' U.S. Figure Skating Championship in Detroit, a day after Nancy Kerrigan dropped out because of a clubbing attack that injured her right knee. The U.S. Figure Skating Assn. later stripped Harding of the title because of her involvement in the attack.
(AP, 1/8/98)
1994 May 2, Dr. Kevorkian was acquitted of violating a 1992 law against assisted suicide.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)(MC, 5/2/02)
1994 Aug 30, Rosa Parks, who helped touch off the civil rights movement in 1955 by refusing to give up her bus seat to a white man in Montgomery, Ala., was robbed and beaten in her Detroit apartment. Joseph Skipper later pleaded guilty to assault and robbery and was sentenced to prison.
(AP, 8/30/99)
1994 Nov 26, Margaret Garrish, a 72-year-old Detroit woman, committed suicide in the presence of Dr. Jack Kevorkian.
(AP, 11/26/99)
1994 A $41.9 million budget for renovation of Old Main was allocated by the state.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.11)
1994 A law was passed that said school employees who strike lose a day's pay in addition to being fined a day's pay.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A3)
1995 Mar, In Mich. Jonathan Schmitz shot and killed Scott Amedure 3 days after the 2 appeared on the "Jenny Jones Show," where Schmitz learned that his secret admirer was Amedure. Schmitz was convicted of murder in 1996 but the verdict was overturned due to an error in jury selection. Schmitz was sentenced to a 25-50 year prison term. In 1999 a jury pronounced a $25 million verdict against the producers of the show in a wrongful death suit by the family of Amedure. In Aug 1999 a 2nd jury convicted Schmitz of murder. Judge Wendy Pots sentenced Schmitz to 25-50 years in prison.
(SFC, 4/2/99, p.A3)(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A1)(SFC, 8/27/99, p.A13)(SFC, 9/15/99, p.A6)
1995 Jul 20, In Michigan six union locals, representing some 2,500 workers of the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News and Detroit newspapers Inc., went on a strike that lasted 19 months.
(SFC, 6/21/97, p.A4)
1995 Jul 26, Former Michigan Governor George W. Romney died at age 88.
(AP, 7/26/00)
1999 Sep 6, In Detroit, striking teachers and the school board agreed on a tentative agreement aimed at ending a weeklong walkout. The teachers ratified the contract two days later.
(AP, 9/6/00)
1995 Upjohn Co. of Kalamazoo merged with Pharmacia AB of Sweden to form Pharmacia & Upjohn. Fred Hassan was called in to lead the new company.
(WSJ, 2/2/99, p.B1)
1996 Feb 1, Lee C. Bollinger began his term as the 12th president of the Univ. of Mich.
(LSA, Spg/97, p.36)
1996 Feb 14, The newspapers unions in Detroit offered to return to work. The newspapers accepted the offer 5 days later but vowed to retain some 1200 replacement workers. A 1997 ruling ordered as many as 1,100 former strikers reinstated.
(SFC, 6/21/97, p.A4)
1996 Mar 8, Dr. Jack Kevorkian was acquitted of assisted suicide for helping two suffering patients kill themselves.
(AP, 3/8/01)
1996 May 14, A jury in Pontiac, Mich., acquitted Dr. Jack Kevorkian of assisted-suicide charges, his third legal victory in two years. The judge dismissed murder charges in the same case.
(AP, 5/14/97)(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1996 Nov 12, In Pontiac, Mich., Jonathan Schmitz, a guest on "The Jenny Jones Show," was convicted of second-degree murder for shooting Scott Amedure, a gay man who'd revealed a crush on Schmitz during a taping of the program. Schmitz was later convicted and sentenced to up to 50 years in prison but the conviction was thrown out due to a jury dispute and the trial was reset for Aug, 1999.
(AP, 11/12/97)(WSJ, 5/10/99, p.B8)
1996 The third volume of Michigan Flora by Dr. Edward Voss of the Univ. of Mich. was published.
(GEG, 6/97, p.5)
1996 Wayne State Univ. presented Matel Dawson Jr. (76), a Ford Motor rigger/forklift driver, an honorary degree after Dawson contributed $200,000 for scholarships. Since 1991 Dawson had contributed some $800,000 to colleges, churches and charities from his earnings and investments.
(SFEC,11/9/97, Par p.20)
1996 Irwin H. “Sonny” Bloch (d.1998), radio host, was sentenced to 21 months in prison for evading taxes. He had bilked some $21 million from hundreds of radio listeners by persuading them to buy worthless securities.
