Today in Michigan History
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Historical Events
Results 1 - 53 of 53
1738-07-20 - North America: French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1763-06-02 - Pontiac's Rebellion: At what is now Mackinaw City, Michigan, Chippewas capture Fort Michilimackinac by diverting the garrison's attention with a game of lacrosse, then chasing a ball into the fort.
1805-01-11 - Michigan Territory organizes
1812-08-16 - Gen Hull surrenders Detroit & Michigan territory to England
1837-01-26 - Michigan admitted as 26th US state
1846-05-04 - US state Michigan ends death penalty
1847-01-01 - Michigan is 1st state to abolish capital punishment
1847-03-01 - Michigan becomes 1st English-speaking jurisdiction to abolish the death penalty (except for treason against the state)
1847-11-21 - Steamer "Phoenix" is lost on Lake Michigan, kills 200
1854-02-22 - 1st meeting of Republican Party (Michigan)
1855-02-12 - Michigan State University was established.
1860-09-07 - Excursion steamer "Lady Elgin" drowns 340 in Lake Michigan
1863-05-23 - Organization of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in Battle Creek, Michigan.
1865-03-20 - Michigan authorizes workers' cooperatives
1866-12-06 - Chicago water supply tunnel 3,227 m into Lake Michigan completed
1867-03-15 - Michigan becomes 1st state to tax property to support a university
1882-08-08 - Snow falls on Lake Michigan
1887-03-15 - 1st salaried fish & game warden (William Alden Smith in Michigan)
1887-11-23 - Notre Dame loses its 1st football game 8-0 to Michigan
1903-06-12 - The Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity is founded at the University of Michigan School of Music.
1907-07-20 - A train wreck on the Pere Marquette Railroad near Salem, Michigan kills thirty and injures seventy more.
1908-09-27 - The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Piquette Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
1914-08-31 - 24.8 cm rainfall at Bloomingdale, Michigan (state record)
1915-07-24 - Excursion ship Eastland capsizes in Lake Michigan, 852 die
1925-02-10 - 1st waterless gas storage tank put into service, Michigan City, Ind
1926-10-24 - Harry Houdini's last performance, which was at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit, Michigan.
1932-03-07 - Riots at Ford-factory Dearborn Michigan, kills 4
1934-02-09 - -51°F (-46°C), Vanderbilt, Michigan (state record)
1936-07-13 - 112°F (44°C), Mio, Michigan (state record)
1940-09-28 - Michigan's Tom Harmon runs 72, 86 & 94 yard touchdowns
1940-11-27 - 6th Heisman Trophy Award: Tom Harmon, Michigan (HB)
1942-10-28 - Train crashes into bus, killing 16 & injuring 20 (Detroit Michigan)
1945-01-25 - Grand Rapids, Michigan becomes 1st US city to fluoridate its water
1953-06-08 - Cluster of 6 tornadoes touch down in Flint Michigan killing 113
1954-02-26 - Michigan rep Ruth Thompson (R) introduces legislation to ban mailing "obscene, lewd, lascivious or filthy" phonograph (rock & roll) records
1954-11-02 - Charles C Diggs Jr elected Michigan's 1st black congressman
1956-04-03 - Hudsonville-Standale Tornado: The western half of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan is struck by a deadly F5 tornado.
1958-06-26 - Mackinac Straits Bridge, Michigan dedicated
1961-10-10 - Otis M Smith appointed to Michigan Supreme Court
1963-12-18 - Muskegon, Michigan gets 3' of snow
1966-08-07 - Race riot in Lansing Michigan
1979-03-26 - Michigan State Spartans snaps Indiana State's 33-game win streak
1985-11-15 - A research assistant is injured when a package from the Unabomber addressed to a University of Michigan professor explodes.
1988-07-31 - Last Playboy club closes (Lansing Michigan)
1990-03-03 - Carole Gist, 20, (Michigan 1st black), crowned 39th Miss USA
1991-02-05 - A Michigan court bars Dr Jack Kevorkian from assisting in suicides
1991-12-14 - 57th Heisman Trophy Award: Desmond Howard, Michigan (WR)
1993-02-19 - Kenya Moore, 22, (Michigan), crowned 42nd Miss USA
1997-07-22 - The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.
