The state capitol building in Lansing was dedicated on this day in 1979. Comprised of bricks, sandstone and iron, it took six years to build, and stands 267 feet tall from the ground to the tip of the finial atop the dome.

Coleman Young took office as Detroit’s first Black mayor on this day in 1974. A polarizing figure, he is the only mayor to serve five consecutive terms in Detroit. During his tenure, Detroit saw the creation of several elements that are part of the city today including the Renaissance Center, Hart Plaza, and the People Mover.

Motown singer Aretha Franklin became the first female vocalist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on this day in 1987. Franklin lived most of her life in Detroit, and became affectionately known worldwide as the Queen of Soul. The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded her a Grammy Legend Award

Chesapeake & Ohio launched its car ferry, called Spartan, on this day in 1952. Shortly after, its sister ship Badger launched. The last coal-fired passenger-carrying steamships built in the United States, each made roundtrip voyages from Ludington to ports in Wisconsin, and were named after the mascots of Michigan State and University of Wisconsin, respectively.

On this day in 1914, Henry Ford announced that he was raising factory worker wages to five dollars per day, nearly doubling the best daily rate for skilled workers. The result brought an influx of new immigrants to Michigan, and also made it possible for workers to afford to buy the cars they were building. The move

The Emancipation Proclamation was read for the first time in Michigan at the Second Baptist Church in Detroit on this day in 1863. The Second Baptist congregation is believed to have helped many of the five thousand or so slaves who crossed the Detroit River to freedom in Canada through the Underground Railroad.

An unarmed B-52 bomber crashed into Lake Michigan just missing the Big Rock Point nuclear power plant near Charlevoix on this day in 1971. Nine Air Force crew members were killed. According to the official report, the 15-year-old B-52 Model C had suffered catastrophic structural failure of its left wing between the two giant engine pods. This

On this day in 1948, WDTR-FM, Michigan’s first educational FM radio station went on the air. Detroit Public Schools owned and operated the station from then until 2004, when the decision was made to lease it commercially for budgetary purposes. Reports estimate that it was costing the district nearly $1 Million annually to operate the station.

Albert Kahn, considered by many to be the foremost American industrial architect of his day, is sometimes called the architect of Detroit. He designed the Packard Plant, Fisher Building, Ford's Highland Park plant, Detroit Free Press and Detroit News buildings, Edsel and Eleanor Ford House, and many other notable structures. After successfully designing the Stalingrad Tractor Plant

On this day in 1928, Pulizer Prize winning poet Philip Levine was born in Detroit. He was educated in the Detroit public school system and at what is now Wayne State University. He published his debut collection of poems, On the Edge, in 1961. By 1979, Poems New and Old received the National Book Award, the National

State senator, Warren G. Hooper of Albion was found murdered in his car on this day in 1945. It was four days before he was to testify before a grand jury investigating political corruption. His testimony was expected to implicate Grand Rapids political heavywight, and former state treasurer, Frank McKay. The leader of Detroit's infamous Purple Gang,

Henry Ford set a world speed record of 91.37 MPH driving for a mile across a frozen Lake St. Clair on this day in 1904. He drove a four-wheel vehicle dubbed the “999,” which had a wooden chassis, but no body or hood. The record did not last long, less than a month in fact, but the […]

Environmentalist Joan Luedders. Wolfe became the first woman to chair a major state commission when she became chairperson of the Natural Resources Commissionon this day in 1977. She founded the West Michigan Environmental Action Council and coordinated the passage of the landmark Michigan Environmental Protection Act of 1970. Her work has been honored with inductions into both […]

They were the most successful American pop group of the 1960s with twelve #1 hits that helped define a generation. The final curtain dropped for good on Diana Ross and the Supremes at Las Vegas' Frontier Hotel on this day in 1970. Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diane Ross grew up together in Detroit’s Brewster housing project […]

On this day in 1890, Detroit got what many consider to be, it's best mayor of all time, and one of the best in the nation's history. This was a progressive local shoemaker named Hazen Potato Patch Pingree. As mayor, Pingree took on the phone companies, the gas and light utilities, political-party bosses, the city's privately owned […]

On this day in 1948, Ford Motor Company sold its first in a long line of F-series pickup trucks. It was introduced as a replacement for the previous car-based pickup line. The F-Series was sold in eight different weight ratings, with pickup, panel truck, cab-over engine (COE), conventional truck, and school bus chassis body styles. There have […]