(SFC, 7/14/98, p.A17)
1997 Jan 9, A Comair Brazilian made Embraer 120 commuter plane crashed southwest of Detroit and killed all 26 onboard. Icing was blamed for the crash.
(SFC, 1/10/96, p.A3)(SFC, 8/28/98, p.A7)
1997 Feb 19, Detroit's daily newspapers accepted a back-to-work offer from employees who'd been on strike for 19 months, but the strikers charged the conditions for return amounted to a lockout.
(AP, 2/19/98)
1997 Apr 12, The new $38.4 million Museum of African American History was scheduled to open in Detroit at 315 E. Warren Ave. with a 16,000-sq.-foot core exhibit. The building was paid for by a city-backed bond issue but the collection was started by Dr. Charles Wright.
(Sky, 4/97, p.28)(SFEC, 2/23/97, p.T7)(WSJ, 9/30/97, p.A20)
1997 Jun 19, Three teenagers from Highland Township and Davisburg hopped a train and got off in Flint. They ran into some strangers who shot, raped and robbed them. One boy (15) was killed. Six people were later arrested.
(SFC, 6/24/97, p.A2)
1997 Jun, The Detroit Red Wings won the hockey Stanley Cup in 4 games against the Philadelphia Flyers.
(WSJ, 6/12/97, p.A16)
1997 Jun, Dr. Kevorkian was again accused of assisted suicide. A mistrial resulted.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1997 Jul 3, Severe thunder storms tore through Michigan’s lower peninsula and killed at least 7 people.
(SFC, 7/3/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 22, Some 2,800 UAW workers went on strike at a GM plant in Warren.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 27, The 6-day-old GM strike in Michigan ended.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A3)
1997 Jul 29, In Concord Township 9 children and 2 women were killed in a collision between a pickup and dumptruck.
(SFC, 7/30/97, p.A3)
1997 Aug 13, In Detroit Yolanda Bellamy was slain with 2 young sons, a niece and a nephew. A suspect was later arrested and jumped from a 5th floor police station window. He was critically injured.
(SFC, 8/15/97, p.A3)
1997 Apr 18, The Wayne State Univ. Alumni Assoc. handed Pres. David Adamany an endowment check for $1 million.
(WSUAN, V.52, p.4)
1997 Jul 27, United Auto Workers approved a deal to end a six-day strike at a General Motors parts plant that forced four assembly plant shutdowns and threatened GM's entire North American production.
(SFC, 7/28/97, p.A3)(AP, 7/27/98)
1997 Aug 25, Dr. Irvin Reid was selected as the next president of Wayne State Univ. to succeed David Adamany.
(WSUAN, V.52, 1997, p.2)
1997 Sep 19, Lee C. Bollinger, the 12th president of U of M cited 5 principles to guide choices in the years ahead: 1) Suspension of Belief 2) Publicness 3) Faculty Autonomy 4) Transparent Administration 5) Making Our History Visible.
(MT, Fall. ‘97, p.5)
1997 Sep 23, The Gilmore Artist Award, a $300,000 prize given every 4 years to a classical pianist, was awarded to Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes at the Irving S. Gilmore Int’l. Keyboard Festival in Kalamazoo, Mich.
(SFC, 9/24/97, p.E5)
1997 Oct 22, In Detroit the Gem Theater / 20th Century Club, a 2,750 ton building, was moved 5 blocks through downtown to make room for a new ballpark. It set a new record as the heaviest building moved.
(SFC,10/23/97, p.A17)
1997 Nov 29, Coleman Young (b. May 24, 1918 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.- d. Nov 29, 1997), former mayor of Detroit (1973-1993), died. The city's first black mayor held office for an unprecedented five terms.
(SFEC,11/30/97, p.C10)(AP, 11/29/98)
1997 Dec 13, A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in Los Angeles for the $1 billion Getty Center, one of the largest arts centers in the United States.
(AP, 12/13/98)
1997 Dec 13, Michigan Wolverine Charles Woodson was named winner of the Heisman Trophy, the first primarily defensive player so honored.