1997-12-13 - 63rd Heisman Trophy Award: Charles Woodson, Michigan (CB)
1998-06-05 - A strike begins at the General Motors parts factory in Flint, Michigan, that quickly spreads to five other assembly plants (the strike lasted seven weeks).
1999-03-26 - A jury in Michigan finds Dr. Jack Kevorkian guilty of second-degree murder for administering a lethal injection to a terminally ill man.
2007-06-01 - Jack Kevorkian is released from prison after serving eight years of his 10-25 year prison term for second-degree murder in the 1998 death of Thomas Youk, 52, of Oakland County, Michigan.
Famous Birthdays
Results 1 - 34 of 34
1811-10-27 - Stevens Thomson Mason, first Governor of Michigan (d. 1843)
1895-05-01 - Leo Sowerby, Grand Rapids Michigan, composer (Pulitzer 1946)
1899-02-14 - John Randall Jr, Michigan, historian/philosopher (Western Man)
1920-02-23 - Hall Overton, Bangor Michigan, composer (Enchanted Pear Tree)
1926-07-08 - John D Dingell, (Rep-D-Michigan, 1955- )
1927-08-06 - William David Ford, (Rep-D-Michigan, 1965- )
1929-09-16 - Dale E Kildee, (Rep-D-Michigan, 1977- )
1931-09-06 - Sander M Levin, (Rep-D-Michigan, 1983- )
1932-02-07 - Alfred M Worden, Jackson Michigan, Colonel USAF/astronaut (Apollo 15)
1933-11-28 - Joe Knollenberg, (Rep-R-Michigan)
1934-06-28 - Carl M Levin, (Sen-D Michigan, 1979- )
1934-11-05 - Nick Smith, (Rep-R-Michigan)
1935-02-15 - Roger B Chaffee, Grand Rapids Michigan, Lt Cmdr USN/astronaut
1939-04-13 - Barbara-Rose Collins, (Rep-D-Michigan)
1942-07-09 - Paul B Henry, (Rep-R-Michigan, 1985- )
1942-11-16 - Donna McKechnie, Pontiac Michigan, actress/dancer (Company)
1943-03-27 - M Robert Carr, (Rep-D-Michigan, 1975-81, 83- )
1952-02-25 - James A Barcia, (Rep-D-Michigan)
1952-02-29 - Bart Stupak, (Rep-D-Michigan)
1953-04-23 - Fred Upton, (Rep-R-Michigan)
1953-07-09 - Dave Camp, (Rep-R-Michigan)
1953-10-30 - Peter Hoekstra, (Rep-R-Michigan)
1956-03-09 - Mark Dantonio, Michigan State University American football coach
1966-07-31 - Dean Cain, Mt Clemens Michigan, actor (Clark-Lois & Clark)
1969-02-27 - Victoria Fair, Jackson Michigan, Miss Michigan-America (1991)
1969-06-24 - Todd Lewis, Flint Michigan, 10k runner
1971-04-21 - Jennifer Reed, Miss USA-Michigan (1997)
1971-10-05 - Coni Lyn Hull, Jackson Michigan, Miss America-Michigan (1996)
1971-10-15 - Roland McGhee, Flint Michigan, long jumper
1972-04-29 - Gwendolyn Wentland, Flint Michigan, high jumper
1974-03-19 - Jennifer Lynn Drayton, Saginaw Michigan, Miss America-Michigan (1997)
1975-08-11 - Natasha Bell, Miss Michigan USA (1996)
1979-05-20 - Tamika Thomas, Miss Michigan Teen USA (1996)
1982-03-19 - Che' Vonne Burton, Miss Michigan Teen USA (1997)
Famous Deaths
Results 1 - 3 of 3
1846-04-04 - Solomon Sibley, American senator from Michigan Territory (b. 1769)
1876-11-07 - Albertus C van Raalte, Dutch/US vicar (Michigan), dies at 65
1955-09-19 - John D. Dingell, Sr., U.S. Congressman from Michigan (b. 1894)