On this day in 1983, J.L. Hudson's closed its fabled flagship store in downtown Detroit. In its heyday the 25-floor retail destination had more than 200 departments across an incredible 49 acres of floor space. There were 51 passenger elevators with gloved operators guiding patrons to each floor as well as 8 banks of escalators. It also […]

Detroit was incorporated as a town by the legislature of the Northwest Territory at Chillicothe, Ohio, on this day in, 1802. Government was administered by a five-person board of trustees and there was no office of mayor. Following this, Ohio became a state and the eastern half of Michigan was attached to the Indiana Territory.

Frederick Baraga, the first bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Marquette, originally sited at Saulte Ste. Marie, died on this day in 1868. He had served in the Upper Peninsula for 30 years, and earned the nickname the Snowshoe Priest because he would travel hundreds of miles each year on snowshoes during the harsh winters. The village […]

 The nation's first black president was inaugurated on this day in 2009, but the spolight was nearly stolen by Aretha Franklin's stirring rendition of My Country Tis of Thee and moreover, by the hat she was wearing. It was a gray felt cloche that was topped with a giant, matching bow, outlined in rhinestones, and had been […]

A group of Detroit professionals formed a benevolent service club on this day in 1915. After some debate they name it Kiwanis Club, allegedly after a Native American term meaning "we get together." It is the first Kiwanis Club in the world. Eventually there will be more than 8500 across 80 countries. Each year, Kiwanis clubs raise […]

Berry Gordy, Jr. was a man with a dream and an incredible knack for picking out musical talent. On this day in 1959, he launched Tamla Records with an $800 loan from the Gordy family savings fund. It would later be known as Motown, the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $61 million. […]

Troy-based Kmart Corp., the second largest discount retailer in the United States, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on this day in 2002. Kmart's bankruptcy filing, with $17 billion in assets, was the biggest ever for a U.S. retailer. In its heyday in 1994, Kmart had operated 2,486 stores globally. It emerged from Chapter 11 in May […]

The Battles of Frenchtown, also referred to as the River Raisin Massacre, was a 5-day series of conflicts in the then Michigan Territory that ended on this day in 1813. After an initital defeat on January 18, British forces and their Native American allies launched a successful counterattack against the Americans a few days later. The Americans lost 397 soldiers […]

Super Bowl XVI was held at the Pontiac Silverdome on this day in 1982. Motown legend, Diana Ross sang the National Anthem. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26–21. The Pontiac Silverdome closed in 2013. Then the Lions began playing at the newly-constructed Ford Field in Detroit.

On this day in 1945, Grand Rapids became the first city in the world to add fluoride to its public water supply. The city, along with the U.S. Public Health Service, the Michigan Department of Health, and the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, began a ten-year study to determine the effectiveness of fluoride in the prevention […]

Just days after temperatures in the sixties, Michigan saw one of its worst blizzards ever. The 2-day storm that began on this day in 1967, paralyzed parts of Michigan with reports of up to thirty inches of snow. On the anniversary eleven years later, the Blizzard of '67 would be ecliped by the Blizzard of '79, which […]

NASA's space program changed forever on this day in 1967, when a flash fire swept through the Apollo 1 command module during a launch rehearsal test. Roger Chaffee of Grand Rapids along with astronauts Gus Grissom and Edward White died in in fire. Though Chaffee never made it into space, he was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space […]

From 1870 to 1890, Michigan was the nation’s leading timber producer, and its sawmills were among the most efficient in the world. The Lake George & Muskegon River railroad, Michigan’s first logging railroad operating with a common carrier charter, began in Clair County on this day in 1877. Railroads made it possible to go farther away from […]

Television star, Tom Selleck was born on this day in 1945. The actor is most recently known for playing the title character, Jesse Stone, in a series of movies as well as his lead role as Police Commissioner Frank Reagan in the long-running CBS drama, Blue Bloods. He rose to stardom in the 1980s as a private […]

Two members of the famous Flying Wallendas circus troupe were killed and two others injured as they attempted to perform a three-tier, seven-person high-wire stunt at the State Fair Coliseum in Detroit, on this day in 1962. Incredibly, the remaining Wallendas performed the next day.