(AP, 12/13/98)
1997 Dec 24, A fire in Detroit killed four children of the Buchanan family.
(SFC,12/26/97, p.A3)
1997 The renovation of Old Main at Wayne State Univ. was completed.
(WSUAN, Winter 1997, p.8)
1997 The Islamic Center of America finished phase one of a project that would include a new $15 million mosque on 9.8 acres on Altar Rd. in Dearborn. It was scheduled for completion in 2004.
(WSJ, 4/7/99, p.B10)
1997 Nathaniel Abraham (11) shot and killed Ronnie Greene Jr. (18) with a stolen rifle outside a Pontiac convenience store. The killing was random and Abraham was charged with 1st degree murder. In 2000 Abraham was sentenced to a juvenile detention center until age 21.
(SFC, 1/14/00, p.A3)
1998 Jan 1, The 109th Rose Bowl Parade in Pasadena was held and Univ. of Michigan beat Washington State 21-16.
(SFC, 1/2/98, p.A1,22)
1998 Feb 17, In Detroit a landlord paid an arsonist (35) a Rottweiler dog for setting a fire to get rid of a family on her property. The fire killed 4 children.
(SFC, 2/19/98, p.A3)
1998 Feb 25, Harlan H. Hatcher, President Emeritus of the Univ. of Mich., died at age 99. He wrote several books on the history of the Great Lakes region.
(MT, Sum. ‘98, p.6)
1998 Apr 9, Detroit passed a casino plan. The $1.8 billion plan still required state approval.
(WSJ, 4/10/98, p.A1)
1998 Apr 19, A small plane crashed on the west side of Detroit. It was reported to have contained cash and marijuana that neighbors quickly picked up. The pilot was believed to be Douglas C. Dufresne (66) of Florida.
(SFC, 4/21/98, p.A4)
1998 May 2, Police fired tear gas into a crowd of 3,000 students at Michigan State Univ. who were protesting the end of drinking at Munn Field.
(BS, 5/3/98, p.3A)
1998 Jun 1, A new $22 million Kellogg’s Cereal City USA opened in Battle Creek. It was owned by the non-profit Heritage Center Foundation.
(SFEC, 8/2/98, p.T7)
1998 Jun 16, The Detroit Red Wings took home the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive year after completing a sweep of the Washington Capitals with a 4-1 victory in game four.
(AP, 6/16/03)
1998 Jul 7, Michael Jackson and Detroit millionaire Don Barden announced a plan for a $1 billion casino-entertainment complex. Mayor Archer was opposed to the casino plan.
(SFC, 7/8/98, p.A3)
1998 Jul 26, In Michigan 3 spectators were killed and 6 people injured at the US 500 Race in Brooklyn.
(WSJ, 7/27/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 28, General Motors and the UAW agreed tentatively to settle strikes at two parts plants in Flint.
(SFC, 7/29/98, p.A1)
1998 Jul 29, GM workers began returning to their jobs after ratifying a strike settlement.
(SFC, 7/30/98, p.A3)
1998 Aug 4, Geoffrey Fieger, a defense lawyer for Dr. Jack Kevorkian, won the Democratic nomination for governor.
(SFC, 8/6/93, p.A5)
1998 Sep 17, Dr. Kevorkian videotaped the injection death of Thomas Youk.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1998 Nov 25, In Michigan a prosecutor brought charges of first-degree murder against Dr. Jack Kevorkian for administering a lethal injection last Sept. to a terminally ill man who wished to die. A charge of assisted suicide was later dropped.
(SFC, 11/26/98, p.A1)(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1998 Nov 29, In Dalton, Mich., Seth Stephen Privacky (18) and Steven Wallace (18) shot a killed Privacky’s father (50), mother (49), grandfather (78), brother (19) and brother’s girlfriend, April A. Boss (19).
(SFC, 12/1/98, p.A4)
1998 Nov, In Kalamazoo Bradford Metcalf (48), a militia member, was convicted of weapons and conspiracy charges against the federal government. In 1999 he was sentenced to 40 years in prison without parole.
(SFC, 5/26/99, p.A3)
1998 Dec 10, In Detroit Andrzej Olbrot (52), a Wayne State Univ. engineering prof., was shot and killed while administering final exams. A 48-year-old graduate student turned himself in the next day.
(SFC, 12/11/98, p.D6)(SFC, 12/12/98, p.A2)
1998 Dec 12, In Osseo, Mich., a fireworks explosion at the Independence Professional Fireworks building killed at least 7 people.
(SFEC, 12/13/98, p.A34)
1998 Dec 27, In Michigan 6 children of Femeeka O'Steen (27) died of smoke inhalation in Detroit as their mother recovered in a hospital after giving birth.
(SFC, 12/28/98, p.A2)
1998 Dec 30, In Grand Rapids a fire killed 5 people including 2 children.
(SFC, 12/31/98, p.A2)
1998 “The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, A Death and America’s Dilemma” by Alex Kotlowitz was an account of the death of Eric McGinnis, a black boy who drowned in a river that divides St. Joseph from Benton Harbor.
(SFEC, 1/18/98, BR p.1)
1998 Thomas S. Monaghan sold his Domino’s Pizza chain for some $1 billion.
(WSJ, 6/21/00, p.A1)
1999 Jan 2, In Chicago about 22 inches of snow fell on the city and across the northern Midwest. In Detroit some 4,000 travelers were stranded in planes on the tarmac for as long as 9 hours.
(SFC, 1/4/99, p.A5)(SFC, 2/8/99, p.A3)
1999 Jan, The little black book of a Huntington Woods madam with 7,000 names was released on CD-ROM. Marci Devernay (33) employed at least 25 male and female prostitutes and faced up to 20 years in prison.
(SFC, 1/14/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 1, In Dearborn, Mich., an explosion at a Ford River Rouge power station killed one worker and injured 12 others.
(SFC, 2/2/99, p.A3)
1999 Feb 20, It was reported that Gov. John Engler planned to improve education in Detroit by asking the legislature to abolish the elected school board and to give Mayor Archer the power to appoint a new one.
(SFC, 2/19/99, p.A4)
1999 Mar 25, The Legislature approved a plan to replace the elected school board of Detroit with a panel appointed by the mayor.
(SFC, 3/26/99, p.A3)
1999 Mar 26, In Michigan Dr. Kevorkian was convicted of 2nd degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk.
(SFC, 3/27/99, p.A1)
1999 Mar 29, In Michigan 5 people died in Osseo following an explosion and fire at the Independence Professional Fireworks Co.
(SFC, 3/30/99, p.A2)
1999 Apr 3, In Detroit 3 barbecue restaurant employees and a child were found fatally shot at the Prestige Restaurant.
(SFC, 4/5/99, p.A5)
1999 Apr 13, Judge Jessica Cooper sentenced Dr. Kevorkian to 10-25 years in prison. He planned to appeal the sentence which would require him to serve over 6 years before being eligible for parole.
(SFC, 4/14/99, p.A3)
1999 Apr 14, In Michigan Dr. Kevorkian said that he would begin to refuse food immediately.
(SFC, 4/15/99, p.A3)
1999 Apr 26, Detroit and Wayne County filed suits for over $800 million against 35 manufacturers, distributors and sellers of firearms.
(SFC, 4/27/99, p.A3)
1999 May 7, A jury in Pontiac, Mich., announced a $25 million verdict against the producers of the Jenny Lind TV Show over the 1995 segment that led to the murder of Scott Amedure by Jonathan Schmitz. Amedure, a gay man, was shot to death after revealing a crush on Jonathan Schmitz, a fellow guest on the talk show. However, the Michigan Court of Appeals later overturned the award, and the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal.
(SFC, 5/8/99, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/10/99, p.B8)(AP, 5/7/04)
1999 May 23, A house fire in Crystal Township left 2 adults and 4 teenage boys dead. Christopher W. Simmons (17) escaped.
(SFC, 5/24/99, p.A6)
1999 Jun 11, Timothy Boomer (25) was found guilty of swearing after tipping his canoe on the Rifle River in 1998. The 1897 law was declared unconstitutional in 2002.
(SFC, 6/12/99, p.A2)(SFC, 4/2/02, p.A3)
1999 Jul 24, Two girls, 8 & 14, were raped and left for dead in Thetford Township. Jack Duane Hall (34) escaped arrest July 26 after shooting at officers.
(SFC, 7/27/99, p.A3)
1999 Jul 29, The MGM Grand Detroit Casino opened in downtown Detroit in a former IRS building. It was the 1st of 3 planned temporary casinos.
(SFC, 7/30/99, p.D5)
1999 Jul 31, In Cottrellville Township 10 people died from a skydiving plane crash shortly after takeoff from Marine City Airport, 40 miles north of Detroit.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.A5)
1999 Aug 14, The Kellogg Co. announced the closure the historic South Plant in Battle Creek and a cut of some 550 jobs.
(SFEC, 8/15/99, p.A4)
1999 Aug 30, Detroit's teachers called a strike despite a state law that barred strikes.
(SFC, 8/31/99, p.A3)
1999 Aug 31, Detroit’s teachers went on strike, wiping out the first day of class for 172-thousand students in one of the largest teachers’ strikes in years. The walkout lasted nine days.
(AP, 8/31/00)
1999 Sep 6, Detroit's teachers reached a tentative agreement and won smaller classes and raises of up to 4%. The union represented 9,200 teachers and some 172,000 students were affected.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A5)
1999 Sep 27, Tiger Stadium closed in grand fashion after 87 years as the Tigers beat the Kansas City Royals, 8-to-2.
(AP, 9/27/00)
1999 Oct 11, In Michigan police reported that 5 suspects were taken into custody for holding and raping 4 girls for 2 weeks. The victims and suspects were all Laotian Americans from of Hmong ethnic background.
(SFC, 10/12/99, p.A7)
1999 Oct 26, Gerald "Ajax" Ackerman (42), former mayor of Port Huron, was sentenced to a year in prison for 9 counts of indecent exposure to underage girls.
(SFC, 10/26/99, p.A7)
1999 Nov 10, In Flint, Michigan, a boiler exploded at the Clara Barton Convalescence Center. 5 people were killed and over 20 injured.
(SFC, 11/12/99, p.A9)
1999 Dec 7, In Detroit a man was arrested on rape charges and suspected of being responsible for 8 rapes of school girls since Sep.
(SFC, 12/8/99, p.A13)
1999 Dec, In Detroit the MotorCity Casino opened at a former wonder Bread factory.
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A18)
1999 The film "For Love of the Game" starred Kelly Preston and Kevin Costner as a big-league Detroit Tigers pitcher. It was directed by Sam Raimi.
(SFEC, 8/29/99, DB p.50)(SFC, 9/17/99, p.C1)
1999 Dr. John Shuey died and his wife Rose donated their 46-work modern art collection to the Cranbrook Art Museum.
(WSJ, 3/12/02, p.A24)
2000 Jan 26, Solomon Bell (38), a police officer in Oak Park, committed suicide in the 6-week-old MotorCity Casino after he lost a high-stakes hand of blackjack.
(SFC, 1/28/00, p.A5)
2000 Feb 4, The Ford Motor Co. said it would provide new PCs and a printer with Internet access to its 300,000 employees at $5 per month over 3 years.
(SFC, 2/5/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 22, Sen. John McCain beat Gov. George W. Bush in the Michigan primary 50-43% and in the Arizona primary 60-30%.
(SFC, 2/23/00, p.A1)
2000 Feb 29, In Michigan a 6-year-old boy shot and killed Kayla Rolland (6) with a .32 caliber semiautomatic after a quarrel in the Theo J. Buell Elementary School in Flint. Jamelle James (19), the owner of the stolen gun, was later arraigned on a manslaughter charge.
(SFC, 3/1/00, p.A1)
2000 Mar 15, In Michigan 4 teens beat to death and robbed Willie Jones (66) as he left the Michigan Lanes Bowling Alley in Grand Rapids. The teens then stuffed Jones into their car trunk and drove around town to show him off.
(SFC, 3/20/00, p.A11)
2000 Apr 11, The Detroit Tiger baseball season began in the new Comerica Park. The Park received $110 million in public funds. It had the deepest fences in baseball.
(WSJ, 9/30/99, p.A24)(WSJ, 3/31/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/12/00, p.A1)
2000 Apr 12, Detroit police arrested John Eric Armstrong (26), a suspected serial killer. Armstrong was reported to be responsible for killing some 20 prostitutes since 1992, when he served in the US Navy aboard the Nimitz.
(SFC, 4/14/00, p.A16)
2000 Apr 18, In Michigan Kenneth Ray Miller (55), a tenant at a senior apartment house in Lincoln Park, shot and killed 2 women after he was summoned to discuss complaints about his vulgar language. A 3rd woman died days later.
(SFC, 4/19/00, p.A3)(SFC, 4/22/00, p.B10)
2000 May 27-29, The Detroit Electronic Music Festival was held in Hart Plaza.
(SFC, 5/29/00, p.E7)
2000 Jun 13, A power outage hit downtown Detroit at 12:45 p.m. due to a burned out cable at a power station. Power was restored by early the next day.
(SFC, 6/13/00, p.A11)
2000 Jun 20, General Motors broke ground on a $1 billion assembly and parts plant in Delta Township.
(SFC, 6/21/00, p.C7)
2000 Jun 22, Frederick Finley died from a security officer’s choke hold in Dearborn. Finley’s 11-year-old daughter had been accused of stealing a $4 bracelet and Finley punched the guard who tried to detain her.
(SFC, 7/7/00, p.A9)
2000 Nov 22, Douglas Hermelin, real estate developer and US ambassador to Norway (1997-1999), died at age 63. He was one of the developers of the Palace of Auburn Hills and developed the Pine Knob Entertainment Center and the Meadow Brook Music Center.
(SFC, 11/24/00, p.D11)
2000 Nov, In Detroit a casino, 90% owned by the Sault St. Marie Chippewa Indians, opened in Greektown.
(SSFC, 5/27/01, p.A19)
2000 Dec 13, A federal judge upheld the Univ. of Michigan’s affirmative action program citing diversity as a critical component of higher education.
(SFC, 12/14/00, p.A5)
2000 Dec 16, Federal prisoner Theodore Kaczynski (58), aka the unabomber, donated his writings to a special collection at the Univ. of Michigan, where he received his doctorate in 1977.
(SSFC, 12/17/00, p.A1)
2001 Feb 1, Tony and Linda Calliea claimed their Big Game lottery win for $107 million. They selected a $57.7 lump sum option.
(SFC, 2/2/01, p.A2)
2001 Feb 23, Anthony Giacalone, Detroit mobster, died at age 82.
(SFC, 5/3/01, p.B7)
2001 Mar 27, A US federal judge ruled that the Univ. of Michigan racial criteria for accepting minority students with lower test scores than whites was invalid.
(SFC, 3/28/01, p.A3)
2001 Jul 1, A state law went into effect that allowed virtually any gun owner to carry a concealed weapon in public.
(SFC, 9/12/01, p.C6)
2001 Jul 12, Charleszetta Waddles, aka Mother Waddles, died in Detroit at age 88. She was the founder of the Mother Waddles Perpetual Mission in 1957.
(SFC, 7/13/01, p.D5)
2001 Jul 14, In Riverview an explosion at the ATOFINA Chemicals plant killed 3 employees.
(SSFC, 7/15/01, p.A11)
2001 Sep 3, FBI agents shot and killed Grover T. Crosslin (47) at the Rainbow Farms campground in Vandalia following a 4-day standoff. Crosslin was burning buildings on his property, which was the target of civil forfeiture proceedings.
(SFC, 9/4/01, p.A5)
2001 Sep 4, Police shot and killed Rolland Rohm (28) at the Rainbow Farms campground in Vandalia after he allegedly pointed a weapon at an officer. The campground had been set up for marijuana advocates.
(SFC, 9/5/01, p.A5)
2001 Sep 21, Ronald C. Sheffield, a federal security officer was shot and killed in the Patrick V. McNamara building in Detroit. The gunman was seriously wounded.
(SFC, 9/22/01, p.A20)
2001 Oct 23, The tugboat J.W. Westcott II rolled over and sank in the Detroit River and 2 crew members were missing and feared drowned.
(SFC, 10/24/01, p.C14)
2001 Oct 25, The Ford Motor Co. reached a settlement that would cost as much as $2.7 billion to replace a $4 ignition device prone to cause stalling.
(SFC, 10/26/01, p.A1)
2001 Nov 15, Two trains collided 25 miles northwest of Detroit and 2 crew members were killed.
(WSJ, 11/16/01, p.A1)
2002 Jan 17, Stewart Richardson took off from his figurine shop in White Lake and took with him over $225,000 in cash from fraudulent eBay auctions. He had spent 5 years dealing collectibles on eBay.
(WSJ, 2/22/02, p.A1)
2002 Mar 5, In Mount Pleasant Thomas Wendt shot and killed his ex-wife and 2 others at the Isabella County Courthouse parking lot. Wendt later surrendered at his home.
(SFC, 3/6/02, p.A5)
2002 Mar 18, Maud Farris-Luse, recognized as the oldest living person, died in Grand Rapids at age 115 years and 56 days.
(SFC, 3/21/02, p.A21)
2002 Apr 1, The 1897 law against swearing in front of women and children was declared unconstitutional.
(SFC, 4/2/02, p.A3)
2002 Jun 13, The Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup 4 games to 1 over the Carolina Hurricanes.
(WSJ, 6/14/02, p.A1)
2002 Aug 16, Stephen P. Yokich (66), UAW president, died in Detroit.
(SFC, 8/19/02, p.B6)
2002 Aug 28, Federal grand juries charged six men in Detroit with conspiring to support al-Qaeda's terrorism as members of a sleeper cell.
(AP, 8/28/03)(SFC, 8/29/02, p.A1)
2002 Nov 5, Michigan voters elected Democrat Jennifer Granholm (43) as governor.
(NW, 12/30/02, p.62)
2002 Dec 27, Gov. Engler of Michigan signed a bill eliminating mandatory minimum sentences for drug crimes.
(WSJ, 12/30/02, p.A1)
2003 Jan 16, The Bush administration urged the Supreme Court to strike down admissions policies at the University of Michigan and its law school, arguing that university admissions programs that gave an edge to minority students were unconstitutional.
(AP, 1/16/04)
2003 Jan 18, Edward Farhat (b.1924), pioneering pro wrestling villain (the Sheik), died in Williamstown, Mich.
(SSFC, 1/26/03, p.A25)
2003 May 16, Michigan state and federal police began investigations of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick on criminal misconduct charges that included leaving the scene of an accident.
(SFC, 5/17/03, p.A3)
2003 Jun 3, Jurors in Detroit convicted Abdel-Ilah Elmardoudi and Karim Koubriti of supporting planned terrorist strikes. Their case began 6 days after the Sep 11, 2001 attacks.
(SFC, 6/4/03, p.A3)
2003 Jun 23, The US Supreme Court upheld a University of Mich. law school admissions policy that gave minorities an edge, ruling 6-3 that race can be one of many factors that colleges consider when selecting their students. A point system for undergraduate admission was ruled unconstitutional.
(AP, 6/23/03)(WSJ, 6/24/03, p.A1)
2003 Aug, Toyota sold more cars in America than did Chrysler.
(Econ, 10/11/03, p.82)
2003 Oct 9, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra dedicated its new $60 million Max M. Fisher Center, which included a restored and remodeled Orchestra Hall.
(SFC, 10/9/03, p.F2)
2003 Oct 20, Kirk Jones (40) from Canton, Michigan, survived a 150-foot plunge over the fast-flowing Canadian side Niagara Falls, only to face charges of mischief and unlawfully performing a stunt. Jones said he was driven by depression, not a desire to become a daredevil. A 7-year-old boy who went over in 1960, unlike Jones, was wearing a lifejacket. Since 1901, 15 daredevils have taken the plunge in barrels or other devices, including a kayak and a personal watercraft. Ten survived,
(AP, 10/21/03)
2003 Nov, A new $17 million Holocaust Museum was to be dedicated in Farmington Hills.
(WSJ, 10/8/03, p.A1)
2003 Nov 5, Bobby Hatfield (63), the tenor half of The Righteous Brothers, who made "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" a worldwide hit, was found dead in a Kalamazoo, Mich., hotel. An autopsy revealed that his death was triggered by acute cocaine intoxication.
(AP, 11/6/03)(SFC, 1/8/04, p.E5)
2003 Micheline Maynard authored "The End of Detroit: How the Big Three Lost Their Grip on the American Car market."
(Econ, 10/11/03, p.82)
2004 Jan 19, Gov. Granholm announced initiatives, the Michigan Water Legacy Act, to protect the state's water supply and the Great Lakes.
(USAT, 1/20/04, p.12A)
2004 Feb 7, John Kerry scored decisive wins in Michigan and Washington state.
(AP, 2/8/04)
2004 Mar 4, Michigan authorities asked 6 southeastern counties to evaluate damage done by the emerald ash borer. The pests had already killed some 6 million ash trees.
(USAT, 3/5/04, p.9A)
2004 Apr 29, GM ended production of its Oldsmobile line (b.1897), named after Ransom E. Olds. The last Olds Alero rolled of a GM assembly line in Lansing, Mich.
(SFC, 4/28/04, p.C1)
2004 May 20, Detroit Zoo officials said they will stop exhibiting elephants on ethical grounds because elephants can develop arthritis and stress-related ailments in captivity.
(Reuters, 5/20/04)

End of file